Concerning lead levels; ironically, Norwegian armed forces we had a health and safety issues when we introduced the Hk 416 due to the environment friendly steel core ammo. It turned out that since the steel core did not compress to take the rifling, it would be cut rather than pressed into the jacket. As a result, the fumes would contain enough copper dust to cause nausea and fever in some cases, and rifle training was severely limited until the issue was fixed. We literally wore industrial dust masks on the range, and the number of shooters was limited.
Interesting! I’ve heard some of the “green” Ammos also have problems with the non lead propellants containing even worse toxins. How was the problem fixed?
Ben Evenson yes. It was not the propellant that was the problem. It is the same as any other round. The issue was a freak combination circumstances that caused microparticles of from the bullet’s copper jacket to be ground of during firing. The issue was fixed, probably by altering the alloy of the jacket to a softer one. It works just fine now.
Funny about engineering experience. Early in my career as a chemical engineer I needed to calculate the optimal size of a drying tower. I came up with a value like 14.8 ft. My boss reviews my work and says “great... 13ft ... any wider and it won’t fit under overpasses and we’ll need to build on site and that will be too expensive “ They didn’t teach you that in school
Chris asked the effect of Enfields and Mosin Nagants on Soviet or US Army operations and whether or not we reconsidered going to a full powered cartridge. I was US Army Infantry in Afghanistan 2006-7. While it may not have been Enfields or Mosins, the Taliban did use long range weapons and tactics. Most likely Dragunov or PKM machine guns in 7.62x54, but it was to the extent where the Army did increase the use of Designated Marksman Rifles. In fact, when I was there, I was issued an M14 as a Designated Marksman equipped with a Leupold Mark 4 4.5x14 power scope. We used M118LR match ammunition that , quite ironically, said "not for field use" on the box. The M14's had been in our armory for funeral details and nostalgia. Truly, a Forgotten Weapon. Before Afghanistan, the MOS of Designated Marksman did not even really exist. We had Scout Snipers but they wouldn't be deployed down at the Infantry squad level as they are in different units. Long range engagements in Afghanistan did affect and change US Army operations. When I was there, I even got looks and questioned by 82nd Airborne soldiers while in the chow hall because I was carrying my M4 carbine and my M14 rifle. At the time, the M14 was very rare since the Clinton administration had either given them away or melted them down. Our National Guard units had kept them. These were not even the M21 heavy barrel sniper configuration. They were standard M14 battle rifles with wood and fiberglass stocks. It was kind of funny that these 82nd guys were kind of jealous of the National Guard. In any case, the desire by the Infantry for longer range has led to the M110 SASS rifle and the .338 Norma Magnum Lightweight Medium Machine Gun as well as research into 6.5 mm caliber rifles and carbines. Had to throw in my two cents worth because I had to lug the thing around with me everywhere. One of the reasons I was gifted an M14 was because I had owned a Federal Ordnance M14 and also an M1 Garand so I actually knew how to take care of it and mount a scope on it. With the the M118LR ammo, my M14 would hold about 2-3 MOA. Not bad for a rifle about the same age as I am. By the way, the M14 is definitely less reliable than the M4 carbine in dusty conditions. Especially when the Army just expected us to use CLP to oil the rifle. I very quickly sourced some grease from a Humvee mechanic for the roller bearing. I personally own an M1A but your In Range vids are spot on about its vulnerability to dust and mud. Keep up the good work here and on In Range as well.
jordanvraptor Thanks this is kind of what I was looking for in the question, and why I mentioned Nagants as well as Enfields. I didn’t think they would keep hold of ancient bolt actions out of nostalgia, I thought I read somewhere that that Taliban where exploiting the lack of range with intermediate level cartridges in open terrain like Afghanistan with older rifles. Ian’s answer is good though, I can see the Mujahideen struggling with that tactic against soviet troops with dedicated sniper training and kit.
@@ChrisHodgsonCorben-Dallas I do remember our First Sergeant showing me a DPM 7.62x54 machine gun from WW2. Its the one with the pie plate circular magazine which I saw quite a few of those magazines laying around on the ground. The Taliban would use anything and everything. Our S-2 intel guys gave us a briefing one day on this new type of 7.62x54 armor piercing ammo that was being found. It was specifically designed to penetrate the 1/4 inch steel armor on the gun turrets of our Humvees and 5 ton trucks. As someone who spent a lot time in the turret I was a bit annoyed at their "oh, by the way" attitude... :) A lot of this of the Taliban exploiting long range engagements is due to the rules of engagement. Classic big Army doctrine would be to use mortars or artillery when engaged by long range harassment fire. Restrictive ROE would not allow this due to fears of collateral damage. The same goes for just spraying an area with machine gun fire. Hence the need for the Infantry squad to have its own long range precision fire weapon. As Ian said, the Soviets never gave this up and always had the Dragunov rifles endemic to thier front line Infantry units. US Army lost that capability with the adoption of the M16 and then had to rediscover it.
I think the Canadians were issued Rem 700 hunting rifles in 300 Win Mag. They literally bought a bushel of guns meant for sales shelves and a butt load of scopes, (don’t know what kind as I was already out then and only got my info second or third hand and avoided newspapers because I still had/have friends in service and didn’t want to stress).
Isn't M118LR a HP round? That's probably why it says not for field use. It's their way to cover their ass with, "we told him not to field it, that was for training only"
Ian as you said you read all the comments so I just wanted to say a few kind words here. Thank you for all your work here and at InRangeTV too. You might find this surprising but your videos are not only a good source of learning history but for some of us it is a good for practicing English too. Cheers from Hungary! If you ever have the opportunity to try out Pálinka (short drink) do not hesitate. You might dislike it a lot...or just a little. :)
It's how truck drivers (transportation specialist MOS) prevent carjacking. Ever try to shoot someone off your running board with an M-16A2 while driving a five-ton? Of course, just try getting supply to issue you a handgun! Bring/buy your own, if you're not an officer; ditto ammo.
@@davidgoodnow269 Meanwhile Chiefton's telling tales of his time in the Gulf in an Abrams getting issued fucking bayonets and shotguns "Bayonet? I'M IN A BLOODY TANK!"
"You should never, ever read the comments on RU-vid videos. Because they're one lowest forms of discourse in human social existence." - Gun Jesus, 11:08 That's a commandment I can get behind.
Bergman debacle? DEBACLE?! I loved that series of videos. Seeing the many iterations back to back was super cool. Love this channel and InRange. Thank you Ian for all your hard work.
I also enjoyed that series :-D It was great to see Ian explaining the evolution of the designs and to hear about whether or not they became commercially successful.
"When you're an officer, you're supposed to be a big boy..." This should be hammered into every newly commissioned junior officer straight out of academy.
Let's do away with "the academy" and depend solely on ROTC. It would save about 60% on officer training, most of which takes place after graduation anyway.
@@TheOsfania I'm am Iraq vet, enlisted, but first I was a student of archaeology and history. I cannot tell you how many ROTC grads failed to recognize patterns in enemy behavior that are literally ancient that were obvious to me. The education I received listening to family and friends of family talking with each other about fighting in WW I, WW II, Korea, and Vietnam saved my life and the lives of others literally hundreds of times! When my little brother was offered Green to Gold, they gave him a choice of ROTC or West Point; only the service academies and the Citadel offer significant military history education.
Bergmann debacle? Nooooo. I LOVED your series following a line of development. like the bergmann, french rifle, 1911 video. I kinda wish you would do such a series on the line of mannlicher straightpulls and the contemporary licensed mauser they were making at the same time.
It looks almost exactly like standard analogue broadcast resloution, it's just missing the interlacing artefacts that usually show up when it's digitised.
While I totally understand Ian stand on comments on the videos taking into consideration that he works the channel in a more educational way, I personally find the light hearted humor that makes up most of the comments in the videos to be an example of some of the least cancerous communities. Therefore I find the idea of shutting down the comments over a couple jokes on how a 20mm anti tank rifle is the best conceal carry weapon or self defense weapon you could buy totally overkill. If anything Ian should be proud his content has cultivated such a non cancerous, light hearted and interactive community naturally. That's quite a feat and talks to the quality of the content.
Agreed, the jokes are pretty entertaining and it’s fun to find like minded people (who made jokes referencing games or shows I also know) but unfortunately there are still kids who like to start keyboard war based on inaccurate historical knowledge or shallow political opinions which I’m sure were pretty annoying to him
On the bipod issue, my father served with the IDF in the mid 80’s, and saw a few tours of combat in Lebanon. When he first was conscripted, he was issued a Galil ARM, which obviously had the attached bipod. From what he told me, it was universally and passionately hated, soldiers even went as far as to “accidentally” snap or break them off the rifles. They were never even used in training, apart from using the wire cutter portion, which was rare at best. The soldiers saw the bipod as flimsy, heavy, and always getting in the way and catching on gear. Interestingly enough, some of them even used them as a psuedo vertical grip. Once my dad really got into combat operations, he was issued a bipod-less Galil SAR, which despite its weight, is his favorite rifle until today. As per the LMG/MMG debate, the IDF didn’t really have an LMG doctrine back in the 80s, my father says the FN MAG was pressed into that role (at the peril of the user). Hope this provides some perspective Ian, love the videos!
On the subject of RU-vid comments, as a student of your content the early comments often add a bit of flavor, context and highlight parts of longer videos (like your Q&As) that I may have missed otherwise. If it came down to it I'd personally rather you not interact with the comments but keep them enabled rather than disabling them all together.
Except Dharma is DEFINITELY not a red heeler. She is a Koolie (or some cross of Koopie or kelpie). I understand the confusion as australian dogs don't seem to be well understood outside Australia. They are related but Red and blue heelers are stumpy, stocky dogs with shorter snouts to deal with cattle. Darma is a sheep dog. Taller and much sleeker and more athletic with a longer snout and the white/merl is common in koolies.
@@TheArmourersBench is it something that you will eventually have the opportunity to publish or is it something that is dependant on someone else's go-ahead?
Another great video, thank you. Regarding your question on bipods on service rifles: I was in the SADF, conscript for a year and then part-time for a decade. Never saw active combat though. For most of it my issue rifle was the R4. The bipod was extremely handy when we were not using the rifle. It was basically used like stacking hooks on older bolt-actions. We never shot off the bipod. Ever. Even in entrenched defence training. I got to take mine home for most of my part-time service as I was a member of a shooting team, and tried shooting off the bipod a few times. It was more accurate monopoding the bottom of the magazine on my forearm than shooting off the bipod. But it made it a lot easier living with the rifle. You could easily put tye rifle down without worrying about dirt and it made a very useful seat for taking a dump (that bipod is stronger than it looks). Talking about the R4, if you can, get yourself a few of the plastic mags. They are (conversely to my own expectations) much tougher and more reliable than the steel ones. On the steel mag, if you insert it slightly incorrectly it is easy to bend the front hook back a little, and then the rounds jam at the top of the mag. This doesn't happen with the plastic mags. It is also far more comfortable resting on your forearm and has less friction when dusty.
Lead in ammo - I think Lead styphnate is still the most common primer compound, so when you are shooting indoors you will be inhaling lead compounds from burnt primers.
Handguns of the World available in Hardcover for $13.49 from Amazon. Just ordered it and it will be delivered Jan 2nd or 3rd via Amazon Prime. Thanks for the recommendation Ian - it will be a valuable addition to my book collection. I remember your book review and it was excellent as was this Q&A session. Keep up the outstanding work sir!
I am an Mechanical Engineer, my father was a Tool and Die Maker, as to he question about designing firearms, from designing other items I can tell you that even when all the math works, things still sometimes blow up. The real art is turning a prototype into something that can be mass produced, and making all the fixtures, jigs, etc, for the mass production process, and still make it affordable for the consumer
As a former researcher of railguns and coilguns, I agree with what Ian said about any practical uses being contingent on vast improvements in energy storage technology. When I was still active in the field, I remember one of the first small cannon calibre experiments at a US Air Force lab opted to use 15,000 ordinary car batteries as its primary energy store. I believe the latest "large experimental railgun" that is undergoing trials for the US Navy uses about three or four trailers (or ISO freights, as we call them in Europe) to house its storage batteries and the capacitors, switches and other components of its pulsed power supply. If the energy storage problem were solved, then I think the trade off between railguns and coilguns becomes a fight between the challenges of getting long enough barrel life in a railgun, i.e. over coming all the problems of rail wear and cooling, and having an adequately sophisticated power supply in a coilgun, i.e. one with the ability to accurate time the delivery of power to a series of interacting launcher coils. In concept, I think coilguns tend to be more sophisticated designs, while railguns are potentially "crude but effective".
Hi Mari - I'm sure I've seen references to storage batteries being used - and I cannot see anything that looks like a large diesel or gas turbine generator in video clips of their installation, e.g. this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-58MmOpSm4LY.html I think the five white trailers shown there contain a lot of the pulsed power supply. Given that they can now fire five shot bursts with a 32MJ shot about every 12 seconds, they will need a prime power of at least (32/12) = 2.7MW to do that - or more if their system is less than 100% efficient, which it will be. Back when Ronald Reagan was President of the USA, we thought that an advanced land transportable large railgun would need at least one trailer for its prime power supply - we chose a gas turbine power generator and another trailer for its pulsed power supply (e.g. energy storage capacitors, plus pulse shaping inductors and high current closing switches). It looks as though present day technology is getting closer to being that compact, but still has away to go... For the sci-fi dream of railguns as small arms, I'm sure that batteries would be a good way to go, but I'd worry about the electrical safety issue of insulating the shooters from the high voltages needed by high velocity shots.
Chris - a coil gun is usually defined as any electromagnetic gun that uses one or more cylindrically wound electromagnets to accelerate a projectile. Many configurations are possible and the term "gauss gun" has also been used for such arrangements. I guess some configurations might lend themselves to the use of helical conducting rails, but spin stabilisation of projects is not usually a major design aim. As potential successors to modern smooth bore tank cannons, electromagnetic gun designs usually assume the projectiles will use fin stabilisation - or other methods that don't require spinning projectiles. In general, a major drawback of railguns is there need for sliding contacts between the launcher rails and the projectile armature. Many coilgun designs can eliminate that requirement, by using electromagnetic induction to establish current in the projectile. In essence, they use the same principle as an induction phone charger, but much higher powers.
To the lead exposure question I would add that the real problem comes from the primers not from the bullets themselves. Modern primers almost all have lead in the mixture and you can't help but breath vaporized lead when shooting. Obviously being outside is better than outside for that as well.
John Browning said of his relationship with Winchester that many of the patents they bought were "fence posts", building a fence around Winchester to protect it from competition. Every patent they bought from him was a patent their competitors no longer had access to.
I would love for Ian to make a video about the 8x63mm Bofors cartridge designed as an anti-aircraft round but able to use 6.5x55 Swedish bolt faces. Not only does it seem to be very hard to get info on it without connections but the cartridge itself is very odd.
*"Man they really need to redesign urinales. They are so uncomfortable to sit in."* *"I was very disappointed in my fleshlight purchase. At first I thought I had bought something I thought would be the ultimate weapon light, but there was no light in it at all, just this weird looking pink hole."* *"Airsoft videos. That will scare any girl away and keep your virginity secure"*
Ha! Ian and Karl would never return in a lifetime. No, not what you think. There is so much stuff to tell about handgun development and stories to tell in vignettes about WWI, Revolution, WWII and Cold War.
If Ian could get the museum and industry contacts lined up, I'm pretty sure he could pass around a hat that said "Russia" and have the entire trip funded in a day or two! I wonder if Larry Vickers could help with the contacts at Kalashnikov or any of the museums? Or if Tim (MAC) could provide contacts for CZ or MKE? There have to be some pretty cool items in the Czech and Ottoman museums
@@alexvogel610 He's done some artillery and vehicle mounted weaponry before. If he covers some of the machine guns mounted in armored vehicles or ships and how they work from a user standpoint(or maybe working with armor from the infantryman's view) maybe he could collaborate with Chieftan and get WarGaming to sponser some travel and videos. Hell, they did a thing with Demolitian Ranch and a tour of USS Texas, so it's entirely possible.
I watched the entire Bergmann series as it aired and had no idea it was a "debacle". I love being able to follow the evolution of a firearm closely without having to refresh my memory in-between every video. It's similar to why I binge watch TV shows or movie series.
"Something only...cough...'Unfavourable people' do" Ian trying to search out a YT appropriate phrase to refer to the kind of scum who would leave puppies to die in the desert, rather than his immediate preferred NSFW term :-). That photo of the puppy on your wifes foot, would melt just about anyones heart. After seeing that, the phrase "So we now have a dog" was hardly unexpected, even though I've seen her in your videos:-)
The design-question and the answer to that was very interesting! I once met a boatmaker here in Finland. He had made many of hise special tools himself. They were simple but efficient. He used a German aeroplane design table fro drawing his boats and had a sizeable archive on his boats. He had built his boat shed (a barn, really) himself. The doors opened 180° and had textile hinges. Lots of expertise, the guy was just the type who does things based much on accumulated skill and rules of thumb. A real artisan. He was a nice, intelligent, well-read man who did not have much formal training but had seen, heard and learned a lot.
Ian thank you for being a beacon of knowledge is a world so full of secrets. Your contribution to the body of knowledge of firearms-mechanics and implementation is an invaluable resource and has been a source of inspiration for many more years to come.
@forgotten weapons, very cool! Awesome Q/A as always. I didn’t know there was another charger loaded rifle besides the k31. IIRC, the Swiss chargers are a hold over from their first generation of Swiss smokeless powder. The first iteration of their 7.5mm cartridge was still paper patched, and the charger design was built around protecting the paper patching around the projectile, again IIRC.
I always see memes as a sign of a really good community. Yes they're not informative or productive, but people are entertained by memes. People that are entertained tend to be easily informed.
I get that the Gun Jesus thing can get old, but that and the 8 month period where every gun was "totally meant to be mounted on aircraft, Othias just didnt share again" shows that we are invested in the show. Its a good sign that a lot of the memes are from the community.
Both General-Electric and Philco-Ford designed competing guns with the GAU-7 designation firing 25mm Caseless ammunition for what became the F-15 in the late 60s and early 70s.
Just wanted to say thank you for reading through the comments. I'm sure that it's a laborious process, but I appreciate it. Your channel is one of the highlights of my free time!
Oh this has made my day. I absolutely love this channel and especially love the Q&As. Thank you for focusing the discussions to the history and machinery instead of going down the dark rabbithole of politics like so many other channels. Just fantastic work.
With that content question, With the vast amount of firearms out there, Ian will never run out of content to talk about, its been great seeing this chanel evolve and will always support this content. Cant wait to see the french rifle book.
I'm going to post this, and I know I'll take flak for it. I know Karl hates the grip-pod but I was issued one for my deployment to Iraq. Thankfully, the closest I came to combat was getting mortared on occasion (not a total Fobbit, just lucky that way). However, in training and just for general purposes, the grip-pod worked very well for me. Given a choice between a grip-pod and no grip nor bi-pod, I will take a grip-pod. It really didn't get in the way and made my prone and over obstacle shooting much more accurate. It was also convenient for setting up the rifle when I wasn't using it to keep it out of the dirt. No leaning it against something and someone else comes along and knocks it over (a better sling would have helped me keep it on me). It is somewhat cumbersome to shoot out the window of a HMMWV but I can accept that. A QD mount would have made it brilliant.
Bipods - Canadian army used a version of the FAL - C1A1 and the C2A1 which came with a bipod and 30 rd magazines, and a heavier barrel. I think in theory the C2 was a replacement for the BREN. We used one or two per infantry section, and used them as an LMG group, so at the section level we used them a fire base, while the rest of the section could act as a maneuver force.. They were a lot lighter than the BREN, but they didn't have a quick change barrel and they heated up so fast in sustained fire they became uncontrollable due to cook off. Whether the BREN was better than the C2 is anyones guess, (firepower/weight trade off) but the C2 was replaced by the FN Minimi when we went to 5.56mm weapons. The Minimi is probably a similar weight to a BREN, but given it's belt fed "magazine" it is a far superior weapon.
Would we ever see a mud test on combat shotguns? I own an 1897 Winchester and I always enjoy seeing videos on its history and capabilities. Thanks for the work that you do!
Haha, I didn't realize the "Bergmann debacle" was a thing. I get it. I was so bored looking at the same gun every day, I figured I was the only one. On the other hand, I found your Winchester lever gun and semi auto very interesting even though I never had any interest in those before. Then there's the other extreme when you were doing the French rifle series and I was so frustrated when you paused before getting to one I was waiting for. Of course that was another niche series that not everyone would like. Also, thanks for the shoutout to my hometown. I'm sure I was exposed to more lead in the water than handling guns and ammo every day.
@ You are 100% correct on that, which is why I didn't worry about the format. I'm sure someone was totally geeked out about that series, just like I geeked out at the Lebel variants. I could appreciate it on that level. Doing a break between episodes in a series is a good compromise.
Ian, As a fairly new subscriber to your patreon and youtube channel, I have been viewing a number of videos that are not new. I was just viewing this one and your comments about the knowledge that you gain by writing a book struck a note. As a former US marine and a firefighter for 40 years, I was thrown into situations like this quite often when I was told to teach a class on a weapon, radio, tactic, or technique that I had a working knowledge of, but suddenly discovered that I didn't know enough about for a class. I found this to be one of the best methods of motivation for getting a well grounded knowledge of the subject. I was also often in the position of requiring this of students in my classes. Either by asking the students, (always assume that someone in the class probably knows as much or more than you do about the subject) or requiring a student to research the subject for presentation later. Great videos and I wish that I had you as my instructor on oh so many subjects. The way you present and explain is much better than the majority of college instructors I have had. Jim
Bloke on the Range has a great video in which he and The Chap discuss how the French ended up with the Lebel. They also explain how many wrongly describe the Lebel as the first rifle of the _new_ generation of rifles, when it more accurately is the last rifle of the _old_ generation, what with basically being a hopped up version of an 1885 Kropatschek.
I hope Ian never decides to shut off RU-vid comments. While I understand he wants to keep his channel academic, I find that while Ian does an amazing job presenting the information, the funny and non serious comments on his videos help keep information stuck in my head, whether it's all the jokes about Mauser losing an eye, how complicated the AN94 is, the history of the Puckle gun, etc. It's because of a lot of those jokes that I can remember the information in those videos and also really enjoy learning those facts in the first place. Honestly, the forgotten weapons community is one of my absolute favorites to be a part of, and the channel just wouldn't be the same if the interactions between members wasn't possible. But still, a special thanks to Ian for continuing deal with our shit and letting us continue to interact with each other!
Hey Ian, I just thought about this, and I'll bring it up in your next Q&A solicitation. Keeping on mind your excellent videos on the history of the Springfield Armory and Colt, have you ever thought of doing an in-depth video on, say, Mauser or H&K? In my humble opinion, Mauser and H&K are both perfect examples of privately owned 'state armories', for lack of a better term, arms companies that are so large that they can cater to both their domestic military and the civilian market, while also exporting to third world countries. Throughout the last century, these two titans of industry have left such a stamp in history that I feel they should get a separate video. Thank God I didn't post this on Patreon, amiright?
Hello Ian, I'm a long time viewer, but this is my first time posting in the comments section. I value your work so much that I leave the computer hooked up to my TV streaming your channel 24/7, in hope it boosts your revenue. I hope your are living your dream, and thanks for the hours of informing and entertaining firearms subject matter. Kind Regards, James S. Wood
I have recently used a bullpup conversion kit for the sks for my cousin. It's not a bad kit as the trigger bar is adjustable to the point I got it to match the feel of the stock trigger. Then agian having the action so close to my cheek, and using a modified sks tapco mag made it operate a little less then desirable. If they had made a purposed built magazine for the kit I am sure that would have helped improve its reliability as a bullpup.
To the Parker at 35:23 - you got me real excited for a moment until I remembered that I didn't ask a question. But you did ask a question that I happen to wonder about myself, so thanks for being ME!
Ian, I understand your feelings about the comments section of videos. Please allow me to offer some encouragement. This might sound crazy but your videos over the years have given me a much needed distraction during some of the darkest times of my life. Your dedication to your work is truly inspirational. Please keep up the good work and know that you are very much appreciated!
I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your content, and its gotten me much deeper into weapons history. Thanks for all you do, both the practical side on InRange and the historical side here.
Keep up the good work ian, love your Videos on Historical weapons. You've helped me get into firearms and the first video I watched was your Colt Walker video, and consequently turned out to be my first old west style revolver.
Yep, right off I66 on Waples Mill rd. Nice range in the basement, as well. Great place. Some of the collection in the museum is really interesting. Catalog ranges from present day to the 1500-1600 (maybe a little farther back).
Let Ian know that we love and appreciate what he is doing in comment section. Ian, I'm glad that you doing what you are doing and I hope you having fun with it. Love from all over the world. Thank you.
Except for Ian actually trust documentation for multiple countries , and looks for what did happen versus " stands to reason that...." I like them both the more often Lloyd talks about subject matters I'm knowledgeable about , the less I am able to trust his opinion on areas I am not knowledgeable.
Watch Lindybeige's video on pike warfare. Lloyd is a chauvinist amateur who can't tell the difference between 21st century playacting and the organized mayhem called war.
So this video is a little bit old, but I like listening to your QnAs while I'm doing stuff around the house. Regarding the usefullness of bipods on guns ( 12:28 ) I have some experience to share. I served both in the Romaian Army and the French Foreign Legion, so I have first hand experince in the field with the AKM and the FAMAS. The built in bipod is a benefit when you're on the range, also keep in mind that built-in bipods on rifles usually don't have the adjustability of their LMG counterparts. I remember that on marches on difficult terrain and in forests some of the guys detached and carried their bipods in their packs in order to keep them from snaggning on vegetation and opening up spontaniously. Not to mention that you also had the chance (and I've seen it happen to guys) to lose one of the legs (i.e.: taking a fall on a night march, rushing through thick vegetation). As a conclusion: my opinion is that bipods on a rifle should be a choice. I dislike the built-in bipod idea because it offers way less than it provides. Hope this helps. Keep up the great work and keep hitting hard on matches! Greetings from Transylvania!
In a book I read, the commander of Seal Team 6 said his guys had to start wearing respirators during training because they were shooting so much their lead levels were becoming dangerously high.
I think you are referring to Rogue Warrior, by Richard Marcinko. During the early training cycles, Commander Marcinko stated that they used a Navy Base Pistol Range. They had to stop frequently to air the range out.
Spörde Spyrdenstein to quote massad Ayoob (pardon the spelling l) “I’d rather forage for food in a toxic waste dump than spend time on an indoor range” (quoted like third hand so could be off)
Hey Ian just wanted to think you for posting videos everyday. On of the best parts of my day is waking up and watching your videos. You are by far one of my favorite RU-vidrs.
In regards to the first question, I don't think you covered it all. Now it's gonna be difficult for me to articulate but I'll try. If you take the original concept of the stoner and compare it to what they were able to achieve, you see that the downsides are actually intentional. And by that I mean that when you say the stoner would have been to heavy as a rifle or to light as a light machine gun and they had little to no room to improve on either side. They designed it that way because that's how they were able to package it with the framework they came up with. In hindsight you can see the flaws but at the time it seemed like an achievement to them because it was, nobody had really accomplished that before. Where I want to make my point is look at the AR-15 or AK pattern weapons and all their variants today. They are some of the most modular weapon systems today. From the beginning it wasn't designed that way, it was adapted to fill new rolls and it does so successfully.
If you were to outfit an army from literally nothing I think the modular concept could work. At least for the basic army units, why not. I don't think we'll see a country pop out of nowhere anytime soon though.
Ian, I really loved what you did with the H9 Hudson. it is really interesting to see your level of detail and insight applied to a modern firearm, especially one that is as novel as the Hudson. I want to see more weapons that have yet to be forgotten.
You've been shooting regularly enough that the lead in your system has probably reached equilibrium but the big issue is that lead will get into your bones and takes a very significant period of time to be removed. I don't remember if organic lead can be created by your body but I'd get one more check up just to make sure that your body hasn't been hoarding lead like a preper's basement.
I have a great reverence for your work. The quality, completeness and sheer volume of information is astonishing; and what is probably more astounding is that it is only fractional compared to the amount of research, studying and hard work you must put in behind the scenes.Your videos remind me of the documentaries we use to get, reminiscent of the good ole days when the History Channel did "History". Your videos leave me always wanting more and I often find myself researching more about a topic you have covered. I wish we had more individuals like you, more individuals to share their passion with the rest of us. In my opinion you have really created something truly grand and important here; helping archive these forgotten weapons, stories and event for future generations. It does Sounds like you need someone to help run and manage your social media. If you ever decide to look for some help, shoot me a message and I send a resume. I've been around, seen some things, shot a lot of stuff, fielded some weapons etc etc. I am quite useful, I write decently well and above all work hard and learn fast. It would be great to have you on every platform; I really believe you and your unique take on firearms is one of the few positives among the firearms community and whether intentional or not you are one of the luminaries of the firearms community.
normal people often, are unable to see how much an engineer struggled on an idea. stoner rifles turn engineering enthusiasts on. Someone designed that without computers, with such perfection with love for his country in mind. this is also why I watch only this gun channel. Meanwhile,As a circuit designer, I can't imagine working without cad.
*Kurosawa* Railguns will give a more efficient transfer of energy to the projectile (or projectile armature) but basically have a very short barrel life compared to current rifle barrels (possibly down to hundreds of shots). You're putting a great deal of strain on the two rails (the effect wants to push the two away from each other) and you're creating a plasma on the surface of the rails during firing. Coilguns will last much longer (and potentially be significantly cheaper to manufacture) but require more energy to reach the same projectile velocity - likely cutting down on total shots per "power pack" (whatever that happens to be) change. Basically, a military force has to decide between the two: more shots/higher velocity shots but having to supply spare barrel components/assemblies to men in the field and all the logistical headaches that involves - OR a more durable/cheaper weapon that you need to carry more "ammo" for to match an enemy with the opposite configuration and all the logistical headaches involved in that. If nobody is using a Railgun and you can get an acceptable number of shots out of whatever storage technology you're tooling around with - coilguns all the way. If your energy storage technology is just barely over the line to allow a railgun to work - railguns all the way. REGARDLESS, whichever system is adopted by a particular military bureaucracy, the soldiers receiving that supply will be completely convinced that the OPPOSITE way was the correct one... -Even if there is a threatening country that has taken that opposite tack and their soldiers are utterly convinced *you've* got the right one.
Regarding bipods when I served in the British Army in the early 90's many of the men who had used the Slr preferred the Lsw to the SA 80 because of the longer strengthened barrel and bipod but of course this was l not using the weapon in its intended role.
Bipods on Battle Rifles - We were issued with the L1A1 British version of the FN FAL, semi auto only with no bipod - For suppressive fire the section gun group was used, whilst the rifle group closed is (using skirmishing if required) a bipod would just slow you down having to seat the thing during skirmishing, the idea being to run three of four paces whilst your buddy fired, then you hit the ground ad fire while he runs so you cover the group with some fire always being laid down - a bipod would have been no use at all (even if the SLR had full auto)
On bipods, I served in OIF 2004-2005 in Ramadi with the 503rd INF 2nd ID. the early 2000s was the genesis of modular adaptations to our m4 carbines. In the year I was there I think I saw just about everything that could be bolted onto a 1913 rail. I had bought my own Harris bipod and adapter mount as did several others in my company. I was also issued a Crazy Horse® M14SE SDM MK14 that I took on specific missions which I also bought a Harris mount for. I will say that most of the guys that started the deployment with a bipod chose to take them off at some point during the tour and I saw many of them simply being passed on to the unit that relieved us. As you said, when you are static providing overwatch, a bipod is a nice piece of gear, however, more often they were just another thing to get caught or snagged on something when you were trying to dismount a humvee in a hurry or the man sitting next to you in the truck sling would somehow wrap around one of the legs. I soon followed suit and abandoned the Harris on my M4 I found that if I needed a hasty firing support I would unsling my assault pack and rest my rifle on that. But permanently mounted on my M14 DM rifle, it was a heavy rifle to begin with and I really didn't count on a bunch of dynamic john wick style shooting.
Your answer to the question about trigger discipline and the modern emphasis on safety was excellent. I am the president of Students for Firearms Safety, a student organization at San Jose State University, and our mission is to counter the fear mongering and false information that dominates the firearms discussion on college campuses especially in California. Through comprehensive education including a wide variety of firearms topics with an emphasis on safe and responsible use, we're making a huge impact on the perception of firearms among Bay Area college students. If anyone here feels like supporting our cause and helping us spread a positive view of firearms we would really appreciate if you follow us on our Facebook page, and spread the word! Thank you everyone and keep up the fantastic work Ian! facebook.com/StudentsforFirearmsSafetySJSU/
Thanks for answering my question, Ian! I know railguns and coilguns as military rifles is such a speculative thing so I don't blame you for not having much of an opinion on the matter, but I'm honored I made it into this month's Q&A. Perhaps I can source opinions from the other fans here on RU-vid.
I had already replied in hopes you would see it before I noticed your comment - I've added some to that statement: Railguns will give a more efficient transfer of energy to the projectile (or projectile armature) but basically have a very short barrel life compared to current rifle barrels (possibly down to hundreds of shots for something light enough for a soldier to carry). You're putting a great deal of strain on the two rails (the effect wants to push the two away from each other) and you're creating a plasma on the surface of the rails during firing - which abrades the rail-face itself. You will also have to come up with some way to deal with plasma expulsion in the same way that modern "flash hiders" keep from giving away a shooter's position - but cooling an incandescent plasma is a lot more difficult than putting prongs on the end of a barrel so that fresh oxygen doesn't mix with hot gas until it cools below ignition temperature... Coilguns will last much longer (and potentially be significantly lighter and cheaper to manufacture) but require more energy to reach the same projectile velocity - likely cutting down on total shots per "power pack" (whatever that happens to be) change. Basically, a military force has to decide between the two: more shots/higher velocity shots but having to supply spare barrel components/assemblies to men in the field and all the logistical headaches that involves - OR a more durable/cheaper(/lighter?) weapon that you need to carry more "ammo" to match an enemy with the opposite configuration and all the logistical headaches involved in that. If nobody is using a Railgun and you can get an acceptable number of shots out of whatever storage technology you're tooling around with - coilguns all the way. If your energy storage technology is just barely over the line to allow a railgun to work - railguns all the way...though in that case you're getting fierce competition from old chemical-propelled weapons. REGARDLESS, whichever system is adopted by a particular military bureaucracy, the soldiers receiving that supply will be completely convinced that the OPPOSITE way was the correct one... -Even if there is a threatening country that has taken that opposite tack and their soldiers are utterly convinced *you've* got the right one. Since you're talking about already having energy storage technology sufficient to make a railgun or coilgun practical, I'll throw out one more possibility to you. Not so much as what "everyone" would want to adopt, but just as an alternate that maybe your readers haven't heard of yet and some people that don't have "government supplied weapons" might be tooling around with: Electrothermal propellant. What's that? It's ammunition constructed like today's cartridges, but with an inert substance (water, methanol, et cetera) instead of combustible powder. Then you dump electricity into the inert substance and convert it to a plasma - which pushes the projectile down the barrel. You get about as much projectile velocity improvement out of that as you do going from black powder to smokeless powder. The US Army fiddled around with it back in the 80s (and a bit in the early 90s) as a potential artillery shell driver, but ultimately decided the energy technology wasn't up to the task. If you can make a railgun/coilgun, then the higher velocities and much smaller stored-ammunition size is going to make that a better option than an electrothermal one. An "ET", even with tiny, high velocity projectiles is still going to have ammunition about the size of 5.56x45 (though maybe in a cased-telescoped cartridge format). But if you're already heavily featuring weapon technology in the narrative, it might be fun to have them make a cameo. If you eventually publish, do let me know what your book is called.
@@ANonymous-bh1un Thanks so much for your insight! I'll definitely keep ET propellant in mind for non-military folks like criminals or terrorists and maybe civilians. Currently I have everyone who isn't military using "self-propelled" ammunition in guns, like a perfected version of the Gyrojet concept. Common in pistols and SMG type weapons, they have less recoil than their real counterparts, but are just as deadly. I should probably point out that this story is a TV pilot script, not a book. If it ever becomes a show, it'll be awhile, but thanks for your interest! It's currently called Grey Agents and takes place 400 years from now, so humanity has traveled to other solar systems.
@@kurosawaftw7376 Errrrr...gyrojets make my engineering skin crawl - and I grew up in the 80s when "everyone knew" that as soon as they figured out how to do it right, gyrojets would certainly replace legacy ammuntion...y'know, as soon as they worked out all the *myriad* problems like lower lethality at very close range. Still! With all of the attention railgun artillery has received in the last couple of years and the success of "rocket assisted" artillery, a couple of companies are working on "ramjet" artillery shells right now. Their plan is to reach the projected range of "railgun" cannon ammunition but still be compatible with legacy chemical propellant guns. These ramjet shells are of course also guided. You need to seal off the base of the shell while it's in the barrel because otherwise the expanding propellant just goes through the hollow center of your projectile and nothing goes anywhere...yet is still on fire in the bore.... Ramjet projectiles in an ET gun might be "too complicated" for makeshift weapons used by criminals/rebels (3d print cartridge case, put-in/print-in electrical connections for the arc, add specific amount of water/methanol or whatever, top with a projectile and go), but it's something else to be aware of. Grey Agents....hmm....... Any relation to the Lensman series and their "Grey Lensmen"? (If you don't know about the Lensman series, you desperately need to read it. It's the foundation of Space Opera and virtually all modern science fiction. DO NOT read the "Triplanetary" book first! It was written years after the rest of the series was finished - even though it's a "prequel" - , contains HUGE spoilers for the rest of the series, and doesn't fit with the rest of the books - the publisher had the author re-tool an earlier set of short stories and call them "Lensman" so they could sell another book in the successful series. Start with "First Lensman" and only go back to "Triplanetary" when you've finished the series. Excellent, excellent books who's scope and scale of story has never been equaled - at one point in the narrative they begin using groups of free planets as projectiles...) The more I think about it, the more I think I didn't communicate clearly in my previous statement. If the energy storage technology can support it, I think a coilgun is the better option for a military organization - lighter, cheaper, less pressure containment and wear, less visible signature for the firer. Railguns might get better shots-per-charge, but you have to tote around extra barrels and change them under fire, so that's kind of a wash for the soldier rather than an advantage. -But then, do you want "Soviet" style equipment that burdens the soldier? That's kind of the dichotomy I was thinking of when writing about coilgun vs railgun in the previous comment. On that last though, if you wish to go with railguns, you *might* be able to reduce signature with a barrel attachment something like the flow-through design of an OSS Suppressor (look them up here on youtube), but with a piezo-electric cooling scheme inside it and cooling fins on the outside. That would rapidly cool the plasma over an extended path, but you'd still have some "flash" coming out of the bore behind the projectile. You'd also end up with radiating a very distinct infrared signature off of the gun for anyone who can see in that spectrum, and you're adding yet-more weight onto an already heavy(er) gun. Oh! Auditory signature: a coilgun is going to make a "snap" sound rather than a "bang" because you don't have expanding gasses exiting behind the projectile. The projectile is still going to make that 140db SNAP sound as it goes supersonic through the air though. A railgun is going to be somewhat louder since you have the same snap, but also expanding superheated plasma leaving the barrel as well. An ET gun is going to sound about like today's firearms. You can actually hear a gyrojet being fired over on Taofledermaus channel...
@@ANonymous-bh1un Again, thank you for a such a thoughtful and detailed response. The auditory signature is something that I've been aware of for awhile, I guess a lot of other writers don't think about it. I had never heard of Lensman, but thanks for letting me know about it, I'll look it up. Given the technology level in my show concept, I'd say coilguns are the way to go since weapons grade batteries in 2423 are pretty incredible. Plus, I imagine the internal components of the coilguns would be so efficient from technological developments that the difference between railgun efficiency and coilguns would be negligible for a military rifle. Something like an ET gun will probably replace "self-propelled" rounds, but I'll have to think about it. I imagine shell casings could be made of carbon fiber to reduce weight. Something that coilguns have in my show is a velocity dial. Not only does this allow for the weapon to be versatile, it also can help mitigate recoil for a user not equipped with some form of powered exosuit. The standard coilgun "battle rifle" has a 24 kilojoule maximum muzzle energy, but only a human with amplified strength can actually handle the recoil. Dial the velocity down and you can control the weapon at the cost of losing incredible firepower, but get yourself some sort of powered exosuit and you can have more power per shot than a .50 BMG. The carbine designed for close quarters, the LMAC-92 (Linear Motor Automatic Carbine, 2392) maxes out at 12 kilojoules because it is designed for CQB and soldiers with no strength amplification. It too has a velocity dial, and I think all coilguns would. What do you think?
@@kurosawaftw7376 Lensman: the author E E "Doc" Smith (Edward Elmer Smith) was a professional food chemist, is reputed to be the actual inventor of the glazed donut, and worked briefly as a munitions chemist in WW2 - the "chemist in WW2" part of the Triplanetary novel is rumored to actually be autobiographical from the author's own experiences, but he never admitted to it while alive. His writing about the "Z9M9Z" in the Lensman series pre-war is what led to the WW2-to-modern-day naval "Combat Information Center" and the battle doctrine surrounding it. Carbon fibre ET cassings: carbon fibre conducts electricity - not as well as most metals, but still. That kinda cuts it out of being an ET casing - even assuming you could make the carbon-casing of such construction it wouldn't ignite (like charcoal) when the plasma is generated inside it. Probably better to go with polymer cased ammunition (again, see also the polymer Cased-Telescoped ammunition the army was playing with a couple years ago ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WlM8IHij6Hs.html ). That would again also allow "outlaws" to "roll their own" 3D printed (glass-fibre infused like off-the-shelf pmags?) polymer ammunition. Velocity dials and exoskeletons: Ahhhhh... I had wondered if you were going to go with powered armatures when you were discussing future small arms - but decided not to muddy the waters since a shoulder-arm would still be applicable to "light" infantry without powered armor. Well done all round on your thought processes there! (Just make sure the velocity dial can't be easily turned like a volume dial, or it's going to shift unexpectedly when the soldier bumps into something or dives in the dirt - unless you specify this in text some Props twerp is going to put a rheostat dial that goes to 11 on the side of the gun...) Also, you just made me think of something. "Graphene" is a substance that current tech-afficianados are absolutely certain is going to revolutionize energy storage...y'know, just as soon as somebody can figure out how to cheaply mass-manufacture the stuff..... What if, instead of loading their weapon with "magazines", the soldiers put "graphenes" in their guns - whether or not graphene itself is actually used in the device's construction or not? Just as how "battery" is short for "chemical elecricity storage module" - whether it's "lithium ion" or "lead-acid" in construction. You get a quick and easy shorthand for "energy storage module", an in-universe bit of jargon, and send all tech-heads into a tizzy because you're talking their language. If you're going that many years out and have armored exoskeletons, then I would suggest adding in mention of "Electronic Warfare" modules that each soldier has. The sensors we can run around with *today* are incredible, and what they can do with an F-35 laying out a complete battlefield chessboard for the pilot to brood over is awesome. Information - knowing where your enemy is and how to hit them *at this instant* , is a major factor in battlefield dominance. You can "hand wave" away several hundred years worth of sensor-system advancements if you show that each soldier has a smart E-war system on their equipment that helps automatically mask them from the enemy's sensors. It also gives another reason for why State soldiers will rofl-stomp poor, under-equipped scrubs hauling around ET guns with commercial-grade cameras and targeting sensors. (Of course, if in one episode someone is smuggling military-grade sensors/e-war-suites to a criminal organization....) Since you're including powered armatures, I *presume* you have already read Heinlein's seminal "Starship Troopers" (no, the horrific movie DOES NOT COUNT), and perhaps Steakley's "Armor"? If you haven't, you really, really should read at least Starship Troopers. Heinlein basically invented the idea of powered armor. His book was published years before the US Army's "Hardiman" project in the 60s, and as a former naval officer his books were paid attention to.
Hi Ian, Regarding Caseless ammunition for Aircraft, it has been thought of before! During the F-15's initial development a gun (GAU-7 I believe?) which fired caseless ammo was developed and tested. However, it was discarded at the time (according to the sources I have) for magazine volatility. Any hit, even a small one, could cause a catastrophic ignition of all of the powder in the magazine and this was rightly seen as too large of a weak point on the aircraft and thus was scrapped from the design. Of course you are correct in saying that further development in this area is not going to happen given the prevalence of missiles As always an excellent video!
I know I'm super late but I wanted to say something about caseless ammo in aircraft weapons. In internal guns in fighter/attack aircraft (A-10) the ammo actually makes a significant impact on the trim of the plane. These planes retain their empty casings for safety and for balance/trim. Caseless .50 cal or 30×113mmB for helicopters is under active development but 20mm vulcan and 30x173mm ammo is not.
As a serving member of the Swiss Armed Forces, I have ample experiance with the SIG-550 and it's Bi-pod. I'm not a "combat" soldier, thus I never got full infantry training. We mostly used the Bi-pod on the shooting range (300m/30m), when we were securing a position etc. I found the folding bi-pod very usefull. Not only is it easy to deploy, it also never was in the way (weight was no concern). The bi-pod has many usefull functions appart from combat situations. Like setting it on the ground during a brake, the rifle standing by itself and out of the dirt.
