Historical Guns

The Thompson Submachine Gun was a weapon respected by Prohibition-era gangsters before being toted across Europe by American soldiers in WWII.

The Victory .38 was a wartime version of the original Smith and Wesson Model 10 first introduced in 1899. The gun was variously known as the S&W Military and Police or the S&W Hand Ejector. Total production exceeded six million copies. While civilian variants typically sported a deep blue finish and a variety of barrel lengths, the Victory model was bred purely for combat.

The Gewehr 98 Mauser rifle is one of the most historically significant and technically influential firearms in history. In one variant or another, it armed men on both sides of two world wars and continues to be seen in conflicts around the world to this day. Rifle actions are still being based on it or using its features.

Opening a newly arrived box at my local FFL dealership inspired a couple “Wow!” responses – one of them my own. The 1860 Richards Transition Model Type II nestling therein sports eight glorious inches of gleaming blued steel barrel, a beautifully figured walnut grip, and a very nice color-casehardened frame.

In 1952 the Czech military adopted a radically strange new pistol designed by two brothers, Jan and Jaroslav Kratochvil. The vz52 (not to be confused with the vz52 rifle of the same designation that entered Czech service the same year) represented a unique application of the roller-locked action pioneered by the German MG42 machine gun. While HK dabbled in the same thing with their short-lived P9S handgun, the vz52 pistol was otherwise unique.

The cap and ball revolver, also known as the percussion revolver, is a sophisticated weapon of war. Even though those wars were in the 1800’s, the cap and ball remains an interesting and effective handgun. Taylor’s & Company is keeping these legends alive by producing classic firearms made famous by soldiers, cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws.

The Germans saw their industry transformed from a collective of cottage artisans of sorts into a manufacturing juggernaut that prevailed in the face of material shortages of many manifest flavors as well as round-the-clock bombing. Early guns were meticulously crafted and expensive. Later weapons, though functional, were designed from the outset to be readily manufacturable. Those in between exhibited characteristics of each. The three best examples are the Steyr MP34, the Beretta 38A, and the MP40.

Modularity is the new gospel in modern firepower, and the FN SCAR just drips with it. The upper receiver starts out as an extruded bit of aluminum, while the polymer lower contains the fire control system and secures the magazine. There are two major subtypes. The SCAR-Light (SCAR-L) runs 5.56x45mm. The SCAR-Heavy (SCAR-H) chambers 7.62x51mm.

Mechanical systems like small arms evolve in response to myriad forces both industrial and martial. Somebody has an idea that seems to work, and that idea is tweaked, adjusted, and improved over time until it becomes something better, more reliable, and more efficient. The astute student of modern small arms, however, can generally tease out the origins of a mechanism with a little study.