Semiauto Rifles
United Kingdom
Flintlock
Ferguson Breechloading Flintlock (Video)
Patrick Ferguson was a British inventor and Army officer who developed a breechloading flintlock rifle in the 1770s (his patent was granted in 1776). He impressed British Army ordnance officials with a remarkable demonstration of […]
Submachine Guns
Vintage Saturday: Commando, Eh?
Canadian Commando with a Lanchester SMG. It wasn’t only the Japanese who put huge bayonets on subguns! I do wonder how awkward it would get to use Lanchester mags, with their 50-round capacity. Notice the […]
Competition
Backlog of Video!
While I have been posting daily videos from the recent series of Rock Island Auction material, I have also been publishing the occasional video on InRange TV – and some of those would probably be […]
Prototype
Very Early Mars Pistol #4 at RIA
Until the midle of the 20th century, the most powerful automatic pistol made was Sir Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax’s Mars pistol. With the .45 caliber version approaching the energy of a .45 Winchester Magnum, it was quite […]
Book review
Book Review: Great Britain – The Tommy Gun Story
I recently got a copy of Tom Davis Jr’s brand new book on the history of British use of the Thompson SMG. This is very much a history book rather than a technical book, and […]
Percussion
Colt 1862 Police Pocket Revolver (Cased) at James D Julia
The 1862 Police Pocket was the last of Colt’s percussion revolvers. It was a combination of the small 1849 model frame (intended for .31 caliber) and a 5-shot .36 caliber cylinder. The frame was stepped […]
Prototype
BSA Prototype .45ACP Pistol at James D Julia
BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) was the largest private arms maker in the UK during World War One, and when the war ended it of course saw its huge military contracts evaporate. One of BSA’s efforts […]
Semiauto pistol
Mars Automatic Pistols at James D. Julia
The Mars pistol was designed by Sir Hugh Gabbett-Fairfax in England in 1898, and only 81 were produced by the time manufacturing ended in 1907. These pistols were chambered for several different cartridges, all of […]
Needlefire
Dreyse/Kufahl Needlefire Revolver at James D Julia
Needlefire rifles were developed in the 1830s and represented and early effective type of breechloading rifle. As such, they were adopted by both German and French armies – but only in rifle form. Needlefire handguns […]