The most interesting firearms are the transitional ones. Personally, I like the half-cap half-cartridge rifles, these semi-semi-automatic pistols, the musket to breechloader conversions like the Snider, and the like. Also all the pre-cartridge, pre-revolver attempts at multi-shot firearms. Inventor’s dreams, user’s nightmares.
As a machinist I was born in the wrong era. Firearms experimentation used to be accepted and common. Look at all the different names on guns then and now, we have very few boutique or just mom and pop small shops out there. That and I LOVE fixture building and it's 100% needed when doing that kind of work on manual and CNC mills even today.
@@zendell37 one of the reasons I love what they are doing. They are breaking away from the norm, and they've had flops, but they've also had a ton of big hits
@@Pigness7 yeah, but as Ian often points out, the French have a weird preference for tiny rear sights and this is them accepting the challenge to make it even more impossibly smaller
I think those early semi and manually operated pistols are my favourite genre on the channel, so much creativity and variety, and they are just neat and often ugly to the point of being beautiful.
Yeah John. I own guns but frankly I could take them or leave them. Closest rifle range is way to far away so I don’t really get to enjoy them. Been years since I got out there. Got a close pistol range but they’ve got a pretty dubious safety record so I’m going to continue to avoid that. I love this channel for the engineering, though previously I also wouldn’t have thought myself interested in that. Turns out I’m super into that, also huge history nerd
I think the front sight is large for a reason, if you just see it as a line your aiming straight, if it's lightly left or right you will see more of the side of it.
That single massive blade of a sight does have multiple points of reference, so it works as a sight. Definitely won't be making quick precision shots, but you definitely would be able to tell if you were deviating several degrees to the left or right by how much of the "side" of the blade is visible. The long and wide top lets you know if you are tipping up or down based on how much of the front or back edge is showing.
@asdrubale bisanzio it does not take adhd to spot the socket. Commenting that an inanimate object that did nothing is a hero though, that is just weird, not a disorder
Lots of Ian's videos have electrical outlets in them. It's a bit strange that in America they seem to put the outlets halfway up the wall though. In England where I live, they're mostly all down at floor level for easy access by small kids. For extra spicy-ness they're also 240V. Fortunately, someone back in the day realised that this was a dangerous combination, so the holes in the sockets have spring loaded insulated shutters that only open when you put a plug in.
@asdrubale bisanzio We've had GFCI breakers as code since the early 90s here, although AFCI breakers are the standard now and our outlets also have the springloaded shutters in them to prevent sticking things in one side. Europeans often see houses that haven't been built or inspected recently and just assume that this 80 year old house is up to the newest codes. Not sure what causes this assumption, as I thought your buildings were generally older than ours.
Your dedication is simply inspiring, Ian. To have been doing this for as long as you have, seeing as many firearms as you've seen, and to still have that glint in your eye when something wholly unique comes up is just great. I'm a big fan of many other gun channels, but I have learned more from this than probably all of those combined. Thank you.
"So what makes this burger unique is its magazine system" I would say what makes this burger unique is the fact it can shoot and it's not decomposed yet
I think a system like this, but magazine fed could be a good way of getting around california and british gun laws, considering the entire action is manually actuated.
Usually, ring trigger mechanisms (And lever actions) do some of the operations on the forward movement of the lever. Like extract, and eject. This does it all on the pull, which makes me think the trigger pull must be horrendous.
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 Not just really long, but putting 5 different mechanisms in sequence over the same pull means it's inconsistent. Every time it switches from Extraction to the lifter, that changes the trigger pull. So, it might have up to 4 "Breaks." Including the one that fires 1 round. 4 trigger breaks to fire 1 round is what I call horrendous.
@@Psiberzerker Agreed. When you have folks today complaining about the DA pull on a decent revolver one can only imagine their horror at something like that! lol (To be fair, trying even a good DA revolver when you usually shoot a well tuned Single action semi auto is going to be a shock...)
@@trooperdgb9722 What do you consider a "Decent" revolver for double action trigger pull? My break point is right about a Ladysmith (65) You can get man grips if you need them.
@@Psiberzerker My 686 has a really wonderful DA pull... my new 627 is perfectly "adequate"... I was referring more to folks with NO revolver experience...lol
I’d love to see what either a modernized or even scaled up to rifle size version of this action would look like, it seems like it could be about as solid of a system as lever actions
Crazy thing is that before seeing this video I had never heard of these types of guns, yet over the years had doodled a design for a sporting rifle that had a trigger essentially do all that this gun’s does as a possible idea for a repeater rifle that was midway between a lever-action and a semi-auto. Nice to know that not only does such a system work IRL but over a century ago it had several varieties designed by many inventors. I had all but shelved the idea but maybe I should revisit it…
Great vid, I'm not a "gun person" and have no interest in weapons, but all you vids are fascinating. To see the engineering and development of any machine is a treat. Many thanks
I love how it has almost a clockwork style mechanism, there are so many satisfying moving bits that are quite obvious in their function. This is the kind of novelty/oddity that steampunk designers should be looking to for inspiration.
His reaction on that rear sight is hilarious. I hope he finds out that ultra tiny “v” notch was intentional and does a throwback on this video just absolutely roasting Berger for that.
The first mechanical impulse of that breech chambering a round would likely make holding your point of aim pretty challenging, perhaps the rear sight would be dubious anyways
Last time I was 8 seconds early, Ian was reviewing the "Pom Pom" giant Maxim machinegun Also the fact that Ian specified the spelling of the designers name is funny in it's own way, like the name itself. "Let me show you how this burger is unique"
And the grinding would be annoying...you'd feel the breech locking some time before the hammer drops, which would throw things off. Innovation is rarely clean when it begins, though.
Kind of a neat system where u never have to have a live round chambered in order to be ready to fire. But then again, a revolver kind of achieves the same thing with much less complexity and much more room for more powerful cartridges.
Pistols with tube magazines are rare. The site has not yet commented the MECO Brazilian pistol, a .22 short with tube magazine, patented and factory made in the 60's.
@G even better, so much stuff he could review there, sr-2, as val, APS, AD-46, TKB-0146, TKB-059... Basically just go visit the kalashnikov group, they have everything
@fuq que there were quite a lot of video on neither forgotten or rare guns, like RPD or DP-27/28 or G36. Those guns are interesting due to their mechanical features and it would be very cool to have a video on them , even better if Maxim Popenker is in!
Averge Gun Nerd: I wonder if instead of single or double action, you could somehow make a _triple_ action... Ian McCollum: Q U I N T U P L E A C T I O N
Ive always wanted to describe some of the the Tranter/Adams revolvers as "Triple Action". You can cock the hammer manually and pull the trigger. You can pull the "lower trigger spur" which cocks the hammer, then pull the trigger, OR you can pull both "triggers" together for a sort of DA pull...
I haven't gone through all the comments to see if this had been pointed out yet. So I apologize in advance for adding a moot point. Furthermore, no.. I don't have a citation for my comment. My great grandfather used to build his own hunting rifles, shotguns and the occasional handgun. He was of the mind that if you knew how something worked, you might as well make your own instead of spending twice as much to buy it. Anyway, he made a .22 revolver that was crude, but effective. You had to manually index the cylinder, and it had the same style of huge blade sight on the end of the barrel. He told me that it was designed for shooting single handed with your arm outstretched to the side and your head turned sideways. Apparently that was a thing in close quarters combat during WWI because it gave the enemy the smallest profile of you to hit, and the giant sight blade made for quicker aiming. When he taught me to shoot it I was about 6-ish and he told me that the sight was so big because it was used when they cleared houses. Sometimes it was a bit dark so the sides of the sight blade were painted white and the edge was red so you can get on target quickly, if you see any white your aims not right. I suppose the X-axis wasn't an issue because you were generally so close to your target when firing. Or, it could all be a coincidence and great grandpa was full of $#&+. But he most definitely was a WWI vet, and got punched full of holes in France. When WWII popped off he went back over and took a few more bullets for the team. My point being, he was an honorable, brave man who served his country in both world wars. I doubt he would make that story up. Whether that's actually why the gun maker put that giant blade sight on that particular gun, or if great grandpa was mistaken about the actual purpose is, I suppose, up for debate.
Extra cool case hardening, yes. If that firing pin was stuck forward, as it appeared to be, there might be a premature firing with the apparent force of the breech block.
I think that tiny notch on the hammer actually is the rear "sight". That same notch is present on the other one you showed us a few years back. Well, maybe it's more of a "gentle reminder" or "subtle hint" of where you are supposed to line up the front sight? It feels like it is some weird conceit that Real Marksmen Don't Need Sights, they have just learned (or guessed?) where their weapon hits and can simply point. Or something. Regardless the pistol is fascinating, thanks for sharing that with us!
@@JerryCrow "berg" does not mean mountain in French (that's un German I would say). "Berger" means a sheep-keeper. It's pronounce exactly like @Splcy56 wrote it -> "bear-jay" (all in one word of course)
I live 4 miles from IMT but can't get in as much as I would love to. I have been there several times and put my name on a list but never get anywhere with it. But I digress and thank you for your time, sir.
I feel like the absolute unit of a front sight was set up so you could see if it was misaligned when the broad sides become apparent. Probably similar for tilt with the 2 tier fin set-up. I don't think it was good, but that may have been the thought process.
I agree with you, unless the guy was from germanic ascendance (alsacian for instance) in which case it would mean mountain man. A Google search didn't helped me finding a birthplace, but "Marius" screams southern France. Not sure if it always was that way though.
@@Col_Mustard Jean Marius Berger is the same guy who design "Le Français", host in this channel before. Lived in St Etienne, 10 rue de Villeboeuf in 1892. He was a son of an armourer. La Gazette des armes n°317, janvier 2001.
@@barrylebaptiste2990 thanks for the enlightenment, although he still could be of germanic ascendance TBH. Yet, by default, I would read it "Berjé" too.
It's as if a guy making repeater rifles heard a rumour about semi autos and decided to build one without any other information, I think wonderfully weird just about covers it
A number of time the calibers and cartridge type of these odd pistols is never mentioned and for those new folks and those of us who haven't seen a previous video that information would be welcome.
Maybe in lieu of a rear sight, the breadth of the front sight could be intended as a kind of tool for aligning the gun straight by levelling it to eyesight, and then adjusting until you can't see the flat of the sides of the sights? I didn't really see how thick they were so I haven't a clue of that would even remotely work, but maybe they didn't understand the value of rear sights yet on pistols and just decided "shoot when the sight looks thinnest"?
It's not prononced "bruhvette", more like "bruhvuhtay", since it's a past participle. That E at the end should technically be an É, but this is most often left out when writing in caps.
In a republic far away, Elbonian soldiers are scratching their heads at this edition of Forgotten Weapons. Why all the fuss over their current sidearm?
The pistol in your first video on the Berger has the same dent in the same place on the hammer. I totally think that is supposed to be the rear sight lol
Interesting that the pistol seems to have am almost deliberate "hold" stage in between the breach being forward with a round chambered and the hammer being fully cocked. I wonder if that is just good trigger discipline on Ians part or a design feature.
