Video - Forgotten Weapons

Hopkins & Allen XL-6 Revolver with a Surprising Swing-Out Cylinder

September 3, 2020 Ian McCollum 5

Lot 1104 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. “XL” was a brand name used by Hopkins & Allen to cover several different styles of revolver, but the first were a series of rimfire, spur-hammer […]

L.E. Tucker’s Confederate Texas Navy Pattern Revolver #1

September 1, 2020 Ian McCollum 1

Lot 1149 in RIA’s September 2020 Premier auction. Laban E. Tucker and his sons Elihu and Argyle were several of the original partners in the Tucker & Sherrard Company, which contracted with the State of […]

Peabody Sidehammer: The Best Martini Action You’ve Never Heard Of

August 31, 2020 Ian McCollum 23

Lot 152 (long rifle) and lot 1164 (carbine) in the RIA September 2020 Premier auction. Henry Peabody was one of the less-recognized American firearms designers. A machinist from the age of 17, he worked at […]

Toolroom Prototype Smith & Wesson No.3 Revolver

August 29, 2020 Ian McCollum 7

Lot 3197 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Good inventors are always trying out new solutions to problems. Those solutions may or may not work (hence Thomas Edison’s 10,000 ways not to make a […]

Tribuzio Ring-Trigger Squeeze Pistol

August 28, 2020 Ian McCollum 20

Lot 1235 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. This palm-squeezer type pistol was designed by Catello Tribuzio (sometimes spelled Trabuzio) of Turin around 1890. It is a very simple design, including a clever dual […]

The First S&W .38: The “Baby Russian”

August 27, 2020 Ian McCollum 19

Lot 1249 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. Taking what they had learned in developing their series of large-frame .44 caliber revolvers, Smith & Wesson introduced the “Baby Russian” in 1876 as their first […]

Not Always Bubba: A Factory Sporter Winchester-Lee Navy Rifle

August 26, 2020 Ian McCollum 12

Lot 3106 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. I am happy that the practice of sporterizing military rifles has fallen out of favor, but sometimes one can throw the baby out with the bathwater. […]

The Coolest Volcanic Ever: A Vintage Scoped Pistol-Carbine

August 25, 2020 Ian McCollum 13

Lot 1011 in the RIA September 2020 Premier auction. The “Pistol-Carbine” was a pattern offered by the Volcanic Arms Company combining a 16 inch rifle-length barrel with a pistol grip and detachable shoulder stock (it […]

FN Model D: The Last and Best BAR

August 21, 2020 Ian McCollum 18

Lot 1485 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. The FN Model D (“demontage”, or detachable) was the last and best evolution of the Browning Automatic Rifle. FN acquired a license to make the BAR […]

Chichester “Pocket Shotgun” Revolver

August 20, 2020 Ian McCollum 16

Lot 1059 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction. The Chichester Rifle Company (actually of Jersey City, NJ) was one of many small firms that sold branded guns made by the Hopkins & Allen company. […]