Forgotten Weapons

This gauntlet dagger – sometimes also known as a ‘punching’ dagger – is designed to be worn on the bearer’s arm like a glove during close quarter combat....

As air is blasted forward in the blast chamber a vacuum is created. This causes cool air to be pulled through the radiator via the capillaries across the barrel. Resulting in the barrel being cooled from firing and preventing overheating....

Duck’s foot pistols are one of the iconic classic “weird gun” categories. This one exemplifies the typical pattern, with four barrels arranged in a wedge, fired simultaneously with a single flintlock action....

British made and Birmingham proofed percussion key pistol. Approx. .45 cal. Made 1850 – 1860....

In 1978, the KGB used an umbrella like this—modified to fire a tiny pellet filled with poison—to assassinate dissident Georgi Markov on the streets of London....

For the metrically inclined:...

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/85a34fbc-342f-4122-8374-a9933d500a52.jpeg...

Introduced in 1957, Franchi’s LF-57 submachine gun has a very distinctive sci-fi look to it, but was never able to become a major player in the Cold War arms market....

The Winans Steam Gun was a steam-powered centrifugal gun used during the American Civil War, which used centrifugal (rather than gunpowder) to propel projectiles....

The MP5 PIP has some interesting features, including a weaver-style top rail, a “chute” type magazine well, a centrally located button that appears to be a bolt catch/release, and a round magazine catch. Also, the MP5 PIP appears to be the origin for the distinctive “flipper” charging handle of eventually used in the...

The Gepard PDW (Russian for Cheetah) is an experimental weapon, based on the AKS-74U. It was designed by Gennady Sitov and Aleksandr Shevchenko in 1995-1997 and suggested for law enforcement agencies but never put into service. The most interesting feature is that the Gepard can shoot no less than five different calibers without...

Between 1914 and early 1916, ‘flechettes’, or aerial darts, were dropped from aircraft onto troop and cavalry formations below....

One of the earliest pistols, this firearm was designed and produced by Peter Peck, a maker of watches and guns. The two locks combined in one mechanism provided the barrels with separate ignition. Made for Emperor Charles V (reigned 1519–56), the pistol is decorated with his dynastic and personal emblems: the double-headed...

The ZKZM-500 is the subject of a July 2018 article in the South China Morning Post describing a laser gun purported to have been developed by Chinese researchers of the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shaanxi. The article described the device in conflicting terms, both as...

https://www.collectorebooks.com/gregg01/Lot-106.htm...

These bullets were made to hide their carbide rear end inside the cartridge. They were designed to be given to the Afghans during the Soviet invasion to create barrel obstructions in enemy rifles....

This fowling piece is one of the earliest firearms equiped with the flintlock of French construction. It was made for Louis XIII (reigned 1610–43) in the workshop directed by Pierre Le Bourgeois' brother, Marin (about 1550–1634), to whom the invention of the flintlock mechanism is traditionally ascribed. The decoration of...

http://oldbritishguns.com/454-middle-east-commando-and-the-knuckle-knife...

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16953246...

The Velo-Dog... was a pocket revolver originally created in France by René Galand... in the late 19th-century as a defense for cyclists against dog attacks. The name is a compound word composed of "velocipede" and "dog"....

...the 6-pounder weapon capable of firing a devastating round of chain-shot—two cannonballs connected by a length of chain. The idea was both barrels would fire simultaneously, sending the chain-shot hurtling among enemy combatants. Unfortunately, the first field test of the prototype proved a disaster. The barrels did not...

It has two muzzleloading smoothbore barrels, with a percussion cap hidden under each top ear of the crossguard and a folding trigger in the body of the grip....

The Spectre SMG, or as fans of GoldenEye 007 for the N64 might know it the legally distinct Phantom SMG, was made by an Italian company SITES from 1984 until 2001....

This is a prototype or one-off over/under sporting shotgun, made in a bullpup configuration. It is basically two long slabs of wood clamshell around a pair of barrels, with the action at the very end in the stock. The breech rotates up to open, activated by a lever on the surface of the buttplate. That’s certainly strange...