Classic Guns

Most people don’t know about the Great Western Arms Co., which made the first Colt SAA clone. Even reference books can’t get it straight! But for a while, the Great Western was the idol of the American handgun scene.

It was a sad day in 1999 when Browning announced it was discontinuing the Auto-5 humpback. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house — at least not my house.

Jungle fighting meant that full-size standard issue rifles needed to be smaller for difficult terrain. The British .303 Jungle Carbine fit the bill.

Back in the game, Remington returns to the 1911 with the R1. Save for the sights and a few bright metal areas at the muzzle and trigger, the R1 is a dead ringer for that first 1911 the Doughboys carried to WWI.

Rich runs Canyon Creek, his shop that works on 1911s and a couple of other very interesting pistols. Rich is a USPSA Grand Master, and that is something uncommon in shooting and gunsmithing circles.

Rock Island Auction Company set a record for their February regional firearms auctions with more than $3.2 million sales. These regional sales can feature more than 2,000 lots of affordable antiques, beginning collector's items, usable sporting arms and many non-firearm lots.

The inaugural auction of Rock Island Auction Company’s new facility brought firearms enthusiasts of every level, from veteran firearms collectors to first time bidders, to the firm's massive 86,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility.

Despite little advertising and less fanfare, the makers of this unique, handsome and elegant double gun have sold nearly a half-million of them throughout the world. They must be doing something right!

With many varieties available, and a great history, the FN-49 is popular with modern gun collectors.

A Gunbroker auction of nine Ruger collectibles, firearms that netted $18,250, was then donated by Ruger to the USA Shooting Team. Ruger executives presented a check to the team during the recent NRA Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh.

A rare semiautomatic shotgun proves to be interesting and elusive.

Popular with collectors around the world, the history of the Russian TT-33 is worth a closer look.

As the Army Times recently reported, the Army’s newest sniper rifle, the XM2010, has done very well for itself in the Afghanistan theater of operations—so well, it appeared the Army was ready to make the XM2010 its chief sniper rifle.

We at F+W Media and Gun Digest are saddened to announce that our friend and colleague, Dan Shideler, a senior editor in the Firearms/Knives Group, passed away Sunday, April 3.

Phillip Peterson reports on the history and performance of three unique semi-auto sub guns.

The Pistol, 1911, .45 ACP, adopted by the armed forces of the United States, was quite a beast. In a time of transition to medium-bore pistols, a .45 was a cannon.