I Have This Old Gun

When Remington Arms wanted an inexpensive, mass-market .22 rifle, the company's designers departed from traditional manufacturing materials. The resulting Remington Nylon 66 emerged as an incredibly innovative, durable design that went on to be produced in great numbers.

When initially released in 1973, the Ruger Mini-14 quickly made a name for itself on the recreational-shooting market. Designed by L. James Sullivan and Bill Ruger, it combined the best attributes of the M1 Garand and the M1 carbine with a “rock-’n’-lock” detachable box magazine inspired by the M14.

World War I, as it would come to be known, rather took most powers by surprise. In 1914, Great Britain, which had not entered into a formal alliance with France and Russia, was expected by some to sit on the sidelines while the others went at it.

There was a time when firearm manufacturers were primarily known for producing only one specific type of gun. In fact, their fame, reputations and, often, their fortunes hinged upon it.

The blunderbuss is not uncommonly regarded as a sidebar in firearm history. But in reality, these purpose-built defensive shotguns, within their limitations, were deadly, efficient and widely employed by civilians, the military and law enforcement.

While the Model 1891 Argentine Mauser was an innovative and successful rifle, the Spanish Model 1893 and then, ultimately, the German Gewehr 1898 introduced improvements that, by 1908, Argentina wanted as well.

The Spanish/Basque city of Eibar is one of Europe’s great arms-manufacturing centers, with a history in gunmaking dating back to the 1500s.

Produced by J. Woodward & Sons at the end of the 19th century, this double rifle, chambered for the .500 Express cartridge, was tailor-made for dangerous-game hunting.

In the 1880s, Mauser was not the legendary name in firearm making that it is today, but one of the company's first leaps into cutting-edge rifle design came with the Model 1889 Belgian Mauser.