Trainer - Forgotten Weapons

East Germany’s Nice .22 AK Trainer: KK-Mpi-69

August 6, 2025 Ian McCollum 2

Check out Headstamp Publishing’s extensive catalog of excellent books! The KK-Mpi-69 (Klein Kaliber Maschinenpistole 1969) was a .22 rimfire training model of the standard East German stamped AKM. It used a simple blowback replacement bolt […]

Austrian Troop Training: Erma EL-24 .22 Kit for the Steyr M95 Carbine

February 11, 2023 Ian McCollum 21

The German company Erma (Erfurter Maschinenfabrik) developed a .22 rimfire kit for the Mauser 98 for the German Army in the 1920s. It was used for training, both to allow for more effective fundamental practice […]

Zielfeuergerät 38 Blank-Firing Training Aid

July 13, 2022 Ian McCollum 23

When the Allied examined the weapons discovered in the German Reich after the war, they came across a device which was classified as a “spring gun” or “trip wire activated static defense machine gun”. Nevertheless, […]

H&R’s Prototype Simulator, M14, .22 Caliber, Mark I

March 28, 2022 Ian McCollum 13

Harrington & Richardson was one of the main contractors for the M14 rifle program, and they also had been a major producer of the M1 Garand rifle. In particular, H&R had produced a .22 rimfire […]

MAS-45: The French .22 Trainer Designed by Mauser

April 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

When the French occupied the Mauser factory in April 1945, they found all the tooling to produce .22 caliber rifles still in place and in good order (among other things). The French military did not […]

Miniature Guns for the Fascist Youth: Italian Balilla Carbines

April 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

As part of his effort to imbue Italy with a fascist culture, Mussolini formed the ONB, or National Balilla Organization as a replacement for all other youth organizations in Italy in 1926. It was intended […]

Japanese WW2 Training Machine Gun

October 25, 2019 Ian McCollum 15

This is Lot 2086 in the upcoming October 2019 Morphy Extraordinary auction. Before and during World War Two, the Japanese used a variety of training rifles and machine guns in both formal military instruction and […]

Cummings Dot Rifle: Indoor Marksmanship Training

August 27, 2019 Ian McCollum 12

Lot 1451 in the September 2019 RIA auction. Made by the Cummings Gun Works of Boston late in World War One, this is a pseudo-firearm training device for teaching some aspects of marksmanship without the […]

Walther KKW: Competition Shooting in Nazi Germany

August 14, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

Lot 3620 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The KKW (“Klein Kaliber Wehrsportgewehr”, or small caliber military sporting rifle) was developed by BDW in 1937 as an amalgamation of various .22 rifle elements form other […]

Neophytou Gas-Operated .22 Rimfire Conversion for the R4/Galil

January 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 20

Today we are looking at – and shooting – a one of a kind .22 rimfire conversion kit for the Galil developed by South African designer Tony Neophytou (better known for the Neostead shotgun, Neopup […]