In 1963 Colt made a gold plated XM16E1 rifle, the 50,000th produced (Serial number SN# 050000) as a gift intended for US President John F Kennedy. However, Colt was not able to present the gun to JFK due to his untimely assassination in November of that same year. The gun would instead be donated toContinue reading “John F Kennedy’s undelivered gold plated M-16 (1963)”
Category Archives: Historical
Colt AR15 and M16 Serial Numbers, 1960-1972
By Kevin O’Brien This memo’s been around as a scanned, non-OCR’d .pdf for a long time. We’ve OCR’d the PDF, and double-checked the numbers against the original data. The PDF is here:M16 Serial Number List OCR[.pdf]. The complete text is below this editorial comment. We would add the following remarks: We hope this document isContinue reading “Colt AR15 and M16 Serial Numbers, 1960-1972”
The Beretta Model 38
There was a lot of iconic guns that became famous, or more famous, during WW2. The submachine guns seemed to get special attention.
M60: A Vietnam War Stalwart
By Kurt Allemeier at the RIA Blog Alongside the M16 rifle, the M60 machine gun became one of the most recognizable weapons to come out of the Vietnam War. Lot 1496 is a M60 General Purpose Machine Gun from Rock Island Armory. That is understandable since the gun, nicknamed the “pig,” was everywhere in theContinue reading “M60: A Vietnam War Stalwart”
Colt Sleeved Barrel Experiment
Alas, I don’t have access to the Colt letter on this experimental project. It appears to be Lawman Mark V fitted with a Dan Wesson-style sleeved barrel. The great irony here is the latter system was patented by a former Colt employee, Karl R. Lewis, who also helped design the original Colt Mark III revolverContinue reading “Colt Sleeved Barrel Experiment”
Davidson Bridge Mount For Unertl
I have heard about these for years but have never seen one in person. Brady had one at one point in the past but I have never seen it. The bridge mount was meant for you to mount a Unertl or external adjustable scope like a Unertl to the receiver of your rifle without havingContinue reading “Davidson Bridge Mount For Unertl”
The Vietnam Liberator Pistol
What most people don’t know is there was a version cooked up for use in Vietnam.
Single Shot Model 70
A fellow recently shared images of a single shot model 70 Winchester in .308 in the collectors group. This is the first time I have seen one like it. The first thing I noticed was the lack of safety levers on the bolt. The action removed from the stock shows now ability to convert to magazineContinue reading “Single Shot Model 70”
New Colt Product at SHOT Show 2026
My proxy at SHOT has sent in some photos from SHOT of the Colt display for rifles.
Very Cool M14 Unertl Scope Mount From Leatherwood Collection
A fellow on the Unertl collector page on facebook recently bought this treasure. Anyone with Peter Senich’s books will recognize it. This is one of my favorite rifles in my collection for multiple reasons. “1) The Unertl and mount came out of the Jim Leatherwood estate and has his own written documentation from when heContinue reading “Very Cool M14 Unertl Scope Mount From Leatherwood Collection”
Scattered Shots 