European military arms went through a phase where it was fashionable to named them after the inventor, from about 1800 to WWI. The Baker rifle, Whitworth rifle (that named after the inventor of the rifling system) Dryese Needle gun, Kropatscheck, Schmidt-Rubin, etc. The US's sole contribution was the Hall Rifle. (well, some supplementary issue carbines such as Spencer, Sharps, Burnside, etc.) Russia combined the type of gun with the inventor's name, or the start of it. (Mosin-Nagant; CPT Sergei I Mosin invented the rifle [really just modified the Berdan to a repeater. Leon Nagant invented the Interruptor for it.) For instance, The PPSh-41 stands for Pistol Puloymet, Shpagin, goud 1941, or Submachinegun, Shpagin's design, year of 1941. (Again, basically a copy of the Suomi KP-31, itself and adaptation of the British Lancaster SMG, or German MP18, take your pick. This seems to be a theme in Russian weapons development.) They still do it to this day, such as AN-94, Avtomat Nikonov, 1994. (this differs from Russian airplane design, they are named after the Design Bureau, i.e. Sukhoi 24, a soviet copy/adaptation of the F-111.)
Some guns have fanciful names such as the Mossberg Shockwave. High Standard Sentinel (as .308 Norma mentioned) implies the gun sits on watch. The Victor model was in the winner's circle many time. Remington geared theirs towards hunting. Wingmaster. Woodsmaster.
AR's are a category all their own. The Saint. Dissapator. Overwatch (Nemo)
Can anyone guess? Betcha can't!!!
