Milanese 7mm Pinfire Saber-Revolver 

Everyone: Don't bring a knife to a gunfight... Milan: *"Anyways, So I drew my sword and started blasting."*

"You have insulted my honour, and I demand satisfaction! Do you duel?" "Yes" "Saber? Pistol?" "Yes."

The gun is a great backup for when the blade inevitably snaps off at the first strike since it has no tang whatsoever.

*me over decade ago when Final Fantasy introduced the gunblade* “What a fuckin terrible and stupid weapons design, that would literally be useless” *Ian discovers a real life gunblade* “Fuck I want one”

"Then Oog think to Oog's self, Why doesn't Oog put ACOG on Oog's club? Oog call it 'tactical club'."

When I was a kid, we called these "super death swords". They usually had flames and a saw part too.

Final Fantasy gave these contraptions the perfect name: Gun Blade.

Additional -Lore- Info: "Weapon wielded by the Knights of Cainhurst. Combines an elegant knight's sword with the peculiar firearm wielded by the Cainhurst order. The old nobles, long-time imbibers of blood, are no strangers to the sanguine plague, and the disposal of beasts was a discrete task left to their servants, or knights, as they were called for the sake of appearances."

Here I was appreciating the blade and then Ian ruins it by saying, "no tang."

Ian: it's a useless tacticool relic Yharnam Hunter: *THE HUNT INTENSIFIES*

Sensible person: "Why not use a more effective saber in one hand and a more efecctive revolver in the other instead?" Rule of cool guy: "WELL, because you can dual-wield saber-revolvers this way!"

Tacticool in The Stone Age: "My club has a rock attached to BOTH ends!" ..... "No, I don't know how to use it, but it still means I'm better than you!"

Patreon members get to see the extended footage where Ian spends hours mastering the junction system and drawing Firaga until his Guardian Force is full.

ok, at this point I am fully convinced that there's a lone FFVIII fanboy running around in a Tardis throughout timelines planting these gun-blades just to get back at the bullies that used to tease him about his obsession with strange weapons.

"So you're telling me you was shot... by his sword? Huh, now ain't that something."- Columbo

"Let's have a sword fight like gentlemen" "Alright, pulls out sword" "Why your holding your sword like that?"

Almost looks like something Edward Kenway would use in his shenanigans against the Spanish and British in the Caribbean :D

I love RU-vid's auto-subtitles: "Like any other double action revolver when you pull the trigger it's going to [___] the hammer."

"Hey, this guy is a better sword fighter than me"..... *shoots opponent in the face*

Ghog: Why is your spear so short, Bhirc? Bhirc: Its the snub-nose model.

Would love to also see an ammo-oriented episode that explores the history and function of pinfire cartridges....

Ian: _Tacticool is not a new thing_ *Caveman who figured out tying a rock to a stick makes it hit harder* : _Happy Ooga Booga noises_

Hunter: How much bloodtinge do I need to use this weapon? Cainhurst: YES

*has sword* Gunsmith Columbo: “just one more thing” *adds revolver*

When you look at it, medieval polearms are oldschool tacticool, combining axes and spears and hammers :)

Oh hey, a gunblade. Time to get my Final Fantasy on.

I love how Ian just enjoys himself while doing this. The little smiles or expression in his eyes between words. It's just wholesome. Additionally to the interesting content itself, obviously, that's why I always come back to these.

I love combo weapons. Sure they're not practical anymore, but they are so cool, and some are works of art/madness.

I can actually see the pistol being used as a sneaky "first strike" sort of weapon. Someone is coming towards you with a sword, you pull your swordgun out and wield it like a normal saber. Assailant stops just outside sword range to initiate a duel. You point the barrel of the revolver at him and gut shot him.

One of the Rules: any time somebody presents you with an item that is a combination of thing A and thing B, you can probably buy both a better A and better B for the price of the combination thing. See sword/pistol, car/boat, and car/airplane as prime examples.

The memories of timing the R1 trigger every time Squall or Seifer hit an enemy and that satisfying rumble of the Dual Shock... Aaaannnd the f*ckn frustration of that bloody card game!!! 😂 Great video as usual Ian!

It reminds me of how friend described a motor sailor " 40% motorboat, 40% sailboat = 20% efficient " The sum ended up less than the parts alone. Great stuff Thanks.

"I will kill you with my sword at long range!" His sword at long range:

"But then, the important part here..." I love how Ian dismisses the sword part and is immediately attracted to the gun part.

Now I wanna see a Browning .50 cal on a Scottish Claymore - 2 handed sword!

That opening line is my second favourite thing that I've heard on this channel. Only thing that beats it is "I am the way and the light, but sometimes the light is a muzzle flash.

*A certain lonesome edgy RPG protagonist with a giant face scar is interested.*

Whoever designed this would definitely love a zip-22 on the forward rail of their decked out AR.

So, Squall’s sword isn’t entirely fantasy? We need a Smith and Wesson 500 magnum sword now because that’s what I think of when I seen his sword.

If you thought your LT was incompetent then just imagine him rolling up with an actual gunblade.

Looks like a Bloodborne weapon.

This has some big "drive me closer, I wish to hit them with my sword" energy. I've not seen a gun-blade with a multishot gun component before, the ones I've seen have been more 'age of sail' powder and ball type.

Now I want this shit in Hunt: Showdown. Just imagine, as you are charging someone you can use the pistol to aimpunch them so they can't headshot you and then you finish them with the blade.

The first thing I wondered about this was where the tang was, glad you elaborated on that.

A real-life Gunblade?!

Modern day 2-bore stopping rifle claymore : for when you absolutely positively need to go overkill everything

It's basically a combination of two very short range weapons. The sword is likely to be just as effective as the revolver if the enemy is close enough for the revolver to be useful. And the sword won't run out of ammunition.

“It’s not practical” - you’ve clearly never been in a sword fight with a pirate.

Epitaph on a tombstone “ he died because his sword ran out of bullets!”

From the people who brought you Reese's peanut butter cups..... "There's a sword in my gun. There's a gun in my my sword!" 😳🍫🗡️

I love these kinds of uploads. The Strange and antique is awesome.

Larping is much older than I ever imagined.

Invite Matt Easton for this sort of thing Ian. He is the "Bald Sword Jesus" and an antique dealer as well as archeologist.

There is a lot of these at the Doge Palace Museum in Venice, plenty of swords, axes and blunt weapons mixed up with more or less reliable firearms. Quite a collection

The first thing I noticed was that there might not be a tang, glad you pointed it out that there is indeed no tang!

This is for when you try to run someone through but your sword gets stuck in them and you are having a hard time pulling it out. A quick pull or two on the trigger and now you have lots of room to withdraw your sword with no binding. And it pretty much takes care of any possible counter attack.

This actually a great idea. All "Gentleman" were required to wear a sword on occasion and for self defense. You pull your sword and shoot them in the face then back to the dance.

As a Final Fantasy fan I see a Gunblade.

I saw something like this in an American Revolution exhibit in some museum. It had two small flintlocks attached to the handle with the blade in the middle

Not only is it cool, the sword looks of high quality as well. Appreciate the video

This takes ending him rightly to a whole new level

Looks like something straight came out from Final Fantasy

You can use the guard and the tip as sights. The curve of the blade brings the tip and guard into a parallel plane with the revolver.

7:16 it looks like the tip of the blade and the tip of the cross-bar might actually form a line parallel to the revolver barrel that could be used for aiming!

So from an actual sword guy... - The blade is behind the grip. That's a no-no, as it's awkward and you'd not be able to hit properly. I don't know any historical examples of weapons which had that feature. It completely messes your wrist work- and weapons from that era have a lot of that. - It would not cut well, as you have a lot of mass in the hilt. Still, it's quite curved and the grip is bent forward- if not for the damn gun, it would have made a pretty cool sabre with a lot of oomph in the cut! - It has no @#$%% tang. Swords do get bashed around- don't want to parry only to find out, that your blade fell off. Furthermore, the hammer is not protected in any way- in a fight blades interact in weird ways- it can totally bend, chip, or otherwise incapacitate the mechanism. - It would have made a lot more sense if stuck to a straight bladed weapon. So yeah, from our perspective it's also pretty bad.

I would love to see someone make a modern version of a gun sword just for fun. Immagine a sabre with a built in .44 magnum.

this is the first one of these i've seen that actually almost looks useful, if the grip was redesigned to give tang to the blade it would be an honest to god functional combat gunblade

Saw something similar to this in a movie. Forgot which one, but it was cool to see. Need to see more of these in movies.

Omg it’s a gunsword. Childhood me has wanted to see this since FFVIII.

What would you rather have, a sidearm of a blade for close quarters? Answer: Yes.

The Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds had an interesting captured Japanese WW2 sword-gun on display. The pistol was a Nambu, with one of the scales replaced with a wakazashi blade. The blade and barrel were offset about 75 - 80 degrees, so shooting placed the blade in a guard position, and a cut pointed the barrel to the ground. The Ordnance Museum seems to be no more, with the contents mostly at Ft. Benning, so this particular weapon might be found there. If you are in the area, this might be worth a look.

That guy should have packed one of these in Raiders of the Lost Ark. You know what scene I'm talking about.

You should get in touch with Matt Eaton from schola gladiatoria to discuss such blades together.

Incoming Final Fantasy references!

Bayonets really are the best of both. Holding the firearm is mostly the same for intended ranged use while the bayonet is only noticeable when it is required. A bayoneted rifle might not have the same prowess as a sword but it has all the bite a heavy duty spear or glaive has which works well in battles between infantry companies.

Gunsmith : "Sir, sorry to ask, but just to be clear... Do you want a saber or a gun?" Sir : "Yes."

Original tacticool proponent: "I had a rock and I had a stick, so I tied rock to stick. Now I can hit harder."

Less for "Last ditch". More for during the charge, when the sword would have been presented in a more or less "firing" position. You could get several volleys before the impact and melee.

For anyone who wants to know of mostly practical combos, the gun axe. Single shot but the ranges most sub 16 inch barrels of the era used it didnt matter much as similar to axe range.

Looking at the Trigger placement it looks like it is in a great place for using as a index point for better point control of the blade

« it's just like my japanese animes. » - Ian.

Those 7mm pinfire cartridges were about on par with the .32 S&W in terms of bullet weight, velocity and power. I know they will go through at least 3/4 inch plywood at close range. And while the pinfire system was surpassed by both rimfire and centerfire cartridges, they hung on well into the first two decades of 20th century. They did so for several reasons. The first was because many of the pinfire revolvers coming out of Belgium were very, very low cost. Which made them popular. Second, because the single and double barrel versions of the pistols were hugely popular in South America. And third, because many low-cost, utilitarian shotguns had been turned out in the decades leading up to the 20th century, and many of the people using them saw no reason to move to a centerfire firearm when they had a perfectly adequate shotgun already.

Anyone remember an episode of Farscape in which Ka D'Argo is like, "I'll give you covering fire. With my sword."? That.

We've seen a lot of creative and crazy designs over the years but you could argue this gun is by far the most Cutting edge

I would love to see more combination firearms like this one. There are some excellent examples of gun-axes, gun-maces, gun-shields and even gun-keys. Seeing how they work would be amazing.

I've wanted a gun sword since final fantasy 8, seeing these old combination weapons is so cool.

It's a period piece from a time of hacking and slashing to ranged combat. Thanks Ian.

Now let's hope you can find a polish winged hussar axe pistol

Love the content, This to me is the perfect example of forgotten weapons.

It reminds me of upgrading your starting pistol in a game. Eventually, ya get a suppressor, flashlight, laser, extended mag, red dot, BIPOD, and SWORD BAYONET.

Combination weapons like this one are usually very interesting to look at, even if theyre not really that useful. Some of the interesting ones i remember seeing were the glove-shield-lantern-dagger or the sword-axe-hammer-crossbow. This doesnt seem as crazy in comparison.

😠"I challenge you to a duel!" 🤨 "Sword or pistols?" 😠 "Yes"

Ah... The gun blade.. "trick ur enemy to a sword fight and shot em instead" thing So... press R1 to trigger shot? 🌝😂🤣

'Something is broken, so it wont revolve' *quietly extends pushrod* ~not a word...~

Amazing choice for any Duel you want to win on a technicality

RWBY: “It’s a sword, buuut it’s also a gun”

Okay, so to apply a (overly?) generous interpretation, one tactical purpose it MIGHT serve is intimidation. If a bunch of people (a mutinous ship's crew, or escaped prisoners, say) are squaring up to rush the guy with a sword, in the belief that they'll overwhelm him before he gets much more than one swing in, then him firing a _shot_ into or over them MIGHT cause them to think twice, or at least come on more cautiously. People tend to believe, rightly or wrongly, that they've got a decent chance of dodging a sword and grappling the swordsman, but they don't tend to think the same about repeating firearms. Of course, there's a strong argument for saying that the swordsman would be better off with a real sword AND a real pistol, but then he'd have to choose which to brandish, or use one or the other in his weak hand. Mind you, I instinctively pick up a sword with my (dominant) left hand but a gun with my right, so I'd be fine... 😉

Now we need to see Ian run a course with this, using both the pistol and the saber.

one fine day, in the middle of the night, two dead mean got up to fight back-to-back they faced each other; drew their swords and shot each other.

Fun fact: in the X-Wing Legends book _Starfighters of Adumar,_ there are blaster swords like this depicted that obviously must be based on this!