Shooting the EM-2 in .280 British 

Can’t wait to get a tec9 video tomorrow

Love how RU-vid recommends this to me after cold war released this weapon

So .280 sits in between 5.56 and 7.62 NATO. Ironic since today you see a shift towards 6-7mm cartridges today. That gun looks futuristic for something designed and built in the 50s.

The rifle the British army deserved, but not the one it got

For 1951, this is awesome. A much closer competitor to the AK-47 than the M-14 was. It looks up to the minute even now.

Britains Toys in England made a set of toy (British) soldiers at the beginning of the1950s (part of their Lilliput range) featuring the newly "adopted" EM-2 rifle. When the EM-2 was subsequently rapidly unadopted (Doh !) the model soldiers remained unchanged and have been copied probably more than any other toy soldiers over the years. So there are _armies_ of toy soldiers out there equipped mainly with EM-2s; the only armies that ever were.

find yourself someone that looks at you the same way ian looks at an em-2

My older brother was on the testing team for this rifle, and he and the rest of the team loved it - light, handy, accurate with good performance from the round against a standard steel helmet at (600 yards I think) and actually not bad on auto, although he said it worked best "tapping"the trigger for a 3-round burst rather than full on. He said the US insistence on 7.62 was a killer - a version was tried in that calibre and it wasn't very good. There was also a complaint from some senior officers from the Guards - essentially that the more compact nature of the weapon would not suit it to ceremonial drill!

I recommend running the 30 round mag

I really love the way this guy gives you a big dose of history every time, that he's so genuinely happy and respectful when given the chance to shoot other folks' stuff, and that he never feels the need to insert whatever gun control/gun rights opinions he may have. His interest is infectious and that's why I keep watching!

"this was so fast it felt like one" HOLY SHIT THAT THING FIRES FAS... oh wait he was just joking...

Thank you Ian to take the time to come to the UK and shoot one of our Forgotten Weapons.

It is a crying shame this rifle and cartridge weren't adopted.

Call of Duty: drops new contents RU-vid: hey kids, did you know that Ian/Forgotten Weapons has a clip about this firearm ? Or else, the firearm that it based on ?

When I saw this in CW, I seriously thought Treyarch was just lazy with the last round bolt open. Never would I imagine that EM-2 would close the bolt by adding a new mag instead of pressing a bolt release

It makes you wonder why, when the British decided to replace the FAL with a bullpup, they didn't dust off the plans for the EM2 and update it for 5.56mm. It's hard to imagine that they'd have had more problems than they did with the SA-80.

I love how it looks vintage and futuristic at the same time.

_"You couldn't live with your own failure, where did that bring you? Back to me."_ - .280 British to the US Army

As you said about the FG-42, a good muzzle brake could be all you need for irreconcilability and accuracy

A glowing review of an ancient right hand ejecting bull pup rifle chambered in a caliber that is basically nonexistent given buy a left handed shooter. That speaks volumes!

FINALLY THE EM2 IN GLORIOUS FULL RESOLUTION. Thank you Ian for this mightily Anglicized weapon series.

This is one instance I wholeheartedly agree with the British. After WW2 the Brits attempted to convince the Americans that the smaller caliber, intermediate cartridge was the wave of the future. The Brit firearms scientists took the 30-06 cartridge and shortened it from the top and re-necked it from .30 to .280, which is about 7.2mm if I'm correct (7mm is .270 for reference); am not sure why the Brits didn't just choose 7mm or .270. According to history, it was a good cartridge. The problem was us Americans, or the old WW2 warhorse generals to be more specific. Having just won WW2, the U.S. Army top brass considered the M1 Garand the ultimate weapon that needed no change despite the fact that the U.S. Army nearly adopted the .276-06 cartridge before WW2 and all the signs from WW2 pointing the usefulness of the intermediate cartridge. So close-minded, narrow-minded, and obstinate were the U.S. Army top generals that they officially told the British that they were "adamantly against the .280". Probably to pacify the Brits and stop them complaining, the U.S. Army conceded to the slightly shorter, .308, or NATO 7.62x51mm cartridge, which while proven to be an excellent cartridge, was still too much power than needed. Fast forward over ten years to circa 1965. Those WW2 U.S. Army generals are either retired or dead. Vietnam is heating up. The U.S. Air Force adopted the advanced, state-of-the-art M16 to replace its aging M1A2 carbines at the end of the 1950s. The U.S. Army takes a good look at the M16, disparaged as a Mattel plastic toy gun by some, but decides it's a great rifle, shooting a lethal, high-velocity 5.56 (.223) bullet out of a 1-in-14 twist barrel. The tiny bullet tumbles upon striking the human body. Tales of dismembering and decapitating Viet Cong guerillas makes the U.S. Army top brass like the M16 even more. So without notifying our allies, the U.S. unilaterally adopts the 5.56mm x 45mm cartridge. You can imagine how our allies felt after everyone agreed to the universal 7.62mm x 51mm round. Fast forward again to 2017 where for the past several years the U.S. Army has been re-considering the merits of a larger caliber. The Special Forces do their own study and come up with the excellent 6.8m SPC and actually use it. But as of today, 2017, the U.S. stepped back from its consideration of adopting a new, larger caliber round in a new assault rifle. The M16, today in its latest M4A1 configuration, was so advanced for its time that it is still relevant today in 2017. Other nations attempting to build a better 5.56mm assault rifle come up with good to excellent designs, but are not in any way significantly better than the M4A1. Some have built-in bipods, bottle cap openers, AR-18-style internal receivers, but at the end of the day, are no more effective or efficient than the venerable M16. It will take a completely different weapon and ammunition to make worthwhile the change over from the M16/M4A1. That is why the U.S. Army decided to remain with a weapon that is still tried and true and adaptable over the past forty years. Pick up a M4A1 and you don't get the feeling you are handling a weapon that was designed in 1957. That would not be the case if the U.S. Army was still using M1 Garands, even if brand new.

am I the only one who thinks this rifle is gun art? it looks like a fine sculpture to me.

I can't get over how cool this gun is, and how phenomenal a piece of design it was. Remarkably ahead of its time in so many aspects, even now in some ways given calls for moving towards a slightly more intermediate round than the 5.56. The 0.280 might also end up proving to be some 70 years ahead of its time if there is eventually a move to something comparable to it.

you're channel is always recommended after every new season in warzone

"And when you insert a magazine in the EM2 it will automatically drop the bolt... and slightly malfunction." I lost it

You ask? Gun Jesus delivers, like when he brought the 10 gun-mandments down from Mount Bergmann. Or was that Gun Moses...?

Well done to the school for providing you with the opportunity to shoot a rare weapon Ian. And thank you for an unbiased assessment of its capabilities. Once again our government missed the boat !

Treyarch is just looking for all the weird guns they can find on his channel 😂

The perfect “intermediate” cartridge with good long range performance and light recoil already existed prior to WWII. It is called the 6.5 Arisaka. Basically, it’s a slightly less hot 6.5 Creedmoor.

That was just awesome. As someone who handled to L85, L86 and the L98 (ugh) seeing the much nicer EM2 is just, well, frustrating. Getting to see it fire, though, pretty much made my day.

I'm curious how similar .276 Pedersen and .280 British are in power and recoil. It's kind of odd, because the US nearly adopted .276 Pedersen with the Garand until MacArthur intervened, and then later made the same choice disparaging a similar round, the .280 British.

.280 british should have been NATO Standard not 5.56 this video is so good :) Thanks for this awsome vid

I’m convinced the youtube algorithm is manually processed considering this is the most broken gun out right now in codz

I love that you make no effort to gloss over problems. It's old, stuff happens, and your explanations teach more than skipping the errors would be.

Is envy still a sin under the commandments of Gun Jesus?

Love the barrel flex seen in the second slow-motion shot. Great way to start my dad. Thanks Ian.

I can't help but think that both the .280 british and the EM-2 deserves another chance in life... The .280 british I have heard (might have misunderstod it) were in a "sweet spot" in regards to stopping power and lightness, as a round... I don't know if it will be worth investing time into. The EM-2 just looks like a rifle (like so many others) that some company one day might think it would be a cool idea of making in semi fire only, and sell in the US... Sure it is a bull-pub and quit a few has started to dislike that thing... But as a project.

I can’t wait to see Ian’s eventual review of the new SIG XM5 and the .277 Fury cartridge, and see how it stacks up against the .280 Enfield!

This rifle has amazingly quiet report! It appears stable in the slow-mo shots. Man this rifle was so far ahead of it's time!

We've come a long way from the 480p blue jumper wearing video!

The .280 - what the US should have adopted for our uses. This round in an M14 or FAL would have been wonderful.

RU-vid is too good at reccomanding me these video of forgotten weapons about guns that have just been released in a game recently

I've never been as jealous of someone as I am of Ian. I'm honestly considering going to school to learn CAD and Machining specifically so I can make an EM-2 of my own. Also, pretty great how it's been like 65 years and the hot new US military created calibers (.264 and .277 USA) is basically .280 Brit with a spiffy new paintjob. We're going to have to wait until 20 freaking 20 for the Army to tell us that these newer high-intermediate rounds are the bee's knees and would have really helped out in literally every conflict we've used the M16 in.

That is a very aesthetically pleasing gun

Ian you're a beast, best RU-vid channel on the net!

Thanks Ian, without your stellar reputation we would never be able to get access to all these awesome Forgotten Weapons. As for the EM2 and others like it, politics really screws up things, be it firearms procurement or life in general. This rifle was so far ahead of anything else at that time it's a shame that politics intervened, and I am a huge WC fan too..

Cold War:Drops em2 RU-vid algorithm:Hey wanna see a real life EM2

Damn the kick back on that gun is insane how can we just casually slide and hip fire this thing in Cold War LOL

I was the bloke who looked after this rifle the problem was the magazine and bolt release spring was nackered . What disappointed me that Ian didn’t offer a T shirt as a thank you oh well such is life.

Your easily the best gun channel on RU-vid in my opinion, I've been watching since you had like 40,000subs and every video is quality af. I think I've seen all but a handful

Great rifle, old ammo.

Anybody else get this in their recommended after the season 5 roadmap for cold war came out

Ian excited for a gun is a rare sight, notable of recognition

Just had a play with that very rifle, although couldn’t fire it. There are some amazing things in that armoury and I’d love to hear more about their semi-auto Lee Enfield conversions - it’s a good excuse to go back in another day!

Now I'll know to use my EM-2 in semi-auto

Thye should so update the em-2 and make it the standard british rifle

The EM2 despite looking space age was a traditionally made weapon using milling etc of working parts. The L85 is more of a pressed steel weapon designed more to a price. We are talking more traditional gunsmithing verses modern mass manufacturing.

Ian you have made my day! As a12 yr old I remember the " Illustrated London News" (Britians Time+NRA) rightup of the EM2 Was at that time being coached by my brother in law who had experience WW2 in all the bad places & who was convinced that the " russians were coming" He was expert with the Bren & advised 2 round bursts , accurate & did not give your position away! I remember the disappointment when the EM2 fizzled out! There were many battle experienced guys down here in New Zealand, As a toddler I clearly got the relief when "The Yanks" arrived! Thanks!

Hi Ian, hope youve had a nice time visiting and playing with some of our forgotten toys. Love the channel, im not even a gun enthusiast but I love the breakdowns and the history lessons you give with each review. Brilliant stuff matey, long may it continue 👍

this got recommend for me after 1 day of the weapon dropped in cold war lol

That dude has no idea how meta he is right now

this guys videos always pops up when they add a new gun to cold war

Reznov teaching me how to load an em 2, incredible

I remember this weapon in 1982 when I was based in Roman Way Camp, Colchester. It was on a display at my Regiments Presentation of Colours parade and was showing the initial development of the British Army's future rifle, the SA80.

anybody else weirdly get this in their recommendations after the new cold war season

Bro season 5 just came out why is this on my recommendations

i know this isn't the type of channel for this but i would have loved if you recorded the ballistics of the .280 round in gel just to see how it would have performed.

What a gent Ian is!

I really like scope picture it makes a lot of sense for the spike to come down from above.

You could tell immediately at the first round it is a nice shooter.

The fore-grip looks comfortable, I remember reading about this rifle in 20th Century Guns.

The fact that they just added this in Cold War is amazing

When this rife came out there was already a push to scale down the .30-06 namely .300 savage variant (T65) to a shorter case with .06' power in 30. cal. U.S. politics effectively squashed what I thought a better (stable) cartridge (.280) than 5.56 NATO.

In the early 80's Palitoy made a version for their Action Man SAS and futuristic sets - back then I thought it was some fantasy sci-fi weapon. To think it was designed in the 40's is quite something. Great to see it being used.

Who's here after the season 5 announcement?

OK, use this build Muzzle: Agency Suppressor Barrel: 25.8" Task Force Optic: Axial Arms 3x Underbarrel: Field Agent Grip Ammunition: 40 Rnd I think its the best build :)

I like how this pops in my recommended as soon as warzone added this gun to the game lol

When Warzone releases a new gun from the 80's, RU-vid recommends this channel and a video with the released gun.

Ian...your genius with weapons shines when you allow for the rifle's age.Great video...even greater narrator...

instead we spent decades making the M-14 and vast problems.

"That fired so fast it felt like one" LOL

Only here casue warzone is about to release this and it’s gonna be broken

At 2:41 you can see the barrel oscilate through about two degrees of arc after the bullet leaves the muzzle. That's the barrel itself bending, rather than the whole rifle moving. This would explain why subsequent rounds in an automatic fire burst would not hit the target.

That weapon is EFFIN Awesome! I’d love to see a modern replica of it!

Got this in my recommended right after the em-2 came out in Cold War lol

Cold war: Adds EM2 RU-vid : SAY HELLO TO MR ALGORITHM

I recommend using Agency Suppressor, 25.8 Task Force, Axial Arms 3x, Field Agent Grip, and 40 round mag.

You should do more testing abroad, I love watching it. I'm sure there are some facilities that would love to have a dose of Ian.

may not be the best most reliable rifle but it sure would be a cool unique experience

2:00 Casing: "should I stovepipe? Nah, I'm good."

So...when's HMG gonna start making EM-2 repros? ;)

This popped up in my recommended as the gun was added into cold war

I always wondered why the T-65 (7.62x51 mm Nato round) had to be developed when the .300 Savage was already in use and with a few tweeks, would have had the same ballistics. It also would have made a great base for a 7x47 mm (.276 Savage) upgrade for an EM-2

Very well written report. I have fired that exact rifle at the Royal Collage of Military Science at Shrivenham. It is a great rifle to shoot.

seems like your still leveling yours up mines is on level 25 on cold war!

Very nice. Always liked these. My first thought was, i wonder how old the ammo is? I also wonder if Stoner was influenced by the straight line recoil system, or if he already had the AR-10 on the drawing board. These were somewhat secret, so he may not have known about them in any event. Good cyclic rate. A 2 round burst is a sensible limit. Great video as always. Thank you

Who’s here when RU-vid recommended this video after Treyarch added the EM-2 to Cold War less than a week later?! 👀

I just love it when Ian gets excited about a gun Gives me goose bumps lol

I appreciate Ian pronouncing Shrivenham properly I.E not saying HAM at the end