Longest produced firearm

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

  • No ad networks!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    Depends on how picky you get on Continuous .

    If you overlook the pause between 1st Gen and 2nd Gen , then Colt SAA ( 1873 ).

    Failing that , I'll go with S&W K Frame for longest truely continous handgun ( 1899) .

    Now if you said ARM rather than Firearm , the USMC NCO Sword ( 1859) .
     

    aray

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 6, 2010
    5,294
    MD -> KY
    I know you meant something else :) but here's a different type of "longest" produced firearm.

    The longest was the WWI Paris Gun with a barrel length of 34 meters (111 feet 7 inches). It opened fire on Paris on March 21, 1918 and fired between 320 to 367 shells before it was removed in August. Each shot wore away so much metal that each shell had to be a different caliber, and sequenced accordingly. The barrels had to be replaced after only 65 rounds. In total Germany produced seven barrels. The range was so far (120km or 75 miles) that the Germans had to take into account the Coriolis Effect, i.e. the rotation of the earth, when they did their trajectory calculations.

    Paris Gun artillery wagon.jpg

    The second longest was the WWII Schwerer Gustav. Its barrel length was 32.5 meters (106 feet 8 inches), with an overall weapon length of 47.3 meters (155 feet 2 inches) when you threw in all the rest. The Heavy Gustav is a better known weapon. It was designed to be deployed against the French Maginot Line, however the German flanking maneuver and their Blitzkrieg were so effective it was never used for that. The first of the two Gustavs was used in the Russian Front from 5-17 June 1942 for the siege of Sevastopol. It fired 48 rounds in battle on top of the 250 rounds in testing and its barrel was then worn out. The second Gustav was deployed on 13 September 1942 for the siege of Stalingrad.

    Schwerer Gustav railway gun.jpg
    dora shell.jpg

    All of the railway superguns were clearly lethal weapons and psychologically intimidating, but at what cost? They diverted enormous material resources to produce and large numbers of personnel to operate, making them of arguable military value.
     

    Blacksmith101

    Grumpy Old Man
    Jun 22, 2012
    22,154
    You are all thinking about "modern" guns.

    What about the British Land Pattern Musket aka Brown Bess
    In service British Army 1722–1838
    Produced 1722–1860s (all variants)
    Used by others in combat as late as Anglo-Zulu War in 1879
     

    Clovis

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 1, 2011
    1,408
    Centreville
    I'm thinking Lee-Enfield first issued in 1889 in .303 British with a black powder load, made through the 1960's or longer and still on issue in some areas of the world. The action is basically unchanged since Lee designed it.
     

    Neutron

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Nov 20, 2014
    1,532
    severna park
    The Mosin Nagant 1891-1965. The AK 47 1947-present and probably will continue production for a very long time. So in 3 years, give or take a few months, the AK will catch up to the Mosin in terms of longevity.
     

    mawkie

    C&R Whisperer
    Sep 28, 2007
    4,337
    Catonsville
    The Lee Enfield gets my vote for longest production run, maybe service too. Produced for roughly 75 years from 1908 to the early 1980s. And I remember seeing Indian policemen armed with SMLEs and No4s on TV at the terrorist siege in Mumbai in 2008 so 100 yrs in the field. For all I know they're still in service in India.
     

    Attachments

    • 000_Del248070[1]--621x414.jpg
      000_Del248070[1]--621x414.jpg
      64.9 KB · Views: 243

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    Well, by that count the Enfield action was in use prior to WWI through the Ishapores in the 60s as well. I guess the first Mauser would've been the 71? Still older.

    The AK is pretty damn old too

    I think you’d want to look at the action with no real modifications. If that is the case it was the Gewher 1898 which I think more or less stopped being produced in the late 40s or early 50s with some of the Eastern block clones finally phasing our production.

    That makes the Lee-Enfield older as that was something like 1891 to 1960s and the Mosin Nagant was early 1890s to around mid 1950s IIRC.

    This is if we are just talking centerfire guns.

    The Land Pattern Musket (Brown Bess) is likely the longest continuous service 1722 to 1838 were the dates of service with the British.

    PS yeah, crazy that the M16/4 is probably just about up there as the longest continuously issued and produced rifle. I don’t know that I’d count the AK as the AK74 has more differences between it and the AK47 than the M16 does to the M4A1/2 and M16A3/4.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    I know you meant something else :) but here's a different type of "longest" produced firearm.

    The longest was the WWI Paris Gun with a barrel length of 34 meters (111 feet 7 inches). It opened fire on Paris on March 21, 1918 and fired between 320 to 367 shells before it was removed in August. Each shot wore away so much metal that each shell had to be a different caliber, and sequenced accordingly. The barrels had to be replaced after only 65 rounds. In total Germany produced seven barrels. The range was so far (120km or 75 miles) that the Germans had to take into account the Coriolis Effect, i.e. the rotation of the earth, when they did their trajectory calculations.

    View attachment 242278

    The second longest was the WWII Schwerer Gustav. Its barrel length was 32.5 meters (106 feet 8 inches), with an overall weapon length of 47.3 meters (155 feet 2 inches) when you threw in all the rest. The Heavy Gustav is a better known weapon. It was designed to be deployed against the French Maginot Line, however the German flanking maneuver and their Blitzkrieg were so effective it was never used for that. The first of the two Gustavs was used in the Russian Front from 5-17 June 1942 for the siege of Sevastopol. It fired 48 rounds in battle on top of the 250 rounds in testing and its barrel was then worn out. The second Gustav was deployed on 13 September 1942 for the siege of Stalingrad.

    View attachment 242279
    View attachment 242280

    All of the railway superguns were clearly lethal weapons and psychologically intimidating, but at what cost? They diverted enormous material resources to produce and large numbers of personnel to operate, making them of arguable military value.

    Yeah I imagine you could have made a BUNCH of 203mm guns and deployed them for the same material, personnel and development costs. And fielded them much more easily.

    Those railway guns are scary AF, but I’d rather have 8 batteries of 203mm firing 6x faster per gun.
     

    capt14k

    Active Member
    Jul 27, 2015
    221
    The Mosin Nagant 1891-1965. The AK 47 1947-present and probably will continue production for a very long time. So in 3 years, give or take a few months, the AK will catch up to the Mosin in terms of longevity.
    Though as I posted above the receiver for the Mosin Nagant was used in Military Production rifles til 1985 by the Finns and they are still in service today.

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
     

    CodeWarrior1241

    Active Member
    Sep 23, 2013
    827
    Lutherville
    AK counts. Type 2 receivers still get machined out there for M43 caliber, and that's basically the original firearm westerners think of. The clock for it doesn't really start at 1947 though, it didn't become something usable until 1949, and didn't really get mass produced until the very early 50s. My father's issued AK-47 was stamped 1951. AKMs are arguably a deep modification, Soviets didn't have much experience cold stamping non pistol calibers prior and there were many issues to work out. Not sure if that's what was meant by continuous unchanged production.

    The Mosin rifles went through many changes. Arguably the Stalin era modifications changed enough that it's difficult to call the rifle unchanged continuously produced.

    So, milled M43 AKs are still made, basically without any change whatsoever. I'd argue that there are more of those made worldwide today than 5.45mm, as the Soviets have very limited production of that going in light of the millions of 74Ms in storage. Very few other countries adopted it - just a few of the more advanced CIS states - who have large stores but limited to no production capability of their own.

    Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
     

    noddaz

    bonehead
    Jan 9, 2014
    529
    Arnold
    as Threeband said, Marlin 39A

    And the Marlin website says: (So it MUST be true.)
    Descended from our original Model 1891, the Model 39 rimfire lever-action remains the oldest continuously produced cartridge rifle in the world. A must-have for serious collectors and a must-shoot for lever-action enthusiasts the world over. The same timeless & trustworthy tubular magazine design thatmade it a coveted firearm in the Old West makes it just as effective and valuable today. Contact our master craftsmen to begin the process of customizing your very own, and watch your legend grow.
     

    capt14k

    Active Member
    Jul 27, 2015
    221
    Nearly Unaltered

    Enfield No4 Mk I 78 years in service, 114 years of service overall for Lee-Enfield

    M2 Ma Deuce 97 years and counting, I believe still being produced.

    1911 106 years and counting in service, military production for 69


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     

    K-43

    West of Morning Side
    Oct 20, 2010
    1,881
    PG
    The 39 went into production in 1921, a continuous production of 97 years. I'm not sure it's predecessor counts. It had a different model number, different reciever, different magazine, and different method of loading the magazine.
    Hence, Brown Bess still wins at 116 years.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    I think it may have been mentioned, but the S&W model 10 has been in continuous production since 1899 until today. I don't know enough about them to say if the variants over the years are sufficiently changed to consider them different guns. But that is 119 years of production. Though not a military service arm (today anyway, I think a few countries used some of them, at least in a secondary capacity). That might be up there for pistols.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    S&W themselves consider it to be in continuous production since 1899 . Worst case of pickieness , would still date to 1902 .
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Forum statistics

    Threads
    274,918
    Messages
    7,258,752
    Members
    33,348
    Latest member
    Eric_Hehl

    Latest threads

    Top Bottom