Artillery
Vintage Saturday: Getting Medieval
Somehow I don’t think the binoculars are particularly necessary…
Germany
Flamethrower
Vintage Saturday: Flammenwerfer
Note how this, like many early flamethrowers, was a two-man affair. One carried the tanks and the other aimed and fired the projector.
Prototype
RIA: Walther/Heinemann Toggle Lock Sporting Rifle
In 1928 and 1929, the Swiss Rheinmetall company produced about 50 examples of a toggle-locked rifle designed by Karl Heinemann. It was tested by the United States among other countries, but never found military acceptance. […]
Prototype
RIA: 1929 Simson Prototype 9mm
In the late 1920s, German Ordnance hinted at an interest in replacing the P.08 Luger pistols with a less expensive handgun design. This prompted a number of submissions from hopeful companies, including this design from […]
Handgun
RIA: Saxon Double Barreled Wheel Lock
Wheel locks are one of the less common types of early firearm ignition systems, as the were much more expensive as the contemporary flintlocks. The wheel lock had a major advantage in reliability, though. Many […]
Bolt Action Rifles
RIA: Spreewerke VG-2
Five different companies in Germany produced designs for the last-ditch Volkssturm bolt action rifles, and they were designated VG-1 through VG-5. The VG-2 was developed by the Spreewerke company, and differed from the others in […]
Prototype
RIA: Walther P38 Development
The Walther P38 was adopted by Germany in 1938 as a replacement for the P08 Luger – not really because the Luger was a bad pistol, but because it was an expensive pistol. Walther began […]
Prototype
RIA: Walther A115 Prototype Rifle
The Walther A115 was one of the semiauto rifles developed in pre-WWII Germany. Apparently only three were made, and it uses a neat combination of sheet metal construction with a rotating bolt and annular gas […]
Bolt Action Rifles
James D. Julia: Experimental Muzzle Cover 1893 Mauser
(Note: this rifle was removed from the auction, so I have no link to provide for it) I have been unable to find any history on this particular rifle, which is an experimental mixture of […]
Semiauto Rifles
James D. Julia: The Very First H&K G3 Import (3/62)
We have all seen plenty of sporter CETME rifles and civilian HK-91s, but when the G3 was new to the Germany military, there was already na interest in bringing semiauto versions into the US. The […]