Prototype & Trials Weapons

Prototype & Trials Weapons

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Prototype & Trials Weapons
  • Savage Prototype .25ACP Pistol

    Prototype Savage .25 ACP pistol.

  • Model 1871 Ward-Burton Bolt-Action Rifle

    The Model 1871 Ward-Burton was one of the early experimental rifles trialled by the US military in its search for a new breechloading rifle to replace the theoretically-interim Allin conversion that made muzzle-loading rifles into Trapdoor Springfields. Four breechloading cartridge rifles were se...

  • Garand Primer-Activated 1924 Trials Rifle

    The first successful iteration of John Garand’s rifle was developed in 1921 and refined through 1924. A small batch were made for US military testing in 1924, where it was compared to guns like the Bang, Hatcher-Bang, and most significantly the Colt/Thompson Autoloading Rifle. Garand’s rifle was ...

  • AAI 2nd Gen SPIW Flechette Rifles

    The SPIW program began in 1962 with entries from Colt, Springfield, AAI, and Winchester. The first set of trials were a complete failure, and both Colt and Winchester abandoned the project at that point. AAI pressed on, producing these second generation rifles - one for trials in 1966 and one aft...

  • Ross Rudd's Prototype Delayed Blowback AR180

    Ross Rudd was born in Toronto in 1915, but his family moved to Springfield Massachusetts in 1917, and he would grow up there. Interested in guns and gun design from an early age, Rudd went to work for Savage in 1940, where he was involved in Lee Enfield production and the simplification of the Th...

  • XM29 OICW Mockup

    The OICW - Objective Individual Combat Weapon - was part of a program in the 1980s and 1990s to replace the whole lineup of uS small arms with a consolidated group of new high-tech ones. The M4, M16, and M203 would be replaced by the OICW, the M240, M2, and Mk 19 would be replaced by the Objectiv...

  • Prototype Winchester WW1 .50 Cal Antitank Rifle

    With the advent of the tank in World War One, antitank rifles became a priority for many countries, to provide infantry with some weapon to counter the new armored threat. The best known example of these (and the only one to see significant production before the end of WWI) was the German Tankgew...

  • Barnekov Greene Prototype 1870 Open-Bolt Army Rifle

    Patented by Kiel V. Barnekov of New York in 1870, this is a toggle-locked, single shot, open bolt rifle. It was entered into the US 1872 rifle trials which would ultimately select the Allin “Trapdoor” conversion of the Springfield as the next US serve rifle.

    Barnekov’s design was intended to b...

  • Ethiopian ZH-29 and Czech Experimental Z-37

    The ZH-29 was an influential early semiautomatic military rifle, although not one that saw any significant adoption. As best I can tell, only two countries purchased them in any quantity: China and Ethiopia. This ZH-29 is an Ethiopian contract example, with an Ethiopian Lion of Judah on the recei...

  • Colt Prototype "Zig-Zag" Root 1855 Revolvers

    The 1855 “Root” pocket revolver was a reasonably successful design for the Colt company, although it was not the best mechanical design. The side hammer design used the cylinder axis to rotate and lock in place instead of using the rear face of the cylinder, which resulted in several small and de...

  • Liegeoise 1888 Trials Rifle

    The Belgian Army held rifle trials in the late 1880s to choose a new infantry rifle, and the winner was the Model 1889 Belgian Mauser. Quite a few different guns were involved in the competition though, including this Engh-patent rifle made by Liegeoise. It's a pretty unusual bolt action that is ...

  • Volksturm VG-5, aka VK-98

    By the beginning of 1945, the Nazi government in Germany was looking to find cheaper ways to equip the Volksturm, and solicited bids and designs from several major arms manufacturers. The Steyr company created a crude but effective version of the Mauser 98 which was dubbed the VK-98 or VG-5. Mech...

  • Experimental C96 "Joint Safety" Mauser

    This particular 1902-made example of the C96 Mauser incorporates several experimental features of the design that would never go into mass production. It was an effort to make a version of the C96 that would be more suitable for civilian carry - something a bit lighter and more compact than the m...

  • Mannlicher 1901 Carbine

    The Mannlicher was one of the early automatic pistol designs. Like most such guns, a small number were made as carbine variants. This particular one is the first prototype 1901 carbine (you can see the number '1' stamped on the bolt).

  • Gerat 03 Disassembly

    The Gerat 03 was the first prototype roller-locked rifle developed by the Germans during WWII. Only a few were made, and the rifle was never put into mass production. This is the direct ancestor of the HK91 family of roller-delayed firearms.

  • British Breechloaders and Trials Rifles

    Unfortunately, when we visit great gun collections there is never enough time to do everything we would like to. We always have to leave great stuff undone, as much as we don't like to. Well, we got to visit one particular collection with a bunch of great stuff, and amongst the other items found ...

  • Pedersen GY Garand Copy

    Two of the scarcest and least known of John Pedersen's designs are the Model GY and GX rifles, which are basically copies of the production model of the M1 Garand. After losing out in the Army rifle trials with his toggle-locked rifle design, Pedersen made one last attempt to garner a US military...

  • Toolroom Prototype Smith & Wesson No.3 Revolver

    Good inventors are always trying out new solutions to problems. Those solutions may or may not work (hence Thomas Edison’s 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb), but the attempts can often give us interesting insight into the designer’s intentions. In this case, we have a toolroom S&W No3 revolve...

  • Elbonian Prototype Hakim LMG

    Elbonia had a brief partnership with Egypt in the mid 1950s through which they acquired some early-production Hakim rifles. These were used along with Israeli surplus MG-34 machine gun barrel jackets to build an experimental Hakim LMG for Elbonian service. The gun was fed by adapted German MG-13 ...

  • Gardiner/Scott Prototype Grip Safety on an Early 1903 Springfield

    In 1904, a man named Orlando Scott from Ontario filed a patent application for a safety device for breechloading rifles and shotguns. His idea was basically a spring loaded grip safety in the fore-end of the stock, which would have to be depressed in order to either cock or fire the weapon. His p...

  • "NATO Burp Guns" - Winchester's 1950s Experimental SMGs

    In the mid 1950s, the Winchester company designed a compact 9mm submachine gun for military use. It was internally called the. "NATO Burp Gun", and according to Winchester historian Herbert House, was developed in part (or with the assistance of) Melvin Johnson. The design was a simple tubular re...

  • Experimental Pre-WWI Ross .30-06 Machine Gun

    In August 1913, the British War Office wrote to Sir Charles Ross requesting a sample automatic rifle for trials in the UK. Ross was able to submit a prototype on May 1914, which was tested at Enfield - but only fired 308 rounds before the test ended, suggesting that something important probably b...

  • Headspace-Operated Prototype Rifle - Yeah, it's as Weird as it Sounds

    Today we are taking a look at a very unusual prototype rifle, courtesy of Legacy Collectibles. I suspect - but have no direct evidence - that this was designed by one Francis K. Young, a man who patented several very similar systems. What makes it unusual is that it operates by having the cartrid...

  • History of the Monolithic Polymer AR: From Colt to KE Arms

    Today we are taking a look at the history of the monolithic polymer AR-15 lower receiver. By "monolithic" I mean a design which integrates the receiver, grip, and buttstock all into a single unit, rather than the various attempts to simply make a standard AR receiver out of polymer. This is impor...