http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons You have probably heard of "ballistic" nylon, but everyone knows that soft armor is made of Kevlar, right? Well, it is today (and other similar fibers). But a few decades back, before Kevlar had been invented, Smith & Wesson was selling soft body armor made using layers of nylon - "ballistic" nylon. Thanks to Movie Gun Services, I had a chance to take a look at a vintage set of S&W body armor, complete with steel plates (rated for .38 S&W in the soft panels and .30 Carbine on the plates). For good measure, I also pulled out some revolver-launched tear gas grenades from the same period. Enjoy!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Scotti Model X (the X standing for the 10th year of the Italian Fascist era, or 1932) was one of several semiauto rifles tested by the Italian military during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Scotti entry into these competitions was chambered for the 6.5mm Carcano cartridge and used standard 6-round clips, identical to the Carcano bolt action rifles. It also used sights basically identical to Carcano rifle sights. Where it was rather unusual was its open-bolt action, a system typically found in machine guns. Open bolt means that when the rifle is ready to fire, the bolt is locked all the way back. Upon pulling the trigger, the bolt moves forward, picking up a cartridge, chambering it, firing it by means of a fixed firing pin, and then extracting and ejecting the spent case and locking open again, ready for another shot. This system can be used with either locked or blowback actions, and the Scotti X uses a two-lug rotating bolt to lock during firing. In total, just about 250 Scotti Model X rifles were manufactured, and the never progressed past initial field trials. A few later models were made in very small numbers as late as 1936, but these also failed to gain any acceptance.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Remington Rolling Block, introduced in 1866, was one of the most prolific single shot military rifles in the world. The combination of aggressive marketing, low cost, and an excellent design led to Remington selling literally millions of Rolling Block rifles to a huge number of military forces for several decades. By 1914, the era of the single shot military rifle was pretty much over, and Remington had ceased production of all their centerfire models of the Rolling Block. Until the French called, that is. France needed a reliable but inexpensive simple rifle to arm rear echelon troops like drivers and guards so that the modern Lebel and Berthier rifles could be concentrated on the front lines of the repidly growing First World War where they were needed most. The French had bought black powder Rolling Blocks during the Franco-Prussian War, and were familiar with the gun. The ordered 100,000 new Rolling Blocks in late 1914, chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge. These would be the only single-shot rifles manufactured entirely new for use in WWI, and Remington would follow this contract with another (less successful) for Mle. 1907/15 Berthier rifles.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The MAG-7 is an unusual shotgun made in South Africa in the 1990s, and imported to the US in small numbers. The idea of the gun was to offer maximum firepower in the smallest package possible, and to this end the gun had no buttstock and a 12.6 inch (320mm) barrel. It was chambered for 60mm 12 gauge shells, feeding from a 5-round detachable box magazine in the grip of the gun. Unfortunately, importation into the US required modification to the gun to avoid it being classified as an NFA "short barreled shotgun" or AOW. This entailed extending the barrel to about 20 inches inches (500mm) and adding a wooden buttstock. These changes utterly defeat the purpose of a small and concealable shotgun. In addition, the stock design is quite poor, and has a comb so high that getting a sight picture is very difficult. The general handling of the MAG-7 is also rather poor, in my opinion. The grip is quite large to accommodate the box magazine and the gun is bulkier and heavier than one might expect from photographs. The pump itself overlaps the trigger guard, which results in the shooter smacking their trigger finger, should they index it on the trigger guard which cycling the gun. The final strike against the MAG-7 in the US is its use of 60mm shells. These are not in general circulation in the US, and can be very difficult to find. A handloader could certainly form their own shells, but this is not a common practice. The oft-cited alternative of using Aguila 45mm minishells is not practical, as these shells are too short to cycle reliably. Given the choice, I would take one of the Cobray Streetsweepers over this thing.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Best known as the first semiautomatic service rifle adopted by a mainstream military force, the 1908 Mondragon was designed by Mexican native Manuel Mondragon, manufactured by SIG in Switzerland, and adopted by the Mexican Army (Ejercito Mexicano). The adoption was short lived, however, as the guns proved unreliable with the low-quality 7mm Mauser ammunition made in Mexico at the time (although they ran fine with high-quality European ammo). After a partial delivery, Mexico refused to pay for or accept delivery of more, and this left SIG in an awkward position. They would try to sell the rifles for several year, including an attempt to market them to Germany during WWI as aviators' rifles, with detachable magazines and brass-catching bags. No significant purchases resulted, though. In this video I will examine 4 different examples of the Mondragon: * A prototype 1900 model self-loader, which uses the 1908-style action but with en bloc clips instead of stripper clips * A Mexican-issue 1908, complete with bipod and spade bayonet * A 1908 rebarreled in 8mm Mauser and send to Germany during WWI * A standard 1908 updated by SIG and never sold

AR Mud Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAneTFiz5WU AK Mud Test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX73uXs3xGU In a Q&A video a month or two back, I was asked what modern rifle I thought would be best for a soldier in WWI trench warfare. My answer was an AR-15, and I got a lot of people asking why. Well, because the AR is a more reliable rifle in really bad mud than the AK. What I couldn't show at the time, but can now, is some video of both the AR and AK being subjected to a stupid amount of mud...

The MP 3008, aka Gerät Neumünster, was one of two German efforts to copy the British Sten gun. The first was the Gerät Potsdam ("gerät" meaning device or project; basically project code name), which was a direct copy of the Sten distinguishable only by a marking details and a few differences in manufacturing processes. While 10,000 of those were being manufactured by Mauser, R&D engineer Ludwig Vorgrimmler was simplifying the Sten design even farther, resulting in the MP-3008. This simplified design did away with the Sten's barrel shroud, and used a vertical magazine well instead of the Sten's distinctive horizontal mounting. These were the significant changes, although there was also a sling loop placed on the front of the magazine well and a few minor simplifications to the fire control parts. Unlike the Potsdam, significant variation can be found in the MP-3008 in the details of stock and grip design. In a masterpiece of insane optimism, German official placed and order for literally a million MP-3008 submachine guns, which of course was completely insane. Manufacture was undertaken at a wide scattering of small shops, with guns being assembled by larger manufacturers from supplied parts. The total made is not known, but is probably in the range of 3000-5000. Some are marked with manufacturing codes from recognized factories, some with codes unknown, and some have no marking at all. This particular example is dewat made by "TJK" - an unknown factory. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Humans have been killing animals for thousands of years, and with the development of the self-contained cartridge, the Greener company started making a compact and efficient Humane Horse Killer. Used by veterinarians for euthanizing creatures (versions were made for pretty much all major domesticated animals), they were made into the 1960s. This type of device is known as a "free-bullet" design because it uses a traditional cartridge, as opposed to the captive-bolt designs which maintain positive control of the lethal end of the device and retract it into the unit after firing. This particular Greener model is one of the more commonly encountered types, as it was used by the British military (which used horses in great numbers in both World Wars) and was a standard piece of equipment for troops tasked with overseeing care of those horses. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Porter was one of the few turret rifles ever put into serial production. Turret rifles are similar in principle to revolvers, but they is a cylinder with radial chambers (like the spokes of a wheel) instead of parallel chambers. Herein lies the potential problem: there is always a chamber pointing right back at you, the shooter. In an era of percussion guns that could occasionally chainfire, the notion of having a loaded chamber pointing at your face was less than appealing to most people. As a result, turret rifles (and pistols) never became successful designs. The Porter, however, did see several thousand examples made. The last variant used typical percussion caps, but the first and second variants (including this second model Porter) used a quite unusual priming and firing mechanism. In addition, they and a wonderful design in which the entire side of the receiver opens up to make the action visible. This makes them much easier to understand, and very cool to look at! http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Over the next couple weeks we will be looking at several Polish firearms, and the first one is today: the G29/40. When German forces overran the arms factory in Radom, Poland, they captured in nearly completely intact. One of the guns being produced there had been the wz. 29; a Polish version of the K98k Mauser. The guns were so similar that the German occupation administration put the Steyr company in control of the plant and restarted production to use the parts that were already on hand. The resulting rifles were designated G29/40 (29 from the Polish designation and 40 from the year German production began). They were in every way the equal of German K98k rifles, but still officially 2nd tier rifles because of their foreign origin. As a result, they were issued to branches of the German military which did not typically have high priority for new small arms, like the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. There are several versions with different markings, which we will discuss in the video... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Before adopting the M1891 Mosin-Nagant, the Russian Empire (like most major militaries) used a large-bore single-shot rifle as its standard infantry rifle. In this case, a .42-caliber rifle designed by American General Hiram Berdan (yes, the same guy who invented the Berdan primer). As with other Russian small arms of foreign design, the initial batch of rifles was imported while the major Russian arsenals tooled up, at which point domestic production took over. The Berdan II was a good if fairly unremarkable design for its time, and served the Russian military well. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Model 1895 Nagant revolver is pretty common in the US thanks to large imports of Russian revolvers, but we rarely see Polish Nagants. These were adopted as a sidearms for police organizations under the designation Ng30, and manufactured at FB Radom through the 1930s. Typical of FB Radom production, the quality is superb. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The G33/40 was made by the excellent Czech factory at Brno under German occupation (between 1940 and 1942). It was essentially a copy of the Czech vz.33 carbine, and was specifically issued to the Gebirgstruppen (mountain troops). It is easily distinguished from a typical Mauser by a couple characteristics: a shorter barrel (19.4" compared to the K98k's 24") and a protective metal plate on the left side of the buttstock. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Eibar region of Spain is known as the center of a lot of pistol production from WWI through the Spanish Civil War, typically pistols called Ruby clones. Well, the various small gunmakers there were looking to copy more than just the Ruby. They duplicated a number of American and European revolvers, and on occasion other guns: like this copy of the Savage automatic pistol. It's not a mechanical copy of a Savage, as the internals are the same simple blowback as the Ruby (instead of the semi-locked rotating barrel system developed by Savage). But the exterior shape is obviously intended to pass for a Savage. Note in particular the slide serrations, barrel jacket, and safety lever. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

In this month's Q&A video, I take on more questions from my wonderful Patreon supporters, including: * Would we still have Browning pistols if the 1911 had not been adopted? * Gun designs from non-industrialized places * British .303 Conversions of the Martini * Weapons best left forgotten * What conflict led to weapons innovation besides the World Wars? * Reproductions I would like to see, and why we won't see them * The MG81 * And more! Want to get your question in for next month's Q&A? Head over to my Patreon page (http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons) and sign up for just a buck a month. It lets me continue bringing you Forgotten Weapons, and it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside!

After a series of pistol trials, Norway adopted a copy of the Colt 1911 in .45 ACP as its standard service pistol in 1914. A license was purchased from FN (while under German occupation, interestingly) to produce the guns locally at Kongsberg, and production ran slowly and sporadically until German occupation in WWII. At that point, the German military decided to continue production for German use (still in .45 ACP, the only pistol in that caliber formally used by the German military). The Norwegian m/1914 pistols are mechanically identical to the Colt 1911 with the exception of an extended slide release lever. They are also serial numbered on all major parts, unlike US pistols. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

We've all seen lever action rifles galore in movies about the old west, and most of us have handled and shot a bunch of them as well. But do you know where they came from? Today we will take a look at the first American lever-action rifle put into successful (more or less) production, the Volcanic. We will then continue to examine the 1860 Henry and the 1866 Winchester to get a foundational understanding of the development of these guns, and the interesting group of people involved with them. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

We humans have built pretty much everything into weapons over time, and here's an example of that. There are a variety of types of key pistols in existence, varying from the elaborate and complex to the ones as rudimentary as this one. This example is simply a large(ish) key with the stem hollowed out so that a powder charge and projectile can be loaded into it. A touchhole is drilled at the back of this chamber, where a lit ember can be used to ignite the powder and fire the charge. Unfortunately, I don't have any specific history on the date or origins of this example... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The 1907 St Etienne heavy machine gun is a really neat gun mechanically, but I can't show you that today because this one is jammed together from the 7 bullet impacts that rendered it unusable a hundred years ago. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Grant Hammond .45 pistol is a gun which was too late to take part in the major 1907 US military pistol trials, and which was instead presented proactively to the military in hopes of supplementing or replacing the current issue pistol. Unfortunately for Mr. Hammond, his design just wasn't good enough to pass muster. Hammond's early patents were for an exceedingly complex design, which combined elements of blow-forward and long recoil operation, but by the time he was making the gun in .45 for trials he had simplified it considerably. As proposed to the military, it was a short-recoil mechanism with a vertically-sliding locking block. The first prototypes would actually eject their magazine automatically when it ran dry, but this feature was not like, and was removed from later production. In total, only a handful of Hammond pistols were made. They underwent several military tests in 1917 and 1918, and proved quite accurate - but not durable or reliable enough for further consideration. For a look at one of Hammond's prototype .32ACP hybrid long recoil/blow forward pistol, have a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVQs4YGm_XE

That's it, just me firing two rounds (both hits!) offhand at the 2016 SHOT show. Seems like a quite nice rifle. A bit heavy offhand, but easy to shoot.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Hamilton was a handgun entered into the Swedish military pistol trials of 1903, where it competed against guns like the Luger and Colt/Browning 1903. The Hamilton was a simply blowback action chambered for 6.5mm Bergmann, although it did have the interesting and unusual feature of a bolt which pivoted on a round path during recoil rather than traveling linearly. The Hamilton's loss in military trials to the Colt 1903 is not particularly surprising, as it was heavy, underpowered, and rather awkward to handle. It never saw commercial sale on any scale, either.

http://www.patreon.com/forgottenweapons Wow - 200,000 subscribers! Thanks, folks - I have many more years of great material planned, and I hope you'll all join me for much more...and tell your friends! :) Guns in this compilation: PaK 40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7fhBm1ouSU Mauser Schnellfeuer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alpefGkv2VI Remington Rolling Block: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhwlcswmys M1915 CSRG "Chauchat": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwP3Dm52Ls M1918A3 semiauto BAR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIVTDo2Xno0 Krupp 50mm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXPYCcCkKj8 M6 37mm Gun Truck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMMRiAPh6Nw M18 Hellcat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxN0WfFKLRU S18-1000 Solothurn 20mm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqsgC_ifo7w M50 Madsen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b9tjpQLsYw M55 Reising: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVH9aEF2EX0 HAC-7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0ih6NEE6Rs MG-34: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfJkU4Sah8I Semiauto Dror: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEOt-qYX23c Pedersen PA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfhKLuPiXFc L39 Lahti 20mm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8rb8lWjs2E Armalite AR-10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuEKwdwoqBA MG-42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfJkU4Sah8I Colt AA2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_RoFTWKAoY Walther MPL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQSilZnqdlA Semiauto FG-42: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN4lvZbAe04 Savage .45 M1907: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUqTwtMmAVE Reproduction Ferguson Breechloader: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODhQmE2OqY 10-Bore Flintlock rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJvesjGissE FN FS2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umfn__lVA_I CZ sa 26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2OEoGHtc0o Schwarzlose M1898: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYl0dQAJMh4 Lewis gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp0pMuuPNCA Gerat 06H: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl2aOhQus0o

http://www.patreon.com/forgottenweapons The SIG KE-9 and M29A were several in a series of developmental rifles made by SIG in Switzerland and designed by Pal Kiraly. These ultimately found no commercial or military sales, although the related KE-7 light machine gun did have some limited success.

The Gewehr 1871 was the first rifle adopted by the newly-formed German state after its unification at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. It replaced the decades-old Dreyse needle rifles, and fired an 11x60mm black powder cartridge. It was the first significant rifle designed by the Mauser brothers, and would evolve into the iconic and ubiquitous Mauser 98 design over the years. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Le Français was a staple of Manufrance production, being first designed in 1912 and produced until the late 1960s. This example is in .32ACP caliber, which was only made for the commercial market in the 1950s and 60s (after the cartridge was out of service with the French military and thus civilian-legal). It has a number of unusual features, including a mainspring in the grip frame with a bellcrank to operate the slide, a tip-up barrel, and full double-action-only trigger. These were made in a multitude of variations, from .25ACP up to 9mm Parabellum, for civilian, police, and military purposes. Despite a significant total production, not many have made it to the United States, and the majority that did were very small .25ACP types. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Winchester 1895 was the last of Winchester's lever-action rifles, and has an interesting place in a couple different parts of world history. On the one hand, the 1895 in .405 Winchester caliber is known as Theodore Roosevelt's "Big Medicine" for safari hunting. On another, it was the object of the largest military lever-action purchase ever, made by the Russian Czar during World War I. The Russian military was woefully under-equipped at the outset of WWI, and needed rifles wherever it could find them. While waiting for a contract with Remington (and later New England Westinghouse) to provide Mosin-Nagant rifles, the Czar's military ordered 300,000 model 1895s from Winchester. These rifles were purportedly going to be available immediately form Winchester's existing production line, although in reality it took several months before deliveries began, The rifles were modified by Winchester to accept standard Mosin-Nagant stripper clips, and were chambered for the 7.62x54R cartridge. They saw heavy combat use, and reportedly performed well, despite the lever action system having some fundamental inferiorities compared to bolt action rifles in a military context. What made them feasible was the action designed specifically for full-power smokeless rifle ammunition and the box magazine design which avoided the potential problems of spitzer cartridges in a tube magazine. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Marlin's 1892 lever action rifle in .22 rimfire caliber proved to be a very popular firearm, and so the company released an improved version in 1897, offered only as a rimfire takedown model. The 1897 would also prove very popular, and the same basic design would continue later as the Model 39. One interesting variant of the 1897 offered was a Bicycle Rifle. While the rifle was generally available only with fairly long barrels, the bicycle version had a 16" barrel and full-length magazine tube. This was sized specifically to fit in a special case (disassembled) underneath the top bar of a bicycle frame, allowing kids to easily use their bicycles to take these rifles to their favorite shooting spots. While the 1897 itself was popular, the bicycle variant was not, with Marlin sales records showing only 197 sold. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Note: This video was filmed over a year ago, but I have been holding it in anticipation of the rifle going to auction. That doesn't seem to be happening, so I'm posting the video now. Only three example of this 1925 prototype rifle from MBT (Metallurgica Brescia gia Tempini) were ever made, and were sent out in hopes of finding military contracts. One went to Norway, and this one went to Russia, where it was acquired by a US Lend-Lease supply pilot. It is an straight-pull design which is very close to being a self-loading rifle (and in fact additional patents were filed in 1926 to adapt it to self-loading functionality). It uses the standard 6-round Carcano clip, and is chambered for 6.5x52mm Carcano ammunition. After this was filmed, my friend James took it out shooting again with pre-war brass clips, and said it worked reliably - FWIW.

Today's firearm is not a normal gun; it is a conversion of a Spencer into a shotgun. My question is, what path did this weapon travel? What did it begin as, and how did it come to be in its current form? Let's see if we can puzzle this out looking at the evidence in the gun itself... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

In the 1920s Poland began looking for a new standard military pistol, and tested a variety of compact .380s. The representative from FN brought along an early iteration of the High Power (along with their other entry) even though it was much too large and heavy to meet the Polish requirements. After a couple iterations of testing, it became clear to the Polish Ordnance officers that the High Power was a much more effective service pistol than the compact guns they had been instructed to look for. Lo and behold, the ultimate choice was a domestic design based largely on the High Power (a direct deal with FN was not an option after Poland's relationship with FN had suffered through problems with the wz.28 version of the BAR). Toss in a delay to redesign the early decocking mechanism to satisfy the Cavalry (who didn't realize that the decocker wasn't actually meant to be used, but rather to just add another claim to the patent), and by 1935 the pistol was finished and formally adopted. The Vis 35 is one of the best automatic pistols of WWII in terms of both handling and quality. In total 46,000 were made pre-war for Poland's military, and German occupation forces built another 300,000+ during the war. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Colt, like all the other manufacturers in the US, was prevented from making cartridge revolvers by the Rollin white patent, which finally expired in 1869. This left them limited to their percussion revolvers, the 1849, 1851, 1860, and 1862 models in particular. These were phenomenally popular guns, but quickly becoming obsolete in the face of the new cartridge technology. Colt would introduce the Peacemaker in 1873, but in that brief gap between the patent expiration and their new purpose-built cartridge revolver they needed something to put on the market. The answer was a series of cartridge conversions - guns which could fire the new cartridges but could be built from the large existing stockpiles of percussion revolver components. The first such gun was the Thuer conversion, followed by the much better Richards conversion, and finally the simplified Richards-Mason conversion (in addition to the purpose-built Open Top). These conversion were offered form the Colt factory on all the major models of percussion revolver, with the small pocket guns the most popular. Because Colt had a large supply of existing parts and could sell these guns cheaper than their other new designs, the conversions would remain available and selling through the 1870s. The Richards conversion is distinctive for having a barrel-mounted rear sight, as well as a remarkably modern floating firing pin. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Danes were the first military to adopt the Krag-Jorgensen rifle, with this infantry variant in 1889. It is chambered for the Danish 8x58R cartridge, which was also used in Remington Rolling Block rifles (although the Krag loading is more powerful than that of the Rolling Block). Unlike the Norwegian ad American Krags, the Danish rifles used a large barrel jacket akin to the German Gewehr 88, in order to float the barrel and theoretically improve accuracy. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

When someone says "Old West Colt", the first thought is usually not double barreled shotguns. However, Colt made two quite high-end side-by-side shotguns during this period, and they played a role in the remarkable Colt/Winchester market-fixing agreement. Colt's Model 1878 was an exposed hammer double gun that competed closely with high-end Parkers, and sold a total of about 23,000 guns. This was followed by the Model 1883, a hammerless design in line with the cutting edge technology. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

A lot of people think that the US was the only country in World War II to mass-issue a semiautomatic infantry rifle, but that isn't true. While the US was the only country to issue *everyone* a semi auto, both the Soviet Union and Germany produced large numbers of them. The Soviet rifle in particular was developed over pretty much the same timeline as the M1 Garand, and literally millions of them were made and used in the war. Today we are taking a look at the second Soviet self-loader adopted as an infantry standard, the SVT-38. The SVT was actually the runner-up up in the formal Soviet trials, and a rifle made by Simonov was actually adopted first in 1936 - but it proved too fragile in field use, and Tokarev's rifle was brought in to replace it. The weapon was only made for a couple years before being updated to the SVT-40, and today the 1938 models are quite rare in the US. http:www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Eli Whitney Jr., son of the inventor of the famous "cotton gin", ran the Whitneyville Armory for many years, producing a wide variety of firearms until nearly the end of the 1800s. Among other gun produced was the Whitney-Kennedy lever action rifle, based on an action designed by Andrew Burgess. From 1880 until 1886, about 23,500 of these rifles and carbines were manufactured. Their most distinctive visual feature is the unique serpentine operating lever, although this was replaced with a more traditional looking lever towards the end of production. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Whitney-Scharf was the final rifle manufactured by the Whitney company before it was bought out and closed down by Winchester in 1888. Only about 2,000 of these rifles were made before that time. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Orvill Robinson was a gunsmith and gun designer in upstate New York who developed two rather interesting rifle designs in the 1870s. They are both pistol-caliber actions, with tubular magazines. The first (the 1870 model) used a tilting wedge very similar in concept to the 1886 Mannlicher straight-pull action. This Robinson design had a pair of checkered tabs on the back of the bolt, and the shooter would use them to manually cycle the bolt back and forth. The later 1872 pattern rifle abandoned the earlier action for a toggle type of lock, operated manually with a small knob on the side of the bolt. The shooter would use it to pull the bolt open and push it closed. Much like a lever action, but without the lever. Both guns seems to have had significant promise, which may explain why the Winchester company was interested in buying out Robinson in 1874. They purchased his inventory and patents, and Robinson signed a non-compete contract to boot. Winchester shut down the production; they were not interested in having a viable competitor to their lever-action rifles. Whether Ferdinand Mannlicher ever saw one of the 1870 pattern rifles is unknown, but it could have been the basis for his early 1886 action... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Czech-made ZK-383 submachine gun is a bit of an oddball in the world of submachine guns. It has several design features typically associated with rifle-caliber light machine guns - an integral bipod and a quick-change barrel. In fact, the ZK-383 was designed to be a hybrid gun, usable as either a standard SMG or in a support role off the bipod. Another interesting mechanical feature of the ZK-383 is the removable weight in its bolt, which allows the shooter to choose between fast and slow rates of fire by removing the weight or leaving it in place. In my shooting, the slow rate was about 470 rpm and the fast rate was about 750 rpm. Personally, I preferred the slow rate - but both were exceedingly easy to control. The gun is fantastically well made, as one might expect from a pre-war Czech weapon. This particular ZK-383 is an original transferrable C&R gun, brought back to the US by a veteran after WWII. It is a very early production gun, with a German-marked magazine well but no other German markings, and clearly did not see much abuse during the war. In all honesty, this is the overall best military submachine gun I think I have ever fired. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons One of the less common accessories for Colt percussion pistols is the original factory shoulder stock. And far less common still is the factory stock made with a canteen inside it! The stocks were made of two pieces of wood pressed together over a pewter drinking water canteen in the center of the stock. Very few were originally made, and this particular one also happens to be on a pistol presented by Colt himself. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons I had a chance to get my hands on one of the new-production M1 Carbines being sold by MKS Supply under the Inland trademark. These guns have gotten a lot of press recently, and I have been interested in how they might perform. The original M1 Carbine has an interestingly mixed reputation - GIs tended to either love them or hate them. The action on an M1 Carbine does not inspire a lot of confidence when cycled - they always sound pretty rickety. However, they are fantastically handy rifles to carry, and have virtually no felt recoil, making them great recreational guns. The question is, how will it handle a 2-gun action challenge match?

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This is a 4-Bore single-barrel rifle built on an Army Navy Supply frame by J.J. Perodeau of Enid Oklahoma. I am firing 1750 grain lead bullets over charges of 325gr of Goex Fg. Muzzle velocity is approximately 1340fps, generating about 7,000 ftlb of muzzle energy. This is the largest rifle ever actually used for something other than just breaking records - these were employed as dangerous game rifles in Africa and India. Subscribe to the channel to be notified of my future videos, including the upcoming full-length video on the history of 4-Bore rifles (featuring Rodda and Holland & Holland double-barrel examples)!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The 4-bore (approximately 1"/25mm bore diameter) is the largest shoulder-fired rifle actually used for hunting. Developed in the days of black powder muzzleloaders, it was intended to be the ultimate rifle of last resort, to stop a charging elephant, rhinoceros, or other angry behemoth by sheer size of projectile. The cartridge continued to be used through the development of centerfire metallic ammunition and smokeless gunpowder, although it would be made obsolete by the greater penetration available from smaller smokeless-power cartridges in the 1890s and later. While they were used by professional guides and hunters as well as sportsmen, the 4-bore was often a presentation and display gun, as it was simply too much for many people to want to carry and shoot. The most notable high-end bespoke gunmakers like Holland & Holland offered 4-bore rifles of exquisite quality and engraving, and in this video I'll take a look at several of those (iuncluding guns from the collection of the Nizam of Hyderabad). In addition, I will fire a couple rounds through a single-barrel 4-bore rifle rebuilt by J.J. Perodeux of Enid, Oklahoma. This rifle is truly a shooter's gun, without the decorative embellishments of the guns from aristocratic collections. Whatever your taste in elephant rifles, I have something here for you! http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Sisterdale revolver is one of the most original designs of the Confederate revolvers. It was devised by a group of Texans led by one Alfred Kapp, son of a German immigrant in Sisterdale, Texas. He and his compatriots made six of these revolvers on the Kapp homestead with the intention of obtaining a contract to make them for the Texas government and for their own armament during the Civil War. The plan came to naught, most likely because the revolver's design left much to be desired. In particular, it features a long flat spring as a cylinder stop on the top strap, and an external hand to rotate the cylinder. Of the six apparently manufactured, only this example is known to exist today, having been passed down for decades by the Kapp family. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons We have all seen plenty of sporter CETME rifles and civilian HK-91s, but when the G3 was new to the Germany military, there was already an interest in bringing semiauto versions into the US. The Golden State Arms Corporation was the first to do so, with three batches of imports in 1962 (just 3 years after the G3 was adopted). The first of these came into the US in March, and was basically identical to the military G3 except with a two-position semiauto-only fire control pack. Later imports had to be made more and more distinct from the military G3s, which leaves these 3/62 guns as the closest thing to the real G3 available to the non-NFA US shooter. Video on the development of the roller-delayed blowback system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEPwm... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Spiller & Burr was a copy of the 1854 Whitney revolver, made in .36 caliber under contract to the CSA. As with so many Confederate arms projects, many thousands were promised and only a small fraction actually delivered. The Whitney in particular suffered from a lack of suitable materials, with cylinders having to be made from twisted iron instead of proper steel. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons T.W. Cofer was a Virginian gunsmith who made revolvers for the Confederate cause during the Civil War - although he never had a formal contract with the CSA. His pistols were sold privately to individual soldiers, and in at least one case bought in bulk by a unit commander. One thing that makes Cofer stand out is that he tried to develop newer and better designs rather than simply copying the existing technology - although the demands of the war forced him to abandon his new ideas. Just a few weeks after the opening of the CSA's formal patent office, Cofer submitted a patent for a two-part revolver cylinder using self-contained cartridges. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Johnson light machine gun is one of the lesser-known US military machine guns of WWII, although it seems to have been very popular with all those who used it in combat. Melvin Johnson made a commendable attempt to get his rifles adopted by the US military, but was unable to unseat the M1 Garand as American service rifle. However, he did make a significant sale of both rifles and light machine guns to the Dutch colonial army. By the time those Dutch guns were ready to ship, however, the Japanese had overrun most of the Dutch islands. The guns were thus basically sitting on the docks with nowhere to go, and at that point the US Marine Corps took possession of them. Because of their short recoil action and quickly removable barrels, the Johnson guns were ideal for airborne Paramarines, and saw use in the Pacific with these forces. They were also used by the joint US/Canadian First Special Service Force in Italy. In many ways, the Johnson LMG is similar to the German FG-42, although with more emphasis on full-auto use instead of shoulder rifle use. It fired from a closed bolt in semiauto and from an open bolt in full auto, and had a bipod both effective, light, and easily detachable. Overall the Johnson is a light, handy, and very easily dismantled weapon, and its popularity with combat troops seems well deserved. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Germany was one of the first nations to really get into the sniping business during World War I, and this is an example of their sniper rifle of the period. The base rifle is a standard Gewehr 98 in 8mm Mauser. Optics form a multitude of different commercial manufacturers were used, mostly 3x and 4x in magnification. There was no specific military scope pattern. Unlike today's much more developed telescopic sights, this type had its windage adjustment built into the mount instead of the scope, and used a BDC (bullet drop compensator) elevation dial which moved the reticle up and down in the scope's field of view. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The LeMat grapeshot revolver is one of the most distinctive and powerful sidearms of the US Civil War, sporting both a 9-round .42 caliber cylinder of pistol bullets and a shotgun barrel as cylinder axis. Alexander LeMat received a contract for 15,000 of these guns for the Confederate military, but only managed to deliver about 2,500 by the end of the war. He presented several of his early guns to Confederate generals, including Beauregard and Lewis, both of which are included in this video. In this video, we will take a look at the progression of the LeMat design through the Civil War. The first example is a Belgian-made pre-production gun, with distinctive brass hardware. Following this are two early first model guns (Beauregard's and Lewis'), and then both early and late second model guns (which allow us to see both type of locking system used by LeMat). http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Tucker & Sherrard (and later Sherrard & Clark) is one of the more interesting Texas Confederate revolvers. The company initially was granted a contract with the Texas state government to provide 100 revolvers per month at $50 each, and took a total of $10,000 of investment capital from the state to start up their operation. However, aside from a few initial samples they never managed to deliver any guns to the state. What appears to have been happening was that they were making guns, but selling them out the back door to private individuals, because the guns would easily bring $100 on the open market thanks to the arms shortages of the Confederacy. In the meantime, the company was delivering a whole series of excuses to Texas about why there were no deliveries - unavailable materials, conscripted workers, and fears of national CSA agents confiscating the guns. Texas finally had enough of this, and dissolved the contract, requiring the company to repay its seed capital with interest. Thanks to the serious inflation plaguing the Confederate currency, though, the repaid amount was only worth about half of its initial value. This particular Tucker & Sherrard is one of the "low hammer" models, which handles much better than a standard Dragoon pattern revolver. Only three of these are known to exist (serial numbers 52, 54, and 56), and they seem to have been an experiment by the company for purposes unknown. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In the aftermath of WWI the newly-united Poland had a military equipped with a mishmash of leftover light machine guns, from Chauchats to MG 08/15s. They wanted to adopt a new standardized weapon, and trials in the 1920s found the FN BAR to be the best option. Unlike the American military BAR, the FN version adopted by the Poles used a light bipod and a pistol grip for better handling. It was chambered in 8mm Mauser, which was the standard Polish cartridge. The purchase agreement with FN was to buy 10,000 guns outright and also a license for domestic Polish production at F.B. Radom. However, the deal went quite sour when it urned out that FN actually didn't have the technical package to supply to the Poles, since they had not actually tooled up to make the guns, instead importing them from Colt in the US. The Polish military wound up reverse-engineering the Colt/FN guns to allow domestic production, and the incident put such a rift between FN and the Polish military that they would develop the Vis 35 "Radom" pistol in-house rather than license the FN High Power several years later. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The famous American jewelry company Tiffany & Co has a long history of offering decorative firearms, and today I'm looking at two of them. One is a cartridge conversion Colt from the 1870s, engraved by Nimschke and fitted with a silver-plated Tiffany "Mexican Eagle" grip. The other is a modern-production 1860 Army designed by Tiffany for the US Historical Society and produced by Andrew Bourbon. While I do not normally have a particular taste for embellished and engraved guns, I think it's very interesting to see the difference in style between the two periods - the change in what people find appealing in "the gun as art." http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons James Reid was a Catskills gunsmith who emigrated from Ireland by way of Scotland. He made a number of different revolvers, but is best known for his line of "My Friend" knuckleduster pepperboxes (or "knucklers", as he called them). At the height of their popularity, Reid had 17 employees, and made a total of about 23,000 of these guns. They were available in .22, .32, and .41 caliber rimfire cartridges, with both brass and iron frames. A revolver version with a single longer fixed barrel was available by special order. In this video, we will take a look at each of the major variants, as well as a special-order revolver model. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

I have been unable to find any history on this particular rifle, which is an experimental mixture of parts, including a bayonet lug and a sporter-style rear sight on a 7x57mm 1893 model Mauser action. What is interesting about it, though, it the automatic muzzle cover connected to the trigger. The front sight is mounted to a spring-loaded muzzle cover, which lifts up as the trigger is pulled. Once the trigger is just ready to fire, the front sight is fully elevated into position for a proper sight picture. It's pretty clear why this really interesting idea didn't make it into production... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons We often hear the phrase "hand-fitted" in regards to either really finely made guns, or ones made before the the advent of truly interchangeable parts. Well, I recently had a firsthand experience with hand-fitted parts, and thought it would make an interesting video. i suspect a lot of people today don't really think about just what that phrase implies, since we are so used to everything being a drop-in fit today. Specifically, I have a French Mle 1874 officer's revolver (and very cool gun, by the way), which was unfortunately deactivated at some point by having the tip of the firing pin ground off so that it could not fire. I, of course, want to put it back into usable condition, and so I was able to find a new hammer for it from Numrich. On initial fitting, I found that it was too tight against the frame of the revolver, so I ground it down until it fit nice and smoothly. And then, upon assembly I found that the sear engagement surfaces were far from interfacing in the proper manner with this replacement hammer. On a modern gun, a badly fitting replacement part might mean a lousy trigger pull - on this one it meant that the gun literally could not be cocked. A second replacement hammer (borrowed from another revolver as an experiment) fit better, but had so little single action sear engagement that the hammer could be pushed off the sear with just slight thumb pressure. When you open up and old gun and see serial numbers on every single little part, this is why. Those critical close-fitting parts were made as a set, to work together with each other and not with any random replacements. We should take a moment to appreciate the massive improvements in industrial technology we have today that allow us to swap machine parts without a second thought!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This revolver looks like it is a Smith & Wesson DA from the early 20th century, right down to the S&W grips. However, it is actually a Spanish Eibar-made copy, and you can tell when you take a close look at the patent markings atop the barrel. Instead of "Smith & Wesson, Springfield, Mass, USA", it says: Smill & Welson, Sprangfeld, Mus, EUA Close, guys...but not quite!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Now that the February 2016 Regional auction at Rock Island Auction Company is complete, we can take a look at the final prices realized for each of the guns that I looked at in videos!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Time for another monthly Q&A video - thanks to my supporters on Patreon for helping to make this possible! I have a whole bunch of questions this time, and have timestamps for each individual one here: 0:52 - Barrel length in terms of bore diameter 3:18 - Why did the XM8 fail? http://weaponsman.com/?p=5715 9:22 - Why are so many Japanese Type I Carcano rifles in unissued condition? 12:13 - Hammer bite - what actually happens? (high speed footage) 14:12 - What does my own gun collection look like, and what gun am I interested in? 19:52 - What's the deal with flechettes? 22:41 - Will I be making more gunsmithing videos? https://www.youtube.com/user/GunLabDo... 23:40 - What elements would I incorporate into a gun of my own design? 26:17 - What WWI gun would I choose to take into WWI? 27:45 - How is the Ruger 10/22? 29:50 - Why was England the only country still using a revolver as a standard sidearm going into WWII? 32:32 - Were there any semi auto or full auto black powder guns? 33:46 - What are the pros and cons of tilting vs rotating bolts? 36:15 - Have people tried using stronger materials than brass for cartridge cases? 40:30 - What was the best overall 19th century single shot breechloader? 42:37 - Were there any types of multi-shot muzzleloading rifles? 44:51 - Why did it take so long for metallic cartridges to enter military service after they were first invented? 48:22 - What are my thoughts on 3D printed guns? link to defcon at 50:15 50:35 - Which last ditch rifle would I pick to use? 51:50 - When will I visit Europe, and what do I want to see there? I got the shirt from 1791 Apparel: http://www.1791apparel.com/collections/store/products/garand

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Savage made more than a quarter-million pocket pistols in .32 and .380 caliber, but never commercially marketed a .25ACP design. They did design such a "baby" pistol, though, beginning in about 1912. Despite a significant tooling investment, only 40 were ever made (perhaps because they could not be made cost-competitive with other competing guns). The 40 that were made were in two distinct groups. The first 20 (which all have "M" suffix serial numbers starting at 1000) has wide slide serrations typical of standard early Savages. The second 20 have the narrow serration that were used on late Savages (and these second 20 also lack any slide legend markings).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons It's that time again! The March 2016 James D. Julia auction is all finished, and it's time to look at the final sale prices on the guns we saw videos on. The Confederate revolvers in this auction brought some pretty impressive prices - as did the gorgeous Holland & Holland 4-bore double rifle!

I am kicking off a long series of videos from the Rock Island Auction Company, and my backdrop this time is a set of deer antler mounts called the "Imperial Twins". These two deer were from a joint hunt with Kaiser Wilhelm I and Emperor Franz Joseph in 1873. The antlers are original, but the original bronze deer heads were damaged beyond repair at some point and replaced with a pair of amazingly done wood carvings (using the originals as a guide). They make a really cool backdrop, and I know if I don't explain them, I will get a whole ton of questions in the subsequent videos. If you are interested in trophy mounts, you can see a whole bunch like this that are part of a collection being sold by RIA, all from German aristocracy prior to WWI. In their catalog, look under the "Royal Hunt" special category.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Partway through 1944, the Japanese Imperial Navy began a program to provide their infantry units with better firepower than was afforded by the bolt action Arisaka rifles. The initial experimentation was based on rechambering captured US M1 Garand rifles for the 7.7 Japanese cartridge, but an incompatibility of American en bloc clips with the Japanese cartridge hamstrung the project. In response, the M1 was reverse engineered, and the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal began to manufacture a copy of the rifle which would use a 10-round fixed magazine fed by two standard stripper clips. This rifle was designated the Type 4 (2604/1944), although it is often referred to today as the Type 5. In total, parts for 200 rifles were manufactured, but only about 125 had been actually assembled into functional guns by the time the war ended.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In late 1940, the US military opened a competition for what would become the M1 Carbine - a rifle that needed to use the .30 Carbine cartridge and weigh no more than 5 pounds (2.27kg). No fewer than 9 companies and designers entered the first round of competition in April 1941, including John Garand, Val Browning, Eugene Reising, Auto-Ordnance, and George Hyde. Hyde's entry was one of the best performers, and just a few changes to it were requested. A second round of trials was held in September 1941, and this is one of the 5 Hyde carbines made for that second test. Unfortunately for Hyde, while he had made the changes requested, he had also managed to make the gun less accurate, less reliable, and more difficult to disassemble than his first version. Winchester would ultimately win the competition, with a rifle designed in an amazing 34 days.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The SK-46 was one of several post-WWII experimental self-loading rifle designs developed for testing by the Swiss military, or for commercial export. It was manufactured by SIG at Neuhausen in both 7.5mm Swiss and 8mm Mauser. The rifle is gas operated, with a rather complex tilting bolt action. It uses 5- or 6-round detachable box magazines much like the K-31 bolt action (the magazine capacity depended on caliber; 8mm was 5 rounds and 7.5mm was 6 rounds, to match the common clips/chargers used in each caliber). One interesting element of the design was the use of a charging handle made to mimic the appearance and function of a traditional bolt action rifle. A similar approach can be seen on the German MP-35 submachine gun and G-41(M) rifle. The SK-46 also incorporated a standard rail for attaching a 2.2x optical sight (not present on this rifle).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Sold at auction for $172,500. By 1932, the competition for the new US semiautomatic service rifle had been narrowed down to just two designs: John Pedersen's delayed blowback toggle action and John Garand's gas-operated action. Both rifles were chambered for Pedersen's .276 caliber cartridge, and used 10-round en bloc clips. Twenty samples of each were made and sent out to infantry and cavalry units for field testing. This rifle is one of those Garands - serial number 15, to be specific. The results of the trial was a preference for the Garand rifle, and the testing board got as far as writing a formal recommendation for its adoption before General MacArthur vetoed the whole .276 caliber idea for economic and logistical reasons (the US Army had a whole lot of .30-06 ammo and not a lot of spare cash). The result was ultimately a .30 caliber Garand rifle becoming the M1, but this T3E2 trials rifle in .276 sure is a sweet-handling piece of machinery!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons James Reid was a New York gunsmith best known for his "My Friend" knuckleduster revolvers, but before he devised the idea for those he was working in New York City making traditional style revolvers. This particular one is a Number 2 pattern example, a .32 caliber, 7-shot rimfire revolver. These were manufactured in violation of the Rollin White patent, but not made in sufficient quantity to attract the attention of Rollin White's lawyers. Just to be safe, though, Reid only marked the guns with the name of his wholesale distributors. The Reid revolvers have a clever and effective loading gate system, but suffer from a disassembly system which requires unscrewing the barrel in order to remove the cylinder.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Cochran turret revolver is one of the more common turret revolvers in the US, although that's a pretty low bar, as only about 150 of them were made. Turret-sytle revolvers never became popular on the commercial market because of the potential hazards posed by a chainfire when one has chambers pointing in all directions - including back at the shooter.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Japanese semiauto rifle trials of the early 1930s had a total of four entrants - Kijiro Nambu and his company, Tokyo Gas & Electric, the Tokyo Army Arsenal, and Nippon Special Steel. This rifle is one of the third iteration of the design from Nippon Special Steel. It is a design based originally on the Pedersen, but with substantial changes. It is a toggle-locked and gas-operated action with a gas piston that moves forward upon firing. It feeds from a ten-round detachable box magazine, which is unfortunately missing on this example. In total, 13 of these rifles were made for trials, with 4 of them actually being tested (and firing over 100,000 round between them without any extraction problems, apparently). This rifle did have some accuracy problems, though, which would be fixed by its designer for the fourth and final trials, at which point it and the Tokyo Army Arsenal rifle were determined to be of equal quality - and then the whole program was dropped as the Marco Polo Bridge incident caused the Sino-Japanese War to quickly intensify.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Lazar Yovanovitch was a Serbian native of Yugoslavia, born in Belgrade. He left engineering school to design firearms, and developed a couple .22 and .380 caliber pistols. None were adopted by the Yugoslav military, but he did use his .380 in international competition at the 1933 ISSF 25m rapid fire competition and the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Yovanovitch participated briefly in WWII as a petty officer in a hydroplane squadron, was captured by Italian forces, and then escaped into Switzerland in the lull between Italian surrender and German re-occpation of his POW camp. After the war he emigrated to Canada, where he made one last example of his Model 1931 .380 pistol, for his own use and enjoyment.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Walther A115 was one of the semiauto rifles developed in pre-WWII Germany. Apparently only three were made, and it uses a neat combination of sheet metal construction with a rotating bolt and annular gas piston like the later G41 rifles. This particular example was examined by Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1955 (you can find their photos of it around) before escaping into the private market.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Type 100 (sometimes called the Type 0) was one of the initial Japanese experiments in paratroop rifles. Manufactured from standard Nagoya Arsenal Type 99 rifles, the Type 100 used a set of interrupted lugs at the chamber to allow the rifle to be broken into two short sections. Only a few hundred of these were manufactured for testing, and ultimately the Type 2 design (with a locking wedge) was adopted instead.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Devisme of Paris was one of the early manufacturers of a true centerfire cartridge revolver, with production of this model beginning in 1858 or 1859. This is a bottom-break 11mm, 6-shot revolver, made to a very high standard of quality. Devisme also made a variety of other guns, including indoor parlor pistols, percussion guns, and dueling-style pistols.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Hamada was one of very few Japanese military weapons made by a private commercial firm. Designed and introduced in 1940, the basic Type Hamada pistol was a blowback .32ACP handgun similar in style to the Browning model 1910. About 5000 of them were manufactured during WWII, although most of these were sent to China. All the known examples in Western collections are form a fairly narrow serial number range (~2200-3000), which probably represent a single batch rerouted to the Pacific islands, where they were occasionally captured by US troops. In 1943, Hamada was asked to develop a pistol in 8mm Nambu to simplify ammunition logistics, and this would become the Type 2 Hamada.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Just as production of the .32ACP Type Hamada pistols was reaching full scale, Bunji Hamada was asked to redesign his pistol to use the standard 8mm Nambu cartridge. This he did, and after several changes required by the Army (which appear to have had more to do with giving the Army some claim to the design rather than for any practical reasons) it was adopted in 1943. Production of the .32ACP pistols continued uninterrupted, while a defunct textile factory in Notobe was renovated to become the production plant for the new Type 2 Hamadas in 8mm. Machinery was provided by the Torimatsu factory, and the guns were to be sent to Torimatsu in the white for final finishing operations. While several thousand were made according to surviving records, the only ones still known in existence today have serial numbers between 2 and 50 and are still in the white. This suggests that aside from a small initial (sample?) batch, all the Type 2 Hamadas were destroyed or lost - possibly by aerial bombing or during transit on the ocean.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons One of the options for having multiple shots available in the age of the muzzleloading rifle was the swivel-breech rifle. Such a rifle would have typically two barrels and one lock - one the first barrel was fired, the whole barrel assembly could be rotated 180 degrees to bring the other barrel into alignment with the lock. These could be two rifle barrels, two shotgun barrels, or one of each. MJ Whitmore of Potsdam, New York build many such swivel-breech rifles and also build some much less common 4-barrel swivel guns. This particular example has two .40 caliber rifled barrels on one side and a combination of a .40 caliber rifle and a .40 smoothbore barrel on the other side. In a particularly neat touch, it holds a single loading rod hidden in a spring-capped chamber in the center of the barrel cluster.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons One of the lessons learned by the British military in the aftermath of the Boer War was that modern Mauser rifles were superior to their Lee-action rifles and carbines. In response, British ordnance began experimenting with a Mauser-pattern rifle, ultimately finalized as the Pattern 1913. This rifle would also leave behind the obsolescent .303 rimmed cartridge, in favor of a new rimless .276 Enfield round. The Pattern 13 rifle itself was excellent - it balanced and handled well, it had very good sights, and a smooth and fast bolt throw. However, the .276 Enfield cartridge was really more potent than it needed to be, and caused problems. The cartridge threw a 165 grain bullet at just under 2800fps, pretty close to the ballistics of today's 7mm Remington Magnum. Loaded with Cordite propellent, this led to excessive barrel wear and unpleasant recoil, along with some parts breakage. However, as final testing was being done in the first half of 1914, the Great War broke out. At this point, plans for using a new cartridge were abandoned. The rifle itself was redesigned in the .303 cartridge, to be manufactured in large numbers by American firms under contract. It would also be refitted for the .30-06 cartridge and used in large numbers by the American armed forces as the M1917 Enfield rifle. According to General Julian Hatcher (who ought to know), it was the best rifle of the First World War.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Walther P38 was adopted by Germany in 1938 as a replacement for the P08 Luger - not really because the Luger was a bad pistol, but because it was an expensive pistol. Walther began development of its replacement in 1932 with two different development tracks - one was a scaled-up Model PP blowback in 9x19mm and the other was the locked-breech design that would become the P38. The initial prototypes look externally quite similar to the final P38, although the locking system went through several changes and the controls did as well. Several of the early developmental models used shrouded hammers. In this video I will take a look at both initial "MP" pistols (the blowback and the locked breech), then the Armee Pistole (aka the AP) in its standard configuration and also a long barreled model with a shoulder stock, then the second Model MP, and finally the HP which was the commercial model of the final P38. In addition, I will check out a sheet metal prototype of the locked breech model form the very beginning of the development program.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Patented in 1896, this is one of several models of unique pocket pistols designed by Paul Brun-Latrige. He was a manager of the Manufrance company located in St. Etienne France, a large mail-order catalog company that produced a wide variety of products. Early versions of this pistol used a ring trigger mechanism and a 5mm cartridge, while this one uses a folding trigger and is chambered for an 8mm round (the same ammunition used in Manufrance's Gaulois palm pistols, I suspect).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Five different companies in Germany produced designs for the last-ditch Volkssturm bolt action rifles, and they were designated VG-1 through VG-5. The VG-2 was developed by the Spreewerke company, and differed from the others in its use of a sheet metal stamped receiver (and consequently a pretty distinctive look). In total, somewhere between 16 and 18 thousand VG-2s were manufactured, although they remain very scarce in western collections (most likely because most of them were lost or captured in areas overrun by the Red Army rather than the US or British forces). They retained a basic Mauser mechanism, and used spare Luftwaffe aircraft MG barrels. Unlike some of the Volkssturm arms, the VG-2 appears to have been pretty much unchanged throughout its production run.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The pinfire system was a popular type of early self-contained metallic cartridge in Europe, but didn't find much use in the United States. Pinfire revolvers were made in a variety of calibers from 5mm up to 15mm, and a much smaller number of revolving rifle and carbines were also made. This particular revolving rifle is a 6-shot, 15mm model with a folding bayonet - made in Belgium for a reseller by the name of Juan Lopez in Buenos Aires.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This is one of the more practical knife/pistol combinations I have seen - it actually has a pretty reasonable grip when used in either capacity. It has two muzzleloading smoothbore barrels, with a percussion cap hidden under each top ear of the crossguard and a folding trigger in the body of the grip. After I had finished filming, it was brought to my attention that while it does not have the proper markings, this piece is very, very similar to an 1846 Postførerverge - a double-barreled blade/gun issued to Norwegian postal employees after a rash of deadly assaults on rural postal workers. Those were made from 1846 until 1854, with a total of 152 being manufactured. Could this be one with the markings worn off or removed? Perhaps. It could also be a commercial copy, or something else entirely.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Designed by Austrian immigrant Joseph Joachim Reifgraber, this is a prototype gas-assisted short recoil pistol in a .38 rimmed revolver cartridge. While this version did not see any serial production, the Union Firearms Company of Toledo (Ohio) did market a slightly smaller model in .32 S&W (and .32 ACP). The gas-assist, as described in Reifgraber's patent, is used in this gun but not in the .32 model.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This CZ Model S rifle is one of many prototypes made between the world wars in Czechoslovakia in an effort to develop a military semiautomatic rifle. Similar efforts were underway in most other countries at the same time (basically every place that had a mature arms industry), and a huge variety of ideas were tried out. In this case, we have a gas operated, tilting bolt rifle design. It is chambered for the 8x57 Mauser cartridge, and uses a 10-round detachable magazine. This rifle has a 1929 acceptance mark, which dates it nicely for us. It was designed by a team including one of the Holek brothers, and did better than its competition in trials - but not well enough to be accepted by the Czech military or to attract any outside commercial interest. Holek would go on to design the ZH-29 rifle, and CZ would move on to a series of other designs that ultimately led to naught. You can see my video on the ZH-29 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvI92kOwV4U

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons One of the very early entrants into the United States Ordnance Department's semiauto rifle trials was the Auto-Ordnance Company, makers of the Thompson submachine gun. For the rifle trials, they designed a .30-06 rifle using the same Blish-locking principle as had been applied to the SMG. Since the Blish principle doesn't actually work, this resulted in what was actually a delayed-blowback action which extracted at very high pressure. The Thompson Autorifle, as it was called, used a very coarse screw to delay the bolt opening, and required oiled felt pads in the magazine to lubricate the cartridges as they fed. It was a particularly long and unwieldy rifle as a result of it's unusually long receiver, and is known today for having ejection so forceful that it could actually stick cases into wooden planks placed close to the shooter. Needless to say, it did not fare very well in trials and was dropped from consideration not long after this, the Model 1923.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The T2 submachine gun was Auto-Ordnance's entry into the ongoing competition to replace the classic Thompson submachine gun with something more economical to produce. It was a closed-bolt, select-fire design using a progressive trigger and a tubular receiver, along with stand Thompson gun magazines. Examples were made in both 9mm and .45 ACP, but it was the .45 version that the US military tested. Ultimately is was rejected in favor of the Inland/Hyde M2 submachine gun (which looks rather similar to it) - which was in turn quickly replaced by the much simpler M3 "Grease Gun" that would truly replace the Thompson in US military hands.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In 1928 and 1929, the Swiss Rheinmetall company produced about 50 examples of a toggle-locked rifle designed by Karl Heinemann. It was tested by the United States among other countries, but never found military acceptance. This particular example is a Heinemann rifle in sporting pattern, made by the Walther company. I do not know the details of Heinemann's move from Rheinmetall to Walther, but I would guess it had to do with his early rifles' lack of military success. Mechanically, the gun is quite unusual and interesting, with a toggle-locked bolt and a Bang-type muzzle cup. Gas is captured in this cup when the rifle is fired, and that pressure pulls the muzzle cup forward. An operating rod runs from the muzzle back to a cam which cracks the bolt toggle open when it is pulled forward, thus unlocking the action.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Wheel locks are one of the less common types of early firearm ignition systems, as the were much more expensive as the contemporary flintlocks. The wheel lock had a major advantage in reliability, though. Many surviving wheel locks are quite ornate guns, as they were valuable enough to be kept away from much field use and thus preserved. This example is a double-barreled and highly decorated piece with independent locks for each barrel.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Before the Type 14 Nambu pistol was developed to replace the "Papa" Nambu, Kijiro Nambu experimented with a high-capacity design with a 15-round magazine. This pistol was called the Type A Experimental, and was designed around 1920. Only 15 or 20 were made, and they show elements of both the Papa and the Type 14 (like dual recoil springs).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Patented by John Walch in 1859, this is a .36 caliber revolver using superimposed chambers - meaning that each of the six chambers could hold two shots, for a total of 12 rounds before reloading. The revolver has two hammers and two side by side triggers, with the trigger for the front loading being positioned slightly ahead of the rear load's trigger, to help ensure that they are fired in the correct order. While the 12-shot capacity was a major advantage over other revolvers of the period, number of significant disadvantages (weak charges because of the small chamber capacity and the safety hazards of a misfire or accidental firing of the rear load first) led to it being produced only in small numbers. About 200 of these .36 caliber Navy guns were made, and only for commercial sale. They did see use in the Civil War, though, as did most other guns in production at the time. A much more popular version was the 10-shot, .31 caliber pocket model.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In the late 1920s, German Ordnance hinted at an interest in replacing the P.08 Luger pistols with a less expensive handgun design. This prompted a number of submissions from hopeful companies, including this design from the Simson company of Suhl. It is chambered for the 9x19 Parabellum cartridge (as requested by Ordnance) but is a simple blowback action. It features a very modern and slick takedown system, but would be dropped from consideration along with other potential designs when the military opted to focus on carbines and submachine guns instead of spending money on a replacement handgun.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Japanese military was interested in finding a new self-loading rifle to adopt in the 1930s. The development project began with a request to retired General Kijiro Nambu who designed a gas-operate,d rotating bolt rifle but could not bring it up to the standards demanded by the military and opted to abandon the project in favor of a new light machine gun (which would become the Type 96 Nambu). Two major commercial firms entered the fray, Nippon Special Steel with a gas-operated and toggle-locked rifle and Tokyo Gas & Electric with a copy of the Czech ZH29 rifle. In 1933 the Army itself decided to jump in as well, developing a delayed blowback Pedersen copy at the Koishikawa Arsenal. The Army rifle was pretty good, but apparently never overcame extraction problems which would appear when the rifle became hot from sustained fire. When John Pedersen had demonstrated his rifle in Japan, it seems he did not mention the necessity for lubricated ammunition and this trick was not figured out by Koishikawa personnel. The Army liked the mechanical simplicity of the delayed blowback system (which required no gas ports, pistons, tubes, or anything else), and opted to fit the rifles with 10-round rotary magazines. After the final set of trials in 1937, the whole semiautomatic rifle program was dropped, as the escalating war in China shifted priorities to producing a large number of less expensive and readily available Arisaka bolt actions.

http://www.flamethrowerexpert.com You can find Charlie Hobson's book, "US Portable Flamethrowers" here: http://amzn.to/1SP9yc5 Flamethrowers are a significant piece of military weapons history which are very widely misunderstood, as flamethrowers have never been the subject of nearly as much collector interest as other types of small arms. The US military removed its flamethrowers from inventory in 1985, and all other major national militaries have done the same. In the US, the lack of general interest led to most of the surplussed weapons being destroyed as scrap, and few survive in private collections. At the same time (and for the same reason) a great deal of the information on these weapons was also discarded and lost. One of the people who has done a tremendous amount of work to recover practical information on historical military flamethrowers as well as restore, service, and operate them is Charlie Hobson. He has worked extensively with the US military museum system as well as the entertainment industry (if you have seen a movie of TV show using a real flamethrower, is was almost certainly done under his supervision). Today I am discussing the basic of flamethrowers with Charlie. The goal is to provide a good baseline foundation so we can go on to look at a couple specific historical flamethrowers and understand them in context. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a chat with a man who is truly passionate about this underappreciated aspect of military history!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons After a dismal first attempt at designing a flamethrower (the M1) in 1941, the US Chemical Corps along with several universities and industrial partners put in a lot of research to develop a more usable and effective flamethrower. The result was the M2, which went into production in early 1944. It would prove to be an exceptionally effective weapon in the island-hopping campaign towards the end of the war. The M2 was arguably the best flamethrower fielded by any military during the war, with a number of excellent design features. These included: * A constant-pressure regulator to ensure that the range stayed the same from the first to the last shot of a tank of fuel * An on/off main valve easily accessible to the operator * A supremely waterproof and reliable pyrotechnic cartridge ignition system * An auto-shutoff valve which sealed at the nozzle, preventing dribble (and cutting off fuel flow should the operator lose control of the weapon) The M2 would see service into the Vietnam War even as its successor the M9 was being issued. It was a truly outstanding design, and remains viable to this day. Thanks to Charlie Hobson for showing us the unit and teaching me to fire it, and also thanks to Adaptive Firearms for letting us use their range facilities! You can find Charlie Hobson's book, "US Portable Flamethrowers" here: http://amzn.to/1SP9yc5

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Japanese Type 93 and its slightly-improved sister the Type 100 were the standard flame weapons of the Imperial Japanese Army for its fighting in China and the Pacific. They are a smaller and handier design than the American weapons, and less user-friendly. The Type 100 uses a rotating valve to fire, paper incendiary cartridges for ignition, and is not equipped with a pressure regulator. This means that as the fuel is consumed, the range and pressure steadily drop. This is a significant difference from the American M2, but in conjunction with properly planned tactics it could be quite effective. The example in this video was taken brand new from the Tokyo Arsenal by a Coast Guard occupation officer in 1945 or 46 and sent back to New York complete with its case and all its accessories. It remains today the only known functioning example of the Type 100. Thanks to Charlie Hobson for showing us the unit and demonstrating it firing, and also thanks to Adaptive Firearms for letting us use their range facilities! You can find Charlie Hobson's book, "US Portable Flamethrowers" here: http://amzn.to/1SP9yc5

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons http://www.mikesmilitaria.com In this 2-Gun match, I am competing as a WWI US infantryman, with an M1917 Eddystone rifle and an M1911 pistol (both are genuine WWI-era originals). I am also using a reproduction US 1917 uniform from Mike's Militaria. It's a fantastic quality reproduction, made from the same patterns and materials as the originals, and custom tailored to fit. Ultimately I placed 50 out of 60 shooters - not bad for shooting against almost exclusively semiauto rifles! The more I shoot the M1917 rifle, the more I like it - although heavy, it is excellent in every other way. The 1911 is an iconic pistol, but does leave something to be desired. The hammer bite left my hand bloody, but it did get the job done.

http://www.flamethrowerexpert.com You can find Charlie Hobson's book, "US Portable Flamethrowers" here: http://amzn.to/1SP9yc5 Rather than doing a monthly Q&A myself, I decided to take advantage of a visit from Charlie Hobson and answer some questions about flamethrowers. These questions all came from the Forgotten Weapons Patreon supporters, whose financial support is a big part of what allows me to bring you great content. If you'd like to help support the site yourself and also have a chance to get your questions into the monthly Q&A, you can join in at: www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Today's questions by timestamp are: 0:40 - After international conventions banned most flamethrower use, where and when have they still been used and why? 1:15 - What Hollywood examples are particularly realistic and which ones were the most fanciful (i.e. Aliens)? 3:02 - What was the most effective use in their history in combat? 3:55 - What is the common pressure and nozzle diameter for military flamethrowers? 4:57 - How effective were/are the use of fins inside the flow channel to create laminar flow? 6:18 - What are the chances of ignition of the fuel tank when hit by a rifle's bullet? 7:28 - Is a flamethrower-assigned soldier expected to do field maintenance on a level on par with a gun carrying soldier? What parts of a flamethrower wear down or require repair the most? 9:44 - Did they really use flamethrowers to clear the bunkers on Omaha beach as depicted in "Saving Private Ryan”? 10:52 - Is there anyone today making true-to-spec reproductions of military flamethrowers? 12:10 - How many accidents has he witnessed? 14:07 - In field campaigns, the Pacific for instance, how did field resupply of flamethrowers work, if at all? Were individuals tanks refilled by supply folks, or were fresh tanks brought up and exchanged? 19:35 - I'd like to hear about the effects on the shooter. I heard that some men passed out because of the

http://www.patreon.com/forgottenweapons The Schnellfeuer, or Model 712, was Mauser's answer to the Spanish production of selective fire C96 lookalikes. Just over 100,000 of these pistols were made by Mauser in the 1930s, mostly going to China (although some did see use in other countries, and also with the SS). They use 10- and 20-round detachable magazines, and are almost all chambered for the 7.63mm Mauser cartridge. Rate of fire is about 900-1000 rounds per minute. One of the urban legends that has grown up around these guns is that Chinese soldiers would hold them sideways, and use the recoil to fire in a horizontal arc. This does work, but is a pretty crude way to use the gun. Without the attached shoulder stock, it is much better left on semiauto. With the stock, it makes a surprisingly effective and controllable submachine gun. Thanks to TFBTV for the opportunity to shoot and film this very cool gun!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Figured I'd post this since we got it all on video anyway - this is my final safety briefing/walkthrough with an M2 Flamethrower made in 1944, followed by my first short firings of it. The gun was only partially filled with fuel, which is why the firing duration is so short.

Well, another Rock Island Premier auction is finished, so it's time to check out the hammer prices for the pieces that we looked at in videos. Hang on to your wallets... :)

Wow! Have you seen the new trailer for Battlefield 1? Well, yes - actually I have. I don't think there's really much to talk about in it, because it's one flashy trailer that's full of temporary CGI models. When the game actually comes out, we will have a look and see how realistic or unrealistic it truly is. Until then, would you like to see some of the actual guns from World War One? Check out these channels: Forgotten Weapons WWI Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9e3UCcU00TStxPreAQGbXjz4pyB1o0Xa InRangeTV WWI Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC0xgK3d9do&list=PLj9u4Ts2NpEt79MpEyIXt_Xc5iuNX_Lkp C&Rsenal: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClq1dvO44aNovUUy0SiSDOQ TheGreatWar: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

The Steyr-Hahn is one of the less glamorized pistols used in WWI, despite being made in quite large numbers (250,000-313,000, depending on who you read). The gun is an interesting mix of features, including bits from the Roth-Steyr M1907 and the early Colt/Browning 1900/1902/1903 pistols. The gun was the standard pistol for the Austro-Hungarian Empire (albeit supplemented with M1907s, M1898 Rast-Gassers, and more) during the Great War. It was also purchased in quantity by Romania, Chile, and Bavaria. We will look at a couple of these variants today, and also an example of the guns converted to 9x19mm for Austrian police forces in the 1940s.

The Evans rifle/carbine was developed in 1873 by a Maine dentist named Warren Evans. Its main innovation was a large helical magazine that held a whopping 34 cartridges of Evan's proprietary .44 caliber cartridge. By 1877 Evans had made a number of revisions and improvements to the gun, including developing a newer and more powerful cartridge for it. This New Model "only" held 28 rounds, but was ballistically very similar to the .56 Spencer. Evans' rifle was a lever action design, and proved reasonably popular. Between 12,000 and 15,000 were made in total between 1874 and 1879, and testimonials were published from the likes of Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill Cody. The US Army tested the weapon but rejected it on the basis of its awkward loading procedure and failure of a dust test. Sales were made outside the US, though, including Russia, Turkey, and several South American nations.

This Dutch police revolver is an interesting example of technology being used as an element of police policy and procedure. The Dutch police administration in the late 1800s/early 1900s decided that officers should carry a blank round in the first chamber of their revolvers, a tear gas round in the second chamber, and actual live bullets only in the 3rd-5th chambers. This led to a problem of ensuring that officers were able to easily confidently know which type of ammunition they were firing at any given time - what if a cylinder happened to rotate while being drawn, holstered, or otherwise handled without the officer noticing? He might fire a live round when intended to use a blank, or vice versa. The solution was to add a large manual safety that would lock the cylinder in position, and add large marking to the outside of the first two chambers indicating which was which. Setting aside the wisdom of this sort of progressive cartridge selection, the mechanical adaptation of the police revolvers is an interesting thing to see, and one of a relatively small number of revolvers to have manual safeties.

Spain was historically a major center of patent infringement in firearms manufacture because its patent law left open a big loophole: patents were only enforceable if the patent holder actually manufactured their guns in Spain. The major European and American firearms manufacturers were not interested in setting up plants in Spain, and so their patents were not enforced there, leaving Spanish shops and factories legally free to copy them. One of the more successful copies was the "El Tigre", a clone of the Winchester 1892 lever action rifle made by Garate Anitua y Cia. Ironically, Garate actually registered their own patent on the design since Winchester hadn't bothered to, and that patent was enforced, since Garate did make the guns in Spain. Their copy was chambered for the .44-40 Winchester cartridge, known in Spain as the .44 Largo. This made it compatible with many of the revolvers in the country of American, Spanish, and Belgian origin, and thus quite popular with a wide variety of groups. Rural citizen militias and the Guardia Civil both used significant numbers of El Tigre carbines. They were also fairly popular in the United States, as the cost was substantially lower than a true Winchester. Many Hollywood films and shows used them as less expensive prop guns, especially for scenes where guns would be handled roughly. Despite their competitive cost, the El Tigres were actually quite good guns, and served their owners well.

The most popular shotgun made by the French Darne company was their 1897 sliding breech side-by-side, which saw sales and use worldwide. Before that, however, Darne invented a rotating breechblock system - first a series of external hammer varieties in the 1880s and then this hammerless Model 1892. It is a great example of a functional, creative, and interesting system that simply never became popular.

Alkartasuna SA was a company formed in 1914 by a handful of disgruntled Astra (well, Astra was still called Esperanza y Unceta at that time) employees. This was a difficult time for the Eibar gun industry - demand was low, their reputation for quality was not good (the lack of a central proof house didn't help this), and many companies were shedding workers. Master gunsmiths could be found building roads instead of guns as the province started major civic works projects to counter the growing unemployment. However, the Alkartasuna founders picked a fortuitous time to create their own company, as World War One was about to create an unimaginable demand for arms. By 1917, Alkartasuna was producing 25,000 pistols per year for Italian and French military contracts - pistols of the standard Ruby pattern. When this demand ended after the Armistice, the company looked for new products to maintain their sales. One suck project was the Alkar pistol, which was most likely subcontracted to another manufacturer to save on startup tooling costs. The Alkar is a blowback action in .25ACP, but has a very unusual grip safety. It also has a series of viewing windows on the left grip panel, which worked in conjunction with a pointer attached to the magazine follower to indicate the number of cartridges remaining. The windows were marked numerically; 1, 2, 3, etc up to the full capacity of 7. The marking that grabbed my attention, however, was the clever "?" that was indicated when the magazine was empty. At that point, the gun may be empty or it may still have a single round in the chamber - you don't know until you check it. That "?" is a clever acknowledgement of that status.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Okay, so the name may not be considered very PC today - you could also call this a cross-dominant stock. The concept was to allow a shooter to mount the gun in one shoulder but sight with their opposite eye. This was useful for cross-dominant shooters (ie, right handed but left eyed) or shooters who had suffered a crippling injury to one hand or one eye. The craftsmanship involved in properly making such a gun is quite impressive. The frame and tang are made with a slight curve to them, and then the stock must be made paying careful attention to the direction of the wood grain, so that it can withstand the bending moment created when firing. A fantastic piece of work, and something generally restricted to the rather wealthy.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Italian military went into WWI having already adopted a semiautomatic sidearm - the Model 1910 Glisenti (and its somewhat simplified Brixia cousin). However, the 1910 Glisenti was a very complex design, and much too expensive to be practical for the needs of the global cataclysm that was the Great War. In response to a need for something cheaper, Tulio Marengoni of the Beretta company designed the Model 1915, a simple blowback handgun chambered for the 9mm Glisenti cartridge. Only 15,300 of the Model 1915 pistol were made, because even they proved to be a bit more than the military really needed. One of their most interesting mechanical features is a pair of manual safeties - one on the back of the frame to lock the hammer and one on the left side to block the trigger. This proved a bit redundant, and the gun overall was rather large and heavy. In 1917 a scaled-down version in .32 ACP (7.65mm) was introduced which would be produced in much larger numbers. The 1915/17 would also omit the rather unnecessary hammer safety. It is important to note that while the 9mm Glisenti cartridge is dimensionally interchangeable with 9x19 Parabellum, pistols designed for the Glisenti cartridge should *never* be used with standard 9x19 ammunition, as it is nearly 50% more powerful than the Glisenti specs, and doing so will quickly cause damage (and potentially catastrophic failure).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The French adopted the Gras as their first mass-issued metallic cartridge rifle in 1874, replacing the needlefire 1866 Chassepot. Quite a lot of Gras rifles were manufactured, and they became a second-line rifle when the 1886 Lebel was introduced with brand-new smokeless powder and its smallbore 8mm projectile. When it became clear that the quick and decisive war against Germany was truly turning into the Great War, France began looking for ways to increase the number of modern Lebel rifles it could supply to the front. One option that was used was to take Gras rifles from inventory and rebarrel them for the 8mm Lebel cartridge (which was based on the Gras casehead anyway). These could be issued to troops who didn't really need a top-of-the-line rifle (like artillery crews, train and prison guards, etc). Then the Lebel rifles from those troops could be redirected to the front. The rebarreling process was done by a number of contractors, using Lebel barrels already in mass production. The 11mm barrel from the Gras would be removed, and only the front 6 inches (150mm) or so kept. A Lebel barrel and rear sight would be mounted on the Gras receiver, and that front 6 inches of Gras barrel bored out to fit tightly over the muzzle of the new 8mm barrel. This allowed the original stock and nosecap to be used (the 8mm barrel being substantially smaller in diameter, and not fitting the stock and hardware by itself). It also allowed the original Gras bayonet to be fitted without modification, since the bayonet lug was also on that retained section of barrel. In addition, a short wooden handguard was fitted. This was designated the modification of 1914, and an "M14" was stamped on the receivers to note it. These guns are of dubious safety to shoot, since the retain the single locking lug of the Gras, designed for only black powder pressures. However, this was deemed safe enough for the small amount of actual shooting they were

The Little Tom pistols designed by Alois Tomiška are notable for two particular features: their unusual reloading system and for being the first commercial DAO automatic pistols. Made in both .25ACP and .32 ACP in the 1920s (the .25 versions are much more common than the .32s), these beat out the Walther PP as the first double-action automatics. Unfortunately for Tomiška, they would not prove to be nearly as popular as the Walthers, and total production was about 35,000 guns. Alois Tomiška would go on to work for the CZ factory, where he would have a hand in development of the CZ22/24/27 pistols as well as other projects.

The Gewehr 1898 was the product of a decade of bolt action repeating rifle improvements by the Mauser company, and would be the standard German infantry rifle through both World Wars. Today we are looking at a pre-WWI example (1905 production) that shows all the features of what a German soldier would have taken to war in 1914.

The FR-8 is a Spanish rifle manufactured in the 1950s as part of Spain's adoption of the CETME semiautomatic rifles. Spain was not only moving to their first semiauto rifle, but also changing from 8mm Mauser to the new 7.62mm NATO. It was not possible to immediately equip everybody with the new rifles, so a parallel program was instituted to modify the now-obsolescent bolt action rifle in inventory into a more useful configuration. FR-8 was the designation for an M43 Mauser (of the model 98 pattern) rebuilt as a training and second-line rifle. The original barrel was replaced with a 7.62mm barrel , along with a front sight duplicating that of the CETME. Where the CETME had a charging handle tube above the barrel, the FR-8 had a similar hollow tube below the barrel, which was used for storing a cleaning kit. The rear sight was similarly modified to duplicate the CETME sight picture and range adjustments. A muzzle brake was fitted so that standard 22mm NATO grenades could be launched (a further benefit for training compatibility). Contrary to popular misconception, the FR-8 was designed to be used with normal full-power 7.62 NATO ammunition, not a reduced-charge specialty round.

The German military used a lot of different small-caliber pistols during World War One, and the Jager is one of the most interesting of them. Its unique design was the result of needing to build pistols for the war effort on machines and tooling that were not suited for pistol production. The answer? Replace the single milled frame with a combination of simpler parts that would be pinned and screwed together into a frame equivalent. Quite ingenious. Now, I have don a previous video on the Jager, and Othais & Mae at C&Rsenal recently published an outstanding video covering the pistol's history. What neither of those videos covered, though, was the actual reassembly process. It's tricky and frustrating, so I figured with a nice Jager on hand I should document that process. You can see my previous Jager video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKkUUr4wSrM You can see the C&Rsenal video on the Jager here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kvt9eVQ7d4

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This is quite the eye-catching pair of revolvers... The Model 1870 Gasser was a behemoth of a pistol designed by Leopold Gasser for the Austro-Hungarian cavalry - it was built around the 11x36mm cartridge used in their Werndl cavalry carbines. This cartridge was a middle ground between rifle and pistol; light enough to not produce punishing recoil when fired from a short and light carbine, but fairly huge for a revolver. But it was not in the hands of those cavalry troops that these guns gained their notoriety. Instead it was during the reign of King Nicholas of Montenegro from 1910 to 1918 that they saw their prominence appear. Nicolas decreed that all his male subjects must own a Gasser-pattern revolver under penalty of law. This was ostensively a move to make the tiny Montenegrin kingdom less vulnerable to conquest by any one of its larger neighbors, but allegedly may have also had something to do with the King owning stock in the Gasser firm. At any rate, the law called for Gasser-*pattern* guns (not necessarily the real thing), and so a substantial demand flourished for Spanish and Belgian guns of that basic design. They were made in a huge variety of flavors; solid frame and hinged, long barrels and short, and many different specific cartridges, finishes, and levels of embellishment. With every man required to own one, the revolver naturally became a status symbol, with the more well-off showing their wealth through a highly decorated sidearm. Whether you appreciate the style of these two or not, they certainly catch the eye!

The Model 1920 was Star's first locked-breech pistol, basically a combination of features from the Colt 1911 and their traditional Eiber blowback .32 pistols. It was tested by the Spanish Army in 1920, with inconclusive results. The Guardia Civil, however, found it to be suitable and adopted it after those tests. Only 3850 were made and delivered to the GC before a number of design changes were requested, resulting in the Model 1921 (aka the Model A). The Star legacy would last for many decades, with the 1920's descendants being very popular and successful guns worldwide.

Smith & Wesson's first venture into the autoloading pistol market was done under the leadership of Joe Wesson, Daniel Wesson's son. He was quite the automatic pistol enthusiast, and made an agreement to license patents of Liege designer Charles Clement for adaptation into a pistol for the US market. The resulting Model 1913 featured a hinged barrel assembly for easy cleaning and a very light bolt with a mainspring disconnector, so the bolt could be cycled without fighting the recoil spring. It also had both a manual safety and a grip safety. However, its most recognized feature was the use of a proprietary .35 S&W cartridge. Despite the name, this was basically a slightly underpowered .32 ACP with a "half-mantle" bullet - the nose was jackets to prevent deformation while the bearing surface was left unjacketed to reduce barrel wear. While this was potentially quite popular, S&W's marketing failed to properly exploit it. The .35 S&W version of the Model 1913 saw production of about 8350 pistols between 1913 and 1921. In 1924 the design was reintroduced in a simplified form. This new model was chambered for the standard .32ACP cartridge form the get-go, and it also abandoned the manual safety and the tip-up barrel system originally licensed from Clement. It failed to gain traction, with less than a thousand guns made, and the last of them not sold until 1937.

Lucius Pond was one of 4 major manufacturers successfully sued by Rollin White on behalf of Smith & Wesson, for infringing on White's patent (exclusively licensed to S&W) of the bored-through cylinder. Pond had designed a hinged-frame .32 caliber rimfire revolver with some good and bad qualities, and made in excess of 5,000 of them. More than 4,000 of that number had to be turned over to S&W at wholesale cost, however, when he lost the patent suit in 1862. Those guns (including this particular example) were marked "Manufactured for Smith & Wesson", and resold for a nice markup by S&W. Pond would go on to design a very jerry-rigged alternative design using removable chambers. This did avoid the Rollin White patent, but was quite awkward to use, and predictably failed to catch on commercially.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Ortgies is a pistol whose interested aspects are often overlooked on the assumption that it is just another identical .32 ACP blowback pistol. Well, it is that - but it is also more. Mechanically, the Ortgies has a rather unusual grip safety mechanism that is quite different from what we expect to see today. It is also interesting in that the .32 and .380 versions differ only in the easily-interchanged barrel - even the magazines are marked for both calibers. However, the most interesting part of the Ortgies story (in my opinion) is its production. In less than 5 full years (1919-1923), close to a half million of these guns were made, primarily by an industrial subsidiary of the German government. The guns were in large part a work program, creating export goods which could bring desperately needed hard currency into Germany to counteract the economic devastation of the Versailles treaty. Have a look at the video and you may come away with a newfound appreciation for the humble Ortgies, like I did!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This cute little pocket pistol was an early project of Vaclav Holek, who would become much better known for his work with the ZB-26 light machine gun and ZH-29 rifle. It is a very small .25ACP selfloader, intended to be operated with one hand only. The trigger locks into a folded position to allow smooth carry and draw, and drops down for use then the slide is slightly retracted. The contoured cutout atop the slide allows for the use of the index finger to operate the slide. Only about 8,000 of these were made - not a complete flop, but not successful enough to remain in production for long.

William Whiting was an engineer who spent his entire adult career with the Webley company, and was responsible for all of their in-house self-loading pistol designs. This work initially focused on a behemoth of a pistol, the Model 1904 intended for military contracts. The gun proved insufficiently attractive to the British military though, leaving Webley with a large R&D outlay with nothing to show for it. The solution was to scale the system way down and look to the civilian market with a pocket automatic in .32ACP. The first version of this commercial pocket pistol was this model 1905 design. It proved to be a popular concept, and the gun was revised to address a few shortcomings and opportunities for simplification. In its final version, the Model 1908 would prove to be Webley's best-selling automatic pistol, and it is still a relatively easy gun to find today. However, its 1905 predecessor is far scarcer, and it is interesting to examine the changes made between the two models.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Savage is one of the many revolvers that saw purchase and martial use during the US Civil War - and in this case, martial use on both sides. About 13,000 Savages were bought by the Union army and navy, and another 11,000 were sold commercially. Many of those commercially-sold guns were later smuggled through the lines and used by Confederate troops. Ultimately production of the Savage ended after 1863, because the Union opted to standardize on .44 caliber instead of the .36 caliber that Savage was tooled up to produce. The retooling costs were too high for the company to change over, so they dropped the gun from production (it was already a tough sell to the military, at 35%-50% more expensive than competing Colt and Remington revolvers). Mechanically, the Savage has several forward-looking features - most notably its quasi-double-action system. It has a traditional trigger, and also a ring trigger just below. The ring trigger is actually a cocking lever, which both cocks the hammer and rotates the cylinder. The top trigger is then used to fire. This allows easy rapid fire without changing one's grip to cock the action, although it requires some practice to operate smoothly and feels quite odd to someone not used to working two separate "triggers" in sequence.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Winchester Thumb Trigger rifle was a very inexpensive boy's rifle developed from the Model 1902. It is a single-shot .22 rimfire bolt action system, on which the trigger was replaced by a thumb-activated sear behind the bolt. In theory, this was to allow greater accuracy by requiring less force acting to disrupt your point of aim when firing. It was also a simpler and thus cheaper mechanism to manufacture. About 75,000 of these rifles were sold, including many exported to Australia, interestingly.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Swiss were the first country to adopt a bolt action repeating rifle with their Vetterli, and followed this by changing to a straight-pull design in the 1880s. The straight-pull Schmidt-Rubin system was quite good, but one potential flaw was that it was a quite long action. This became an issue when the Swiss began looking for a short cavalry carbine variant to use, and decided that the Schmidt-Rubin action sacrificed too much potential barrel length in a short rifle. Instead, a series of trials were held to choose a different action for the Swiss cavalry carbine, and many different companies and factories submitted designs. The winner was the Mannlicher straight-pull system, best recognized in the US today by the Austrian Steyr M95. The Swiss adopted a carbine with that exact Mannlicher bolt design as the Model 1893 - it used the same basic motion as the Schmidt-Rubin rifles but was a much more compact action. Unfortunately, the carbines did not prove a good match for the Swiss service. Swiss troops found them to be overly complex to disassemble and insufficiently accurate (presumably they had been spoiled by the excellent performance of domestic Swiss rifles). As a result, only 8000 of the Model 1893 were purchased, and the design was deemed obsolete in 1905 and replaced by a Schmidt-Rubin design after all (these 1905 carbines are virtually nonexistent today, as almost all were modified to the later 1911 pattern). However, the 1893 stands out as probably the highest-quality Mannlicher straight pull rifles ever made.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Savage made just a few experimental long-slide versions of their pistols (most of the ones out there are fakes made by modifying existing guns). Personally, I think that this version in .380 would have made an excellent officer's service sidearm for many European militaries at the time. Most did not see a need for a particularly powerful handgun cartridge, and this extended model of the Savage feels excellent in the hand without being overly large.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In the 1930s, the Italian military (like all major military forces at the time) was investigating options for a semiautomatic service rifle. Beretta's Tulio Marengoni developed one such rifle, and submitted it in two forms. The first version of the rifle was produced in 1931, chambered for the then-standard 6.5x52mm Carcano cartridge. It was a short-recoil action with a rotating bolt, and fed from standard 6-round Carcano en bloc clips. The second version was produced in 1937, after the Italian military had adopted the 7.35mm cartridge. The 1937 version was made slightly shorter and had a simple fixed rear sight (both changes similar to what would be made for the M38 Carcano rifles). The 1937 Beretta also used a new magazine system, fed by stripper clip. The capacity it not clearly known; probably either 9 or 10 rounds (and the type of clip used is also not known). Finally, the 1937 rifle included a locking mechanism that could be used to prevent the barrel from recoiling, and thus turn the rifle into a manually-operated one instead of a self-loader. The internal mechanism was quite novel. Perhaps too novel, as neither rifle was adopted, nor were either produced in any substantial quantity. Ultimately the Armaguerra model 1939 was the winner of the extended trials, but World War II interrupted any plans to put it into mass production.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Pavesi Model 1942 is a prototype Italian semiauto rifle chambered for the 8x59 Breda cartridge. It is a short recoil action with a 4-lug rotating bolt, and appears to use a Mannlicher type en bloc clip like a Carcano (no sample clip was available for me to look at). It is marked on the chamber "ARMA PAVESI-FNA BREVETTO N.365273", although I have not been able to find a patent bearing that number. The top of the rear bolt cover is marked "Semiautomatico cal.8 - mod. 1942 -xx - Brescia". It has no serial number that I could find. I have not been able to find any substantive information on exactly who made the rifle, if or when it was tested, or what the results of any testing may have been. The 1942 date puts this well after the main Italian self-loading rifle trials, which concluded in the adoption (although not the mass production) of the Armaguerra Model 1939, in 1939.

This rifle is pretty much a big mystery - I have virtually no good information on it. Through inspection, we know it is a mechanical copy of the Soviet SVT 38 or 40 - it shares the same exact bolt, locking system, and gas system. Even many aesthetic features like the metal front handguard, muzzle brake, and sights are remarkably similar to those of the SVT. The biggest difference is the magazine, which is a fixed design fed only be stripper clips. The rifle is chambered for the 8x59mm Breda cartridge, and magazine capacity is unknown - probably either 9 or 10 rounds. The clue that this is a Pavesi rifle comes from the safety lever, which is identical to the safety lever on the Model 1942 Pavesi rifle. The only markings on this piece are two repetitions of the serial number (875), on the receiver and stock. This serial number suggests that a significant number of these rifles may have been made, although I have not seen any other examples, nor any recorded information on when or where they were made, tested, or fielded. The most interesting diversion from the standard SVT construction is the addition of a leather buffer pad on the back of the receiver. This was clearly added after the rifle was built, as it must be removed before the bolt can be taken out of the action. The details of the receiver cover attachment were also modified from the original SVT, making disassembly and reassembly easier, with the mainspring less prone to kinking as in the SVT.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This rifle started out its life an a normal M91 Carcano long rifle, before being converted into an experimental self-loader by the Terni Arsenal. Rather than adding a gas piston to the barrel, Terni engineered a short recoil system. The barrel and bolt recoil together about a centimeter (3/8 inch) upon firing. Instead of the original bolt with two lugs and a 90-degree throw, a new 8-lug bolt was used, which only requires a slight amount of rotation to unlock. That unlocking is done by an angled wedge that the bolt travels up as it recoils rearward. The rifle is still chambered in the original 6.5x52mm caliber, using standard 6-round Mannlicher style clips. The date of the conversion is not clear, although the base rifle was manufactured in 1908. Thanks to Beretta for graciously allowing me to have a look at this rifle!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons This rifle is a Steyr M95 straight-pull carbine that has been converted into a semiauto by adding a gas piston under the barrel connected to the bolt carrier, and an extension to the stock and receiver for the bolt to travel in. The pistol grip was added so that the trigger group could remain unchanged despite the longer receiver. It still feeds from the same 5-round Mannlicher clips as the standard M95, and appears to be in 8x50R (ie, not updated to the 8x56R cartridge). This rifle is in the collection of the Beretta factory museum in Gardone val Trompia, but I have no information on whether they did the conversion themselves or acquired it elsewhere. Unfortunately, the bolt and piston mechanism is very sticky, and I was unable to disassemble it. However, it appears to be a quite simple conversion, as these sorts of things go. Just the project for the hobbyist gunsmith with a cheap extra M95 carbine and lots of spare time... Thanks to Beretta for allowing me to have a look at this very neat rifle!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons We have a monthly pistol competition here called Steelworkers - a bunch of stages of all steel targets. I finally accumulated enough stripper clips for my 1907 Roth-Steyr to be able to compete, so I figured I should give it a run! The 1907 was used by the Austro-Hungarian cavalry, and is in my opinion one of the best pistols of World War I. It is a solid and durable design firing a reasonably powerful cartridge (for the time, at least - 8mm Steyr is a 113gr projectile at about 1070fps) and with reasonable sights and good handling. It is mechanically innovative, with a firing mechanism functionally identical to today's "safe-action" systems. The striker is halfway cocked by the action of the gun cycling, and the remaining half is done by the trigger press. The 1907 uses a proprietary stripper clip holding 10 rounds, with a movable follower built in. Pressing down on the clip's follower puts an even pressure on the cartridges, helping to make it a very smooth design to use - I would rate it as equal or better than any other type of stripper clip I have used. Overall I took 17th place of 21 shooters - although on stage #1 I am very pleased to have taken 10th! The strong hand and weak hand requirements there clearly helped me level the playing field. :)

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons So, Dice and EA have released a second long trailer for Battlefield 1, and it's got some pretty unusual guns in it! Here are my full-length videos on some of these: Mondragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOcAiZ-0X3U Cei Rigotti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtsKZtiHcdw Zeppelin lMG-08: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbt1_gyAPYY Airplane lMG-08: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTKSwzBd2VQ C96 Mauser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW2p9gkmHxM Schnellfeuer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfpxqIK8VY Of course, if you want to see the full trailer, it is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pY3hlQEOc0

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Questions in today's Q&A: 1:04 - What was Rollin White's revolver like? 7:09 - Why did pan magazines disappear? 10:14 - Why no pointed pistol bullets? 13:24 - Funky rounds like Trounds or Gyrojet rockets 17:47 - Current US MHS trials 19:55 - Underappreciated designers 24:17 - Import markings 27:02 - Military field modifications 31:43 - Replacement of .30-06 with 7.62x51mm 32:31 - Cancelled development programs 35:27 - Future Forgotten Weapons (and Mausers) 38:07 - My father's interest in Japanese arms 39:04 - Why no ammo for Japanese arms? 42:42 - Gloves for handling valuable guns 46:41 - Austro-Hungarian WWI machine gun

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/ America's first assault rifle? Well, it does meet all the requirements - select-fire, intermediate cartridge, and shoulder-fired. It was never actually fielded, though. The Burton Light Machine Rifle was developed during World War One, with the firing model completed in 1917. It was intended as an aircraft observer's weapon for attacking balloons - a role which required incendiary ammunition.With this in mind, Winchester's Frank Burton adapted the .351 WSL cartridge from his 1905 and 1907 self-loading rifles into the .345 WSL, with a spitzer bullet. He designed an open-bolt, select-fire shoulder rifle to fire it, which became known as the Light Machine Rifle. Burton's rifle was to be usable both in an aircraft where it could be fixed to a Scarff mount for a wide field of fire or used by an individual on the ground, fired from the shoulder. It weighed in at just about 10 pounds (4.5kg) and had a pistol grip and straight-line design to bring the recoil impulse directly into the shooter's shoulder and minimize rise during automatic fire. The barrel was finned for better cooling, and infantry barrels were equipped with bayonet lugs. The most distinctive elements of the design, of course, are the dual top-mounted magazines. Each one holds 20 rounds, and each has a pair of locking catches. One position locks the magazine into a feeding position, and the other holds it up above the cycling of the bolt. The idea here was to keep a second loaded magazine easily accessible for an aerial observer - so they could reload without having to find another magazine somewhere in the aircraft. Contrary to some speculation, there is no automatic transition between magazines. When one is empty, the shooter must pull it back to the second locking position (or out of the gun entirely) and then push the second magazine down into feeding position. Despite Burton's work - which was well ahea

During World War II, the Swiss military experimented with two models of K31 carbine with integral optics (the K31/42 and K31/43). These were found to be not sufficient for military service, and after more experimentation and development, the ZfK-55 rifle was adopted in 1955. What we are looking at today are a pair of transitional guns from the developmental period between the two. These two rifles came out of the SIG museum, and show a number of features with both the K31/43 and the ZfK-55. For instance, they use a prismatic scope like the K31/43, with the same type of range adjustment. However, the front end of the scope is fixed in place, where on the 43 model it could fold down for protected storage. Additionally, the scopes on these rifles are detachable, like the ZfK-55. Unfortunately, I have no information as to the exact dates of these two transitional models, nor details on their trial and evaluation. K31/42 & K31/43: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Gtn-OD6jg ZfK-55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAshu34OvC0

A friend of mine tries out my reproduction FP-45 Liberator. He had no better luck with it than I did, accuracy-wise, but he was smart enough to wear a nice thick glove. That thing HURTS to shoot bare-handed!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/ The Cody Firearms Museum is a part of the Buffalo Bill Center for the West, and one of the very best firearms museums in the US (if not the world). It incorporates a number of substantial donated collections, the most impressive of them being the Winchester factory collection. Thanks to this, the museum has a fantastic array of Winchester production and prototype arms, as well as an extensive archive of factory documentation and correspondence. Unlike many museums, it also makes a concerted effort to actually display as much of its collection as possible - currently approximately 4,000 of its 7,000 weapons are visible to the public. A project is in progress to completely renovate the galleries, bringing yet more of the collection into displays, and improving the interpretation and information presented with the guns. I'm really excited to see that process take shape; I think there is a tremendous potential for it to to really set a bold standard for arms museums everywhere. The Curator, Ashley Hlebinsky, is an energetic and passionate advocate for the institution (I will be posting an interview with her next Monday), and has a great vision for the institution! The Museum is located in Cody, Wyoming and is part of a larger overall institution, the Buffalo Bill Center. Alongside the firearms museum there is also a natural history museum, a museum of the Plains Indians, a Western art museum, and a museum dedicated to Buffalo Bill Cody himself and his Wild West Show. This is an assortment sure to provide plenty of interesting diversion for any follow travelers who may not want to spend a day in a firearms museum (I know, who wouldn't want to do that?). You can have a great time there, and then continue your trip into the glorious Yellowstone National Park just a few miles west of Cody. Or if you are more interested in human events than nature, two and a half hours to the no

Sorry about the sound quality! I did my best to clean it up, but the air conditioning system in the museum had a more significant impact on the video that I had anticipated. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/ Ashley Hlebinsky is the Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum, and today we are taking some time to discuss the museum and her job as Curator. Her path to the job began with an interest in battlefield medicine and a series of museum internships while studying American History and Museum Studies at the University of Delaware. A stint at the Smithsonian led her to a position at the Cody Museum, where she was groomed for the Curator's office, taking over that job in early 2015. In addition to curating the museum's extensive collection, she speaks and writes regularly in mainstream academic circles about issues like the public perception of firearms, and acts as n excellent bridge between the ivory towers of academia and the knuckle-dragging ranks of gun owners (if I may make mostly-unfair stereotypes of both groups). Under Ashley's guidance, the Museum is in the process of undergoing a major expansion, to increase the number of firearms on display and improve the interpretive information provided about them.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/ On October 1, 1928, the US War Department published a request for semiautomatic rifle designs. The Colt company submitted this .276 caliber rifle to the ensuing trials in 1929. It was designed by Jonathan Edward "Ed" Browning (half brother of John Moses Browning) and was a recoil-operated, tilting bolt design weighing 9lb 9oz and using 108 parts. The tilting bolt system was derived from the 1911 pistol system as designed by John Moses Browning, and the operating system also used an accelerator reminiscent of JMB's Model 1917 and 1919 machine guns. After the trials, the Colt 1929 rifle was deemed unfit for further testing by the Ordnance Department because of poor feeding, poor cooling ability, an overly long receiver and short barrel, too many parts, and being too heavy overall. Ed Browning would take the design back to his workshop and continue working on it, eventually replacing the short recoil operating system with an annular gas piston, and bringing it to the Winchester company in the late 1930s.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons/ After Jonathan Edward "Ed" Browning had his 1929 rifle dropped form US military testing, he took the design back to his shop in Utah and kept working on it. By 1938 he had made enough improvements that he was ready to present the gun to Winchester, hoping they would be interested in purchasing the design. Specifically, he redesigned the receiver to move much of the bolt travel into the wrist of the stock, shortening the action. He also replaced the short recoil action with an annular gas piston. He made two sample rifles, one in military configuration and one in sporting configuration. Winchester was looking for a self-loading rifle to market at the time, because they could see that war in Europe appeared to be imminent. They had been caught without a military rifle of their own during World War One, and did not want to be in that situation again. They thought that Ed Browning's design showed merit, so they agreed to purchase it, and brought Browning onboard to help continue development. With Winchester's resources, it was possible to make the guns more professionally. Winchester designated the rifle the G30, and we have one of the examples made by Winchester in the video as well. The tilting bolt mechanism took inspiration from John Moses Browning's 1911 pistol, and the trigger housing bears an interesting resemblance to that of the French Berthier rifles (which may or may not be coincidental). The rifles appear to have worked reasonably well, although the annular gas piston was a hindrance which Browning apparently was unwilling to abandon. With his death in 1939, the project moved on to a new phase with David Marshall Williams taking on the job of improving it.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons With the death of Jonathan "Ed" Browning in 1939, development of the Winchester G30 rifle was passed into the hands of a new employee at Winchester by the name of David Marshall Williams. Williams would become widely known as "Carbine" Williams in later years thanks to Jimmy Stewart and Hollywood, but we will be to that part of this story later. What Williams did to the G30 was to replace Browning's annular gas piston with his own short stroke tappet system (this being the first rifle to use that system of Williams'). This substantially improved the gun's reliability, and Winchester was able to submit it to Marine Corps trials in 1940 alongside the Garand and Pedersen rifles under the designation G30M. The Marine Corps was legitimately interested in the G30M, as it was expected to be both faster and cheaper to manufacture than the Garand. Ultimately the trials were won by the Garand, with the G30M placing third in total malfunctions and broken parts. This had involved 37 different tests and more than 12,000 rounds through each rifle. The Garand had 1,480 total malfunctions and 49 parts broken, replaced, or repaired. The Johnson had 1,547 and 72 respectively, and the G30M 2,864 and 97 (roughly double the number of problems as the Garand). Despite this failure, Winchester was encouraged to continue working on the rifle, if for no other reason than the possibility of foreign purchasers. Williams' next step would be to replace the Browning tilting bolt with a Garand-type rotating bolt, which would result in a rifle Winchester would call the M2, or "the seven and a half pound rifle". We will examine that rifle in the next video...

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In the previous video, we looked at the Winchester G30M rifle as it was submitted to Marine Corps trials in 1940. When the trial result came back with the G30M in last place, Winchester immediately assigned David Williams to work on adapting it to resolve the problems found in testing. What Williams did was to replace the tilting bolt with a virtual duplicate of the Garand's two-lug rotating bolt. Williams also worked to reduce the weight of the gun, and was able to bring it down to a remarkable 7.5 pounds (3.4kg). This prototype of the rifle (which Winchester optimistically designated the M2, implying that it would supercede the M1 Garand) was actually made largely from M1 Garand forgings, as Winchester was by this time build M1 rifles on contract. The receiver, bolt, and operating rod in this rifle was converted from Garand parts. Clearly it is not a finished product, and show many signs of being a shop prototype - but it was in this state when it was shown to ReneStudler of the Ordnance Department in early 1941. Studler was impressed by the design, but knew that it would not replace the M1 at that point. However, he urged Winchester to scale the gun down to the .30 Carbine cartridge (which Winchester had themselves developed) and submit it in the second round of the Light Rifle testing which was to happen soon. Does a two-lug rotating bolt, short stroke gas tappet, and Garand-style operating rod sound like a familiar set of features? Well, there is good reason... Winchester took Studler's advice, and the scaled-down version was developed in just a few weeks and proved to be the best gun in the trials. It would be developed quickly into the M1 Carbine, and become the most-manufactured semiauto rifle of WWII. At that point Winchester would set aside the .30-06 side of this rifle design for a little while, as they had plenty of work now with M1 Garand and M1 Carbine production. But we will see the M2/G30M/G30 co

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The RPD was the first belt-fed light machine gun (or squad automatic weapon) developed by the Soviet Union. It was designed in 1944 for the then-new M43 cartridge (7.62x39mm), although wartime exigencies followed by post-war rebuilding prevented it from being issued until the 1950s. It is a fairly light (16b) and quite compact weapon, firing from an open bolt and feeding from a belt carrier that can hold 100 rounds of linked ammunition on two 50-round non-disintegrating metal belts. The RPD was standard issue for the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations only for a short time - by the mid 1960s it was replaced by the RPK (essentially a heavy-barreled AKM). The RPK was lighter and almost entirely parts-compatible with the AKM rifles, and used the same magazines, thus simplifying logistics and supply. This was considered a worthwhile trade for the belt-fed firepower of the RPD. However, the RPD would continue to serve in conflict zones worldwide up to the present day, including Vietnam and many African and Asian small wars. The RPD I am using in this video is a semiauto conversion made by DSA, with a barrel cut down to 16 inches to replicate a few field-shortened guns used by MAC-SOG commandos in Vietnam. While it looks very cool, I do rather regret not getting the full-length version instead, as the bipod is an important element on the RPD and the shortened bipod is really not practical (so I removed it for the video). DSA will be discontinuing their RPD semiautos at the end of 2016, so if this is the sort of thing you would like to have, I would recommend acting sooner rather than later.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons With the failure of the G30M and G30R to lead to any military orders (American or otherwise), the Winchester company took the advice of the Ordnance Department to scale the design up to an automatic rifle. The BAR had a number of known shortcomings in WWII, and the military was interested in replacing it. The Winchester Automatic Rifle (WAR) offered the same basic set of features with a lighter weight and lower cost. The WAR used a 2-lug rotating bolt like the Garand's, in combination with a Williams short stroke gas tappet action. Chambered for the standard .30-06 cartridge and using 20-round magazines, the WAR could be used as a semiautomatic rifle or in full automatic with a rate of fire of approximately 600 rpm (slightly more or less depending on whether a muzzle device was used). The WAR passed initial Ordnance inspection with flying colors, and a contract for 10 was placed, for more extensive testing. It passed these tests well, but they took place in the summer of 1945. By the time a major contract was a real possibility, World War II had ended, and the budget for new arms development was slashed. Had the war continued, the WAR likely would have begun to replace the BAR in US military service.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons David Marshall Williams was hired by the Winchester company in 1939, and would have a hand in a number of major projects during his 10-year stint with the company, although best known for the M1 Carbine. The Carbine was an offshoot of the Winchester G30 and G30M rifles, which would also evolve into the G30R and Winchester Automatic Rifle. Another offshoot using this same basic mechanism was this undesignated .50 BMG semiautomatic antitank rifle developed by Winchester during World War II. This rifle, like its developmental precursors, uses a two-lug, Garand type rotating bolt and a Williams gas tappet short stroke action. It has a 10-round detachable box magazine. Although I have not found a testing report, the gun was apparently tested by the Canadian military and performed quite well. It was never purchased or put into serial production, however, most likely because as an antitank rifle the .50 BMG cartridge was not effective by the end of World War II.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Villar Perosa is one of the first small machine guns developed and used by a military force. It was designed in Italy and introduced in 1915 as an aircraft weapon, to be used in a flexible mount by an airplane's observer. The gun consists of two independent firing actions mounted together. Each fires from an open bolt as a rate of 1200-1500 rounds/minute, feeding from a 25 round magazine of 9mm Glisenti cartridges. This allowed the maximum possible volume of fire in an aerial combat situation, where in 1915 ballistic power was not particularly important. As aircraft armaments improved and synchronized, belt-fed machine guns became practical, the Villar Perosa was quickly made obsolete in aerial use. The Italian military experimented with several applications of the weapon in ground combat, including slings and belt fittings for marching fire, tripods, mounts with integral armor shields, and bicycle mounts. None of these proved particularly successful, as the elements that made the gun well adapted to early aerial use (high rate of fire with a small cartridge) made it relatively ineffective for infantry use. Ultimately, the best use of the Villar Perosa was to break them up and convert the actions into shoulder-fired submachine guns. Designs to do this were developed by both the Beretta company and Villar Perosa themselves, and in 1918 these guns entered service at the same approximate period as the first German MP-18 submachine guns. Because of this recycling, intact M1915 Villar Perosa guns are quite rare today.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Hagen is an early semiauto rifle designed by a Norwegian, manufactured in the UK, and tested by several different militaries - but adopted by none. It uses a long stroke gas piston and a two-lug rotating bolt to operate. Compared to other contemporary rifles, it was a quite light and sleek design, although it was a bit awkward to handle. It also had a couple neat extra features, including a magazine cartridge counter and a selector to allow either semiauto or manual operation. Unfortunately for Hagen, the lightness came at the cost of durability, and its testing in French service was ended by parts breakage. Related: Semiauto Springfield 1903 Conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUzL6clu-90 Colt Model 1909 Prototype .276 Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioi7D6ce_34 Beretta 31 and 37 Prototype Semiauto Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE4r9qG6on0 Garand T3E2 Prototype .276 Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwntZVIoPpI Mondragon 1908 Semiauto Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOcAiZ-0X3U White Toggle-Locked Prototype .30-06 Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6o4TW36dBc White Gas Operated Prototype .276 Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXAmnoMR2aI Mauser 1902 Long Recoil Prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5F22ri_L5g Pedersen Toggle--Delayed Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-2iy81k9DM

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Now that the June 2016 Regional auction at Rock Island Auction Company is complete, we can take a look at the final prices realized for each of the guns that I looked at in videos. Most of the guns in this auction were sold in batches, so the prices don't generally reflect the value of individual guns in the videos. However, there were some really good deals to be had in this sale...

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Mauser Selbstlader M1915 was the result of many years of work by the Mauser brothers to develop a semiautomatic rifle suitable for military use. They tried many different types of operating systems, and this one is a particularly unusual recoil-operated mechanism. Only about 600 of these rifle were made, with about 400 of them being shorter carbine variants and the remaining few hundred infantry-pattern long rifles like this one. They use 25-round detachable magazines (which look like MG13 magazines but are not interchangeable with them), and are chambered for standard 8mm Mauser ammunition. The locking system of the M1915 uses a pair of large flaps very much like the Mauser 06/08 pistol, but not a recoiling barrel like the pistol. Instead, a camming plate floats on a bit of spring tension in the rear of the receiver. Upon firing, the plate tends to stay in place because of inertia while the rest of the rifle recoils backwards. This differential movement makes the camming plate go forward relative to the rest of the weapon, and in doing so it unlocks the two flaps. Very unusual.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The CETME-L was Spain's replacement for the CETME Modelo C, which was the 7.62x51mm rifle that was essentially adopted by Germany as the G3 in the 1950s. By the 1980s Spain needed to move to the new NATO standard caliber, 5.56x45mm. A domestic design was preferred, so rather than but HK-93 rifles from Germany the Spanish military opted to bring back a development project that had begun back in 1971. The CETME Modelo L uses the exact same operating system as the Modelo C and the HK 91/93, but because its design was run independently by Spain it shares few interchangeable parts. Most notably, the cocking handle tube and receiver top have a square profile, rather than round. The magazine well was intended to use STANAG magazines, but was not particularly well designed and has a very steep and abrupt feed angle. This, combined with quality control issues in rifle and magazine manufacture led to substantial reliability problems. The final development was completed between 1982 and 1984, with production beginning in 1986 and the full run or about 100,000 rifles finished in 1991. By 1996 the deficiencies with the rifle were clear, and the Spanish military held replacement trials, which would result in the H&K G36E being adopted in 1999 to replace the Modelo L. The CETME-L design, if built correctly, is a reasonably good one, although rather old-fahsioned by the late 1980s. It lacked the modularity to allow use of modern optical sights, lasers, attached grenade launchers, and other accessories that were becoming common. This is likely due to the design originating more than a decade earlier - had it been introduced in the early 1970s it would have been much more timely. In addition to this standard Modelo L, two other versions were also used in smaller numbers. The Modelo LC was a carbine variant with a shorter barrel and collapsing stock, and the Modelo LV was an marksman's variant with a STANAG optics rail incorporate

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Spanish company Gabilondo y Urresti, later to become known as Llama, introduced this locked-breech .45 ACP copy of the Colt 1911 in 1924. It was not a slavish copy, however, and introduced a captive recoil spring which would be the inspiration for that feature in the Polish Vis-35 and many later pistols. By 1927, fewer than a thousand has sold, and it was decided that a new very that was a closer copy of the 1911 was introduced (in several calibers, including .45 ACP, 9x19, and 9x23) which would become very popular as the Llama pistol.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Welcome to your briefing on the new equipment we are issuing for the Spring Offensive of 1919. With this new secret weapon, we can finally push the Germans out of France and end the war! Want to see a Pedersen Device firing? Check out my shooting video on Full30: https://www.full30.com/video/2d4d78397e6c8c9b83933a9cf01fe513

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The story of the development of the Barrett M82 .50 BMG semiauto rifle is really a neat story - much more interesting than most people probably expect, and reminiscent of many firearms development stories of the 1800s. Ronnie Barrett was working as a photographer in the late 70s, and became interested (perhaps obsessed?) with the idea of a semiauto .50 caliber rifle after a photo session with a Vietnam War jungle patrol boat (which was armed with a pair of M2 .50 caliber machine guns). At the time, the only civilian options for the .50 BMG cartridge were conversions of WWII antitank rifles like the Boys and PTRD. Barrett, with basically no formal engineering background, sketched up a design and approached some machine shops for advice and assistance. He started working in his garage, and after a couple years had a function prototype completed. He sold the rifles commercially at gun shows and through publications like Shotgun News until making his first military sale in 1989, to the Swedish government. The following year he received an order from the US military, and sales took off from there. Contrary to common expectation, the Barrett M82A1 is not really a "sniper" rifle - as a semiautomatic design with a recoil-operated action it's potential accuracy is much less than that of a bolt action precision rifle - and this is amplified by the lack of a precision .50 BMG cartridge in US military service. In practice, the M82A1 will shoot about 3 MOA with normal ball ammunition, and about 1.5-2 MOA with good handloads. It is used primarily as an EOD rifle to detonate heavy-walled unexploded shells at a safe distance, and as an anti-material rifle to attack light vehicles and infrastructure at a long distance. These are relatively large targets, which require the large payload of a .50 BMG projectile but not the extreme accuracy of a true "sniper's" rifle.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The French FAMAS was one of the first bullpup rifles to be adopted and built in large numbers by a military power. It was adopted by France in 1978 at right about the same time as the Steyr AUG was being adopted by the Austrian military. Bullpup rifles offered a short overall length without sacrificing barrel length, an advantage that seemed quite valuable for troops who were to spend significant amounts of time in vehicles, where space is at a premium. In French service, the FAMAS was also made the formal replacement for both the MAS-49/56 rifle and the MAT-49 submachine gun, thanks to its compact nature. The FAMAS is interesting mechanically, as it is one of very few production delayed-blowback rifle designs (the other common one being the CETME/HK series). The FAMAS uses a lever-delaying system, which allows a very simple bolt and action mechanism. The F1 model (adopted by the French Army and still in use today, making up the bulk of FAMAS production) has a 1:12" twist to its rifling, effectively limiting it to 55 grain projectiles - and it also requires steel-cased ammunition to run reliably. The G2 variant (adopted in 1995 by the French Navy) changed to a 1:9" twist, introduced a full-hand trigger guard, and also uses NATO standard AR15 magazines instead of the proprietary 25-round magazine of the F1. In the late 1980s a small number of semiauto FAMAS rifles were made by St Etienne and imported into the US by Century. Most people say 100-125 rifles, although serial number suggest this may have actually been 225-250 rifles. Regardless, they are quite scarce and expensive today.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Model 1918/30 is a semiauto-only carbine made by Beretta in between the early Model 1918 submachine guns and the excellent Model 38 family. It was marketed (well, sold) primarily to security and police forces, for whom the semiautomatic limitation was not a particular hindrance. It is chambered for the 9mm Glisenti cartridge, which is dimensionally identical to 9x19 Parabellum but more lightly loaded. Mechanically the carbine is a simple blowback design, and very light and handy. It has a rather short barrel (12.5 inches), but has been exempted from the NFA regulations on short-barreled rifles. Magazines were made in 12- and 25-round capacities (the one seen here is a 25-rounder).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Smith-Jennings rifles are one of the evolutionary steps towards the revolutionary Henry and Winchester lever-action rifles. Here is the rifle that brought together the ideas of Hunt (who invented the rocket ball cartridge) and Jennings with the men who would go on to develop the gun into its final form - Henry, Smith, and Wesson.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Aren't these 19th century little pocket pistols cute? This is another palm-type hideout gun, named the "Little All Right" and patented in 1876. It's actually a pretty basic revolver mechanism, just put into an unusual style of body with a strange trigger. It holds 5 rounds of .22 Short, and fires double action. Only a few hundred (perhaps a thousand) were made, which is understandable once you handle one. While the gun is small, the reach to the trigger is actually quite long, and the trigger itself is rather heavy. That combination would actually make it a bit difficult to shoot. It also forces you to wrap your hand around the cylinder gap, which couldn't be too pleasant when shooting.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Japanese military experimented with self-loading rifle designs through the 1930s, and had 4 major rifles in testing during that period. One was a new design by Kijiro Nambu, one was a Pedersen copy made by the Tokyo Army Arsenal, one was a gas operated toggle locking rifle by the Nippon Special Steel company, and the fourth was this, a ZH-29 copy made by Tokyo Gas & Electric. TG&E was a major industrial concern that made all manner of products, and they chose to copy the ZH-29 for Army rifle trials. However, it appears that while their manufacturing quality was quite good, they lacked the firearms design expertise on staff to fix the problems the rifle was found to have. Specifically, their ZH-29 suffered from substantially inferior accuracy. It seems that no significant changes were made between the first and second major trials (1932 and 1935), and when the accuracy problems appeared unchanged in 1935, they were dropped from competition. Only a handful of these rifles were ever made, between 10 and 25. There are a number of differences between the TG&E rifle and the original Czech ZH-29. The most significant of these is a separate non-reciprocating bolt handle on the TG&E rifle, where the Czechs fixed the handle directly to the bolt carrier body. The Japanese rifle was chambered in 6.5x50SR, of course, and used a new magazine not compatible with the Czech type. The trigger group was also redesigned somewhat, although not in a fundamental way.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons When someone makes a "fake" historical gun, they can do so with the intent to deceive or be up-front with the gun's new manufacture. Those acknowledged reproductions are a great option to have - guns like Uberti reproduction revolvers give us an excellent opportunity to shoot antique designs without the cost of true originals and without the risk of damaging them. On the other hand, creating "antiques" fraudulently to deceive someone into believing they are actually originals is a reprehensible practice. What about when you don't know, though? In the Victorian era, it was popular to have fancy antique guns - like these wheellock pistols. Just like today, not everyone could afford to actually go buy a 300-year-old ornate gun, though. So, many people would commission new replicas made (and I'm sure plenty of fraudulent copies were created as well). Fast forward a hundred years or more to the present day, and we have a bit of a conundrum for the potential buyer. It a gun 100 years old or 400? It takes some substantial experience and knowledge to be able to tell the difference - and yet an acknowledged Victorian copy is still a potentially fantastic piece of workmanship and collectible in its own right.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons NOTE: The flag in the thumbnail is censored because if I use the proper one YouTube gets upset. The pistol on display here is a Sauer model 38H (a much more common pistol in German WWII service than many people realize) that was made specially as a presentation piece. Heinrich Himmler presented these pistols to snipers who had killed 100 enemy soldiers - other prizes were offered for 50 (a leave from the front and a nice watch) and 150 (a hunting trip with Himmler himself). For 100, it appears that a sniper was given a choice of binoculars, hunting rifle, or these pistols. How many were actually made and how many were actually awarded is not clear. The serial number of known examples are in a range from 475396 (which is this one) to 475409. Clearly, they were all made in once batch and then awarded as Himmler saw fit. An interesting artifact of the Nazi Party's interaction with the German military!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons German arms development during World War II was quite the chaotic mess, in many ways. While it is not uncommon for different service branches to have independent procurement systems, in fascist-era Germany this was coupled with the close collaboration between industry and the Party structure. This led to competing and conflicting policies between military and political offices. Semiautomatic rifle development was no exception. While the Walther and Mauser companies won the competitions to develop the Gewehr 41, the Gustloff concern had also produced a number of designs and these were continued after the trials by political decree. The best of these designs (apparently, from the sparse information available) was the model 206. The Gustloff 206 is a largely sheet metal rifle with a gas piston operating system and an unusual vertically traveling locking block, akin to the Type 94 Nambu and Bergmann 1910 (as well as the much more recent Arsenal Strike One). The rifle is semiautomatic only (although it sounds like some select-fire models were also made) and feeds from MG-13 box magazines - cut down from 25 rounds to 10 rounds capacity on this example. Therifle may be related to the Gustloff submission for the Luftwaffe’s FG-42 project, but may not be. All I have been able to find on that rifle is that Gustloff did submit one and it did not progress into any trials, most likely because it failed to meet the design criteria set out by the Luftwaffe. The model 206 would fit that description.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The CheyTac M200 Intervention is a massive precision rifle chambered for the .408 CheyTac cartridge (although it can also be had in .375 CheyTac). It uses an action made by EDM Arms, and is capable of sub-MOA accuracy out to 2200-2500 yards (2000-2300 meters). There are other rifles that fulfill those specs as well, but the M200 Intervention gets an exaggerated amount of attention because it has a pretty distinctive look, with its large under-barrel carry handle and collapsing stock (you may recognize it from the 2007 movie "Shooter", based on a Stephen Hunter novel). Today I will take a look at some of the details of this rifle and its ammunition, and address the more common misunderstandings about it and long range shooting in general. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

I don't like censorship. If you do, by all means stay on YouTube. But if you don't, consider supporting an alternative firearms video platform: Full30.com. https://www.full30.com/video/2080d38f2a8035b7b615698410801f73

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Development of the 1911 Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgOicEVA4u8 The Colt 1907 was one of the significant developmental iterations of the design that would eventually be adopted as the Model 1911 by the US military. This pistol began as John Browning’s Model 1900 in .38 caliber, with the .45ACP cartridge being first created for the Model 1905 iteration. That 1907 was the model actually purchased for field trials in the wake of its top placement in the 1907 US pistol trials. The 1907 differs from the Colt 1905 primarily by its inclusion of a grip safety, added at military request. The trials pistols were evaluated for several years by several Cavalry units as well as institutions like the Army School of Musketry. This period of evaluation would lead to a series of small revision to refine its performance (such as improvements to the sear durability and widening of the ejection port) but there would be one last major design change before the pistol was in its final form. Even while the 1907 was being tested, Browning was working on replacing the twin-pivot locking system with a single-pivot one which would be presented to the Army as the Model 1909.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons In a last hopeful attempt to get a rifle adopted and produced for the US military, John Pedersen designed his own copy of the M1 Garand rifle in the late 1930s (approximately 1939). His toggle-locked rifles had been irreversibly rejected, and the Garand rifle fully adopted by 1936. Pedersen's exact reasons for making a copy of it are not recorded anywhere I can find, but he did make a number of small changes to the design. Two series of Pedersen Garand rifles were made, first the GX and second the GY. Only 10-12 of each were ever made, so they are extraordinarily rare today. They all show some detail differences form the M1 in stock design, sight design, etc. However, a persistent question had long been, what differentiated the GX from the GY? When I had the opportunity to examine one of each type side by side, I knew I would have a chance to determine that answer. The meaningful differences are twofold: clips and gas system. The later GY rifle uses a standard M1 Garand clip, while the earlier GX rifle uses a distinct Pedersen-designed clip. Whether Pedersen was unable to obtain Garand clips to design around or if he thought he could make a better clip is unknown, but by the time the rifles were actually tested in 1943 it must have been clear that if they did not use a standard clip, logistics would immediately rule out their potential adoption. The gas system difference mirrors a change that the Garand underwent as well. The early GX rifle was originally made as a gas trap style of action, in which the rifled barrel ends just shy of the muzzle, leaving an unrifled and minutely larger bore with a large hole to capture gas pressure just before the bullet exits. This was believed to prevent problems with wear and accuracy caused by drilling a gas port in the barrel itself (the German military also believed this to be a problem, as one can see from their Gewehr 41 development requirements). However, this system instea

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons With no markings or provenance at all, the origins of this revolver are a mystery. Its features all point to the 1880s or 1890s, and someone clearly spent a lot of time working on it - but we don't know who. What makes it interesting is the very unusual operating mechanism. It is similar to a "zig-zag" system like the 1878 Mauser or Webley-Fosbery, but with angled splines on the cylinder instead of grooves.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Swiss factories of SIG and W+F Bern both produced a remarkable number and variety of experimental self-loading rifles in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Nothing would be adopted by the Swiss military until the StG-57, but these two firms were continuously working to develop a military self-loader for either Swiss or foreign purchase almost form the end of the First World War. This example from W+F Bern, designated the AK-44 (for its design date, 1944) is not so much a new experimental design but rather a very faithful copy of the Soviet SVT-40 rifle. It uses a mechanically identical tilting bolt and short stroke gas piston, and even shares the metal front handguard, muzzle brake design, and simple manual safety of the Tokarev - although chambered for the Swiss 7.5x55mm cartridge and using a 6-round magazine instead of the Soviet 10-round type (almost certainly because of the Swiss use of 6-round charger clips). Multiple different variations on the AK-44 were made, with variations in the muzzle configuration (SVT-40 type in this case; others had K31 configurations, FG-42 configurations, and more). Several different types of optical sight were also experimented with on the AK-44, including a German style mount for a ZF-4 type scope on a side rail, and a Swiss periscopic optic in this case - the same pattern as the Swiss K31/42 and K31/43 snipers’ rifles. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The ZH-29 was an influential early semiautomatic military rifle, although not one that saw any significant adoption. As best I can tell, only two countries purchased them in any quantity: China and Ethiopia. This ZH-29 is an Ethiopian contract example, with an Ethiopian Lion of Judah on the receiver and stock. The other rifle we are looking at today is a further iteration of the ZH-29 that was tested by the Czech military - the Z-37. This rifle shows a few relatively minor alterations from the standard pattern: * Rear sight attached at back rather than front * Bolt handle changed from round knob to hook * Safety moved from trigger guard to rear of receiver * Front sight and bayonet lug pinned to barrel and made separate from the gas block * Barrel weight increased An interesting glimpse into the changes requested by the Czech trials board before finally rejecting the design. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons When the German military finally could no longer tolerate the expense of the P.08 Luger in the late 1930s, they held a trial of possible replacements. The three main entrants were BSW with a gas-operated pistol, Walther with what would ultimately be accepted as the P.38, and Mauser with it's experimental HSv locked-breech design. Mauser had begun development of the pistol as a replacement for the models 1910/14/34, with two stylistically matching designs - once blowback in small calibers and one locked for 9x19 Parabellum. The initial commercial design had a full-length slide, covering a recoil spring located around the barrel. However, the German military requirements specifically called for an exposed barrel. This forced Mauser to redesign its recoil spring system, and they opted to use a lever system like in Webley automatic pistols. With that change, and having moved the magazine release to the pistol's heel, they had an entrant for military testing. It appears that the Mauser HSv in 9x19 was every bit as good of a pistol as the P.38 - and it actually feels better in the hand than the P.38 to me. However, the Mauser was significantly more expensive, which led to the Walther design winning. The Mauser design would follow a pattern much like the 1910 Mauser had - the small scale blowback design would prove very popular (as the HSc, adopted by the Kriegsmarine among others and selling very well commercially), but the locked breech larger design would fail to make any inroads and never enter production. Related videos: 1929 Simson Blowback Prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTl0vWTQbeA Walther P38 Development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXAMma6mUq8 BSW Prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFQEBa2RVlI http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons After making their big break with the adoption of the Model 1871 Mauser rifle by the newly unified German government, the Mauser brothers, took a shot at getting the handgun contract for the military as well, with this revolver, the Model 1878. It is often colloquially called the Mauser Zig-Zag because of its conspicuously grooved cylinder, although of course that was never an official designation. The guns were made in the official 10.6mm German Ordnance cartridge, as well as 9mm and 7.6mm cartridges for the civilian commercial market, with a couple different frame sizes. Unfortunately for Mauser, the guns proved too complicated for military acceptance, and they did not sell very well on the commercial market either. The external cylinder rotating tracks required special accommodation, as the cylinder had to have a chamber precisely in line with the barrel to latch closed after reloading. This was done by adding a manual locking lever at the front of the cylinder, which doubled as a safety catch. Of course, what made the guns unsuitable for the military does make them pretty unusual and interesting for collectors today... http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons A 7-shot repeating handgun before cartridges had been invented? Yep, long before. These two pistols are London-made examples of the Lorenzoni system, in which a gun was made with internal magazines of powder and projectiles and a rotating central loading spindle like a modern reloading powder throw. By rotating a lever on the left side of pistol 180 degrees and back, a shooter could load a ball into the chamber, load powder behind it, recock the action, prime the pan, and close the frizzen all in one automated sequence. This system originated with a German gunsmith named Kalthoff in the mid 1600s, but it was an Italian by the name of Lorenzoni who made it more practical and began building pistols of the type. Lorenzoni is the name that has been generally applied to the system as a result. These two were made by a gunsmith named Glass in London in the mid 1700s - in these days of hand-made firearms ideas and systems like this would slowly spread and be adopted by craftsmen who were capable of producing them and thought they could find an interested market for them. The Lorenzoni system offered unmatched repeating firepower for its time, but was hampered by its complexity. Only a very skilled gunsmith could build a reliable and safe pistol of the type, and this made them very expensive. Another example of a Lorenzoni pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_hnC6x036Q http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons After getting his Model 1941 machine gun purchased in small numbers by the US military, Melvin Johnson continued to press for more sales and a general adoption. Following testing results and recommendations from soldiers in the field, he made a number of modifications to the gun and developed the M1944, which was quickly tweaked to become the M1944E1, also called the M1945. This new version included several improvements including: * Replacing the bipod with a monopod less prone to interfering with barrel removal * Improved stronger bolt anti-bounce latch * Metal dual-tube buttstock in place of wood * and most significantly, a gas-boosted hybrid recoil operating system This new model of the Johnson was in testing at the end of WWII, and weapons development budget cuts at the conclusion of the war prevented it from replacing the BAR as Johnson and many in the Marine Corps had hoped. This particular M1945 Johnson is fully transferrable, as came out of the Winchester Museum Collection (now the Cody Firearms Museum) back many years ago when curators would occasionally sell items from the collection to raise money. Johnson M1941 LMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf40tHdKmno http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Beretta offered its first semiautomatic pistols during World War One, with the Model 1915 chambered in 9mm Glisenti. This was quickly supplemented by the 1915/17 scaled down to the .32ACP cartridge, which was both handier to carry and less expensive to make. After the end of the war, Beretta looked to deign a more modern replacement pistol for military and security service use. This would take the form of the Model 1923, which was based on the same patent and the same basic design. It was again chambered for the 9mm Glisenti cartridge - identical dimensionally to the 9x19mm Parabellum, but loaded substantially lighter so as to be more suited to a simple blowback action. The 1923 was the first Beretta design to use an exposed hammer, a feature which would follow into all later Beretta service pistols through the Model 92/96. The 1923 did not sell well, and only 10,400 were made by 1926, when production ended. These pistols would remain in Beretta’s inventory into the mid 1930s, and the last 3,000 were finally sold to the Italian military just following a contract signed for purchase of 150,000 of the Model 1934 pistols - a deal which has the hallmarks of a cooperative agreement of the government to take these reliable but generally undesirable guns out of Beretta’s hands to help clean up their books. A small number of 1923 model pistols (actually designated model 1924 by Beretta) were made with locking lugs at the bottom of the grip to fit a detachable combination shoulder stock and holster. This stock was essentially a standard Model 1923 leather holster with a mate lug and folding retractable strut added to connect to the pistol. While all holster/stock combinations were compromises between the need to carry the gun and the need to make it a more stable shooting platform the 1923 type was not a great design, of limited shooting utility (hence its very limited production and sale). http://www.patreon.com/Forgot

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Like most other nations with modern military forces. Czechoslovakia was interested in developing a semiautomatic infantry rifle in the 1920s and 1930s. The most successful such rifle to come out of Czech factory during this time was The ZH-29, but it did have competition. A major series of trials was held in 1937 and 1938, and the CZ entrant was this Model 38 rifle. It uses a tilting bolt with many similarities to the ZB-26 light machine gun and ZH-29 rifle, along with a short stroke gas piston. Interestingly, its charging handle is designed to mimic the manual of arms of the then-standard Mauser bolt action rifles - the handle must be rotated 90 degrees up before pulling the bolt back, and then rotated back down before firing. The CZ model 38 also used a fixed 10-round magazine fed by stripper clips instead of a detachable box magazine. The model 38 apparently did not do well in the adverse conditions testing. None of the other rifles in the trial were good enough to be judged adequate, though, and more development and trial continued afterwards. The rifle ultimately chosen used an annular gas piston, but was never put into production because of World War II. That design would reappear after the war and lead to the vz.52 rifle. Related videos on the ZH-29: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvGDNX9-XKA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgnYzsyJCoM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvI92kOwV4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5dyjhcxGMI And the CZ Model S, a 1929 prototype in the same series of trials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSTFWB5NHi8 http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Paul Mauser spent nearly 20 years attempting to perfect a self-loading rifle for military service. He came closest with this, his 1913 patent model, which was used by German balloon and aircraft fliers as the Model 1915 and Model 1916 respectively - but these rifles were also sold on the commercial market to affluent sportsmen and gun enthusiasts. This is an example of a sporting pattern 1913 rifle, with a sporting stock and full-length handguards, and a mounting rail on the receiver for a Zeiss prismatic optic. It has a 9mm bore, probably (but don't quote me) in 9x57mm. The mechanism, however, is identical to the military rifles. Infantry pattern Mauser self-loader: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBsUnVQzhh8 Mauser 06/08 Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Ze_aSg77c http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The model 1895 Müller automatic pistol is an interesting and unusual design, despite being a simple blowback action. Where most pistols have a bolt or slide that moved directly rearward, the Müller pushes the bolt in a semicircular arc into its grip. This is similar to the Swedish Hamilton trials pistol that would come a few years later, and somewhat akin to the much more recent Kriss Vector design. I was unable to find any reference to the Müller in any trials documents, so I don't know if it was a competitor in any of the European military handgun competitions. For that matter, I'm not sure exactly what cartridge it used, beyond the 7.5mm bore diameter. Related: Swedish Hamilton trials pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWW5IFEGITI http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Wather introduced its first pistol in 1908, creatively named the Model 1. With the outbreak of World War One, the company was offering the Model 4 pistol for military use. This was a .32 ACP simple blowback action, and it proved quite popular and successful. However, the German military was primarily interested in 9x19mm handguns for front line service. In an attempt to serve that market as well, Walther developed the Model 6, a scaled-up version of the Model 4 chambered for 9x19. The Model 6 remained a simple blowback pistol, with a heavier slide and mainspring to accommodate the much greater muzzle energy of the 9x19 cartridge. It entered production in 1915, but only a little more than a thousand examples were manufactured by 1917, when production ceased. While the gun did work well enough, the 9x19 cartridge is not really well suited for a blowback system, and the military much preferred locked-breech siderarms. The Model 6 was not formally adopted, although many of the guns made were purchased privately and did see use in the war. Othais' history of the Walther Model 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGkZe56xMBU http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons With the advent of successful self-loading pistols, one of the additional markets that many companies tried to appeal to was the compact carbine. Self-loading rifles in proper rifle cartridges would not be developed as quickly as the pistols because their much greater chamber pressures represented a more difficult engineering problem. However by simply attaching a stock and long barrel to a pistol, many ambitious manufacturers hoped to sell a weapon as a sporting carbine. These were done by DWM with the Luger, as well as Mauser's C96, Mannlicher 1894 pistol, and many others. Model 1902 was the designation of the major batch of commercially made Luger carbines, although there were several small batches of prototypes prior. Only a couple thousand were made, and they ultimately took quite a long time to all sell - it turned out this type of firearm was simply not very popular for its cost. The same story was true with the other contemporary pistol-carbines - none would be very successful. DWM did make another group of carbines in the 1920s, although those were made from various leftover parts and are both not as nice as the original 1902 guns (which were mostly made in 1904 and 1905) and widely faked. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons During the 1920s, a lot of experimental rifle development work was being done in the US. The military was interested in finding a semiautomatic rifle, and plenty of inventors were eager to get that valuable military contract. One particular item of interest to the military was the possibility of being able to convert large existing stockpiles of bolt action 1903 Springfield rifles into semiautomatics, and that is what this particular example was an attempt at. This rifle is built with a barrel and receiver made in 1921 (it was not uncommon for the government to provide parts to inventors working in this area), and uses an operating system which is pretty much unheard of today: primer actuation. In this system, the primer pushes back out of the cartridge case (intentionally) upon firing, acting as a small piston. This pushes the firing pin backwards (as well as the bolt face in this rifle), which begins the process of unlocking and cycling. It is a system that saw some popularity for a brief time in the 20s, as it allowed semiautomatic action without the need for a drilled gas port or a moving barrel - several of John Garand's early prototypes operated this way. However, substandard performance and the need for special ammunition (most military ammunition had primers solidly crimped in place) led to its abandonment. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons With the development of the Model 1931, Beretta had nearly arrived at the first really popular pistol (the 1934/5). The 1931 was the result of taking the exposed-hammer 1923 design, shrinking the frame down to a more compact size and changing the caliber to .32 ACP (7.65mm Browning). This smaller cartridge reduced the need for slide weight and recoil spring strength for the simple blowback system (the recoil buffer from the previous 9mm Glisenti pistols was also rendered unnecessary). The only step left between the 1931 and the really successful 1934 was to increase the size of the grip slightly to provide better handling. On fact, the 1931 and 1934 slides were identical - some early 1934 pistols can be found with 1931 slides overstamped to read 1934. This particular 1931 is a Royal Navy purchased example made in 1933. Beretta Model 1923: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIIAfAS3nXM http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Galand was an innovative revolver design created by Frenchman Charles Francois Galand and patented in 1868. It is most notable for using a long lever system to eject cartridges by throwing the cylinder and a separate cartridge retention plate forward. It was also one of the early adopters of centerfire ammunition (a .45 caliber cartridge with an unusually thick rim, specifically). In addition to being licensed for production in England, Belgium, and France, the Galand was adopted in 1870 by the Imperial Russian Navy, and several thousand (including this example) purchased by them. Some were made by the Nagant brothers in Liege, and some by the Tula factory in Russia. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Danish artillery was an early adopter of metallic-case handguns, taking on this pinfire 6-shot solid-frame revolver in 1865 - when most of the world was still using percussion firearms. The thousand guns made served well for many decades, until in 1897 they finally were recognized as obsolete and converted to use more modern centerfire ammunition. After that update, they continued to remain as issued sidearms until the end of World War 2! The guns have a manual safety, an unusual (but not unheard of) element on a revolver. The centerfire ammunition they were converted to use is also an interesting subject, as it was a metal-jacketed but wood-cored projectile. Presumably, this was in an effort to get a high velocity and large diameter bullet simultaneously. The same type of bullet would be used in the .45 caliber Schouboe automatic pistols (https://www.full30.com/video/9e08e89f2b288fb3af95af60ef28eab4).

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The SL-8 was Heckler & Koch’s civilianized version of the G36 military rifle. There was, unsurprisingly, a major interest in semiautomatic civilian copies of the G36, but H&K was in a difficult position to meet the demand. At the time (mid-1990s) such a rifle was subject to both the 1989 assault weapon importation ban and the 1994 domestic assault weapon ban (which would eventually sunset in 2004). For this reason, the design had to be significantly modified for the US commercial market. Specifically, the rifle had to have a number of specifically named features removed, and also restricted to only using 10-round or smaller magazines. The feature removal was relatively simple, as elements like a threaded muzzle and bayonet lug were easily deleted. Removing the pistol grip involved replacing the stock with a new thumbhole design, and the military optical sight was replaced with a pica tinny rail (not a legal requirement, but a corporate choice, certainly largely driven by cost). More significantly, the change to a 10-round magazine was done by converting to a single-stack magazine and redesigning the receiver to include a permanent block to prevent adaptation to original G36 magazines. In addition, the front surface of the right lower locking lug was ground off to prevent the rifle from feeding from the right side of an original double-stack magazine. Thanks to its strange aesthetics and rather awkward design, the SL-8 never sold well, and its importation was discontinued around 2010. The rifles do remain items of interest particularly for people willing to dedicate the substantial time and money required to rebuild them into proper G36 clones, however.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons These unique and unmarked prototype .32 ACP pistols are apparently Iver Johnson prototypes - and I can't find any information on them beyond that description from their consignor. One is a simpler example in the white, and the other is a more developed example with both a manual safety and an unusual style of grip safety. If anyone has any further information on these, I would be interested to hear it! Update: A viewer sent me the link to this US patent, which covers these guns and is, in fact, associated with Iver Johnson: https://www.google.com/patents/US992854 http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.armamentresearch.com This is a basic instructional video on unloading and clearing the four most common types of rifles that will be encountered by journalists, aid workers, and other non-combatants in conflict zones today. Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. ARES fills a critical market gap, and offers unique technical support to other actors operating in the sector. Drawing on the extensive experience and broad-ranging skillsets of our staff and contractors, ARES delivers full-spectrum research & analysis, technical review, training, and project support services. Our services are often delivered in support of national, regional, and international initiatives, and can be conducted in both permissive and non-permissive environments. ARES is an apolitical, policy-neutral organisation, providing technical assessments to legitimate customers. We reserve the right to decline any engagement we deem ethically problematic. United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM) number: 358103

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The Lahti L39 was the Finnish answer to the need for an anti-tank rifle, developed just before the Winter War. The rifle was created by noted Finnish designed Aimo Lahti, who had pressed for it to use a 13.2mm cartridge. However, arguments for using a 20x138B cartridge won out, based on hopes to use that cartridge in both antitank and antiaircraft roles, as well as testing that showed the 20mm projectile to have greater terminal effect. The L39 was not available for use in the Winter War (having been adopted barely 2 months before the Russian attack), but was used extensively in the Continuation War. While improved tank armor quickly became thick enough to protect against the round, it was used for a variety of anti material roles, attacking machine gun positions, bunkers, light vehicles, and more. In 1944, an anti-aircraft version was also produced, firing in full auto and using 15-round magazines. Today, ammunition is available from a few companies, typically using lathe-turned new cases and surplus 20mm Vulcan projectiles. Want to hear some interesting stories about crimes committed with Destructive Devices? Check out my short chat with Dolf Goldsmith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9CZO3jFUz4 Related: Boys AT Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOnhPtqj3Jo PzB-39 AT Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jupKqqqgBJM GrB-39 AT Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWFX08ay-pE Mauser 1918 Tankgewehr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko9A3ZbN8ZU Solothurn S18/1000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqsgC_ifo7w Bofors 37mm AT Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg0DEb93bgc US M6 37mm AT Gun Motor Carriage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMMRiAPh6Nw http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons "Pom-Pom" was the name given to the 37mm Maxim gun by the Boers of South Africa, based on the gun's sound. It was a Maxim machine gun scaled up to the quite impressive 37mm caliber, intended primarily for naval use defending large vessels against small torpedo boats. This particular example is serial number 2024, made in 1889 and then sold three times before being ultimately purchased by the United States Coast Guard and installed on the USS Manning (along with a second gun, number 2026). The Manning was promptly put into military service by the Navy and steamed down to Cuba, where it participated in the first bombardment of Cuba during the Spanish-American War. These 37mm guns could fire a wide variety of projectiles, including solid rounds which could pierce an inch (25mm) of iron armor at 100 yards and hollow rounds filled with black powder and fused to explode on impact. During World War One, they would be pushed into anti-aircraft service, with the explosive rounds being extremely effective on early aircraft (when you could get a hit, anyway). Related: Bethlehem Steel 37mm Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abEq7bWROwA Vickers 2.95" Mountain Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b53isF0RZU Maxim lMG08/15: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbt1_gyAPYY

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons The United States had two primary types of sniper rifles during World War One, although both were based on the M1903 Springfield rifle. The most common optic used was the Warner & Swasey "Telescopic Musket Sight", a rather clumsy prismatic optic mounted on the left side of the rifle, on a detachable rail. The model 1908 W&S offered 6 power magnification, which was reduced to 5.2x in the 1913 model in an effort to increase field of view. These optics were also used on the M1909 Benet-Mercie light machine gun. The second type is the Winchester A5 scope, an excellent commercial scope available at the time. Although usually associated with the US Marine Corps, several hundred of these were also issued by the Army. The A5 was a much more tradition type of optic, mounted centrally above the bore and preferred by competitive marksmen. The third rifle we are looking at in this video is a very interesting example of a competitive rifle from the pre-WWI period. It is a 1903 Springfield fitted with a commercial A5 scope and Mann bases. This is the sort of rifle that would have been used by the career military shooters for competition, and would likely have accompanied many such men overseas in the American Expeditionary Force. Woe to the German who found himself in the sights of such a man with a rifle like this! http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: WWI Periscope Trench Mauser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqrw9KVzQzc Book Review - The Yanks Are Coming!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jekg6djiuIs Book Review - The 1903 Springfield Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MThZaed5Xr4 WWI German G98 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmQpOE1CcQU Book Review - A Rifleman Went to War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugwNn0wtwaQ

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Patented in 1876 in both the US and UK, the Frankenau purse gun was a very small 5-shot, 5mm pinfire revolver hidden inside what appeared to be a normal small coin purse. One side of the purse would even open, with several accordion pockets, allowing to to be used for its nominal purpose. The other side contained the revolver, with a hinged plate covering the muzzle and a trigger which would fold up into the body of the case when not in use. Few were sold, and most saw a lot of use, making them pretty unusual to find today. Related: Chicago Palm Protector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv4ekzpWdFk French Gaulois Palm Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsxOjDYWSDI Little All Right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ZnlsLAaiI My Friend Knucklers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQHllWpPx3I

See my blog post for the full details: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/cetme-lc-the-short-one-safety-psa/ In brief, the problem is that the guns will often run away if steps are not taken to prevent it. This is not a clever way to get a machine gun (although I'm sure plenty of fools will see it as such); it is a serious safety problem because it can often cause out of battery detonation of cartridges, seriously damaging the rifle and injuring the shooter or bystanders. Potentially worse, an unexpected 30-round mag dump at 1000 rpm can easily cause a shooter to lose control of the rifle and put bullets in dangerous directions. It will also, of course, cause damage to the receiver, bolt carrier, and fire control assembly. The solution is to add a significantly heavier firing pin spring, to prevent the increased bolt velocity of the LC from allowing the firing pin to slamfire. The problem stems from a combination of design changes to the LC model specifically, and poor quality springs originally made for the rifles. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The German Sturmgewehr and the Soviet Kalashnikov are widely and rightly considered the two most influential and iconic of the modern military rifles. While the German rifle certainly influenced the Soviet design, the two were designed with different intentions and goals. The Sturmgewehr was an attempt to blend the roles of rifle and light machine gun, while the Kalashnikov was intended to blend the roles of rifle and submachine gun - and yet they both reached largely the same practical reality. Which do you think was the better system? http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The M1C was an M1 Garand with a telescopic sight, using a mounting system developed by the Griffin & Howe company of New York. It utilized a rail pinned and screwed to the left side of the receiver, coupled with a quick-release scope on top. The rails had to be installed prior to heat treating the receivers, which had the unfortunately consequence of preventing rifles form being chosen for sniper conversion based on their mechanical accuracy. Instead, accuracy would be tested only after rifles were complete, leading to a 60% rejection rate. The scope was offset to the left of the receiver so as not to interfere with the Garand’s clip loading, and issued with a leather cheek pad to give the shooter’s cheek weld a matching offset to the left. The scope used with the M1C was the M73B1, later replaced with the M81 and M82 scopes - all military versions of the 2.5x Lyman Alaskan hunting scope (which was a very good piece of equipment despite its low magnification) The M1C was adopted in 1944, but production and quality control delays would prevent it from seeing any action in WWII. It was in use during the Korean War, however, before being replaced by the M1D. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Japanese Type 97 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvoeQvHbCyc US WWI Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWICTS0g-E Mosin Nagant M91/30 PU Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFA5U5FwJbo M3 Infrared Sniper Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfABFaiBVo ZF41 Scout Scope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNTKnYMfI8 2 Gun Action Match - WWII Snipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPOD99urCE M1D Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqcMwiKfxb8 MC-1952 Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsQShvfmMo M1903A4 Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kO867TRAwQ M70 Vietnam Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYX4Ce6vzHw

North Korea was one of several recipients of Soviet military technological aid during the Cold War, being provided the design package and manufacturing assistance for both he SKS and AK-47 rifles. The AK was adopted by North Korea in 1958, in the Type 3 milled-receiver style. This was just shortly before the Soviet Union would introduce its stamped-receiver AKM, having spent nearly 10 years developing and perfecting the sheet metal fabrication expertise required (the original stamped-receiver AK-47 was a failure in mass production). North Korea only produced something on the order of 50,000 Type 58 AKs - a substantial number of guns, although quite small in comparison to most other AK variants produced worldwide. They have found their way into numerous conflicts worldwide, but very few are registered and transferrable in the US, making this one quite the rare example. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: North Korean Type 70 Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-iTmpXDx5s Chinese Type 56 Milled AK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6cqYLdIqmI

The MC-1952 was a variation on the M1C Garand sniper rifle, adopted by the US Marine Corps in 1952. The Marines were not satisfied with the low magnification of the Lyman scopes on the Army M1C, and after some experimentation they adopted their own version of the rifle using a 4x scope made by Kollmorgan (commercially sold as the Bear Cub). This scope had a larger tube and lenses, and offered both greater magnification and superior light gathering capabilities. It also was fitted with windage and elevation dials far better for precision shooting that the Lyman had, with clearly audible and tangible clicks. The MC-1952 was only made and used in small numbers, but it remains an interesting showcase of the difference in approaches to sniping between the US Army and US Marine Corps. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Japanese Type 97 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvoeQvHbCyc US WWI Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWICTS0g-E Mosin Nagant M91/30 PU Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFA5U5FwJbo M3 Infrared Sniper Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfABFaiBVo ZF41 Scout Scope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNTKnYMfI8 2 Gun Action Match - WWII Snipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPOD99urCE M1C Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8EEypC31M M1D Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqcMwiKfxb8 M1903A4 Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kO867TRAwQ M70 Vietnam Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYX4Ce6vzHw

While most major pistols made before the 1930s had some type of shoulder stock available as an option, the Luger had much more variety of stocks than most others. In addition to the several types of wooden stocks made on military contract, there were also several commercial types of folding stocks made. One of these was the Benke-Thiemann, originally designed by Hungarian Josef von Benke and improved by Georg Thiemann. This stock was made of sheet metal stampings, and attached by replacing the grip panels of a Luger pistol. When folded, the stock added remarkably little size to the gun, and could still be fired, albeit with a somewhat awkward grip. This was done by cleverly designing the stock to consist of two layers of material which overlaid each other when folded, but then could be held end to end when extended, providing a stock of surprisingly usable length and sturdiness. A single spring-loaded latch was employed to lock the stock in both the folded and extended position. Ultimately the stock failed to be a commercial success, probably due to costs and worldwide economics in the 1920s when it was developed. Only a few hundred were made, although the serial numbers all have leading zeroes to accommodate an anticipated production in the tens of thousands. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Luger 1902 Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fJwN0Vq7gM Stocked FN 1903: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03lBYIJtneY Colt 1851 w/ Canteen Stock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZzIgy4DsKQ Mauser Schnellfeuer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alpefGkv2VI Fiala 1920 Combination Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GabtQN6Fbf0 Grandpa Nambu w/ Stock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVayzA2A_Ks

One of the most common types of AK rifle in existence today is the Chinese Type 56 in its several variations, although very few of those rifles are in the United States in authentic full-auto form. This particular one was captured by a US soldier in the Vietnam War, who brought it back and registered it, making it a fully transferrable gun. The Chinese received the technical package for the AK (and also the SKS, among other weapons) from the Soviet Union in the 1950s, as part of the USSR's policy of providing military and technical aid to other nations sympathetic to the Communist cause (although a rift would grow between the USSR and China later). China would manufacture tens of millions of AK rifles, both of this milled receiver type (the Type 3 style) and the later stamped AKM pattern. The standard fixed-stock rifles like this one were fitted with under-folding spike bayonets. Folding stocked types were also made, both underfolding (Type 56-1) and side folding (Type 56-2). These weapons have become extremely prolific, and can be found in virtually any significant international conflict zone to this day. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: North Korean Type 58 AK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWLc50E-PBc RPD Light Machine Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vGbL45_qVs RPG-7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MrwJM1_kw8 Shooting a DShK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgXWJEZzFHE 2 Gun Match - Chinese Bren in 7.62x39: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS_bM3Xlw7M

This Winchester M70 was a rifle owned by the Captain of the Camp Pendleton rifle team, and as such it is an excellent authentic example of the US sniper rifle of the early Vietnam era. It is chambered for the .30-06 cartridge, with a Winchester heavy target barrel and shorter stock. The scope is a 14x Unertl - quite high magnification, considering that the most recent official issue sniper rifle at the time was the M1D with a 2.2x scope. These rifles were used in a quasi-official capacity in Vietnam, and would ultimately evolving into the official M40 and M40A1 sniper rifles. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: M1C Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8EEypC31M M1D Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqcMwiKfxb8 MC-1952 Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsQShvfmMo M1903A4 Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kO867TRAwQ

This is an example of a craft-made pistol captured in Vietnam and brought back to the US. While many Vietnamese fighters were supplied with good-quality weapons from other nations (primarily Chinese-made AK and SKS rifles), weapons are virtually never in sufficient supply for guerrilla-type forces and that forces improvisation. In this case, some Vietnamese hops tried to fabricate copies of American weapons - in this case a 1911 pistol. This pistol was clearly made by someone who did not fully understand its mechanical elements. The safety, for example, is fixed solidly in place, and neither moves nor would function as a safety if it did move. Interestingly, under the left grip panel is an out-of-battery safety that was not used in the 1911 itself, but is common to other similar pistols - and it is constructed in such as way as to not actually function. The most significant functional concern with this pistol is that it has no locking system, and functions simply as a blowback pistol. This is seen in other insurgent-type arms as well, like the Spanish Civil War Izard. This would quickly batter itself to pieces if used, as the slide and spring are definitely too light to safely fire its .45ACP ammunition. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Chinese Mystery Pistol Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HNaB7l2GQk Another Chinese Mystery Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtFPgu82f1c Yet Another Chinese Mystery Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byEIP9mRAwA Mystery Rocking Block Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsHcamGv24 Khyber Pass Colt Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5S_qmBL_KM Khyber Pass Martini Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTvxFNRLbiw

This scoped C96 carbine is serial number 12 of the original run of just 30 large-ring C96 carbines. It has the long barrel and detachable stock (in place of the standard pistol grip) of the C96 carbine. The most obvious feature, however, is the telescopic sight mounted on the piece. This was not installed by the Mauser factory, but was added around the time the carbine was originally purchase. The scope and mounts are of the same vintage as the gun (right around 1900). The scope mount is a quick-detachable claw style typical of German sporting arms, and it fits the C96 carbine quite well. The eye relief and scope height both fit nicely with the stock position, and I expect this would be a very nice and comfortable piece to shoot. In many ways, this reflects the same type of use we see today with pistol-caliber carbines and low-power compact optics. People assume that tactical is a new thing, but it really isn;t - they just did it more stylishly a hundred years ago. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: 20-Shot C96 Broomhandle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkU3CIPdMk Luger 1902 Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fJwN0Vq7gM Mauser 712 Schnellfeuer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfpxqIK8VY Mauser Showdown at the Range: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW2p9gkmHxM Mannlicher 1901 Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ceYoYSvJLM Mannlicher 1901/04 Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv5wAvPYKTo

The MP-43 (which is mechanically identical to the MP-44 and StG-44; the differences are the subject for another video later) is a tilting bolt rifle with a long stroke gas piston. It was manufactured primarily from complex sheet steel stampings, as a way to minimize the amount of high-quality and thus difficult to acquire steels needed for its construction. The rifle is heavy by today's standards, but remarkably ergonomic (except for the metal handguard, when heats up quickly). Its sights come right up to the eye when shouldering the rifle, and it disassembles quickly and easily. It really is one of the best small arms developed during World War II. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: MP44 Part 1, Mechanics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnXBshjGFo8 Sturmgewehr vs Kalashnikov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPWJOJZQCs8 MkB-42(H) with ZF41: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0wzi6qaoVQ StG-44 with Krummlauf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSsFiS2Voxg Last Ditch Innovation - Development of the Gerat 06 & 06H: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEPwmYcCPFs

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Sturmgewehr was the result of a German intermediate cartridge development program that began in the mid-1930s. It was sidelined for a period as the focus of German Ordnance shifted to full-power rifles in 8x57mm with telescopic sights, but as the German fighting in Russia became more desperate, many Ordnance officers realized that the greater firepower offered by the Sturmgewehr concept was one of the few options that might be able to allow depleted German units to effectively hold ground against Russian attacks. To this end, the guns were issued primarily in the East, with whole companies being equipped in order to focus a maximum amount of firepower, rather than spreading the new rifles piecemeal across all units. Ultimately, of course, this was insufficient to prevent the growing Soviet advance - but for the individual German soldier, an MP-43/44/StG-44 would have been a much more comforting weapon than a Kar98k Mauser! http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: MP44 Part 1, Mechanics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnXBshjGFo8 Sturmgewehr vs Kalashnikov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPWJOJZQCs8 MkB-42(H) with ZF41: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0wzi6qaoVQ StG-44 with Krummlauf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSsFiS2Voxg Last Ditch Innovation - Development of the Gerat 06 & 06H: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEPwmYcCPFs

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Astra 900 was a pistol developed to take advantage of a large Chinese demand for semiauto pistols with shoulder stocks, following on the massive sales of the Mauser C96 "Broomhandle" in that country. In the 1920s and 30s, civil war in China drove a huge market in arms, but international treaty had prohibited the importation of military arms. One loophole in the accords, however, was that stocked pistols (including fully automatic stocked pistols) were not considered military arms. Mauser led the sales to China, but several Spanish companies jumped into the market as well, and the Astra 900 was a well made and reasonably popular gun.The semiauto 900 was chambered for 7.63mm Mauser (like the C96), and about 21,000 were made from 1928 into the 1930s. A series of improved designs followed, with the 901 (select-fire), 902 (select-fire with a fixed 20-round magazine), 903 (select-fire with detachable magazines), and 904/Model F (select-fire with detachable magazines and a rate-reducing mechanism). http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Mauser C96 with 20-round magazine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkU3CIPdMk Scoped C96 Sporting Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6PVd_cuWcM Mauser 712 Schnellfeuer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfpxqIK8VY Shansei .45ACP Broomhandle Mauser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DDc0hXk0ws ATF C&R List, including NFA exempt guns: https://www.atf.gov/files/publications/firearms/curios-relics/p-5300-11-firearms-curios-or-relics-list.pdf

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The original design of the M1 Garand as adopted in 1936 used a “gas trap” system instead of a gas port drilled in the barrel. This system used a type of muzzle cap and false muzzle to redirect gas into the gas cylinder in the short distance between the end of the rifled barrel and when the bullet left the muzzle. The system worked, but was not ideal. Several problems were found with the gas trap system as the guns went into production. These included cleaning complexity, an unstable front sight, and a potentially weak bayonet mounting point. Most significantly, however, one rifle in testing had a screw work loose in the muzzle cap, which allowed parts to shift out of alignment and resulted in a bullet striking the gas plug and blowing the entire assembly off the gun. This led to a decision to redesign the gas system of the M1 to use a simpler gas port drilled in the barrel. When this design change was made, 18,000 rifles had been completed and parts were made for an additional 33,000. Those guns were completed with the available parts, and the new gas system was used for all further production. Gas trap M1s are very rare today because the guns were updated to the new system when they were overhauled during WWII, and in 1947 the Army ordered all remaining gas trap rifles destroyed. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: T3E2 Garand in .276: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwntZVIoPpI Pedersen GX and GY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWF1x1fXIcg Winchester G30M: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVQk7z7gYE Japanese Type 4 Garand Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng15MmxGLgI White Gas-Operated Prototype Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXAmnoMR2aI Shooting the .276 Pedersen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfhKLuPiXFc John Garand on Rifle Development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKg8pSZDDOU Book Review - Hatcher's Notebook: https://www.youtub

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Remington Model 8 was one of the first successful self-loading rifles introduced to the commercial market, and it was designed by none other than John Browning. It was an expensive rifle, but popular for its power and reliability. In the 1920s, an entrepreneur founded the Peace Officer Equipment Company to sell police gear in St Joseph, Missouri. He would design a conversion to the Remington Model 8 to replace its fixed 5-round magazine with larger detachable magazines (5-, 10-, and 15-round, with 15-round being the most common by far). POEC made and sold the conversion until about 1936, when Remington replaced the Model 8 with the slightly improved Model 81. At that point, Remington licensed the magazine conversion themselves, and offered it as a factory option, under the Special Police name. Remington had big hopes for the rifle, but only a few hundred were sold, with the LA County Sheriff being the single largest customer, ordering 200 of them. This rifle is one of the LA guns, number 40 of their order. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Remington Model 8 in .25 Remington: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsQXksP-YhI Book Review - The Great Remington 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRde5d1EDig Remington 8 in Slow Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k30_pNPQT4 History of Police Armament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYxd-fwlkIQ High Standard Model 10B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H5Z9umFlzk Shanghai Municipal Police Colt 1908: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQRvcQWtqfE

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The primary sniper rifle used by the United States in World War II was the M1903A4 Springfield, a version of the exisiting 1903A3 with the iron sights removed and replaced with a Weaver 330C scope (adopted by the military as the M73B1). This was a low-power optic, but was centrally mounted on the rifle to avoid and of the windage issues caused by prismatic scopes. The 1903A4 was the US' first truly mass-produced sniper rifle, with more than 28,000 being manufactured during just two years of the war (1943-44). The rifle was taken out of production when the M1C sniper adaptation of the Garand was formally adopted, although production of the M1C would be delayed until the end of the war. The 1903A4 would remain in service after WWII, with later scopes being approved as replacements for the M73B1 (in this video, we will take a look at one equipped with an M84, the optic adopted for the later M1D). The US Marine Corps, of course, had to be a bit different, and adopted their own sniper rifle variant in 1941, a 1903A1 fitted with an 8 power Unertl scope. These scopes were a tradeoff, being significantly more fragile than the M73B1, but also being much better for long range precision shooting. The USMC, taking much pride in their culture of marksmanship, was happy to make that trade, and the rifles served well throughout the war. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Japanese Type 97 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvoeQvHbCyc US WWI Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWICTS0g-E Mosin Nagant M91/30 PU Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFA5U5FwJbo M3 Infrared Sniper Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfABFaiBVo M1D Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqcMwiKfxb8 ZF41 Scout Scope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNTKnYMfI8 2 Gun Action Match - WWII Snipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPOD99urCE

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The M1D was the final adopted form of John Garands sniper M1 rifle, originally the M1E8. It was intended to be a kit issued in the field to add optical sights to any rifle deemed worthy, and retained that capability in a slightly different form than originally intended. Garland’s initial plan was to design a sleeve that could fit over the barrel of a rifle, with a scope mounting bracket - the final production version instead used a new whole barrel with the scope mount integrally attached. However, this new barrel was still a part easily installed by a field armorer. The scope was offset to the left of the receiver so as not to interfere with the Garand’s clip loading, and issued with a leather cheek pad to give the shooter’s cheek weld a matching offset to the left. The scope used with the M1D was the M84, a 2.2x optic with a simple vertical post reticle and hinger metal covers to protect the windage and elevation adjustment knobs. Accuracy of the M1D was not substantially different from regular M1 rifles, with its advantage coming from magnified optics rather than improved mechanical accuracy. The M1D was adopted too late to see significant service in the Korean War, and would serve until replaced by the M14 and M40 rifles. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Japanese Type 97 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvoeQvHbCyc US WWI Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWICTS0g-E Mosin Nagant M91/30 PU Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFA5U5FwJbo M3 Infrared Sniper Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfABFaiBVo ZF41 Scout Scope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNTKnYMfI8 2 Gun Action Match - WWII Snipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUPOD99urCE M1C Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8EEypC31M MC-1952 Sniper Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsQShvfmMo M1903A4 Sniper Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/

One of the rarest models of LeMat grapeshot revolver is this, the “Baby” LeMat. This is a substantially smaller gun than the normal LeMat, although it retains a 9-shot cylinder and a central barrel. In the Baby, however, the cylinder is in .32 caliber (rather than the standard .42) and the central barrel is .41 caliber instead of .63 (and in this specific pistol, the central barrel is rifled, where they are normally smoothbore). These Baby LeMat revolvers were made under contract for the Confederate Navy, although production was very slow, and the contract was cancelled when even the first shipment of guns have not been receiver many months after it was scheduled. In total, only 100 of the guns were manufactured, and these were inspected and delivered to a Confederate representative in London shortly after the contract was revoked (the CSA agreed to take those guns which had been finished at that point). Interestingly, I found that the Baby LeMat handles quite well. The standard LeMat is a very heavy and poorly balanced handgun (in my opinion), but the reduced size and weigh of the Baby has an effect on its handling out of proportion to the measurable difference. Perhaps if this had been the standard model for the gun, they would have been substantially more popular on the open market… http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Development of the LeMat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ-uIMrzu-4 LeMat Centerfire Revolver and Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjdi48QakyE

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Edit: I mistakenly referenced North Korea in the video, when I should have said South Korea, as Pusan in well within the South of the country. Sorry! During (and probably for a short time after) the Korean War, a Korean facility called the Pusan Iron Works did fabrication and repair of 1911-style pistols. This particular example is serial number 247, a gun almost completely fabricated by Pusan. Interestingly, these pistols often include a small number of US-made parts (barrels seem to be the most common). It appears that the factory was able to secure a small number of parts from captured damaged US 1911 pistols, and made use of them when possible. This pistol has a firing pin and recoil spring guide that are American-made. In addition, I am aware of at least one pistol with an American complete frame but Pusan slide - likely a gun that was captured in unserviceable condition and repaired with Korean parts. Pusan Iron Works is an example of the blurry zone between truly crude handmade guns and proper factories. Unlike some Chinese or Vietnamese gun copies, the Pusan pistols are fully functional mechanical copies of the 1911 - no dummy elements like non-functional safeties. However,r the production quality of the Pusan parts is low; made to the right basic shapes, but apparently without the benefit of jigs and fixtures to make parts identical and interchangeable. The Pusan guns also exhibit uniform markings, and several hundred were definitely made - unlike the one-off production of individual craft shops. They are a really interesting example of domestic Korean wartime production arms. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: North Korean Type 70 Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-iTmpXDx5s North Korean Type 58 Milled AK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWLc50E-PBc

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Designed in 1936 by Melvin Johnson, the M1941 Johnson Automatic Rifle was a competitor to the M1 Garand, but not introduced in time to actually be adopted in place of the Garand. Instead, Johnson hoped to have his rifle accepted as a parallel second option for the US military in case something went wrong with the rollout of the Garand, or production simply couldn’t meet the required levels. However, Johnson was not able to make his case to the military successfully. A small number of Johnson Light Machine Guns were acquired by the US Paramarines and the First Special Service Force, and a large order (30,000 rifles) was placed by the Dutch government for shipment to the colonies in southeast Asia (it is from this order that the M1941 designation comes). However, those colonies fell to the Japanese before a significant number of rifles were able to be shipped out. This left a substantial number of rifles orphaned in the US, and a small number of these were unofficially put in service by acquisitive Marines, mostly in the Pacific theater. Mechanically, the Johnson is a short recoil system with a rotating bolt (very similar to the later AR-15 bolt, which Johnson would influence). It is chambered for the standard .30-06 cartridge, and feeds from a 10-round rotary fixed magazine which can be fed by stripper clips or with individual cartridges. Related: Johnson M1941 LMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf40tHdKmno Johnson M1945 LMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGpgPKkqtMs Israeli Dror LMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEOt-qYX23c http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Star Firearms: http://amzn.to/2c29MyS Astra Firearms: http://amzn.to/2c29OXw Leonardo Antaris has written massive and excellent volumes on two of the major companies in the Spanish firearms industry, Star and Astra. Both of these companies made a wide range of military and commercial handguns, and Antaris' book cover everything. They include historical context for the guns, details on many competitors to Star and Astra products, detailed production records, and excellent explanations of the differences between variants. The books are not cheap, but are absolutely worth the price for anyone interested in Spanish handguns. Once they sell out (and only a few hundred of each were printed), they will be gone forever - so get your copies now. Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons When the US military released a request for what would become the M1 Carbine in 1940, the Auto-Ordnance Corporation offered up a Thompson submachine gun simply rechambered for the new .30 Carbine cartridge. This entailed a new magazine, a receiver modified for the longer magazine, and a new barrel and bolt face - but the other Thompson parts could remain unchanged form the standard .45 ACP models. This made the submission a pretty cheap and easy effort for Auto-Ordnance...which is a good thing, considering that it was almost assured to be rejected. The stipulations for the new carbine included a weigh requirement of 5 pounds, and the Thompson weighed more than double that (in both .45ACP and .30 Carbine forms). Only a few were made, and the one submitted for military testing was rejected outright on the basis of weight. This example is serial number 1, and resides at the Cody Firearms Museum. Related: Thompson T2 Prototype SMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o9q5Xh69AM Bendix-Hyde 2nd Model Prototype Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoL5pXB8Ln4 Czech ZK-383 SMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlFdhAK5c7Q Reising M55 SMG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVH9aEF2EX0 S&W Model 1940 Light Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoeGGm_V9mw

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Robert F Hudson developed a series of machine guns for the US Navy during the 1920s and 1930s, including this .30 caliber example as well as .50 caliber and 1.1 inch versions. What makes these guns unusual is both the attempted use of a counter-balanced system to eliminate felt recoil and also the standard use of suppressors on the guns. I don't know much else about the guns, but you can find the documentation mentioned in the video here: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/hudson-30-cal-machine-gun-toolroom-model-video/

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Some high-speed footage of a Roth-Steyr M1907 pistol here for you - these are rotating-barrel, locked breech pistols with trigger lockwork much akin to a Glock. Namely, the action cycling puts the striker at half cock, and the first stage of the trigger press fully cocks the striker before releasing it. For lots more information on the M1907 Roth-Steyr, check out these additional videos: Roth-Steyr M1907 History & Disassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baUTYMPsh9M Roth-Steyr M1907 in a Pistol Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xvCNEUnT4Y C&Rsenal's History of the Gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQTexxPSszU

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Spanish military, like many others, was quite interested in developing a new semiautomatic or selective fire combat rifle after World War II. Franco's political ties to Germany (combined with Spanish neutrality in the war) gave them unusually good access to German arms designs, and the Spanish experimented with several variations on the StG-44 in the late 1940s and 1950s. Of course, this would ultimately lead to the development and adoption of the roller-delayed CETME, but before that the intermediate cartridge idea was very much a subject of Spanish attention. This particular rifle, designated Mosqueton CB-51, was one of those intermediate cartridge experiments. It retained the furniture and general appearance of a Mauser bolt action short rifle, but used a long stroke gas piston and rotating bolt in a self-loading action. Only 12 of these were made, although several other designs were also prototyped concurrently (including others also designated CB-51, confusingly). Related: FR-8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvsQ44jKEKY CETME-L: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLAfqI8DHjY MP-44 Mechanics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnXBshjGFo8 Last Ditch Innovation - Development of the Gerat 06 and 06H: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEPwmYcCPFs

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Another set of questions from my awesome Patreon contributors! ATF C&R & NFA Exemption list (through 2007): https://www.atf.gov/files/publications/firearms/curios-relics/p-5300-11-firearms-curios-or-relics-list.pdf List update for 2008-2014: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/curios-or-relics-list-update-january-2008-through-june-2014pdf/download 0:43 - Guns flexing in slow motion 3:41 - Destructives Devices - the guns vs the ammo 9:54 - What makes some stocked pistols exempt from the NFA? 14:41 - Unusual things build into rifle stocks 17:36 - Best rifle/pistol that never was (sort of) 19:33 - Pronouncing the word "Walther" 20:55 - Submachine guns and Advance Primer Ignition (API) 23:53 - Are we at a firearms development plateau? 26:04 - Why don't we see higher velocity bullets? 29:12 - How do I do my research? 33:53 - Are submachine guns obsolete? 36:58 - Most obsolete gun at the time of its introduction 38:50 - Intermediate rounds as alternatives to 5.56 NATO Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons

I was poking around some old video material, and realized I never put this up on the channel. Yeah, it was filmed on the approximate technological equivalent of an Edison Kinetoscope, but it was lots of fun to do. :) Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons In discussion with a friend recently, the topic of early automatic pistol cartridges came up. Specifically, looking at the context of which cartridges were actually available at which times, and how this might provide helpful context for understanding why particular cartridges were adopted (or commercially successful) or were not. I decided to see if I could put together a useful video on the subject, and this is the result. We will look at the cartridges available prior to 1900, the ones developed or introduced between 1900 and 1904, and then a few followups which appeared between 1905 and 1910. Some cartridges became popular because of their ballistic characteristics - like the 7.63mm Mauser and the C96 "Broomhandle" - while others became popular because of the handgun much more than the cartridge itself - like the Browning 1900 and the .32ACP / 7.65mm Browning. Complete videos on some of the guns mentioned here: C93 Borchardt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItpOBQFVIhM Colt 1900 Sight Safety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyWKLfhTmpA Development of the Colt from 1900 to 1911: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgOicEVA4u8 Webley 1904: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hT38XH97FM Colt 1908 (Shanghai Police model): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQRvcQWtqfE Bergmann No.3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdZYr0oGMSU Mannlicher 1905 in Slow Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjDzQjG-UBI

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons What is that unusual revolver that Ed Harris' character is carrying in the new HBO show "Westworld"? It's a modern cartridge conversion of a Confederate LeMat grapeshot revolver. Pretty cool! Real LeMat revolvers: Evolution of the LeMat Grapeshot Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ-uIMrzu-4 Cartridge-Firing Rifle & Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjdi48QakyE Cased Pinfire LeMat Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJJIv10pDow Confederate Navy Baby LeMat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhC3H0srQY

Elisha Collier is probably the best-known name in flintlock revolvers - to the extent that any flintlock revolvers are well known. Because of the great cost and required skill to manufacture a functional repeating flintlock handgun without modern machine tools, these weapons were never common, but they were made by a number of gunsmiths across Europe. Collier and a fellow American gunsmith named Artemis Wheeler developed this particular type (the specific contributions of each party are not known), and Collier patented it in England in 1818. He proceeded to market the guns, which appear to have been made for him under contract by several high-end British gunsmiths (including Rigby and Nock). Collier made three different basic types of guns. They share the main feature of a revolving cylinder which must be indexed manually between shots (seeing them while traveling in India was reportedly the inspiration for Samuel Colt’s idea to connect the mechanical functions of hammer and cylinder to invent the single action revolver). The first two patterns of Collier are flintlocks, differing in lock and cylinder design, as well as having slightly different mechanisms to self-prime. The third pattern was actually made as percussion guns, as Collier’s guns were being made right at the end of the flintlock period and the dawn of the percussion cap. In total, 350-400 guns were made, including 50-100 bought by the British military for use in India. Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Interview with Jonathan Ferguson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRoaISinwA Allen & Thurber Pepperbox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnirpFYdqrs Girardoni Combat Air Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dZLeEUE940

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Russell Turner was a Pennsylvania gunsmith and inventor who developed this semiautomatic conversion of an SMLE bolt action rifle circa 1940. It was intended for trial and potential sale to the Canadian military, as it would allow them to retrofit existing rifles into semiautomatic configuration and still use existing supplies of .303 British ammunition. Rather than try to devise a reliable system to rotate the original Enfield bolt, Turner replaced the bolt entirely, using instead a side-tilting design much like what he used in his M1 Carbine trials rifle for the US military. This was coupled with a long stroke gas piston and a hammer firing trigger mechanism. Reportedly the rifle was tested by Canadian authorities, and performed quite well, with the adjustable gas system allowing it to function reliably even in temperatures of 25 below zero (where the Garand, tested alongside, experienced problems). However, Turner’s rifle was deemed to complex for military adoption. That decision against the rifle was probably the right one for Canada, although Turner’s conversion is one of the better semi auto bolt acton conversions I have handled. It was remarkably non-awkward - that may not sound like much to crow about, but it sets a pretty high standard for this type of rifle. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Semiauto Springfield 1903 Conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUzL6clu-90 Turner 2nd Model Light Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnreBiNBX8Q Pedersen Conversion Secret Briefing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znvzXr3cLD4 Semiauto M95 Conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxrCwRLxMM4 Terni 1891 Carcano Semiauto Conversion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrp7QLSlKD4

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Italian army actually adopted a semiautomatic rifle in 1939: this Armaguerra Model 1939. It was intended to supplant the M38 Carcano bolt actions, but ultimately never managed to get into mass production. The rifle was adopted initially in the new 7.35mm cartridge, and then quickly cancelled, as the new cartridge was dropped for logistical and financial reasons. This was not an immediate problem for the company, as they did not have a rifle factory in operation anyway - they began building one in Cremona only after receiving an initial order for 10,000 of the rifles. In the wake of the caliber change, the Armaguerra rifle was quickly redesigned for the 6.5x52mm cartridge. Ultimately only about 100 were made, and the factory was retooled to produce Carcano bolt action rifles instead. Mechanically, the Armaguerra 1939 is a short recoil action with a pivoting locking block similar in principle to the Walther P38 pistol. It is a sleek weapon, using the front sling swivel as charging handle and thus avoiding any protrusions out from the sides of the action. It feeds from standard Carcano 6-round en bloc clips. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Beretta Model 31 & 37 Semiauto Rifles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE4r9qG6on0 Scotti Model X Semiauto Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF-yRugPwuI Pavesi Model 1942 Semiauto Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pJ751Mui64 Pavesi SVT Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohpob4cunG8

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The C96 Mauser was a very popular handgun in China in the 1920s and 30s, which naturally led to a substantial number of domestically-produced copies of it. These ran the full range of quality, from dangerous to excellent. This particular example falls into the middle, appearing to be a pretty fair mechanical copy of the C96 action . However, it does exhibit classic Chinese misspelled markings - the workers who made these guns often did nor actually read English (or German), and made best-guess attempts at copying the markings on authentic firearms. The result was sometimes something like the Wauser. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Chinese Mystery Pistols I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HNaB7l2GQk Chinese Mystery Pistols II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtFPgu82f1c Chinese Mystery Pistols III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byEIP9mRAwA Astra Model 900: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-ksZSMIi0 Shansei .45ACP Broomhandle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DDc0hXk0ws

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Breechloading firearms did not become commonplace until the 1800s, but talented gunsmiths were experimenting with the concept and building custom breechloaders since virtually the very invention of firearms in the West. This is a magnificent example of an advanced German gun commissioned by a buyer of some wealth and taste in 1625. It is a wheel lock hunting style musket with a trapdoor type breech. A spring loaded latch allows the breechblock to pivot out the side of the barrel, after which a handmade steel combustion chamber (cartridge case) can be inserted into the breech. This case would be preloaded with powder and ball, and has an indexing pin to align its flash hole with the hole in the barrel leading to the pan. After firing, the case is easily removed and replaced, allowing for quite rapid repeat firing. The gun is also built with a double set trigger and both front and rear sights (not necessarily typical on guns of this time period). Clearly the original owner was someone who appreciated marksmanship! http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Real & Reproduction Wheellock Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp6CjU_eS2k Ornate Saxon Double-Barrel Wheellock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfeusAG1oTQ Ferguson Breechloading Flintlock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODhQmE2OqY Collier Flintlock Revolvers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Km5KaeO7I

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Bergmann 1896 Number 2 pistol was a relatively successful compact pocket gun for its day, but quickly became obsolete as semiautomatic handguns developed and improved. Bergman and his chief engineer Schmeisser spent the late 1890s developing and improved version of the Bergmann automatics, pitting into two distinct lines of development. One was the Number 5 (1897) locked breech pistol for military service, which would evolve into the reasonable successful Model 1910. The other was the Number 6 (circa 1899) which would become the Simplex. The Simplex was a compact simple blowback pistol firing a proprietary 8x18mm cartridge slightly less powerful than the .32 ACP. It used a detachable magazine of 5, 8, or 10 rounds and shared the basic aesthetic lines of the 1897 and 1903 Bergmann pistols, albeit smaller and cheaper. However, the Simplex was in direct competition with the FN/Browning 1900, which was a spectacularly successful and popular design. The Bergmann Simplex was unable to effectively, and only about 4000 were made in total before it was dropped form production. There are two basic variations of the Simplex, and we have one of each in this video. The early guns have the magazine release located on the front of the magazine well, and the late pattern guns have a more modern style of magazine release button on the side of the frame above the trigger. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Bergmann No3 1896: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdZYr0oGMSU Savage Automatic Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhy90uT1UtY Webley 1905: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYkQm-8dcrE Shanghai Police Colt 1908: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQRvcQWtqfE

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Rudolf Frommer was a self-taught engineer and firearms designer who worked his way up through the FEG concern in Budapest to eventually hold the position of CEO. During this time he developed a series of long-recoil, rotating-bolt pistols culminating in the Frommer Stop, which was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian military. At some point during this time he also produced this prototype rifle, which is similarly a long-recoil rotating bolt design. I have no information on its production or performance, but I will give you as much of a look into its operation as I can. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Frommer 1910: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTsVD1G1xwM Frommer Stop Slow Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39tX_7-mkMA Rast & Gasser 1898: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1eXG-kVlf8 Roth-Sauer Automatic Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iTDPeBK0aY

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Henry Nock was a highly respected and very talented British gunsmith, who manufactured a wide variety of arms including military muskets for the British Army. He is probably best known on the internet for his 7-barreled volley gun (which fires all seven charges simultaneously), intended for naval ship boarding operations. This particular gun resembled that volley gun design, but is actually a self-priming flintlock pepperbox. Its cluster of 6 barrels is manually rotated, allowing the used to fire six separate shots before needing to reload. The priming mechanism and lock bear a remarkable similarity to the Collier repeating flintlocks, and it is suspected that this system was developed by Artemis Wheeler of the United States. Related: Collier Revolving Flintlocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Km5KaeO7I Ferguson Breechloading Flintlock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODhQmE2OqY Interview with Jonathan Ferguson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRoaISinwA Allen & Thurber Pepperbox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnirpFYdqrs Girardoni Combat Air Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dZLeEUE940

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Niels Bjorgum was a Norwegian artist-turned-gun-designer who decided to try his hand at handguns for the Norwegian military. His design work ran from 1894 until 1921 or so, starting with long guns but later turning to handguns. He was able to convince the Norwegian government to sponsor his work, largely because he was one of very few native Norwegian designers who appeared to have some potential in what would eventually be the 1914 adoption of an automatic pistol by Norway. This gun is, I believe, a prototype of his 1905 design. It is chambered for the 7.63mm Mauser cartridge, with a clip-fed 16-round magazine in the grip, a series of interrupted threads for locking, and a rotating barrel short recoil action. It is a really remarkably light gun - so light that I would have definite reservations about shooting it out of safety concerns. When it was informally tested by a Norwegian officer, it had four various types of malfunctions over the course of 16 rounds fired - not a great record, but about as good as any of Bjorgum's guns ever managed. He would continue to work on several different designs until Norway adopted the Colt 1911 in 1914, at which time he switched to working on a self-loading rifle. This was quickly dismissed by Norway, and he would travel to the US during WWI in an attempt to interest the US military in it. This (predictably) also failed, and in the early 1920s Bjorgum would leave gun designing for good and return to a successful career as a painter.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Bernhard Müller designed this locked-breech pistol in 1902, seemingly a hybrid of the Luger and P38 (of course, the P38 did not exist at that time). It appears to use a modified Luger magazine and is chambered for the 7.65mm Luger cartridge. The grip is very much Luger-like, in part because the use of a Luger magazine requires using the same grip angle as the Luger. The pistol is a short recoil action with a pivoting locking block much like what the P38 would later use. It is a very comfortable gun in the hand, but was rejected in Swiss pistol trials. Related: Müller 1895 Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnnrJcO1TVw Early Automatic Pistol Cartridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msQI6ongp24

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Russell turner was a gunsmith and inventor in Pennsylvania who submitted a rifle design to the US Light Rifle trials (which would culminate in the adoption of Winchester’s design as the M1 Carbine). Turner’s entry into the first trial was a distinctive piece with a tubular metal stock and hand guard. This was criticized by the testing board, and his followup rifle in the second trial instead used traditional wooden furniture. Unfortunately for Turner, the ammunition he was initially supplied for his development was loaded with IMR 4227 powder, and the ammunition used in the trials was a second lot made instead with Hercules 2400. While the two lots had the same maximum pressure, they had different burn rates and pressure curves and the trial ammunition did not run reliably in Turner’s rifle. Turner had not bee informed of this change, much to his disgust - he claimed that it would have been simple to adjust his rifle’s gas port location to work with the trials ammunition, and said that the gun ran perfectly with the ammunition he was supplied. The Turner rifle is a pretty simple and handy design. It uses a long stroke gas piston and a side-locking tilting bolt, somewhat like the Czech ZH-29. It has a very simple trigger mechanism, and weighs in at 5.25 pounds unloaded. The safety copies that of the M1 Garand in operation, and the sights are a simple fixed aperture and front post. Had it not been for the pressure curve issues, it could have potentially been a real contender for adoption in my opinion. Related: Thompson SMG in .30 Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW-IjtiVthc Winchester M2 Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWrJ8DSguEM Bendix-Hyde Light Rifle (2nd Model): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoL5pXB8Ln4 M3 Infrared Sniper Carbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfABFaiBVo

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The 1902 “Grandpa” Nambu is one of the first wave of successful military automatic pistols, developed by Kijiro Nambu and his team over the course of 5 years, from 1897 to 1902. It was the first automatic pistol to be used by the Japanese military, although it was a private-purchase sidearm for officers and not formally purchased or issued by the military. It took several design cues from the C96 Mauser, in the form of a pivoting locking block and a bottlenecked cartridge. The Grandpa was only made from 1902 until 1906, with less than 2400 examples produced in total - many of which were sold to Thailand. In 1906 a series of improvements were made to the gun, including increasing the size of the trigger and trigger guard, a swiveling lanyard ring, a slightly larger grip, new magazine, and deletion of the shoulder stock slot that had been standard on all previous Nambu pistols. The formal Japanese designation (Type A) did not change as a result, but in American collector parlance the new model became the “Papa” Nambu. Related: Nambu 15-shot Prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLIND2xPZgY Hamade 7.65mm Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_4h9pp5fxQ Hamada 8mm Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90MpCHCO944 Inagaki & Sugiura Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=838AnFOn8nY Type 94 Nambu Slow Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWUkhHj2P6c Type 26 Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stZj5sGTfjM Hino Komuro Blow-Forward Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IelUFboWuOA Papa Nambu w/ Stock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVayzA2A_Ks

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons During the development of the 1860 Army revolver, Colt did consider mechanical options other than simply scaling up the 1851 Navy pattern. One of these, as evidenced by this Colt prototype, was an enlarged version of the 1855 Pocket, aka Root, revolver. That 1855 design used a solid frame and had been the basis for Colt’s revolving rifles and shotguns, and so it would be natural to consider it for use in a .44-caliber Army revolver. How extensive the experimentation was is not known, and I believe this is the only known surviving prototype of a Dragoon-size 1855 pistol. It survives in excellent shape, and is a really neat glimpse at what might have been… http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Collier Flintlock Revolvers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Km5KaeO7I Savage Navy Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_5U9AoIS5I Presentation 1851 Navy w/ Canteen Stock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZzIgy4DsKQ Richards Conversion 1860 Army: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWa6lie6t4g Colt 1847 Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhYlzTABNI0 Colt 1855 Revolving Shotgun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbKDkOAi6Mo

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons France began working on developing military self-loading rifles virtually as soon as the 1886 Lebel was adopted, and they would pursue a pretty elaborate series of trials right up to World War I. One series was developed by Etienne Meunier at the Artillery Technical Section using gas operated mechanisms, and designated the A series. The B series was the work of M. Rossignol at the Musketry School, using mostly direct gas impingement systems. The C series was designed by Louis Chauchat and M. Sutter at the Puteaux Arsenal, and these were long-recoil actions. Trials commenced in 1911 and 1912 on the latest rifles from each series, and ultimately none was judged really ready for military service - although the A6 Meunier would be produced in small numbers (about a thousand) and issued in 1916. This particular rifle is a C6, from Chauchat and Sutter. The C7 was in the formal testing, and this C6 is a very similar rifle. It uses a long recoil action, a unique locking system with two pivoting locking lugs somewhat similar to the Kjellman system, and a remarkably powerful 7mm rimless cartridge fed from 6-round Mannlicher type clips. It was deemed too complicated at trial, not surprisingly. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: M1915 Chauchat Automatic Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwP3Dm52Ls M14 Gras Conversion to 8mm Lebel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oDYvMJxn0A French Rolling Block in 8mm Lebel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZhwlcswmys RSC 1917 Semiauto Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQan6gn37A4

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Mauser brothers’ first attempt at a commercial or military handgun was this, the C77 (Construktion 1877) model of single shot pistol. Why a single-shot sidearm in 1877, well into the age of centerfire military revolvers? That is a good question. By the time the design was complete, the Mausers opted (prudently) to not bother submitting it to military trials, as it was clearly already obsolete. However, despite this fact, and a total production of barely a hundred guns, it did apparently develop a small niche reputation as a quite good target pistol. The C77 is much more complex than a single shot handgun need be, but this complexity did bring some benefits. It was a falling block type of action. With the easy movement of the thumb from a firing grip, the breech could be dropped and an empty case ejected. When a new cartridge was inserted with the other hand, its rim would trip the ejector and automatically close the breech. A manual safety was located conveniently under the firing thumb as well, for those who wanted it. Chambered for the standard Imperial German 10.6mm revolver cartridge, the C77 also had pretty good sights. It’s one flaw as a target gun was a remarkably heavy DAO trigger, akin to the 1879 Reichsrevolver that would be adopted just a few years later. Despite its less than elegant appearance, the C77 handles quite well, and I can understand it’s appear to a specific group of buyers. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Mauser 1878 Revolvers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzSXvhGdfzo Mauser 1871 Rifle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAi-mpRluBA 1879 Reichsrevolvers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOI4557ioaA 1883 Reichsrevolvers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C72LZtJTIg

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Lugers! there are approximately a gazillion different recognized varieties, because the pistol became so popular and iconic. And yet...they all kinda look the same, don't they? (If you are a Luger collector, don't answer that!) A great many ( I daresay the significant majority) of the Luger variations are minor changes in production details. So, what was involved in the mechanical evolution of the Luger? Not much, really - which is a testament to the talents of Georg Luger. He got the gun almost totally right on his first try. There are, however, two major variants of the Luger mechanically - the 1900 model and the 1906 model. In this video I will walk through the differences between these two, as well as the initial Borchardt pistol that Luger used as his starting point and a couple other relevant milestones (a Swiss trials gun and a transitional French trials gun). And since they are the most common of the military models, we will also take a quick look at the German Army, Navy, and Artillery models. Related: Early Automatic Pistol Cartridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msQI6ongp24 Development of the 1911: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgOicEVA4u8 Development of the Walther P38: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXAMma6mUq8

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons (Note: I misspoke regarding Roosevelt's letter; he was President at the time and writing to the Secretary of War) The US military adopted the Model 1903 Springfield rifle in 1903, replacing the short-lived Krag-Jorgenson rifle. However, the 1903 would undergo some pretty substantial changes in 1905 and 1906 before becoming the rifle we recognize today. The piece in todays video is an original Springfield produced in 1904, before any of these changes took place. The most notable difference is the use of the rod bayonet. When the 1903 was in development, the Ordnance Department opined that the bayonet was largely obsolete, and that it was unnecessary to encumber soldiers with a long blade hanging from the belt. Instead, the new rifle would have a retractable spike bayonet that could double as cleaning rod and would be stored in the rifle stock, unobtrusive to the soldier. This ended in 1905 with a critical letter from Theodore Roosevelt (who was Secretary of War at the time). As the rod bayonet was replaced with a traditional blade bayonet, the cartridge would also be improved to a new style spitzer projectile at higher velocity, and the rifles’ stocks, hand guards, and sights redesigned. In this video I also discuss two often misunderstood elements of the Springfield’s history: heat treating and patent royalties. Are low serial number 1903 Springfields safe to shoot, and why or why not? And did the US government actually pay royalties to Germany for copying Mauser elements in the 1903? http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: 1903 Springfield Snipers WWI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWICTS0g-E 1903 Springfield Snipers WWII: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kO867TRAwQ Mauser Gewehr 1898: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBrh1euWg0

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The JoLoAr pistol was a combination of a poor-selling and unremarkable Spanish blowback semiauto pistol called the Sharpshooter and an idea by a man named Jose Lopez Arnaiz (whose name is the source of the pistol’s name). Arnaiz conceived the idea of mounting a lever (palanca in Spanish) onto a pistol slide, to allow the pistol to be charged one-handed. There is a rumor (unsubstantiated) that he was inspired by the one-armed commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion, Colonel José Millán-Astray. But whatever the inspiration, Arnaiz patented his idea, and went looking for a manufacturer. The company he found was Hijos de Calixto Arrizabalaga, who were making the rather mundane Sharpshooter. This was a blowback pistol, which was designed without an extractor. Instead, it was equipped with a tip-up barrel for clearing malfunctions and unloading the chamber. This feature carried over to the JoLoAr, although an extractor had also been added to the design by that time. Wanting to maintain control over his idea, Arnaiz opened his own small shop where his employees would add his patented palanca to otherwise-complete JoLoAr pistols made by Arrizabalaga. Arrizabalaga’s experiment with the Arnaiz idea worked out fairly well, really. About 30,000 JoLoAr pistols were made between the mid 1920s and early 1930s, which is probably a lot more than would have been sold as plain Sharpshooters. This example is in .45ACP; quite scarce in the United States today. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: .380 ACP JoLoAr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoumAfAHlJQ Astra 900: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-ksZSMIi0 Book Review - Star and Astra Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyuArmaAOBw .45 ACP Ruby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFGT2KRfxTc Alkar Cartridge Counter .25 ACP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1vLQAUvdy0 Plus Ultra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h3OUqsU

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Pritchard bayonet for the Webley revolver is one of the more photogenic and less truly practical weapons to come out of the Great War. Designed by one Captain Pritchard after he spent a year in France in 1915-1916 with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, the idea was to use the front 8 inches or so of a sword on a cast gunmetal hilt to create a bayonet mounted on a British service revolver. He first presented the idea to the Wilkinson Sword Company, but they were too busy making sabers and rifle bayonets, and suggested that having to sacrifice usable sword blades for production would make it quite the expensive endeavor. Pritchard next took his idea to W.W. Greener, where he found a more receptive audience. Greener had a large supply of surplus French Gras bayonets, which were cheap and served as excellent donors for the Pritchard bayonets. Something like 200 were made in total - not formally adopted by the British but available for commercial sale to officers who might want them. While some may have seen service, no hard evidence has been found to prove any combat action with them. Over the decades, a great many fake and reproduction Pritchard bayonets have been made - many times more than there are originals. As far as I can determine, this one is a legitimate original (although it may have a replacement locking lever). A few things to look for in authenticating a Pritchard are engraved patent and manufacturer marks (most reproductions have no manufacturer logo and a stamped patent number) and a quality casting. When you hold the blade and tap the handle with a hard object, it should ring bright and bell-like (which this one does). Related: WWI Hand Weapons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIGIBJeRfnQ Webley-Fosbery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNfgoAJiFBQ

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons When you think about early revolver patent infringement, the name that probably comes to mind is Rollin White. But Sam Colt had more than his share of infringement to deal with as well! Colt's most important patent was on the linking of the hammer and cylinder, so that cocking the hammer would automatically rotate and index the cylinder (basically, the single action concept). He patented this in the US and throughout Europe around 1836, but his initial business efforts in Paterson, New Jersey were a failure. It wasn't until the late 1840s that he created a really successful revolver design. By this time, more than half of his patent period had passed, leaving him only until the early 1850s to exploit his legal monopoly on his ideas. European and American gunmakers were making unlicensed (illegal) copies of his guns from the first Paterson days, although they really took off in popularity with copies of the 1851 Navy model. Colt reacted to this by setting up a licensing fee system and hiring an agent to represent the company at the Liege proofhouse in Belgium, where it was possible to intercept most of the illegitimate guns. Those deemed of sufficient quality could pay 10 Francs and be stamped "Colt Brevete", rendering them licensed and the manufacturer safe from legal action by Colt. These Brevete Colt copies are a whole world of interesting collecting by themselves, and one that is ignored by most Colt devotees. In this video, I take a look at 9 different examples to give you an idea of the wide variety of guns that were made both as licensed copies, illicit unlicensed copies, and legal unlicensed copies made after Colt's patents expired. If you are interested in learning more about these guns, I strongly recommend the book "Colt Brevete Revolvers" by Roy Marcot and Ron Paxton: http://amzn.to/2e9t73O

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The General Liu rifle (named for its designer – it never received an official designation that we know of) was China’s closest approach to an indigenous self-loading infantry rifle before World War II. Mechanically it used the same principles as the Danish Bang rifle – a muzzle cup captured some of the gases from firing and was pulled forward, moving a cam and lever that cycled the bolt. Liu was appointed head of the Hanyang Arsenal, and used the opportunity to put a new semiautomatic rifle into production. The Pratt & Whitney company of Hartford was contracted to supply the machinery to mass-produce the rifle, and about a dozen sample rifles were built by P&W. They were tested in China and met with general approval, and the machinery was loaded up and shipped to Shanghai. Unfortunately, General Liu suffered a stroke and either died or was incapacitated (sources differ on this) before the tooling arrived, and it ended up sitting on the docks for years, as the rifle project foundered and never cam to fruition without Liu’s supervision. The tools were eventually sent to an arsenal and repurposed for producing other guns. English and Chinese testing reports are here: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/early-semiauto-rifles/general-liu-rifle/ http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Gas-Trap M1 Garand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBAqqRiJRLQ Gewehr 41(Mauser): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehLg3n9_ruM Pedersen GX & GY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWF1x1fXIcg

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Japanese Army made significant use of snipers (or in today’s terminology, designated marksmen) as part of its infantry combined arms doctrine, and produced about 22,000 Type 97 sniper rifles for use in WWII and the Sino-Japanese War. In 1941, shortly after the adoption of the new 7.7mm rifle cartridge, it was decided that a sniper rifle variant of the Type 99 should be made in addition to the Type 97 (which was basically a scoped Type 38). Testing through 1941 determined that there was almost no practical difference in accuracy between scoped examples of the Type 99 long and short rifles, and so the short rifle was chosen to be the basis for the Type 99 sniper (the Type 99 long rifles would drop from production altogether pretty quickly anyway). About 1,000 of the scoped 99s were manufactured by the Kokura Arsenal using the same 2.5x scope as on the Type 97 sniper, while the Nagoya Arsenal instead used a 4x scope, offering more magnification at the expense of a narrower field of view. Nagoya would produce approximately 10,000 of these rifles, with 4x scopes except for a period between serial numbers 5,000 and 7,000 with 2.5x scopes (most likely the remainder stored at Kokura when that plant ceased production). The rifles made into snipers were given no special selection criteria; simply taken at random from normal production. The utility of the weapon in Japanese practice came not from it being mechanically more accurate than any other issue rifle, but rather from the optical sight allowing better exploitation of that standard rifle’s inherent accuracy. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Type 97 Arisaka Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvoeQvHbCyc German ZF41 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNTKnYMfI8&t=337s Swiss K31/42 & K31/43 Snipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Gtn-OD6jg Gewehr 98 Sniper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmQp

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The 1855 “Root” pocket revolver was a reasonably successful design for the Colt company, although it was not the best mechanical design. The side hammer design used the cylinder axis to rotate and lock in place instead of using the rear face of the cylinder, which resulted in several small and delicate parts. In an effort to correct these deficiencies, Colt and his factory superintendent Elisha Root experimented with a “zig-zag” design as well, which would use and external cam running in grooves on the cylinder wall to rotate and lock it. Root received a patent (#13,999) for a system using a ring trigger and lug on the bottom of the frame, and these two prototype revolvers demonstrate a similar system with the lug on the top of the frame. This system was not ultimately adopted, and these remain just an interesting look into the experimental workings of the Colt company. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Webley-Fosbery Self-Cocking Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNfgoAJiFBQ Colt Sidehammer "Root" Dragoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaBLFL0VPfw Mauser 1878 Zig-Zag Revolver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzSXvhGdfzo Colt 1855 Revolving Shotgun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbKDkOAi6Mo

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Wall guns are the philosophical predecessor to today's anti-material rifles - large-caliber, high power rifles heavy enough that they cannot be fired from the shoulder realistically. Traditionally, they were used for defending walls or ramparts, as the name implies. They would allow defenders to perforate armor that would be proof against normal shoulder rifles, and also have a more substantial ballistic impact at long ranges than a normal rifle. This particular one was made in Belgium in 1862, and is a .75 caliber breechloading design with a percussion ignition and hexagonal Whitworth-type rifling. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Mae from C&Rsenal firing a flintlock wall gun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2GLbXR3-HI

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Rudolf Frommer was a self-taught engineer and firearms designer who worked his way up through the FEG concern in Budapest to eventually hold the position of CEO. During this time he developed a series of long-recoil, rotating-bolt pistols culminating in the Frommer Stop, which was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian military. These pistols began with the 1901 model (actually patented in 1903), which was a quite large handgun chambered for an early version of the 8mm Steyr cartridge. The 1901 model Frommer pistol used a 10-round internal magazine fed by stripper clips, and those clips would be a primary reason the pistol was rejected when tested by the US military in 1904. American testing officers complained that the clips were finicky to use, and could easily cause jams if not handled just right (for example, yanked briskly out of the action after charging). The American testing board also criticized the gun for its 8mm cartridge (the Americans wanted nothing less than 11.25mm), and for the weapon not obscuring its sight picture when locking open on the last round. Only about 200 Frommer 1901 pistols were made before the design was revised in the 1906 model, which was substantially smaller and chambered for a 7.65mm cartridge slightly shorter than the .32ACP. The 1910 model finally achieved a reasonable (if small) serial production of a few thousand guns, The 1912 "Stop" model introduced a much more conventional frame and grip design, and was the breakout success of the series, with several hundred thousand made. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Frommer 1910: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTsVD1G1xwM Roth-Krnka 1895: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1VJCOrSOA8

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Sam Colt's very first work was done in Baltimore, but this ended fairly quickly, and it was with his subsequent move to Paterson New Jersey that the first true production Colt firearms were made. Colt set up a small shop there and introduced both handguns and rifles using his patented system in which cocking the hammer of a revolver would rotate and index the cylinder. Initially the rifles and carbines were substantially more popular than the handguns, mainly because of caliber. The pistols were tiny .28 caliber pocket models, and remarkably underpowered, while the rifles were .40 caliber and more practical. Both were very expensive, though. Only 200 of these first model rifles/carbines were made, with 50 of them going to the Army for the Seminole Campaign in Florida. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Georg Roth's company in Austria presided over a wonderful variety of interesting handgun development, and this is one example of that lineage. Roth's licensed or purchased the patent for this pistol from its inventor, Wasa Theodorovic, and turned it over to his engineer Karel Krnka to develop (I'm simplifying this). The design used a long recoil action and a rotating bolt, elements which would later find their way into the designs of Rudolf Frommer, who worked at FEG where the Roth pistols were manufactured. About 80 of these Roth-Theodorovic-Krnka pistols were made, with no two quite the same. They were in a constant process of development and improvement, and this (serial number 77) is one of the very last ones. It exhibits a quite refined fire control system with single and double action modes as well as a decocker. It is made yet more interesting by the addition of a grip safety, which does not appear to be a factory element. Instead, it appears to be a design patented by Tambour and installed by a contemporary gunsmith. Tambour safeties were put in a number of other types of guns at the time, including Mannlicher 1901/1905 pistols. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Related: Frommer 1901: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-CXrytOS0E Roth-Theodorovic-Krnka 1895: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1VJCOrSOA8 Roth-Steyr M1907: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baUTYMPsh9M Roth-Steyr M1907 Slow Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-G_WiK6J3o Roth-Steyr M1907 Shooting Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xvCNEUnT4Y

Paperback and Kindle Versions: http://amzn.to/2eoWAFW This new book is a very good collectors' guide to the Makarov, although it definitely leaves a place open for someone to write a more comprehensive reference work on the subject. It comes to a total of 122 pages, split primarily into a section on the Soviet Makarov (written by Brown) and a section on the East German Makarov (written by White). Both sections appear to have their research based on observation of known examples of the guns, with a nice large sample size allowing for accurate inferences to be made regarding production numbers, timelines, and changes in characteristics. Eventually, someone will print a book in English based on original arsenal and military documents - but this is not that book. It also suffers aesthetically from being clearly a self-published book. Some photos retaining background shadows and cropping, and the layout is very simplistic. None of this negatively impacts the information conveyed, however, and reducing the layout and printing costs did presumably help make the project feasible in the first place. Someone looking for a Leonardo Antaris or Collector Grade work will be disappointed, as this is more akin to Robert Adair's book on Unique Pistols. That said, the content is good and contains plenty of useful elements. The changes from the initial prototypes to the early production pistols and thence to the mass production and late production guns includes a number of minor part variations that are not documented elsewhere in print, and the explanation of Makarov serial number and dating schemes (to the extend they are deciphered so far) is excellent for the collector. Some of the less-standard variants are also discussed, including the Soviet PMM (double-stack modernized Makarov), Baikal export guns, and the Makarovs sold in the 90s by Suhl. Import marks are examined in some detail, especially in the East German section, which will be very helpful for tracing where diff

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Final prices from the September 2016 Rock Island Premier auction - these include the 15% buyer's premium on top of the auctioneer's hammer price. Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Final prices from the October 2016 James D Julia auction - these include the 15% buyer's premium on top of the auctioneer's hammer price. Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons I am not much of a computer gamer these days, but since it was first announced I have known that I would need to try out Battlefield One. It has the distinction of being pretty much the only game produced by a major high-budget studio set in World War One. Fair disclosure; I did have a chance to meet a bunch of the developers at DICE LA, and they are great folks. If you watch the game credits, you will see my name there. So, what is the game? On the surface it looks like World War One, but at its heart it is a reincarnation of the Battlefield series of games, and continues all of their core mechanics and premises. This is not a combat simulation, it is an arcade game. Whether you think that is fantastic of terrible depends entirely on what you are looking for. If you want a game where you get to mow down waves of the enemy with WWI-looking guns, you will enjoy BF1. If you enjoy a frenetically-paced multiplayer free-for-all, you will enjoy BF1. If you want a game that tries to recreate the experience of World War One, you will find BF1 to be a terrible disappointment. Want to see the real future of combat sims? Check out our video about Onward: https://www.full30.com/video/5cece0558a7ee0dc42243984f7d454ec

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Astra Model F was the final evolution of the Astra 900, a C96 Mauser lookalike. The Model F used detachable magazines and was select-fire, with a very effective rate reducing mechanism in the grip. It was adopted by the Guardia Civil in 1934, and 1,126 of the guns were produced in 1935. Of those guns, 950 were delivered to the G.C. in June and the remaining guns remained at the factory, where most were seized by the Euzkadian government in August and September of 1936, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Unlike most of the Astra 900 series, the Model F was made in 9mm Largo. The Model F also used its own proprietary magazine (made in 10- and 20-round sizes), not interchangeable with either the Astra 903 or the Mauser Schnellfeuer. Related: Astra 900: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ-ksZSMIi0 Mauser Schnellfeuer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfpxqIK8VY Mauser Showdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW2p9gkmHxM Shansei .45 ACP Broomhandle: Mauser 06/08 Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Ze_aSg77c C96 Mauser Slow Motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC7Vrutcm6c 20-shot C96 Mauser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vkU3CIPdMk Book Review: Astra and Star Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyuArmaAOBw

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons In the early 1960s, an influential but little-known (today) firearms designer by the name of Robert Hillberg came up with an idea for a cheap-but-effective armament for the masses. With encouragement from DARPA, the Winchester company took up manufacture and development of the design, under the name "Liberator". The guns were initially planned to be made almost entirely as magnesium castings, with steel liners in the barrels, with a total cost of about $20 per gun. They would use prepackaged 4-round ammunition packets as well, rather than standard individual shotgun shells. By the time production was actually begun, however, the design had been altered to a break-action system using regular shells - the prepackaged quad-cartridges proved too difficult to perfect. So the production Mark II guns used conventional shells with a break-open action. As it turned out, casting the frames over the steel barrel inserts was a quite difficult process, and Winchester soon moved to a MkIII design which replace the barrel casting with 4 independent all-steel barrels fixed at the muzzles by a stamped plate. By this time, however, military interest in the guns had fallen away and Winchester was left to try to market them commercially. They attempted to interest both police and civilian markets (although with 13 inch barrels, the guns were regulated by the NFA). None of these marketing attempts succeeded, and major production never began. The design was too impractical and guerrilla-oriented to really appeal to anyone with a more ordinary use (like recreational shooting, sport shooting, or security/law enforcement) in mind. Thanks to the Cody Firearms Museum for allowing me access to film these! Check them out at: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/ Related: USAS-12 Combat Shotgun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKbC7ldO3fY SPAS-1

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons What was the first true semiautomatic pistol? Let's take a look... Before there were self-loading pistols, there were manually operated repeating pistols with magazines - like the 1850s Volcanics. A surprising number of this type of pistol were developed in Austria in the 1880s, and they led directly to some of the first blowback automatic pistols, like the Laumann and Schonberger-Laumann. However, there was also some early guns designed from the ground up as semiautos, like the Dormus. The C93 Borchardt is agreed to be the first commercially successful pistol, but what other designs came first that were functional but not successful? Related: Early Automatic Pistol Cartridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msQI6ongp24 Development of the Luger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIX1EL1hTmE Development of the 1911: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgOicEVA4u8

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons In 1936, Lewis Nolan Nomar patented this device, which is basically a large 40-round magazine for the 1911 pistol. He envisioned a military use for the device in trench raiding, giving men a compact weapon with a large capacity. Unfortunately for him, the device was both remarkably (and unnecessarily) heavy and obsolete the day it was patented. Not only was trench warfare a thing of the past, but submachine guns could and would do the job of his device better than it could. Ultimately, I believe only two of these were made and was never formally tested by the US military. Nomar may have also experimented with adapting it to other handguns beyond the 1911, although I cannot find any firm evidence either way on that point. Related: Union Pistol w/ Horseshoe Magazine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8dc7vZjx8E Slow Motion Artillery Luger w/ Drum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrrMe_Y9zy8 Benke-Thiemann Folding Luger Stock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWv5XysaPnU

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Isaac Newton Lewis is best known as the designer of the Lewis light machine gun, of course - but that was not his only work in the firearms field. In 1919, he patented a semiauto handgun using the same gas-operated, rotating bolt mechanism as the machine gun. It is a pretty massive steel beast of a handgun, and interestingly fires from an open bolt, despite being semiautomatic only. This is a questionable choice for a handgun, as it substantially hinders practical accuracy because of the heavy mass moving during the firing process, forcing the shooter to have exceptional followthrough to make hits. That said, this pistol is very well made, and operated quite smoothly (except when the cocking sleeve rotates slightly out of alignment and prevents the bolt from falling). It even has a reversible firing pin. This pistol is chambered for .45 ACP, and is depicted in patents as having a double-stack magazine with a 15-round capacity. The magazine is missing from this example, but I am aware of another Lewis handgun of different design that does have a magazine of this basic type, so it's not just a patent sketch. The gun is devoid of any markings, and I have no information on how many were made in total - but I suspect the number to be very low - possibly only this one. Related: Grant Hammond .45 Trials Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Vq-rfm5Rs Savage .45 ACP Trials Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLYOdvcnvkY Knoble .30 Cal Trials Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99NZMAC7Spg Early .45 ACP Ruby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFGT2KRfxTc Mauser 12/14 in .45 ACP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lPRZzTC084 Schouboe .45ACP Pistols: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAEWDf-LfcY Pieper .45ACP Prototype Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7E_2GGJIi4 BSA Prototype .45ACP Pistol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.breachbangclear.com/wtw-the-trench-shotgun-by-ian-mccollum/

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Even during World War Two, it was clear that the United States was interested in improving on the M1 Garand rifle. A company that could develop and update to the Garand to make it selective-fire and feed from a box magazine would be in a great position to sell the government a ton of rifles, and everyone knew it. These two rifles illustrate some of the Winchester company's efforts in that realm. Thanks to the Cody Firearms Museum for allowing me access to film these! Check them out here: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.breachbangclear.com/wtw-chinese-bren-gun-7-62x39/

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Guycot chain pistol was the development of two Frenchmen, Henri Guenot and Paulin Gay in 1879. It is chambered for a unique 6.5mm caseless rocket ball type cartridge in which the base of the projectile is hollowed out and contains the propellant powder and a primer. Upon firing, the entirely of the projectile exits, leaving nothing to be extracted or ejected from the chamber. Unfortunately for the Guycot's military aspirations, this cartridge was far too small and underpowered to attract and serious interest and only a few hundred at most were made. These were divided between several models, including a 25-shot pistol, a 40-shot pistol like this one, and an 80-shot carbine.

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.breachbangclear.com/wtw-the-american-luger/

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons In the aftermath of World War II, the United States spent 12 years looking for a successor to the M1 Garand rifle. The new standard infantry arm was expected to be select-fire, lightweight, accurate, controllable, and fire a heavy .30-caliber projectile. It would replace not just the M1, but also the BAR and perhaps the M1 Carbine as well - a true universal weapon. Of course, these requirements were complete fantasy, unachievable in the real world - but that did not prevent Remington, Springfield Arsenal, and Winchester from trying to meet them. This rifle is a Winchester prototype, which has been substantially lightened from the M1 it began life as. A pistol grip has been added, along with a fire selector lever and a box magazine system. A detachable lightweight bipod allows it to be used for supporting fire. I do not know exactly when it was made, but it is chambered for the T65 or 7.62 NATO cartridge, which dates it as definitely post-WWII. Thanks to the Cody Firearms Museum for allowing me access to film it! Check them out here: https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.breachbangclear.com/wtw-johnson-light-machine-gun-ian-m/

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Uruguay's Model 1871/94 Mauser conversions - known usually as either Daudetau or Dovitiis Mausers - are a really interesting story of arms history. It begins with Antonio Dovitiis, and Italian tailor and merchant of military supplies in Montevideo, who wound up with the job of procuring some new arms for the Uruguayan military, which was using single shot 11mm Mauser 1871 rifles - obsolescent by the 1890s. Dovitiis made a deal with the St Denis arsenal outside Paris to convert 10,000 Mauser 71 rifles and carbines to the hot new French 6.5mm Daudetau #12 cartridge - a high velocity smallbore round. Much better than that old 11mm black powder round! Alas, it seems this isn't really what Uruguay wanted, and they were quickly scrapped after being received back home - Uruguay would end up buying fancy new 1895 pattern Mauser repeaters instead. The Dovitiis conversion rifles can be found today every now and then, in both full length rifle and short carbine variants. The have a fantastic split personality going on, with German gothic markings on the receiver and French script on the barrel, along with Berthier-style sights and clearing rods.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons The Swiss military dabbled in revolvers with their rimfire 1872 model (about 900 made) and the followup 1878 centerfire version (5500-6000 made), but their first large-scale service revolver was the Model 1882, designed by Colonel Schmidt (yeah, the same guy who did the rifles). The 1882 is a 7.5mm, 6-shot double action design with lineage to the French 1873 model. It is a magnificently well-made gun (of course; it IS Swiss after all), and features several nice features. It has a rebounding hammer, allowing it to be safely carried with all 6 chambers loaded. It also uses the Abadie gate-loading system, in which opening the loaidng gate disconnects the trigger from the hammer. This allows the trigger to be used to quickly and precisely index the cylinder between chambers when loading and unloading. For gate-loading wheelguns, this makes it the fastest type to load and unload. It also has a hinged sideplate, which opens up with the removal of a single captive screw, allowing easy access to all the internals - which are helpfully numbered in their disassembly order. Overall it is an excellent gun, if underpowered by today's standards (and very difficult to find ammunition for).

A brief overview of what is involved in taking your Vickers out to the range... Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Thanks to all my great Patreon supporters who make this possible! We have a great selection of questions once again. Want to ask one yourself? Sign up over at Patreon! The tools I mention in today's second question are these: Screwdriver set: http://amzn.to/2gL9tLV Punch set: http://amzn.to/2gQtgGs Bore gauge: http://amzn.to/2gDZ3Ls Questions: 0:51 - What is the S&W "Triple Lock"? 4:13 - Tools for shooting and working on guns 6:48 - Making the HAC-7 a viable commercial rifle today 11:45 - Gun collection preservation 14:05 - Why the RPK in favor of the RPD, and how about the M27 IAR? 17:46 - US slow adoption of new arms technology 20:51 - Gun culture in Europe 23:22 - What is my process and schedule at auction houses? 28:20 - How will drones affect the Second Amendment? 30:17 - Do I like Arizona? 31:05 - Stocked pistols besides the Luger, C96, and Hi Power? 33:17 - Logistics of officers supplying their own pistols 37:01 - Pistols using Mannlicher-style clips? 38:27 - Was there a .50-cal Bren or Lewis? 40:18 - Post-WWII gun production in Germany and Japan 42:30 - Why top-mounted magazines in guns like the Bren and Nambu? 45:46 - Cristobal carbines

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons In recent months, a couple of interesting developmental varieties of AK mags have appeared on the market here in the US, and I figure folks might be interested in learning about the history of where and when they came from, and why they were used or not used. So today, we will look at the progression from slabside to ribbed to aluminum to "bakelite" magazines for the AK-47, AKM, AK-74, RPK, and RPK-74. Russian ones, anyway - we will leave magazines from other countries for another day!

A lost video from the back catalog...

Minigun in slow motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeyVrLK03mc The General Electric M134 "Minigun" is essentially an electrically-powered Gatling gun - the conceptual operation of the gun is identical to Dr. Gatling's original creation. What has changed, however, is the chambering (it's in 7.62 NATO), the power source (an electric motor), and the feed mechanism (belt-feed using M60 links instead of the Gatling's Accles, Broadwell, or Bruce feeds). The weapon was a scaled down version of a 20mm rotary powered cannon devised for aircraft armament after WW2, hence the "mini" name. It was used primarily as helicopter armament, although it has found its way only ground vehicles as well. Firing between 3000 and 6000 rounds per minute, the Minigun is ideal for aerial engagements where the gunner only has a brief moment on target and needs to fire as much as possible during that moment. It is a truly awe-inspiring weapon, and quite an experience to fire! In addition to destroying a truck with it, we will look at disassembly and functioning of the minigun - the delinking mechanism is really the most complex part of the weapon, and a very interesting device. Thanks to Modern Arms of Tempe, AZ for providing the Minigun for this video! They offer the gun for rental, if you are interested in trying it out yourself. http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow The Crossfire MkI is a combination gun - both a rifle and shotgun with the two barrels sharing a single pump action mechanism. The shotgun is a 12ga bore, with a 4-round tubular magazine located on top of the buttstock. The rifle is a 5.56mm NATO barrel feeding from a bottom-mounted AR-15 pattern magazine. The initial design was debuted at SHOT Show in 1988, as a semiauto .308/12ga combination gun with a more conventional appearance, but it wasn't until about 10 years later that the first guns actually hit the market, and they were 5.56mm and pump action only. The Crossfire was, I believe, intended for folks who expected the combination of a rifle and shotgun to produce a universally handy weapon, suitable for any circumstance. The pump action simplified the design significantly, and also allowed the designers to use standard AR type magazines during the era of the US Assault Weapons Ban (1994-2004). In reality, however, the Crossfire is exceedingly awkward and requires a non-trivial amount of practice to run reliably (that pump handle is very far forward...). The gun had an initial MSRP of just under $2000; an insane price tag that helped solidify its position as a dismal commercial failure.

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow Following up to yesterday's look at the history and (partial) disassembly of a GE M134 Minigun, today we will check it out in slow motion. I filmed these high-speed shots, but there was so much detail in them to discuss that I decided to make them into a second separate video rather than cram everything into just one. So, here let's have a look at the underside of the gun at 2500 fps and then the muzzle end at 5000 fps - the Minigun like you have never seen it before! Thanks to Modern Arms of Tempe, AZ for providing the Minigun for this video! They offer the gun for rental, if you are interested in trying it out yourself.

Want a sweet Puckle Gun shirt? Check out the new Forgotten Weapons merch store: http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow The Puckle Gun is probably best known as that thing that had round bullets for Christians and square bullets for Turks, but there is much more to it than just that (and in addition, the square bullet version was never actually built). James Puckle designed it in 1718 as a naval defensive weapon to help British vessels fight back against Ottoman pirates using fast and nimble small boats that could not be effectively engaged with large cannon. Puckle's gun was a 9-shot repeater of about 1.25" bore on a flexible swiveling mount which could easily track the fastest marauder. The Puckle is basically a manual revolver, but its firing mechanism incorporates some clever functionality to allow a fast and smooth rate of fire. The gun was demonstrated in public in 1721 (after being turned down by the Royal Navy) and fired 63 shots in 7 minutes - quite the feat at that time! The only sale appears to have been a private purchase of two guns for an expedition to the West Indies, however. Thanks to the Institute of Military Technology for allowing me to have access to this magnificent piece and bring it to you! Check them out at: http://www.instmiltech.com

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow The Welrod is a nearly completely silent bolt action pistol designed by SOE Section 9 for covert operation and assassination use during WW2. Chambered for the .32ACP cartridge (which is subsonic to begin with), the Welrod uses a ventilated barrel and large-volume suppressor with several solid rubber wipes to bring its firing report down to the minimum possible level. This noise reduction only lasts for about a dozen shots, after which time the rubber wipes have more or less bore-sized permanent holes in them, reducing the suppressor's effectiveness to pretty much on par with other typical designs. The Welrod is a manually operated pistol, to avoid action noise. It feeds from a Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless magazine, which also serves as its grip. A grip safety is the only safety device, and it fires using a striker mechanism. The Welrod was first introduced in 1943, with a larger 9x19mm version added later in the war. They appear to have been manufactured by BSA, with a total of about 14,000 made. Welrods were in service as recently as Desert Storm, and are most likely still in use for those times when a very efficient silent pistol is necessary. Thanks to the Institute of Military Technology for allowing me to have access to this very cool pistol and bring it to you! Check them out at: http://www.instmiltech.com

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow The L85A1 (part of the SA80 small arms family) was adopted by the British military in 1985 as a new generation of small arms to replace the L1A1 FAL (one quick note, where "A1" indicates a revision in American designations, it is simply the first iteration in British ones - there was no "L85"). As a bullpup rifle, the L85A1 was intended to replace both the FAL and Sterling SMG, similar to the French replacing the MAS 49/56 and MAT 49 with the FAMAS. Unfortunately, the L85A1 had massive problems of both reliability and durability. They were kept pretty much hidden until Desert Storm, when it became unavoidably clear that the weapon was seriously flawed. The UK government denied the problems for several years, until finally contracting with H&K (then owned by Royal Ordnance) to redesign and rebuild the rifles. The result, after changes to virtually every part of the rifle, was the L85A2 - a much better rifle that will be tainted with its predecessor's reputation regardless. Mechanically, the L85A1 and A2 are basically copies of the Armalite AR-180, with a multi-lug rotating bolt and a short stroke gas piston. It feeds from STANAG magazines, and it universally fitted with the heavy but rugged SUSAT optical sight. Thanks to the Institute of Military Technology for allowing me to have access to this rifle (which is extremely rare in the US) and bring it to you! Check them out at: http://www.instmiltech.com

Cool Forgotten Weapons Merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons Final hammer prices from the Rock Island December 2016 Premier auction. These all include the 15% buyer's fee. The next auction series will begin in a couple weeks, so stay tuned!

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow Most people assume that the AR15/M16 safety/selector lever was designed specifically to be very ergonomic and shooter-friendly, with the "safe" position putting the lever right under the thumb to allow a quick and easy snap into semiauto mode. Well, that's not actually the way Eugene Stoner initially designed it - as we can see by looking at AR15 prototype serial number 000001...

A brief Christmas reading, as translated from the original ancient manuscripts by Fr. Frog (http://www.frfrogspad.com/jmb.htm). http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forgotten-weapons If you enjoy Forgotten Weapons, check out its sister channel, InRangeTV! http://www.youtube.com/InRangeTVShow