I am introducing a new segment here on the blog....this is a collection of random, yet interesting photos involving firearms.
U.S. Soldiers discover a cache of SKS rifles buried in a Vietnam Jungle
Sailors aboard the USS Alliance (note the sail rigging) show off their new Gatling Gun. I am guessing this picture was taken just before or during the Spanish American War (1898 or so)
German soldiers wearing gas-masks, manning a light anti-aircraft gun during the First World War. The gun is the Maxim Flak M14, a version of the 37-mm Maxim-Nordenfelt gun. Check out the drum magazine...
A cache of AK rifles found in Afghanistan
1892 Coffeyville, KS, The Dalton Gang posing postmortem, following their failed raid
A young nurse in Vietnam poses with a borrowed M1 Carbine
1950's U.S. Army's Nuclear, Biological, Chemical survival gear
German Olympic Shooting Team, Sweden 1912
Her name was Simone Segouin, also known by her nom de guerre Nicole Minet. When this photo was taken she was 18 years old. The girl had killed two Germans in the Paris fighting two days previously and also had assisted in capturing 25 German POWs during the fall of Chartres. She was member the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans group (French for “free shooters”), the group named themselves after the French irregular light infantry and saboteurs who fought the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War.
Women inspecting Colt .45 parts, at Colt's Patent Fire Arms Plant in Hartford. (Photo: Library of Congress)
Early belt fed version of the AR-10 rifle
Members of the Volkspolizei, the East German national police, check an elderly man's papers at the Berlin Wall, 11th September 1961. Only those whose houses are adjacent to the wall are allowed within 100 meters of it. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Notice the PPSH-41 submachine guns slung over their shoulders.
This 4-story (12 meters) behemoth stood 20 feet wide (7 meters) and 140 feet long (47 meters). Its 500 man crew, commanded by a Major-General, needed nearly three full days (54 hours, to be exact) to set it up and prep for firing. With a maximum elevation of 48 degrees, the Gustav shell could fire shells weighing seven tons to a range of 47 kilometers (29 miles). The caliber was 80 cm (31.4 "), and Gustav could fire 1 round every 30 to 45 minutes.
This is a picture of a very unassuming man and his small collection of rifles. What you may not know is that this man was once one of the most feared men by the Russian Army, he was known as the "White Death". His name is Simo Hayha, he is credited with the most confirmed kills of any sniper in the history of war (505). The picture was taken after WWII, in his home, in Finland. I don't know if any of the rifles on display were used by him during the Winter War, but we can wonder..
You may recognize this picture from my post If these Guns Could Talk
References
NZ History
Gun Runner Hell
Ibiblio
Flickr
Rare Historical Photos
Historical Firearms
Vintag