GunHobbyist.com is an online guide to military small arms of the 20th century and their use in combat.

The pistols and rifles used by the combatants of the previous hundred years are a fascinating subject that is probably impossible to completely catalog not only because of the huge variety of guns developed by thousands of companies around the world, large and small, but also as the line between military and civilian firearms is often blurred by the development and manufacturing processes as well as the needs of the military and civilian marketplace. Often civilian gun designs are taken over for military use, and military designs adopted for the civilian and law enforcement marketplaces. A good example is Colt's M1911 pistol, designed specifically for the military's requirements, and then sold virtually unchanged on the civilian market. The M1897 trench gun is essentially an off the shelf Winchester Model 1897 pump action shotgun. There is the 1903 Springfield, adapted from the 1897 Mauser, both military rifles, yet the design of their action comprises the majority of the bolt action hunting rifles on the market today. Finally there are the ivory-handled revolvers worn famously in combat by U.S. General George S. Patton, a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum, and a Colt .45, neither weapon being "government issue".

The goal of this web site is to provide an overview of those weapons, and many, many more, and how they were used in combat in the 20th century. We will focus on actual government issued firearms here primarily, veering into commercial firearms only as necessary to complete the narrative. This will be an ongoing project and due to the nature of it's subject matter will evolve, and never be complete. I hope you enjoy the web site.