Germany - Forgotten Weapons

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 […]

Walther Experimental Hybrid Olympia/Woodsman

July 17, 2019 Ian McCollum 5

In the early 1930s, Walther began to experiment with changes to its Olympia target pistol in hopes of beating the Colt Woodsman out of its place as the most popular pistol of the type. The […]

P7M7: The Mythical Lost .45 ACP H&K

July 12, 2019 Ian McCollum 27

The P7 was one of the most interesting and original handgun designs of the last few decades. Originally created for West German police trials, it was chambered in 9x19mm. As it became popular beyond Germany, […]

Toolroom Prototype .32 ACP Walther Olympia

July 10, 2019 Ian McCollum 6

In the late 1930s, Walther experimented with the idea of an Olympia target pistol in .32 ACP. They used the frame from a 1936 pattern standard (.22LR) Olympia with a .32 caliber barrel, increased mass […]

German-Capture 1910 Russian Maxim in 8×57

July 8, 2019 Ian McCollum 9

This is a very interesting WW1 heavy machine gun. It is a Russian M1910 Maxim that was repaired at some point using the brass jacket from a 1905 Russian Maxim. This may have been done […]

H&K Prototype Sniper: the SL7 Match

July 3, 2019 Ian McCollum 15

Built in the 1990s, this rifle is part of an experimental series of precision rifles made by H&K. It is marked “SL7 Match”, and uses the same action as the standard SL7 sporting rifle (the […]