The Tank Museum
Published 11 Jun 2021David Fletcher examines the Marmon-Herrington Mk IV, an armoured car produced by South Africa and used by the British, among others, during the Second World War.
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October 21, 2021
Tank Chats #129 | Marmon-Herrington Mk. IV | The Tank Museum
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October 19, 2021
Semiauto FAMAS F1 Rifle
Forgotten Weapons
Published 9 Aug 2016http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
The French FAMAS was one of the first bullpup rifles to be adopted and built in large numbers by a military power. It was adopted by France in 1978 at right about the same time as the Steyr AUG was being adopted by the Austrian military. Bullpup rifles offered a short overall length without sacrificing barrel length, an advantage that seemed quite valuable for troops who were to spend significant amounts of time in vehicles, where space is at a premium. In French service, the FAMAS was also made the formal replacement for both the MAS-49/56 rifle and the MAT-49 submachine gun, thanks to its compact nature.
The FAMAS is interesting mechanically, as it is one of very few production delayed-blowback rifle designs (the other common one being the CETME/HK series). The FAMAS uses a lever-delaying system, which allows a very simple bolt and action mechanism. The F1 model (adopted by the French Army and still in use today, making up the bulk of FAMAS production) has a 1:12″ twist to its rifling, effectively limiting it to 55 grain projectiles — and it also requires steel-cased ammunition to run reliably. The G2 variant (adopted in 1995 by the French Navy) changed to a 1:9″ twist, introduced a full-hand trigger guard, and also uses NATO standard AR15 magazines instead of the proprietary 25-round magazine of the F1.
In the late 1980s a small number of semiauto FAMAS rifles were made by St Etienne and imported into the US by Century. Most people say 100-125 rifles, although serial number suggest this may have actually been 225-250 rifles. Regardless, they are quite scarce and expensive today.
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October 16, 2021
W.A.R. – the Winchester Automatic Rifle
Forgotten Weapons
Published 1 Aug 2016http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
With the failure of the G30M and G30R to lead to any military orders (American or otherwise), the Winchester company took the advice of the Ordnance Department to scale the design up to an automatic rifle. The BAR had a number of known shortcomings in WWII, and the military was interested in replacing it. The Winchester Automatic Rifle (WAR) offered the same basic set of features with a lighter weight and lower cost.
The WAR used a 2-lug rotating bolt like the Garand’s, in combination with a Williams short stroke gas tappet action. Chambered for the standard .30-06 cartridge and using 20-round magazines, the WAR could be used as a semiautomatic rifle or in full automatic with a rate of fire of approximately 600 rpm (slightly more or less depending on whether a muzzle device was used).
The WAR passed initial Ordnance inspection with flying colors, and a contract for 10 was placed, for more extensive testing. It passed these tests well, but they took place in the summer of 1945. By the time a major contract was a real possibility, World War II had ended, and the budget for new arms development was slashed. Had the war continued, the WAR likely would have begun to replace the BAR in US military service.
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October 15, 2021
The Battle of Orléans 1870 – French Raw Recruits vs. Experienced German Soldiers
Real Time History
Published 14 Oct 2021All across France French Armies have been raised from any available troops. From international volunteers to raw teenaged recruits. How these sub-par soldiers fare against professional German soldiers is not hard to guess and we can see how that goes in the first battles for Orléans.
Special Thanks to Jonathan Ferguson from Royal Armouries. Check out their Channel: https://www.youtube.com/RoyalArmouries
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https://realtimehistory.net/podcast – interviews with historians and background info for the show.» LITERATURE
Arand, Tobias: 1870/71. Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg erzählt in Einzelschicksalen. Hamburg 2018Milza, Pierre: L’année terrible. La guerre franco-prussienne. Septembre 1870 – mars 1871. Paris 2009
» SOURCES
Bernhardt, Sarah: Mein Doppelleben. Leipzig 1908Hérisson, Maurice Graf d’: Journal d’un officier d’ordonannce. Juillet 1870 – Février 1871. Paris 1885
Kühnhauser, Florian: Kriegs-Erinnerungen eines Soldaten des königlich bayerischen Infanterie Leibregiments. Partenkirchen 1898 (Neudruck 2012)
Meisner, Heinrich Otto (Hrsg.): Kaiser Friedrich III. Das Kriegstagebuch von 1870/71. Berlin, Leipzig 1926
N.N. (Hrsg.): Theodor Fontane. Kriegsgefangen – Erlebtes 1870. Briefe 1870/71. Berlin (Ost) 1984
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Website: https://realtimehistory.net»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Cathérine Pfauth, Prof. Dr. Tobias Arand, Jesse Alexander
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Maps: Battlefield Design
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All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2021
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October 14, 2021
Tank Chats #128 | Panzer 61 | The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum
Published 4 Jun 2021Curator David Willey examines one of Switzerland’s first indigenously designed and produced tanks, the Panzer 61, put into service during the Cold War.
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October 10, 2021
Book Review: The Guns of John Moses Browning, by Nathan Gorenstein
Forgotten Weapons
Published 24 Jun 2021http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
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John Moses Browning is, without argument, the greatest firearms designer in history. While we have had many brilliant designers who had their names forever connected to guns (Maxim, Luger, Kalashnikov, …), Browning invented whole *categories* of firearms. Gorenstein’s new book The Guns of John Moses Browning is a welcome biography of the man, giving great insight into Browning’s life and work. The book is well researched, well written, and thoroughly engaging. It is also worth noting that Gorenstein is himself a competitive shooter, and understands the world that Browning operated in.
I think my back-cover blurb for the book (for which I received no compensation; full disclosure) sums it up well:
Following Browning from his birth in rural Utah to his death in urban Belgium, we see how a changing world shaped his inventions and how, in turn, his inventions shaped a changing world.
Browning began in the last years of the Wild West inventing lever action rifles, then became a major part of the blossoming of the automatic pistol, then invented the semiauto shotgun before designing the modern machine guns that become iconic to the United States’ involvement in two world wars. It is a tremendous story, and Gorenstein’s book lays it all out for the reader.
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October 8, 2021
ARA General Belgrano – Guide 047
Drachinifel
Published 18 Dec 2019The ARA Belgrano of the Argentine Navy is today’s ship.
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October 5, 2021
How Does It Work: Clips! (Not Magazines)
Forgotten Weapons
Published 16 Jun 2021http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
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Today we are looking at clips and how they work. There are two different types; Mannlicher-style and Mauser-style.
Mannlicher clips were introduced circa 1885, and are also known as en bloc or packet loading clips. They include a set of feed lips, and are inserted completely into a gun. Once the last round is chambered (or fired, in some cases) the empty clip is ejected from the action.
Mauser clips were introduced in 1889, and are also called stripper or charger clips. On these, the clip acts only as a guide to load the cartridges into a separate magazine, either a fixed internal magazine or a detachable box magazine.
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October 2, 2021
How Does It Work: Toggle Actions
Forgotten Weapons
Published 3 Jun 2021http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
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Toggle actions are a relatively exotic locking system that are relatively common and well-known because the system was used in a pair of particularly successful early guns: the Luger and Maxim/Vickers. There have also been toggle-action shotguns, military rifles, sporting rifles, and submachine guns, but the system went out of favor by the 1930s (except in the mind of one Adolf Furrer).
Most toggle-action designs use the toggle as a locked breech system, unlocked by a secondary operating system (usually short recoil). However, toggle system can also be the basis for delayed blowback actions, as in the Pedersen rifle.
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September 30, 2021
Tank Chats #126 | Guy Armoured Car | The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum
Published 21 May 2021David Fletcher MBE looks at the rare and most interesting Guy Armoured Car, thought to be the first welded vehicle used by the British Army.
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September 28, 2021
Webley 1913 Semiauto Pistol: Shooting
Forgotten Weapons
Published 26 May 2017Following up on yesterday’s history and disassembly of the Webley 1913, today I am taking one of them out to the range. Courtesy of Mike Carrick from Arms Heritage magazine, I am shooting original WWI British .455 SL ammunition. We don’t have a lot of it to work with here, but we will try out some magazine fire as well as some single loading, since the magazine cutoff was one of the relatively unique features of the 1913 Webley.
Overall, from this admittedly limited firing experience, I think the Webley is a rather underrated pistol, probably because of its short service live and unavailable ammunition. Despite its awkward appearance, it handles and points pretty well, and has felt recoil not unlike the Colt 1911, despite having a more powerful cartridge.
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September 25, 2021
Webley 1913 Semiauto Pistol: History and Disassembly
Forgotten Weapons
Published 25 May 2017William Whiting and the Webley company had high hopes for their self-loading pistols being adopted by the British military — but they never got the success they were hoping for.
After the poor performance of the Webley 1904 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hT38…) at trials, William Whiting decided to make sure his next attempt would be fully developed before he put it in the hands of the military. He did very well at that too, as the gun which would become the Model 1913 Webley did very well from its very first military tests. The Royal Navy was, in fact, quite enthusiastic about it, although the Army was not. The Navy would ultimately adopt the gun and purchase about 8,000 of them during World War One, while the Army acquired just a couple hundred and preferred to stick to its revolvers.
Thanks to Mike Carrick of Arms Heritage magazine for loaning me these pistols to bring to you!
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QotD: The 2nd Amendment is obsolete because … the government has nukes?
Last week a congressman embarrassed himself on Twitter. He got into a debate about gun control, suggested a mandatory buyback — which is basically confiscation with a happy face sticker on it — and when someone told him that they would resist, he said resistance was futile because the government has nukes.
And everybody was like, wait, what?
Of course the congressman is now saying that using nuclear weapons on American gun owners was an exaggeration, he just wanted to rhetorically demonstrate that the all-powerful government could crush us peasants like bugs, they hold our pathetic lives in their iron hand, and he’d never ever advocate for the use of nuclear weapons on American soil (that would be bad for the environment!), and instead he merely wants to send a SWAT team to your house to shoot you in the face if you don’t comply.
See? That’s way better.
Larry Correia, “The 2nd Amendment Is Obsolete, Says Congressman Who Wants To Nuke Omaha”, Monster Hunter Nation, 2018-11-19.
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September 24, 2021
Battle of the Hampton Roads – The Fury of Iron and Steam
Drachinifel
Published 20 Feb 2019The first ironclad vs ironclad battle is reviewed, along with the origins of the ships and some of the myths and legends about this historic battle.
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September 23, 2021
Tank Chats #125 | Sherman M74 ARV | The Tank Museum
The Tank Museum
Published 7 May 2021David Fletcher takes a look at the mighty M74 Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV), built on a Sherman M4A3 chassis.
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