What is this Weapon Presents: Antiques Gunshow with Ian McCollum and Jonathan Ferguson

Mr Ferguson welcome back thank you very much it's always a pleasure to be here now um dragged you away from a bit of Gun filming yes I heard you have a challenge yeah so I believe well 60 seconds is the plan if you go over it's not not the end of the world we need each of us so it's kind of setting me a challenge as well we need a handgun uh a long gun and like a SMG size carbine size gun okay and the criteria are going to be it's got to look funky okay it's got to work in an unusual way okay it doesn't have to be like Coral Locking System or anything it could be any mechanical aspect okay it's got to have had very little impact on anything that followed this all sounds right up my alley yeah I can see your eyes lighting up already and as a bonus kind of extra uh to that we're not going to kind track points per se but if it gets adopted anyway you get like morale points or something okay there's no winning this is just a fun exercise all right 60 seconds go so what do we have here I found this it appears to be a guy it appears to be gun with all the inside bits on the outside like Superman it's wearing its pants on the outside yeah pretty much uh so it's a Charlton yes yeah um I figured this absolutely has to take it for looks strange and weird it definitely does uh people tend to Bandy the word steampunk around when this thing shows its face uh if indeed it has a face understandably yeah fin barrel uh this this piston gubbins on the side that's that's really the best part ludicrously large pistol grip yep um terribly small bipod that doesn't fold it just sits there it really is small actually now that you mention it's a fairly low bipod which is the sort of thing that would be good on a a flat range but as soon as you've got the least amount of grass we do have extending legs though that's true yeah actually you're right I've never actually they go from very small to huge yeah and it still doesn't fall I've never I've never tried that before either just noticed it now pivots crazy muzzle device as well yep um I like the fact that the barrel flutes are not actually on the barrel they're just washers stacked over the barrel good point yeah um you have to have a face shield so that you don't do a bunch of amateur Dentistry when you fire the thing ah now is this a leftand thing as well it is yes well technically you could shoot it right-handed but you you'll want to be very aware of where all of these things are going yep uh so the function is also I think pretty effective for a criteria so looks weird Works weird is is like a sort of a dead end before it's even conceived of because we already have brand guns but it was technically adopted it was mass-produced they made 1500 and then they were all destroyed in a mysterious warehouse fire which I saw a rumor written that that that Warehouse was also storing a whole bunch of other War material of dubious Financial origin oh really and that perhaps someone actually burned that warehouse down to hide some various nefarious activities that had nothing to do with the Charlton but virtually all the charlton's gotten in the process the more you look at it the more weirdness you see sort of technically and the more you hear about it the more interesting it gets yeah in that respect it's it's I mean it's Square in your wheelhouse it is it is so r that something this stupid uh actually gets adopted normally they make one of these the testing commission laughs it out of the house and you never hear about it again and it goes into the racks in a place like this as the only known example to survive we should for those who don't know um this is an attempt at a stop Gap isn't it yes it's it it has very it's not some guy in a shed well kind of but it's not some kindy of shed going what can I do if I strap a gas piston to a bolt action rifle it's the bricks won't give us BR guns right we've got to make do the Japanese are going to invade any day now which I mean was not totally out of the realm of possibility we have the New Zealand stamp there on the the butt plate so yeah it's it's it ticks all the box it literally ticks all the boxes in this case yep um great choice um I I have kind of failed cuz there's no way this thing was ever getting adopted but I couldn't help myself no when we were set loose in the racks to just pick St um I remember this whole series of Sterling Armament um yeah rifles uh there's an lmg version of this that's even bigger and heavier and I didn't feel like carrying it so I feel like these are kind of equally dumb guns yep but this one appear the most ungun lay person ever will look at this and recognize that it is stupid yep that if you don't know what you're looking at looks kind of sleek and again even if you did know something you might think it I don't know maybe it's meant to go it be a spotting rifle on some kind of artillery piece all you it's got to have some it's been so nicely made it must have a serious you need a scope on it and like a cheek pad here some sort of a well maybe yeah I guess this has I should say the the lmg version of this which has an attachment for what we think was for a bipod also has some sort of attachment for a buttstock which I imagine as being a gigantic version of the the Sterling SMG but stock but we really don't know in the United States right now this is legally a pistol yes it is well spotted so this this ticks the looks weird box because it looks like a gigantic Sterling submachine gun came straight out of Star Wars kind of oh it would be such a good Star Wars gun um Works weird in the sense that both of them are lever delayed okay to count to handle the power of the 762 NATO cartridge right um but not not unconventional weird not this weird yeah it definitely doesn't tick the well it it ticks the the irrelevance um Side Story box but not the service box there was no way this was ever going anywhere not commercially not militarily nothing no so I think you win this is okay that's that's so much better yeah all right okay so let's take a look at the pistols pistols got it oh the Mars snap well not really but kind of I also like rotating bolt pistols which are uncommon in their own uh just on on that point of course indeed they are how many lugs do you have uh I have four lugs you have four lugs that's kind of weird so what the hell is that so this is a shavat salosa 1898 which I think is one of the few guns that was like actually really good and kind of in a way ahead of its time and yet fell into complete obscurity yeah so uh okay so looks weird doesn't really this looks like a for the time I guess not even today I think this looks relatively reasonably like a pistol pistol it's oh yeah like um in terms of draw draw me a handgun yeah but it it doesn't have the classic slide all enveloping no that's true most people would now say was that's true a pistol um so I've sacrificed that a bit because I think these are so cool they were definitely weirder looking pistols out there yes um it is a mechanically speaking it's recoil operated rotating bolt which is quite unusual for a pistol mhm um and then what I find really interesting is this did actually see governmental service in very small numbers um these were purchased by Russia I believe it was the Russian jearie bought a smallish batch of these yeah which accounts for virtually all of the production right so they're sort of a dead end but in a way they're a dead end that people came back to later not so much with the bolt action but it has the form factor of a modern pistol true comparable to any other pistol that was made like this thing's 2 years after the c96 I was just going to say this predates everything Browning and yet it handles like Browning's European cousines does have the funky sight situation yes so you have a rotary rear sight here to raise the the the leaf which is cool I mean in principle it's no no weirder than the stupid 1200 met sight on the c96 and it's more compact as well yeah and it only goes out to five it's just the rotating drum that's a little bit weird yeah well wheel not really a drum yeah and then it's actually chambered for a cartridge that we could still I could well not here here but I could at home go out and buy a box of this ammunition it's in 763 Mouser I think I think you've uh graft this uh format better than me because I've done it again not only have I gone British again I've gone never adopted and wacky cartridge oh 45 Mars which is a sort of a long Case longish Case massively overpowered yeah I mean there there's the famous um I can't remember the wording but there was the account from it did see trials well kind of there are trials and there are trials aren't there there are serious trials we're probably going to adopt this and there are let's go and have a pop off at the range bloody hell I've got to see that shoot that kind of trial which is kind of I think test and evaluation is the term that um is used later for let's just make sure there's nothing really good out there that we're missing and I suspect sometimes it was morbid curiosity as well oh totally AB think of the time though you know talking 1890s again and you know in terms of design people are they're not quite sure what an automatic pistol should be yet they're used to Giant revolvers so true maybe a giant self-loading pistol is the way forward but a load of skepticism at the same time I may have points for this being actually service used but you get a ton of points for the looks and for the weird operation cuz that is one of like two pistols ever to have a backwards feeding magazine yep and it's long recoil let's just show that we both went recoil rotating bolt but this is this is half ass short recoil and that's proper long recoil and it pulls cartridges backwards see all I've got is this boring ordinary magazine that feeds out the front like GH a boring gun clearly the way to go um so Hugh um gabbit Fairfax yes uh was not onto a winner with this I mean I I can't help making the very spous uh is it specious comparison with The Desert Eagle being being an overpowered cartridge and with these twin guide rod spring housings and the especially if you fit that stupid 10in barrel to a desert eagle yeah oh absolutely in desert eagle and yeah you have that vague reference from the from the trial where no no one who fired it wished to fire it again or words to that effect and I'd I'd love to I'd love to know how much that is the sort of one-handed bent elbow technique of the day and yeah clonk and how much of it is this thing yeah I mean the the sheer amount of Leverage this thing is going to exert is significant yeah especially with a long recoil system I mean I don't think we're looking looking at Hammer bite or anything but still no yeah yeah I have I'm not aware of any like anyone after those trials shooting one of these yeah there's no footage and I'm not aware of anyone who actually took one out of a collection somewhere and went to shoot it for kicks cuz all the cartridges are totally proprietary four different cartridges those were made in I think we have one live round preserved for the future and that's it so that's not getting shot but I'm I think you won this one didn't get used but it's a heck of a lot weirder in every other okay I'll take it although I like to think there's a parallel timeline where officers are pulling these out of shoulder holsters or something I think that would be a fantastic time all right shall we do some midsized guns yes all right please explain yourself all right so I'm being trolled here uh I mean possibly a little bit but I I think it's legitimate so uh I fear you may be right I mean one of our core requirements here is guns that had uh no significant influence on the development or use of firearms I don't know there's a there's a what not to do aspect HK would like to thank you for adopting this because it made them a lot of money see I I just like to distance myself from from the whole thing I know this is an authentic issued one because the Stock's broken which tells me that someone perhaps applied Army issue bug repellent to it I honestly think so so this this is um post adoption experiment no sorry just pre-adoption experimental so it's right on the cusp of adoption chosen actually better than the standard issue ones I wouldn't go that far this the sa80 is like the Dorian Gray of firearms projects in that the farther you get from the initial prototypes the worse it gets normally the development process improves the gun the process I know this is very stressful and disheartening but hear me out the development process begins with the XL 60s and they are the best functioning most reliable of the process the 70s are slightly don't know that we know that they never saw any serious serious use no but the and the trials results from those were not amazing they were better than the the yeah how what what was the parts breakage rate on the 60s compared to like this level of just prior to there was a book where we could look there is [Music] [Music] inde no it's not there are there are it's like lesser of two evils or whatever like there are points where it's better there are points where it's worse usually it's a pretty clear progression that the farther you get down the development track the better the gun gets I mean as as I as I always say it's the only firearm that I know of where the whole thing was redesigned halfway through the whole thing yeah why do that and then redesigned again after it entered service is there a single part on the A3 that has not been redesigned and rebuilt from this stage well technically the the trigger mechanism housing so the lower receiver design oh no sorry no that has been tweaked cuz they have to put a stop on the um selector on the change lever um or a better stop because it was over rotating and going full auto and it shouldn't but apart from that the design of the lower receiver has not changed um literally everything else has changed including the interior of the low receiver like yeah I'd be very surprised if there are any out there cuz they're very old now as well without all of the um trigger mechanism yeah well well we know they were replaced for A2 put it that way right cuz they had to be yeah all all the Germans did was remanufacture every component to the correct spec and hardness and all of that open out the ejection Port give it a new cocking handle but it was very minimal like it does it does at least prove that the basic design was more sound than you might have given it credit for that they were able to fix it with such basic I will I will acknowledge that they were able to turn it into a perfectly adequate rifle perfectly adequate is is what we strive for on this island so now there is uh there is something you you've missed there uh oh so the one the one you happen to have chosen there is is not only pre- adoption but there's something there's something different about see now I'm being put on the spot as as punishment for uh insulting the entire nation that is currently hosting me it's only fair uh sir are you talking about the carry handle nope oh something more fundamental than that what's one of the major issues with um sat8 in particular but bullpups more generally oh bloody hell um this is the left-handed one I didn't even think about it because I am left-handed this is the one that you could actually shoot left-handed without rearranging all of your teeth yeah but you can only shoot it left-handed correct yes and they just decided not to make that yeah so you know we considered uh you know accommodating the 10 to 15% of our population that's left-handed and we decided yeah screw it screw them they can learn how to shoot right-handed yep so at one point they were going to do a certain percentage I think they were going to go 10 that were built left-handed as rifles and they were then they were looking at a conversion kit where you'd keep the lower receiver and replace the whole upper and they went ah too difficult that would definitely be too difficult now I'm always looking for kind of to be fairs for for this weapon but um of course the Bren gun the Leen field rifle they were all left sorry right hand only um they can be fired leftand they can but they were not drilled to be um now I can well imagine BRS would have been fired off shoulder because they were used more than people might think for Close Quarter jungle combat that kind of thing I've actually tinkered with shooting bren's left-handed and you have to roll your head a little bit over to get to the offset sights but it's really not a problem yeah um if I'm going to be honest it's a lot more comfortable to do than trying to shoot a French shut to the row uh left-handed they have theight it's way lower and further over and it's not really feasible now it does fall down on unusual mechanism because as we all know it's just an ar18 in a party dress actually party dresses are bad party dresses are supposed to look nice it's an ar18 with a significant hangover until the Germans get ar18 in a bin bag yes yes very much that is about the Str sack for those of you outside the UK that that is about the rigidity of the the metal housing too and and not not unconnected to the fact that almost everything has now been replaced that the upper receiver has now been made more rigid um the furniture has been improved and yeah the only bit left that is still perhaps a bit questionable is that low receiver the one bit left because it is quite thin and bendy yeah now that's not really a problem in use at all um for obvious reasons but if you were going to you wouldn't start from here if I were you as the as the saying goes no um certainly had no appreciable impact on Firearms design except as a warning lesson how not fine point out perfectly adequate all of the service service men and women that that use it need not worry and need not have worried for maybe 20 years now but there was a period of time there where it it was pretty dicey yeah and it's by no means the best thing since sliced bread all right so what did you think I see you choose something that's an insult to my entire I could have done I I did consider a a fam ass um retroactively when I saw that you had that but that would be Petty no um I've gone for something so I I have not done the the Deep research on these um they do show up in the guns of dagam book right on the whole patchet Sterling story cuz this guy was effectively the Rival but it was a bit too late you definitely one on our actual official criteria here for this choice because that is strange looking and strange working yeah so the butt stock is not uh particularly weird although it does have this cool Canter lever it's at least slightly weird yes track system which is not as complex as the as the patchet but still a bit weird obviously the rest of it pretty pretty conventional um you might have spotted that it has something funky going on with the mag almost a bit French with the folding magel but it's on the side because Britain of course and before that Germany and it's um it's kind of weird in that and this is this is not yeah not adopted by the way this is purely a prototype um there's a whole series of them BSA Birmingham Small Arms Company came up with them um sorry the weak point I'm talking about so let's let's say we we we like accidentally hit a a small sapling oh is that only held in by not quite any friction but it's just a spring clip that can be overcome there's no latch there's no fixed latch you might have fixed that later again I need to now you need to show people how to [ __ ] that yes cuz that's the other really cool part of it so in terms of our our our exercise here the you know weird mechanisms well subm submachine guns are never usually very weird there are some of course yeah this is weird not in terms of how it functions it's blow back um but you have to twist pull pull back and twist again or it will actually spring back itself and that's cocked at which point there's no easy way to decock it you just have to let it go see even though I pulled the handle forward just do that one more time so yeah you pretty much have to eat Springs just by putting there go um so it's pump cocking yeah which is very cool but forward and then back which is kind of weird if we used to pump action shotguns or rifles it has a very similar automatic comptition safe selector like the patchet yep um the patchet had already got into you like experimental service by 1944 so this thing was already not onto a winner yeah same magazine it is not similar looking yeah similar looking it is similar but it lacks the sort of builtup yeah um I don't believe this has been designed to be compatible with the Sten mag okay doesn't look like it with a curved mag well yeah so that's that's probably the Point of Departure there um the bonus factor of was it ever adopted well no we already know that however there's a I can kind of massage this in in so far as if you go over to our um have to pinch these to to close it if you go over to our pop culture Gallery you'll see two Star Wars blasters one of them is the the classic Stormtrooper Blaster which is the Sterling bapti who did the guns for the movie the original movie took elements of this for the rebel Blaster so this shape of for end yeah so originally it was used as a pistol they they did away with with this and they had it more like a pistol but they all shoot it two-handed and then by Empire Strikes Back it's reverted to this kind of arrangement with the cut off mag but it's just a sterling with this grafted onto the front and it's made out of shiny metal not this synthetic B typ material yeah yeah well the bapti guys were serious gun people y like they were not just in the movie business but they also had a significant gun collection for like three generations yep so I can totally see them taking an unusual prototype that most people would never have even heard about Y and being like we're going to take that element and put it here cuz it it looks right that's the interesting part though they didn't I mean I guess they didn't have enough to just take these for the rebels and the and the Sterlings for the storm troopers so they just took the design element and they came up with initially just like a rubber cast and then they went with a like a bodged um variant of of the Sterling so so it never got adopted but kind of the the Galactic Empire was inspired by it well I think you got enough points uh otherwise on that one to to win out there and it definitely looks looks weird it's very cool very cool Works weird and is cool as you say whereas this looks a bit weird we go again and it malfunction is [Laughter] weird see I tried to cut you some slack by going with the iron sights that aren't total crap instead of the optic which has nearly as many problems to bring up as the gun does so if you develop Stockholm syndrome for the S8 like I did writing the book um you come up with all sorts of justifications like yeah okay the susat mount was was not good true but the susat itself at the time it was in introduced four power combat optic with a good Fu of view there wasn't much else out there at that time that's gring true forces had and the op was the thing that really the optic and the 556 cartridge are what elevated um what allowed the mod to save face effec yes that's true however if I had the choice between a susat and the regular fixed optic on an Aug I would take the AUG optic and in 1985 probably even more so yeah yeah H well I Tred you made a valiant effort and uh your countrymen will should appreciate you for it so there we go there are our semi- random pics from from this extensive collection so thank you for taking part in that nonsense for us my pleasure that was fun always appreciate it and it was fun as well I appreciate your good humor we try um so what should people be looking out for in the future from forgotten weapons or well publishing uh many interesting things of course I'm here at the armories for an extended period filming all sorts of cool stuff that will be showing up on forgotten weapons of course that's YouTube It's patreon and uh what I'm most excited about is our app history of weapons in War where we have eight different Firearms channels one of them being the British royal armories so if you want to watch Jonathan and myself all in one convenient location that supports me supports the armories you can do that at history of weapons in War one of us for each eye yeah there you go maybe no what about you you have anything particularly cool coming up uh I'm wrapping up a couple of Publications but really the main thing is you know as as you've seen and as you cover as well we we we overlap somewhat with weird guns that's our main series on our YouTube well main series our most proliferate series on our YouTube channel what's this weapon uh where you can also go and play along on Facebook or Instagram and guess what it is before it shows up added value really you don't have to do that all right Jonathan thank you for everything it's been a great time already and there's so much yet to do uh I'm going to go film some more of your guns please do as many as you can squeeze in

Channel: Royal Armouries

Views: 748,263

Keywords: gun firingroyal armouries, arms and armour, armour, war, museum, bts museum, armor, guns, swords, knives, jousting, history

Id: 99SiRxCkGp0

Length: 27min 51sec (1671 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 10 2024