Tag Archives: Bushmaster Arm pistol

Return of the Arm Pistol

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Arguably the first large format AR-style pistol to hit the market is now set to make a return, no brace needed.

Firearms maverick Mack Gwinn Jr., a Vietnam-era Special Forces veteran, in the early 1970s acquired the rights to Colt-made IMP-221, a stockless, gas-operated bullpup pistol intended to provide aircrew with a compact survival gun chambered in .221 Fireball. While the Air Force had already scrapped the project, Gwinn made lemons into lemonade, adapting the design to use 5.56 NATO and accept standard AR mags, launching the Bushmaster Arm Pistol.

Bushmaster Armpistol ads started popping up in the early-1970s

The original Gwinn/Bushmaster Arm Pistol borrowed from both AR-15 and AK-47 designs, with its AR-style rotating bolt and AK-type long-stroke gas piston.

Based on the Colt IMP-221/ Air Force GUU-4/P air crew weapon originally designed at Eglin Air Force Base, the original Gwinn Firearms in Bangor, Maine produced the 5.56mm Bushmaster Arm Pistol “in limited quantities” for the USAF in the early 1970s before sending it to the consumer market. Just 20.63 inches long, the Arm Pistol had a lot of M16-style features in a very abbreviated bullpup format.

With the Arm Pistol long out of production and Bushmaster now in at least its third reincarnation since Gwinn sold the company in 1976, his son, Mack Gwinn III, has founded Maine-based Hydra Weaponry and returned a much-improved version of the design to production.

We caught up with the fine folks from Hydra at the recent 2024 NRA Annual Meetings in Dallas to “lay arm” on the new BMP-23.

Hydra feels the BMP-23 is the 5.56mm pistol that Gwinn Jr. would have built if he had access to today’s CNC machinery and technologically advanced materials.

‘Father of the PDW’ Passes: Mack Gwinn Jr, Dies at 79

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Florida-born Mack W. Gwinn, Jr., the son of a retired Army officer, joined the U.S. Army Special Forces in 1961 and served until 1972, a period that included seven deployments to Vietnam, earning several Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star in the process.

Then, on return stateside following the war, he developed the Bushmaster Arm Pistol. The concept, a pistol-sized gas piston firearm that used an intermediate round rather than a pistol caliber, could rightly be described as one of the first personal defense weapons and predated the initial crop of large format AR handguns such as the OA-93 by a generation.

Moving on from Bushmaster, Gwinn went on to take out several patents on magazines as well as design and develop concepts for numerous other firearms applications including the SSP-86 pistol (see the Magnum Research Lone Eagle), developed the QCB system that FN used for the modern M2HB/M3 .50 cal, and lots of other neat stuff.

Capt. Mack W. Gwinn, Jr. (U.S. Army, Ret.), 79, died on March 11, 2024, at the Maine Veterans’ Hospital in Togus.

Remember the Arm Pistol? It’s Back (Maybe)

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Designed by Mack W. Gwinn, Jr, Bushmaster Armpistol ads started popping up for the gun in the early-1970s. It was arguably the first AR pistol on the consumer market. 

Mack W. Gwinn, Jr, a Vietnam-era member of the Army’s Special Forces recon teams, was also an un-lauded 1970s firearms genius. He created the Bushmaster series pistols (the Arm Pistol), rifles, and SMGs; the QCB variant of the .50 cal M-2HB, the SSP-86 pistol, and the 90-round MWG magazine for M16 and Mini-14.

His son, Mack Gwinn, III, now leads Hydra Weaponry.

HW was supposed to come to SHOT show and exhibit the newest version of the old Arm Pistol, the BMP-223, but their booth space (40420) was empty when we went looking for them in “the basement.”

As noted by Hydra: “The BMP-23 is the 5.56m pistol that Gwinn Jr. would have built if he had today’s CNC machinery and technologically advanced materials.

The AK47-type gas piston design pistol with an A2 grip is composed of lightweight aluminum and steel construction, coming in at 5.2 lbs. The chrome-moly barrel is 11.5 inches. The BMP-23 features integral iron sights and a unique 40-degree swivel design that allows it to switch from right to left-hand operation.”

Sounds cool. Be a lot cooler if we could have seen it.

Everything old is new again: Black Rifle Edition

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The ArmaLite-branded AR-10 and AR-15 disappeared from the marketplace by 1962 as the company sold its rights and patents concerning the designs to Colt’s Manufacturing Company and the limited manufacturing license with the Dutch Artillerie Inrichtingen (A.I.). firm expired. After that, Colt was the only all-up maker of completed ARs until the late 1970s when other companies started to come on line.

When I say “other companies” I am talking about now-classic black rifle makers Bushmaster, DPMS, and Olympic Arms, all of which faded out in 2020.

Well, for two out of three of those, the demise was short-lived and they are now back for 2021, under new ownership.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Bushmaster Resurrected

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Founded in 1978 in Windham, Maine, from the remnants of the even older Gwinn Arms company (see the Arm Pistol), Bushmaster was one of the first makers of AR-style firearms outside of Colt. Its line included the lightweight Carbon-15, the massive .50-cal BA50, the seriously weird M17S Bullpup rifle, the XM-10, the XM-15 rifles, and others. Importantly, the firm was one of the first to market flattop optics-ready ARs and AR pistols, beating many of its competitors to the punch.

The BA-50, one of Bushmaster’s more interesting products

Then the Cerebrus Group/Freedom Group came along and upset the whole apple cart. They closed the Maine factory, moved operations to North Carolina and later Alabama under Remington’s umbrella, and just generally traded the company’s rep in for poorly QC’d guns without further innovation. Then, in 2019, Remington snuffed the brand out to try to exit the black rifle verse under legal pressure.

Well, Bushmaster is back, now owned by Franklin Armory, so stay tuned.

Bail Out Guns, Fireball Edition

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The basis for many of today’s best survival and trail guns, the U.S. military developed a series of compact, takedown, and foldable designs to give aircrew something just in case they had to hit the silk.

You may know of guns like the M4 (the bolt-action .22 Hornet made by H&R in 1949, not today’s 5.56mm Carbine) as well as the M5 and M6 combination guns, but have you heard of the Individual Multi-purpose Weapon of the 1960s?

Designed at Eglin AFB’s weapon lab, Colt made five of IMP-221s (as they were chambered in .221 Fireball, or 5.56x36mm) for testing as the GUU-4P, which later led to the Bushmaster Armpistol.

For more, go down the rabbit hole in my column at Guns.com

The lost ‘Arm Gun’

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Hank Strange visits with the Matt Gwinn-designed “Arm Pistol” an oddball produced by Bushmaster back in the 1980s for an Air Force contract that never got off the ground in the above video.

What was the Arm Pistol?

Well, it started off in the 1960’s with Dale Davis of USAF Armament Laboratory as the Individual Multi-purpose Weapon (GUU-4/P) and was contracted to Colt in 1968 as a 1.5-pound gun with a 13-inch total length, capable of firing out to 100 meters effectively to be used as a aircrew survival weapon. At the time, SAC bomber crews had .38 revolvers and various AR5 rifles (in .22) under their seats, and could use some more firepower if down in Siberia somewhere. The gun, chambered in .221 Fireball (5.56x36mm), became the IMP-221 Individual Multi-purpose Weapon but never really was adopted.

imp-221_1

There were several variants of the Arm Pistol that popped up from the mid-1970s until Bushmaster ended the line in 1988 but the basic concept was a .223 Rem chambered handgun with an 11.75-inch barrel and STANAG magwell but using an AK-47 style piston system. It was the same concept as the IMP-221, but a good bit heavier (2.85 lbs with a full 20-round mag) and a skosh longer (20.63-inches over the flash suppressor).

Offered to the military for use as a lightweight and compact survival piece for aircrew lost behind the lines, the company reportedly closed a deal in 1985 with the USAF for 2,100 guns which was later rescinded, leaving Bushmaster to sell them commercially.

bushmaster-pistol

From the Bushmaster Armpistol Manual:

The Bushmaster weapons system was based on the function and operating principles of the patented IMP aircrew survival weapon designed at the United States Air Force Armament Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base. Subsequent design changes integrated the battle proven characteristics of the U. S. military M16 and the unexcelled gas system of the Russian military AK-47; thus attaining the simplicity and functionability of the current Bushmaster production.

By consistently and methodically applying these principles, it has been possible to make a high percentage of all individual parts in the various weapons comprising the Bushmaster system identical and thus interchangeable both among our various models and with the Colt M16.

The overall concept of the U. S. M16 and Soviet AK-47 have been in military use for many years and both countries continue to produce these proven designs in large quantities. Along with these concepts, the utilization of all practicable new developments in the field of weapons technology, improved materials and the empl.bymenVs of the most advanced machine tools and special equipment insures that the shooter has at his disposal a weapon of .. sophisticated design and technology.

The weapon was so iconic to Bushmaster’s early line, that the company’s logo for years contained the arm pistol outline:

bushmaster-arm-gun-logo

Hank’s is provided by Walter Keller at Safety Harbor Firearms, who has an early model variant with the charging handle on the top of the receiver. Later models used a side-mounted handle.