Historic Guns

What particular attributes did it take to attain the pinnacle of success in organized crime back in its heyday? Some were charming, quite a few connected, and others were ruthless. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, however, was simply a cold-blooded killer.

In this edition, we explore the Browning M1910, used in some of the more sordid assassinations that shaped our modern world.

Sometimes men commit premeditated mass murder based upon pure unfiltered greed. This is the sort of killing we’re investigating today.

Theodore Roosevelt was so manly that he was shot in the chest while giving a speech, but chose to finish the speech before getting help. This is the story of that assassination attempt, and how it became barely a footnote in the life of a great American.

Lieutenant Blowers carried nothing more than his six-shot Webley revolver as a personal defense weapon. Crawling through fetid German trenches stacked deep with corpses both fresh and otherwise, Blowers and his crew picked their way across the most dangerous terrain on earth.

During WWII, a man from Nepal held off more than thirty Japanese troops, while armed with just a knife and Lee Enfield rifle. This is the story of Lachhiman Gurung and his rifle.

The M1911 was the finest combat handgun at the time of the World Wars. For close range firepower and reliability, nothing beat the M1917 revolver.

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 origin story is foundational dogma for gun nerds like us. George Sullivan incorporated the ArmaLite Corporation in 1954 as a tiny little subsidiary of the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. Operating out of a modest machine shop in Hollywood, California, Sullivan envisioned ArmaLite as a think tank to explore cutting-edge concepts in small arms. Their first serious effort was a small takedown survival rifle intended for use by downed military aircrew.