United States - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Reifgraber .38 S&W Automatic

April 17, 2016 Ian McCollum 21

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 […]

RIA: Whitmore 4-Barrel Swivel-Breech Rifle

April 12, 2016 Ian McCollum 17

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 […]

RIA: Cochran Turret Revolver

April 3, 2016 Ian McCollum 16

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 […]

RIA: James Reid No.2 Revolver

April 2, 2016 Ian McCollum 20

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 […]

RIA: T3E2 Trials .276-Caliber Garand

April 1, 2016 Ian McCollum 67

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 […]

RIA: Bendix-Hyde Second Model Prototype Carbine

March 31, 2016 Ian McCollum 19

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). […]

Finnish red guard militia members posing for the camera some time during the civil war.

Vintage Saturday: Finnish Militia

March 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 48

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 […]

Savage .25ACP Automatic Pistol

March 21, 2016 Ian McCollum 33

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 […]

Vintage Saturday: Colt 1895 on Water Tower Hill

March 19, 2016 Ian McCollum 43

In 1914, a long-standing strike of mine workers against the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company was ended by the Colorado National Guard in what is known today as the Ludlow Massacre. As part of their […]

Smill & Welson Spanish Counterfeit Revolver

March 18, 2016 Ian McCollum 31

This revolver looks like it is a Smith & Wesson DA from the early 20th century, right down to the S&W grips. However, it is actually a Spanish Eibar-made copy, and you can tell when […]