Historical Firearm Features

RG Industries was established in Miami, Fla., to manufacture—using many German-made parts—the smallest Röhm-pattern handguns for domestic sale, including the RG 14 revolver chambered in .22 LR.

Following Remington's bankruptcy in 1888, a number of the company's unsold Model 1875s were discovered, and it was decided that something could be made from them.

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.

While difficult to imagine today, brazen armed thefts of the U.S. Mail in the 1920s became all too common and beyond the abilities of mail personnel to handle. Enter the U.S. Marines—armed to the teeth.

Manufactured in New Haven, Conn., in late 1940, this Hi-Standard pistol was shipped as a Model “A,” but a heavier Model “D” barrel was installed later to replace the original, light barrel, leading one American Rifleman reader to call it a Model “A-D.”

"At a gun show, I saw a Colt 1860 Army Richards Conversion with 12 cylinder notches instead of the usual six. The dealer was not sure whether this was original to the gun. Were these extra notches a factory variation or just some frontier gunsmith’s backroom project?"

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.

A primary source investigation into the service history of a Smith & Wesson Victory revolver used by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

"My favorite gun is inoperable, so I have not shot it. It is one of two weapons that my dad brought back from the Philippines after World War II, the other being a sword."