Some of these designs were ahead of their time, while others were merely attractive on paper.
Hunting Gun Models You May Have Never Heard Of
1. Winchester Model 70 with Semiconductor Radio
Before Bluetooth speakers or AirPods existed, this gun was equipped with a radio.
An integrated radio in the stock would certainly be quite appealing.
The semiconductor radio was first commercially sold in the U.S. in 1954 and quickly became popular. Someone at Winchester must have wondered: who wouldn’t want a gun with an integrated radio?
Why not? Guns could come with a compass, a first-aid kit, a ammo box, or even a grain mill in the stock. The integrated radio in the stock would surely be a big draw. In 1955, Winchester produced the Model 70 in .308 caliber, made of plated metal with a semiconductor radio embedded in the stock, featuring an exterior ‘W’ emblem. After showcasing the gun at several fairs that year and receiving no enthusiastic feedback, Winchester shelved the idea.
*”During the Cold War, someone had the interesting idea to put a grain mill for horse feed in the stock so soldiers could process food for their horses. Some reports say it was for grinding coffee.”
2. Remington Parker Shotgun
Parker shotguns have an enchanting appeal that keeps them at the top of hunters’ lists.
Among American double-barrel shotguns, Parker guns have a magical allure that consistently places them among the favorites of hunters and marksmen. Parker had to sell the brand to Remington during the Great Depression. Remington ceased production of Parker shotguns in 1942.
In 1984, Parker models were remade and produced in Japan, returning to the American market as quality guns that attracted considerable attention. Perhaps someone at Remington noticed that if Americans were willing to buy remade Parker shotguns from Japan, they would surely also buy the real versions. In 1987, Remington’s custom gun shop produced several 20-gauge Parker double-barreled shotguns, merging the original Parker design with modern details like a ventilated rib.
3. .22 Semi-Automatic John Wayne/Jim Sullivan
John Wayne’s .22 Rifle (designed by Jim Sullivan)
John Wayne became friends with Jim Sullivan at the Armalite gun shop when he often went to fix his boat at the garage next door. Both designed the M16 rifle and later the Ruger Mini-14, Model 77, Ultimax machine gun, and many other famous models.
Due to business risks, the .22’’ model with easy disassembly, along with another rifle model from Wayne Gun Company, could not come to fruition, much like the fate of the company itself.
4. Savage Model 99 Semi-Automatic by Bill Ruger
In 1942, a young man from Brooklyn appeared at the Springfield Armory with a Savage Model 99 rifle he had designed. He transformed a lever-action rifle into a semi-automatic gas-operated firearm. The armory staff were impressed and offered William B. Ruger a job as a gun designer.
A small change could have become popular as the demand for self-loading semi-automatic guns increased.
Ruger wrote about this gun in the December 1943 issue of American Rifleman, stating that while the change was small, it could become popular as the need for self-loading semi-automatic guns grew.
Ruger and his partner Alexander Sturm began their gun business in 1949, but they never produced self-loading guns. Instead, Ruger designed the .44 Magnum carbine rifle, followed by the 10/22. The 10/22 version features a rotary magazine, possibly inspired by Savage, and became a resounding success with over 7 million units produced and sold.
5. Luger .45
In 1906 and 1907, the U.S. Army tested various handguns to select a standard model. Manufacturers presented revolvers and semi-automatics, along with a hybrid Webley-Fosbery with an automatic revolving barrel. Georg Luger from the German DMW company created enlarged versions of some lever-action guns, chambered in .45 caliber, to bring to the U.S. for testing.
Although the DMW pistol worked reliably enough for further testing by the U.S. Army before adoption, the Model 1911 won the competition, marking the beginning of its military application history. DMW later did not commercialize their test models, likely because they had signed contracts with the German army, which is why each side in both World Wars used either Lugers or 1911s.
One of the remaining test models was sold for $150 in 1949, later resold for one million dollars and has since been referred to as the “million-dollar gun.” A replica even appeared in the movie Wall Street, in a scene where Gordon Gekko boasts about owning the rarest gun in the world.
6. US Army 45A Rifle
Although bullpup firearms – compact guns with the action and magazine behind the trigger – have a history dating back to the 1900s, the concept only gained popularity in the 1950s. Today, there are several iconic bullpup designs, such as the Austrian Steyr AUG, which first appeared in 1978.
The 45A model remains a curious mystery.
The 45A model is a strange mystery. It is unclear whether this was a real firearm or merely a non-functional model, but it seems to have been an invention by U.S. military personnel in the Philippines in 1945. It only appeared in photographs, with just one warrior on the battlefield. The gun uses a .30 caliber magazine, with a sight that could double as a carrying handle similar to that on the Steyr AUG.
7. John Browning’s Flapper Gun
John Browning had his “Eureka!” moment in 1890 when he and his brother Matthew conceived the idea to improve rifle range. Browning noticed the blast of air exiting from the muzzle caused the surrounding grass to sway and realized that the energy in this airflow could be harnessed to aid in the loading mechanism. That same day, John and Matthew redesigned the Winchester 1873 with a lever-action loading mechanism, transforming it into a gas-operated system.
The redesigned gun featured a lever-action loading mechanism transformed into a gas-operated system.
The Browning brothers added a metal plate with holes that allowed the bullet to pass through to the chamber connected to the lever. When the airflow from the muzzle struck the metal plate, it would move this plate to facilitate the loading process. With this mechanism, the Brownings produced the first gas-operated machine gun, the Model 1895, which was nicknamed “the potato digger” because the lever underneath the barrel would move back and forth during operation.
