04 June 2016

Five overly-complicated guns

War History Online has an article about overly-complicated gubs:

Some guns are famed for their elegant simplicity, but some are notorious for their complexity. In the above video, we take a look at five firearms that are overly complicated for one reason or another, with some shooting footage in the mix.

Mauser G-41M
By 1940, it became apparent that some form of a semi-automatic rifle, with a higher rate of fire than existing bolt-action rifle models, was necessary to improve the infantry’s combat efficiency. The Wehrmacht issued a specification to various manufacturers, and Mauser and Walther submitted prototypes that were very similar. However, some restrictions were placed upon the design:
no holes for tapping gas for the loading mechanism were to be bored into the barrel;
the rifles were not to have any moving parts on the surface;
and, in case the auto-loading mechanism failed, a bolt action was to be included.
The Mauser design, the G41(M), failed. Only seven thousand were produced before production was halted, and of these, nearly two thousand were returned as unusable. Most metal parts on this rifle were machined steel and some rifles, especially later examples, utilized Bakelite-type plastic handguards. The Walther design was more successful because the designers had simply ignored the last two restrictions.

Nagant M1895
The Nagant M1895 Revolver is a seven-shot, gas-seal revolver designed and produced by Belgian industrialist Léon Nagant for the Russian Empire.
The Nagant M1895 was chambered for a proprietary cartridge, 7.62×38mmR, and featured an unusual “gas-seal” system, in which the cylinder moved forward when the gun was cocked, to close the gap between the cylinder and the barrel, providing a boost to the muzzle velocity of the fired projectile and allowing the weapon to be suppressed (an unusual ability for a revolver). 
Boberg XR9-S
The XR9-S is a rotating barrel, locked-breech semi-automatic pistol chambered in 9x19mm. Feeding from a detachable seven-round magazine, the Boberg sets itself apart from other pocket pistols, not simply due to its impressively minuscule size, but also its strange operating method and magazine construction.

SIG 510
The SIG SG 510 or Sturmgewehr 57 is a selective fire battle rifle manufactured by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft of Switzerland. It uses a similar roller-delayed blowback system to the H&K G3 and CETME rifles. 
Mauser C-96
The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937.
The distinctive characteristics of the C96 are the integral box magazine in front of the trigger, the long barrel, the wooden shoulder stock, which can double as a holster or carrying case, and a grip shaped like the handle of a broom. The grip earned the gun the nickname Broomhandle in the English-speaking world because of its round wooden handle, because of its rectangular internal magazine, and the fact it could be holstered in its wooden box-like detachable stock. 
Rico says that he loves them all; he owned a Webley for awhile, and has always lusted after a (really complicated) Webley-Fosbery...

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