Germany - Forgotten Weapons

Menz Liliput Pocket Pistols: 4.25mm and 6.35mm

September 1, 2019 Ian McCollum 19

Lot 517 (5.25mm) and lot 444 (6.35mm) in the September 2019 RIA auction. The Liliput was made by the August Menz Company in Germany during the 1920s, in several variations. It was introduced in both […]

HK 41: “Paramilitary Rifle” for the Bundeswehr

August 31, 2019 Ian McCollum 30

Lot 440 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The HK41 (designation: “paramilitary rifle”, caliber 7.62x51mm) was the first semiautomatic version of the G3 military rifle. It was made for the Bundeswehr reservist market; a rifle […]

HK4: Heckler & Koch’s Multi-Caliber Pocket Pistol

August 28, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

Lot 3959 in the September 2019 RIA auction. The H&K Model 4 was named for the fact that it was offered in four different calibers – .22LR, .25 ACP, .32 ACP, and .380 ACP. The […]

1938 Swedish Army Trials Luger

August 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 17

Lot 524 in the September 2019 RIA auction. Sweden tested the Luger in 1904, along with all the major semiauto pistols available at the time. The Luger was found to be the most accurate gun […]

Dreyse Model 1835 Needlefire Breechloading Pistol

August 19, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

Lot 408 in the September 2019 RIA auction. Johann Nicolaus Dreyse, later promoted to the aristocracy as Nicolaus von Dreyse, designed the first mainstream military breechloading rifle. His rifle was adopted by Prussia and changed […]

Scheintod Revolver: A German Tear Gas Pepperbox

August 15, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

Lot 3129 in the September 2019 RIA auction. First appearing in the decade of so before World War One, the Scheintod guns were designed to fire either flash or irritant cartridges, not lethal projectiles. 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 […]

P7A13: H&K’s Entry into the US XM9 Pistol Trials

August 5, 2019 Ian McCollum 13

The US held three series of pistol trials beginning in the late 1970s to find a replacement for the venerable M1911 handgun. H&K was a participant in all three – in the first the entered […]

Abercrombie & Fitch Luger

July 22, 2019 Ian McCollum 14

Back before World War One, when Abercrombie & Fitch was still a true sporting goods company catering to the likes of Joseph Steinbeck and Theodore Roosevelt, they decided to offer Luger pistols for sale. This […]

Tirmax: A Pre-WW1 .32ACP Light Carbine

July 20, 2019 Ian McCollum 23

The Tirmax is a handy little carbine made between 1909 and 1914 in Liege by a German company. It is a semiauto action using a 5-round detachable magazine. The guns are quite scarce today because […]