Revolver
RIA: Walch Navy 12-Shot Revolver
Patented by John Walch in 1859, this is a .36 caliber revolver using superimposed chambers – meaning that each of the six chambers could hold two shots, for a total of 12 rounds before reloading. […]
United States
Prototype
RIA: Thompson Model 1923 Autorifle
One of the very early entrants into the United States Ordnance Department’s semiauto rifle trials was the Auto-Ordnance Company, makers of the Thompson submachine gun. For the rifle trials, they designed a .30-06 rifle using […]
Prototype
RIA: Reifgraber .38 S&W Automatic
Designed by Austrian immigrant Joseph Joachim Reifgraber, this is a prototype gas-assisted short recoil pistol in a .38 rimmed revolver cartridge. While this version did not see any serial production, the Union Firearms Company of […]
Percussion
RIA: Whitmore 4-Barrel Swivel-Breech Rifle
One of the options for having multiple shots available in the age of the muzzleloading rifle was the swivel-breech rifle. Such a rifle would have typically two barrels and one lock – one the first […]
Revolver
RIA: Cochran Turret Revolver
The Cochran turret revolver is one of the more common turret revolvers in the US, although that’s a pretty low bar, as only about 150 of them were made. Turret-sytle revolvers never became popular on […]
Revolver
RIA: James Reid No.2 Revolver
James Reid was a New York gunsmith best known for his “My Friend” knuckleduster revolvers, but before he devised the idea for those he was working in New York City making traditional style revolvers. This […]
garand development
RIA: T3E2 Trials .276-Caliber Garand
By 1932, the competition for the new US emiautomatic service rifle had been narrowed down to just two designs: John Pedersen’s delayed blowback toggle action and John Garand’s gas-operated action. Both rifles were chambered for […]
Prototype
RIA: Bendix-Hyde Second Model Prototype Carbine
In late 1940, the US military opened a competition for what would become the M1 Carbine – a rifle that needed to use the .30 Carbine cartridge and weigh no more than 5 pounds (2.27kg). […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Finnish Militia
The woman at the front right has a Winchester 1895, almost certainly of Russian contract origin in 7.62x54R. The others appear to have Type 30 Arisaka rifles, which would have been sold to Russia by […]
Semiauto pistol
Savage .25ACP Automatic Pistol
Savage made more than a quarter-million pocket pistols in .32 and .380 caliber, but never commercially marketed a .25ACP design. They did design such a “baby” pistol, though, beginning in about 1912. Despite a significant […]