Conversion
Needham Musket Conversion
by Roger L. Papke, Handfuls of History At the end of the American Civil War, the Union had well over a million surplus muzzle-loading rifle-muskets, all of which were obsolete since it was clear that […]
United States
Single Shot Rifles
Hall Breechloading Carbine at RIA
The M1819 Hall rifle was the first breechloader adopted on a wide scale by a military force (the British Ferguson predated it, but was only made in small numbers). The Hall stayed in production on […]
Accessories
Survival Rifles at RIA: Luftwaffe Drilling and USAF M6
Today we’re looking at a pair of military survival rifles at the Rock Island September auction. One is a Luftwaffe M30 drilling – the most finely finished and luxurious survival rifle ever issued by a […]
Handgun
Gyrojet Pistol at RIA
The 13mm Gyrojet pistol was the closest thing to a commercially successful rocket pistol, although not many were sold before the company went out of business. This pistol version (the most common type of Gyrojet) […]
Prototype
Prototype Dieckmann P66 Pistol at RIA
The P66 was a prototype .22LR semiauto pistol designed by a German immigrant to the United States by the name of Rolf Dieckmann. It never went into production, but had a number of interesting features, […]
Bolt Action Rifles
1889 Schulhof Rotary-Magazine Bolt Action at RIA
Another of the interesting pieces in the upcoming September RIA sale is a Belgian-made Schulhof bolt action rifle. It is notable for its 9-round rotary magazine, and this same model of rifle was tested by […]
Gunsmithing
Handmade Auto-Revolver at RIA
This very odd one-off pistol first appeared in a 1958 Golden State Arms catalog, with no description of its history or mechanical design. I have often seen it referred to as an automatic revolver, but […]
Single Shot Rifles
1875 Lee Vertical Action Carbine at RIA
My recent trip to the Rock Island Auction house was spent taking a whole slew of videos on guns that are coming up for sale in their Premier auction on the 12th, 13th, and 14th […]
Accessories
Folding 1911 Shoulder Stock
From Tom Laemlein: A few years back I found these photos of a Marine Corps modification of the standard M1911 .45 caliber pistol. Unfortunately there was no accompanying documentation. A unique folding extension stock—it would […]
Semiauto pistol
Slow Motion: Colt All American 2000
The All-American 2000 was Colt’s attempt to compete with Glock for the military and police service pistol market. It had a polymer frame (except a few early ones with aluminum frames), a double-action-only striker firing […]