Ugly Guns of the Past

If you’re a Gunsmith, don’t Look

Whether inherited, purchased or received as gifts you would think most guns are cool looking. The following guns classifies as “ugly”, in these ugliness lies the DIY gunsmiths working within their lack of resources. Many early automatic weapons and pistols were designed without a complete understanding of what works, leading to strange and ugly guns that barely worked.
Desperate times during World War II led to a need for cheap, easily made firearms, and there wasn’t time to make them with clean lines and beauty. The result? Some of the ugliest guns and weapons ever made.
Modern designs have also been accused of lacking beauty, especially “bullpup” rifles, where the magazine actually goes behind the trigger. Try doing a speed reload, its a bitch.
While this reduces the length and weight of the weapon, making it easier to carry, it also makes for a strange looking, quasi-futuristic rifle that lacks the classic beauty of earlier weapons.
And sometimes, prevailing design fads take over, especially in communist countries, where principles in Soviet architecture led to blocky, metallic-looking firearms – many of which didn’t work. The ones that did work, almost in any conditions. (Kalishnikov AK’s)

Here are some of the ugliest guns of the past:

- FP-45 Liberator
  
  The FP-45 Liberator is a pistol manufactured by the United States military during World War II for use by resistance forces in occupied territories.

- Shattuck Palm Pistol
  
  The Protector Palm Pistol is a small .32 rimfire revolver designed to be concealed in the palm of the hand. It was unique in that the revolver was clasped in a fist with the barrel protruding between two fingers and the entire handgun was squeezed in order to fire a round.
- ZB-47
  
  The ZB-47 was a submachine gun of Czechoslovak origin chambered in the 9 x 19 mm Parabellum round fed from a 32 round magazine.
- Duck’s Foot Pistol
  
  The principle behind this type of pistol is one of confrontation by one person against a group
- Korobov TKB-022
  
  This is the Soviet bullpup assault rifles version
- Erma EMP-44
  
  The EMP 44 was a prototype, all-metal submachine gun produced by Erma Werke in 1943. It was rejected by the Heereswaffenamt.

Gyrojet Carbine

named for the method of gyroscopically stabilizing its projectiles. Rather than inert bullets, Gyrojets fire small rockets called Microjets which have little recoil and do not require a heavy barrel to resist the pressure of the combustion gases.
Warner Infallible

The Infallible Pistol was a .32 ACP calibre handgun manufactured by the Davis-Warner Arms Corp during the early 20th century.
Dreyse M1907

The Dreyse Model 1907 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Louis Schmeisser. The pistol had an interesting feature for the time: when the gun was ready to fire, the firing pin projected through the back of the breech block, serving as an early handgun-cocking indicator.
Apache Revolver

An Apache revolver is a handgun which incorporates multiple other weapons, made notorious by the French underworld figures of the early 1900s known as Les Apaches.