Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have one of the rarest production firearms you’ll ever see – a Casull Model 290 semi-automatic rifle. Estimated production of 87 units or fewer made between 1966-1967. This is the direct predecessor to the American Arms 180. Richard Casull is better known for the .454 Casull cartridge and heavy-hitting revolvers, but this rifle shows his engineering mind on the opposite end of the spectrum – high capacity .22 LR from a compact package. The Model 290 gets its name from its magazine capacity: 290 rounds of .22 LR in a top-mounted platter magazine.
Casull patented a two-piece platter design with an outer magazine featuring multiple internal vertical tracks and a fixed feed ramp, paired with an inner detachable spring-loaded power unit. The cartridges sit in vertical tracks and feed down through the center as the platter rotates. Complex, but it solved the problem of massive capacity without constant jamming. The rifle operates from an open bolt with ambidextrous downward ejection. “Thompson meets Lewis Gun” aesthetic – ribbed barrel shroud, grooved forearm, rear pistol grip, quick-detach buttstock. The internal striker design is particularly clever. Casull used an elongated vertical striker that hits the rimfire cartridge at both 12 and 6 o’clock positions. Redundancy built in for ignition reliability.
The Model 290 never went into real production. Too complicated, too expensive, too hand-fitted to manufacture at scale. But it proved the concept worked, and the American Arms 180 that followed simplified the design just enough to make limited production viable. Finding a Casull 290 today is extraordinary. Most were probably shot to pieces, lost, or destroyed over the decades.
Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!
“Casull Model 290 Semi-Automatic Platter-Fed Rifle.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4095/3622/casull-model-290-semiautomatic-plattered-rifle. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
The post POTD: Casull Model 290 – Forgotten Prototype Changed .22LR Forever appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.
