Ian of Forgotten Weapons really does get to play with all the cool toys. In the first video he reviews the General Election M134 minigun in 7.62×51. He gives an in-depth explanation of how they work and especially how they feed the ammunition.
Ian has produced a second, shorter, follow-on video showing the M134 minigun firing in slow motion at both 2,500 and 5,000 frames per second. It is amazing how hypnotic watching a minigun can be. That is, so long as you aren’t the target of it!
From the late 1800s until well into the 20th century, the bolt action Mauser was the rifle of choice of many of Latin America’s armies. Countries like Columbia, Brazil, Peru, and Mexico among others went with the 7×57 Mauser while the Argentines adopted the Mauser in their own distinctive 7.65×53 caliber. Indeed, my own collection includes a Columbian Mauser made by Steyr and a Brazilian Mauser made by DWM Berlin. Both of these are in 7×57. I just need to add an 1891 Argentine Engineer Mauser and I’ll have covered the Southern Cone.
In the video below Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons talks about a single shot Mauser that was adopted by Uruguay. It is referred to as the Doviitis and is a conversion of the blackpower 1871 Mauser to a smokeless 6.5 caliber.
So we don’t end up talking politics all day long, Ian McCollum examines Chinese copies of the C96 Mauser broomhandle pistol. The one he examines is marked a “Wauser” which helps explain my headline. It shows you what someone can do even if he or she doesn’t have modern machine tools. I’m just not sure if I’d try firing it.
Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons has recently published a series of videos on the sniper rifles used by the US Army and US Marine Corps in World Wars One and Two. One of the more interesting observations was that the Army had to start from scratch in WWII while the Marine Corps, who supposedly never throws anything away, pulled stuff out of storage.
From his WWI description:
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!
From the bolt-action sniper rifles of WWII:
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.
While the Army did adopt the M1C Garand semi-automatic rifle for sniping in 1944, according to Ian it never saw action during the war. It would make its debut in action during the Korean War.
Thanks to Ian for doing these histories of US sniping rifles as used during the world wars. If you want to help support the work he does, he has set up a Patreon account which can be found here.
Ian from Forgotten Weapons blog goes old school at this run and gun steel match in Arizona. Who am I kidding. Ian always goes old school!
In this video, Ian uses a Roth Steyr 1907 made in 1910 to run the match. He said this about the pistol:
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.
Even with an antique gun using an antique cartridge Ian still comes in 17th out of 21. Considering he was using stripper clips to reload and not magazines, that is pretty damn good.
Ian at Forgotten Weapons has released another of his excellent videos on older firearms. This one is on the Spanish FR-8 Mauser. I remember seeing this for the first time in the early 1980s at a local gun store for about $150. Of course, I should have bought it then because by the time I bought my own FR-8 the price was $350 which I thought reasonable.
To me the best feature of the FR-8 is the sights. Unlike your typical Mauser notch and post sights, the FR-8 has a protected front post with an adjustable ghost ring sight.
Following up on his interview with noted flamethrower historian and technical expert Charles Hobson, Ian of Forgotten Weapons now has a question and answer session with him.
The questions by timestamp are:
Flamethrowers are one of the few weapons that were used by the US military in WWII that are not only legal to own but not regulated in any way by the Federal government. Currently, only two US states ban their possession.
Ian McCullom of Forgotten Weapons interviews Charlie Hobson in this video. Mr. Hobson is one of the leading authorities on flamethrowers, their development, and their history. He has worked extensively with military museums as well as the entertainment industry on their restoration and preservation.
Mr. Hobson is the author of The Illustrated Manual of U. S. Portable Flamethrowers.
The interview with Mr. Hobson dispels many of the myths concerning flamethrowers. For example, they didn’t explode when hit by a bullet unlike what is usually shown in old WWII movies. Moreover, they killed, for the most part, not by fire but with carbon monoxide.
Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons returns with an interesting British rifle – the Pattern 13 Enfield Trials rifle. I never realized that my P-17 Eddystone rifle took so much of its design from the Mauser but looking at the bolt it is obvious.
This is quite an interesting rifle up for bid at auction. Currently, the high bid is only $1,800 for this rare piece of rifle history.
I had heard Michael Bane make reference to the Ithaca Auto & Burglar shotgun pistol but had never seen one. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons shows two examples of these any other weapons that are up for auction at Rock Island Auctions.
While these would have been a beast to handle in 12 gauge, in the lesser gauges like 20 or 28, I think they’d still provide more than adequate protection against highwaymen and carjackers.
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