In 1855, Samuel Colt introduced a new line of firearms known as the Sidehammer series.
The long guns included rifles, muskets, and shotguns.
The significant thing about the series of guns was they had a solid frame design. The solid frame allowed the barrel to screw directly into it.
By 1857, production of Colt long-guns expanded, and the U.S. military tested .44 and .56 caliber revolving rifles.
The Governor of Connecticut liked the rifles and ordered 1,000 of the revolving rifles.
After this, Sam Colt was appointed Colonel of the 1st Regiment Colts Revolving Rifles of Connecticut.
But, the unit disbanded and Colt’s dream of commanding a military unit only lasted a month.
Yet, the revolving rifles were issued to different military units.
The troops using the Colt Revolving Rifles logged many different complaints about them.
Among the complaints was that at times all five chambers would discharge at once.
When this happened, it could lead to the shooter severing their fingers. In addition, the flash from the rifle gases tended to burn the shooter’s forearm.
But, the biggest problem with the revolving rifles was their complexity.
Soldiers were used to cleaning every part of their rifles, but the revolving rifle had many small parts and could be difficult to reassemble.
In 1863, the U.S. military set up a committee to review the Colt long-guns after receiving complaints.
The government decided to stop using the revolving rifles in favor of the Spencer Repeaters.
The Colt Revolving Rifles were then sold off to the highest bidder.
So, while Samuel Colt perfected the revolver handgun, the brilliant design didn’t transfer well to the rifle.
Obviously, any gun can be dangerous, but the Colt Revolving Rifle seemed to have more problems than they were worth.
Considering this, here are a few more dangerous guns, and why you should avoid them.
Winchester 1911 SL:
The Winchester 1911 SL is a semi-auto shotgun that took over ten years to produce.
The reason it took so long was that Winchester had to develop the shotgun while avoiding John Browning’s patents.
And to get it done, compromises had to be made.
For instance, John Browning owned the patent on charging handles mounted to the bolt.
This meant Winchester had to find a way to cock the shotgun without a charging handle.
Winchester decided to cock the gun by having the shooter grab the barrel and push it rearward into the action to ready the gun for firing.
The problem was that the motion was awkward. Which led to people bracing the gun on the ground and cocking it while leaning over the weapon.
This earned the 1911 SL the nickname the “widowmaker.” Need I say more?
Nambu Type 94:
The Nambu is a Japanese-made pistol. It was produced in 1904 and was a semi-automatic pistol that was ahead of its time.
It’s also one of the worst military pistols ever used.
The 94 used an 8x22mm round and only held six of them.
The sear bar of the pistol sits outside the pistol and converts trigger movement to lateral movement to free the hammer.
This led to negligent discharges.
The pistol had a manual safety to prevent this if used, but it was an awkward design. The thing was the 94 could discharge while holstered.
It earned the reputation as one of the most dangerous guns ever used by a military.
Aramatix iP1 Smart Pistol:
Smart guns are a terrible idea. Until technology operates perfectly, all the time, every time, smart guns will not be reliable.
The Aramatix was supposed to start a generation of smart pistols. It was designed so that only the authorized user could fire the gun.
At least that was the selling point…
The iP1 is a 22 LR pistol, so it’s not exactly a defensive caliber.
The problem with the smart gun is that it doesn’t always work.
What I mean is, the watch worn by the user could take up to 20 minutes to connect.
Then, it could take multiple button commands and many more seconds before you could fire it.
So, you would need to tell the bad guy to wait until your watch and gun connect.
In addition, the gun was known to fail to fire. And it had to be within ten inches of the watch to work.
If you own any of these guns you may own a piece of history.
But don’t use any of them for self-defense.
And if you do shoot any of these guns, remember to always keep the muzzle pointed at something you are willing to shoot…
Because history has shown that you never know when it will go bang.
