John Wesley Hardin’s Smith & Wesson First Model Russian Revolver
The outlaw John Wesley Hardin used this revolver to kill Brown County Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb in a gunfight outside of Jack Wright’s saloon in Comanche, Texas, on May 26, 1874. Webb was attempting...
Miniature Masterpiece: 1/3rd-Scale Wilson Flintlock Pistol
Based on the Lorenzoni system from the 18th century, this miniature pistol was made by Peter Dyson. In an era of single-shot muzzleloaders, which required a great deal of time and effort to reload, the...
2018 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits Gun Collector Awards Results
The 2018 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits were held in Dallas on May 4-6. A total of 19 gun collector clubs set up exhibits on Collectors’ Row and competed for the annual awards for...
Ruger’s First Pistol Named One of 2018’s Ten Best Historic Arms
Every year, one of my favorite sections of the NRA’s Annual Meetings & Exhibits is Collectors Row. Last year, the Ruger Owners & Collectors Society (ROCS) brought a really cool gun to their display...
OK: Constitutional Carry Heads to Governor Fallin’s Desk
The Oklahoma Senate passed SB 1212 this week which would make Oklahoma a constitutional carry state. The bill is now headed to Governor Mary Fallin's desk. The popular bill passed both the House and...
Double Trouble: More Superposed Charges
Earlier this month, I wrote a piece about turning single-shot, percussion muzzleloaders into primitive "repeaters" through the concept of superposed charges. The arm shown in that article featured a percussion ignition system that had...
17th Century Dogs of War: Development of the Flintlock
Believe it or not, "flintlock" is actually a catch-all term for a variety of different lock mechanisms, in addition to being a specific lock mechanism itself. It's kind of like "Q-Tip" and "cotton swab."Lock...
Andrew ‘Old Hickory’ Jackson: American Badass
If there was ever a badass among our founding fathers it would be Andrew Jackson. Why? Keep reading. Jackson was a man’s man - something not exactly promoted or prominent in today’s climate. He...
The Eprouvette: Old School Quality Control
In an era long before mechanical precision, quality control was much less of an exact science than it is today. Without robots, computer programs, etc, it was up to people to do the best...
How to Get Multiple Shots Out of a Single-Shot Muzzleloader
The major drawback of any muzzleloading firearm has always been that you only get one shot before needing to reload. If you could get off three shots in a minute, you were doing really...
Three-Barrel “Cigarette Guns” Captured by Australian Forces
These highly unusual firearms were captured by Australian forces after the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia. In 1999 and later, Australian forces were part of the UN forces used to keep order after...
‘Coffee Mill’ Sharp’s Carbine – The Original Guns and Coffee
I love guns. And coffee. Judging by the wide variety of Starbucks-knockoff patches, pins, shirts, etc. stating the same tells me I'm far from the only one.
Soldiers, too, have long had an affinity for...