Hey, this is going to become a list of firearms related museums across the world it'll will be linked in the side bar.

If there's any museums you know comment them and I'll add them below. This is and will likely always be an incomplete list.

If you don't know any museums but you don't see your country represented let me know and we'll see if we can't find one to add.

Africa

Egypt 🇪🇬

• National Military Museum, Cairo

Ethiopia 🇪🇹

• National Museum, Addis Ababa

Kenya 🇰🇪

• National Museum of Kenya, Nairobi

South Africa 🇿🇦

• National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg

Tanzania 🇹🇿

• National Museum, Dar es Salaam

Asia

China 🇨🇳

• Military History Museum, Beijing

Japan 🇯🇵

• Edo Firearms Museum, Tokyo
• Pistol Museum, Tanegashima

Russia 🇷🇺

• Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow
• Tula State Museum of Arms, Tula

Singapore 🇸🇬

• Army Museum, Singapore

South Korea 🇰🇷

• Army Museum, Seoul

Vietnam 🇻🇳

• Military and War Museum, Ho Chi Minh

Europe

Austria 🇦🇹

• Neue Burg, Vienna

Belgium 🇧🇪

• Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History, Brussels

France 🇫🇷

• *Mémorial de Caen, Normandy"
• Musée de l’Armée, Paris

Germany 🇩🇪

• Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
• Waffenmuseum, Suhl

Italy 🇮🇹

• Museo Storico Italiano della Guerra, TN

Malta 🇲🇹

• Malta Time-Gun Museum, Valletta

Netherlands 🇳🇱

• Verzetsmuseum, Amsterdam

Poland 🇵🇱

• Museum of the Second World War, Gdańsk
• Warsaw Uprising Museum, Warszawa

Romania 🇷🇴

• Army Museum, Brașov

Spain 🇪🇸

• Casa de la Guerra, Barcelona

Sweden 🇸🇪

• Armémuseum, Stolkholm
• Eskilstuna Stadsmuseum, Eskilstuna

Ukraine 🇺🇦

• Baturyn Historic and Cultural Reserve - Museum of Hetmancy, Chernihiv
• Lviv Arsenal, Lviv
• National Museum-Preserve of Ukrainian Military Achievements, Kyiv

UK 🇬🇧

• Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
• Imperial War Museum, London
• National Army Museum, London
• Royal Armories, Leeds + Portsmouth

North America

Canada 🇨🇦

• Historical Arms Museum, ON
• Evergreen Firearms Museum, MB

Mexico 🇲🇽

• Museo del Ejército y Fuerza Aérea Mexicanos, Pueblo

• Museo de la Revolución, Mexico City

US 🇺🇲

• Cody Firearms, WY
• JM Davis Arms and Historical Museum, OK
• John M. Browning Firearms Museum, UT
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
• Museum of Connecticut History (Colt Collection), CT
• NRA Museums, MO + VA + NM
• Springfield National Armory, MA
• Shooter's Outpost, NH
• Smithsonian, DC

South America

Argentina 🇦🇷

• National Arms Museum, Ciudad de Buenos Aires

Chile 🇨🇱

• Museo Histórico y Militar, Santiago

Paraguay

• Museo Militar, Asunción

Peru 🇵🇪

• Museo del Ejército, Lima

Uruguay 🇺🇾

• Museo Nacional de Armas, Montevideo

Oceania

Australia 🇦🇺

• Lithgow Small Arms Factory, NSW

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https://www.germanhuntingguns.com/the-lorenzoni-flintlock-repeating-rifle/

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

I wouldn't advise putting your mouth on it, though

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.

Heard about them from this video (6:34). There doesn't seem to be much in terms of English language sources, from my brief searching, so if anyone finds more info please share.

https://youtu.be/Nwleh3lYjqI

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16948226

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

> https://www.collectorebooks.com/gregg01/Lot-88.htm

>...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 fire at exactly the same time, causing the chain-shot to fly wildly off target or the chain to break.

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>the gun was loaded with 3 drams (0.187 oz or 5.315 grams) of powder to fire a 3 pound (1.36 kg) Bomb Lance for an effective range slightly farther than one could throw a hand lance.

>As the name implies, it explodes once it has embedded itself into a whale. The conditions of whale hunting in the arctic led to the invention of the bomb lance. There, the presence of ice floes provide cover for whales to dive under, making it nearly impossible to execute a hand lance kill before the whale can escape. With bomb lances, a well directed shot assures a quick kill.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/04/30/whaling-gun-bomb-lance/

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/78/3511/colt-t12-espionage-pen-gun-in-12mm-with-wooden-storage-box

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16804781

Video from High Caliber History. He talks about a 1872 patent that also utilized triangular cartridges in pursuit of more efficacious form of ammunition. Long before the Dardick Tround.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16474034

For the metrically inclined:

40 inches = 1.016 meters

25 yards = 22.85 meters

40 yards = 36.576 meters

1 inches = 0.0254 meters or 2.54 centimeters

1 yard = 0.9144 meters

Saw this and thought someone here might find it interesting

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>In the Cantarini pistols, each magazine holds 10 balls, and the pistol probably had enough air for one magazine.

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>These pistols are .40 caliber and rifled with a polygroove pattern. Each barrel is 7″ long, and the overall length is 13″. They’re numbered to match their removable butts (for filling with air) because this was before the time of interchangeable parts (ca. 1815).

https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2007/08/cantarini-air-pistols/

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

Another example

https://www.brecon-radnor.co.uk/news/large-knife-to-be-donated-to-museum-after-readers-reveal-its-worth-82070

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205147095

Alternative Youtube Link

>The DeLisle Commando Carbine was developed in WW2 by the British. In WW2 the British commando used the rifle in covert military operation against axis powers. The DeLisle Commando Carbine is a bolt action integral suppressed 45 ACP rifle.

Ian's video: [13:32] https://youtu.be/YtzaVil5joc

>The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break open grenade launcher which fires a 40 x 46 mm grenade and first appeared during the Vietnam War. Because of its distinctive firing sound, it earned the nicknames of “Thumper”, “Thump-Gun” or “Blooper” among American soldiers; Australian units referred to it as the “Wombat Gun”. The M79 can fire a wide variety of 40 mm rounds, including explosive, anti-personnel, smoke, buckshot, flechette, and illumination. While largely replaced by the M203, the M79 has remained in service in many units worldwide in niche roles.

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Top picture is silver medalist Thomas Paine from the 1896 Summer games, the first year with a shooting competition. Bottom is gold medalist Vitalina Batsarashkina from the 2020 games.

https://www.ssusa.org/content/athens-1896-olympics-the-first-shots-for-record/

>AG-026 is a simple/direct blowback firearm firing from an open bolt with a fixed firing pin. The bolt itself is fairly compact and low profile with a small cross-sectional area for decreased resistance while cycling in water, however, it is linked to а pair of rotating gears/flywheels enclosed in the circular housings mounted to either side of the breech area. The gears increase the reciprocating mass to make the blowback action work properly. The gun was charged by rotating the handles located on the circular gear housings.

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>The AG-026 machine gun is chambered in 5.66x39mm, the same cartridge used in the APS rifle. This cartridge is based on the 5.45x39mm case, has a long 120mm (4.7″) projectile designed for stabilizing underwater, enhanced primer and neck seal as well as anti-corrosive coating on the case and bullet. The main load of 5.66x39mm cartridge is called MPS (МПС). Its 20 gram (308 grains) projectile has a muzzle velocity of 365 m/s (1200 fps). The effective range of this bullet fired from AG-026 is 30 meters at a 5-meter submersion depth, 10 meters at a 40-meter depth and up to 100 meters in the air.

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>The AG-026 machine gun was fed from a 27-round rotary magazine that represents a rotating closed-chain ammunition belt placed into an outer protective shell. The gun has a push feed action where the bolt simply pushes the aligned cartridge from the link to the chamber. The only control is apparently the safety selector on the right side of the receiver with safe and full-auto modes. The overall weight of this machine gun is 4.85 kilograms (10.7 lbs)... https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/09/30/soviet-ag-026-prototype-underwater-machine-gun/

Kel-Tec has long been renown as the most innovative (but not necessarily good) manufacturer of firearms. This prototype was designed during the 1994 AW ban, that's why it has a oddly cut barrel.

This novel barrel is for a mounting system that could attach muzzle devices without having a 'threaded barrel', which might have prohibited it legally.

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>The lower receiver and the trigger of this prototype rifle look to be 3D printed whereas the upper receiver cover is probably made of some sort of thermoplastic material like Kydex. The charging handle is located above the lower receiver and below the barrel. It is probably an ambidextrous or reversible one. The barrel looks to be fixed in place via a barrel nut. You can see the threaded portion of the barrel and the nut screwed on it right in the front of the lower receiver and Picatinny rail base.

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https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/04/06/kel-tec-prototype-308-bullpup-rifle/

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/HistoryArtifacts/t/1039837

> Ceremonial warhammer, Germany, 16th century AD

>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 enough to be interesting, but there’s more…the barrels are actually gently curved inside the furniture. And they have to be, in order to line up with both the stock and the sight rib.

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Not much is known about the origin of this gun including the date it was made. It sold in a 2019 auction for only $2,300.

Ian's Video: [5:52] https://youtu.be/GiVA7a2eIVg

>"The [Winchester] Ringblaster® Industrial tool is a heavy-duty shooting apparatus that is designed for multiple industrial applications. The industrial tool is coupled with our specialized Ringblaster® Mount system which has a precision weight balanced construction that helps maintain bull’s-eye accuracy, with substantially reduced vibration and recoil. The Ringblaster® can be fired by a manual lanyard operation or an auto fire operation. The Ringblaster® has been used by the cement, lime, and ferro alloy industries for over 60 years. Because it has proven to be durable, versatile and cost effective, it has been the tool that these industries depend on.

>The Western™ Industrial Tool is a portable alternative to the Ringblaster®. This tool utilizes a pistol grip and hanging bracket to allow an operator to shoot and maneuver in much tighter spaces and from a more broad range of angles. It was originally designed to remove ash build-up in power plant boilers. The portability and versatility of the Western™ tool makes it useful for many other industrial applications."

Here is some of the shells it uses:

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Video of it in use: [0:56]

https://youtu.be/uJG3uTUJ2J8

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/06/22/winchester-8-gauge-industrial-shotguns/

>CZ Tarantule was supposed to be used in cases where explosives couldn’t be used due to a high risk of collateral damage. The Tarantule uses a modified .50 caliber blank round loaded from the breech of the 18mm caliber smoothbore barrel to propel the 70ml of water which is poured down the muzzle and sealed in the bore via a special plug. The muzzle velocity of the water jet is a whopping 3500 m/s or 11,483 fps.

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https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2022/04/27/cz-tarantule-prototype-water-cannon/

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2024/01/16/hot-gat-fudd-crap-khyber-pass-ill-bid-last/

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This Romanian PAR-1 is mostly made up of traditional AKM parts with a twist. It features a pump action mechanism rather than a functioning gas system.

Interestingly unlike most pump actions the pump on this rifle is spring loaded. Meaning that it will slide back forward after being pulled back and released.

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Figured this might be of interest to Star Wars fans and appropriate given it's May 4th.

https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2024/ukraine-adopts-turkish-bts-12-shotgun-for-anti-drone-warfare

TFB's James Reeves test [19:20]: https://youtu.be/R2WDt6IHp-g

Found this really small channel but they have great production quality.

Video of it in use [1:00] (no audio): https://youtu.be/YoOaJclkSZg

>The Department of Defense’s research agency, DARPA, releasedfootage on Monday showing the bullet, after completing a prototype in February, as part of DARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program. Footage posted to DARPA’s official YouTube channel shows live-fire tests by an expert sniper and a first-time sniper. In both cases, the bullet course corrects in midair, speeding toward a target even if it’s not centered in the crosshairs. An optical guidance system enables the bullet to compensate for weather, wind and other factors that might push it off course.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/04/30/darpas-exacto-guided-bullet-makes-progress/

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https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/01/13/potd-weird-franken-gun-pickup-truck-gun-rack/

>“Since a regulation size football weighs 14 ounces, it was considered feasible to make a shaped charge grenade within this weight limitation. In addition, most US troops are familiar with throwing footballs,” according to the Army’s test report for the weapon.

>So Army researchers simply hollowed out a Nerf football — yes, the foam balls you threw as a child — and placed explosives inside.

>Footballs fly through the air because there is an even distribution of weight surrounding the hollow inside of the ball. But 14 ounces of explosives tended to make the trajectory of the Nerf grenade “unpredictable,” according to the test report.

https://www.historynet.com/nerf-football-grenade/