Gunsmithing
Pusan Jin Iron Works 1911
Note: I mistakenly referred to North Korea in the video, when this was actually made in South Korea. Sorry! During (and probably for a short time after) the Korean War, a Korean facility called the […]
Semiauto pistol
Semiauto pistol
Astra Model 900
The Astra 900 was a pistol developed to take advantage of a large Chinese demand for semiauto pistols with shoulder stocks, following on the massive sales of the Mauser C96 “Broomhandle” in that country. In […]
Gunsmithing
Scoped C96 Conehammer Carbine
This scoped C96 carbine is serial number 12 of the original run of just 30 large-ring C96 carbines. It has the long barrel and detachable stock (in place of the standard pistol grip) of the […]
Gunsmithing
Vietnamese Crude 1911 Copy
This is an example of a craft-made pistol captured in Vietnam and brought back to the US. While many Vietnamese fighters were supplied with good-quality weapons from other nations (primarily Chinese-made AK and SKS rifles), […]
Prototype
Benke-Thiemann Folding Luger Holster
While most major pistols made before the 1930s had some type of shoulder stock available as an option, the Luger had much more variety of stocks than most others. In addition to the several types […]
Prototype
RIA: Odd Iver Johnson Prototype .32s (Video)
These unique and unmarked prototype .32 ACP pistols are apparently Iver Johnson prototypes – and I can’t find any information on them beyond that description from their consignor. One is a simpler example in the […]
Semiauto pistol
RIA: Beretta Model 1931 (Video)
With the development of the Model 1931, Beretta had nearly arrived at the first really popular pistol (the 1934/5). The 1931 was the result of taking the exposed-hammer 1923 design, shrinking the frame down to […]
Semiauto pistol
RIA: Luger 1902 Carbine (Video)
With the advent of successful self-loading pistols, one of the additional markets that many companies tried to appeal to was the compact carbine. Self-loading rifles in proper rifle cartridges would not be developed as quickly […]
Semiauto pistol
RIA: Walther Model 6 (Video)
Wather introduced its first pistol in 1908, creatively named the Model 1. With the outbreak of World War One, the company was offering the Model 4 pistol for military use. This was a .32 ACP […]
Prototype
RIA: Müller 1895 Curved Recoil Pistol (Video)
The model 1895 Müller automatic pistol is an interesting and unusual design, despite being a simple blowback action. Where most pistols have a bolt or slide that moved directly rearward, the Müller pushes the bolt […]