Rock Island Auctions: Rich mahogany Rock Island Arsenal: Janitors closet

Only the best electrical closets for Ian to film in.

The breaker box with a huge "DON'T SWITCH OFF!" warning on it being switched off tickled me quite a bit :D.

I wanna live in an alternate future where the US army has these weird flechete rifles with multi shot grenade launchers built in and the bundeswehr have g11s that you need a masters in mechanical engineering to field strip.

Loaded from a 60 round dark chocolate rolo.

I think you forgot to mention that they're primer activated

The muzzle device is hilarious! Beautiful example of "check the box" engineering in order to meet arbitrary contract requirements. 'You want a what? OK, we'll weld a few more lugs on there."

I love the styling of this rifle, very retro-futuristic.

I have an empty cartridge case for this rifle. It was given to me almost 40 years ago by one of the engineers on this project. He told me about the flechette projectile. When I commented on the protruding primer he told me that was by design. It's unique, and I've never seen another one.

If vinyl records can make a come back, so can flechette rounds.

Most tactical muzzle device ever.

What's funny is the smoothbore flechette firing concept is actually extremely good for large bore tank cannons. It's what the primary AP rounds on an M1 tank are.

Me: "Oh wow, a flechette rifle! How Cool!" FW: "It was a complete, absolute dumpster fire" Damn.

Only museum I ever had to get a background check done before I could get in. It was worth it.

Never realized how much I wanted a steampunk Garand until now.

"Improve hit probability by volume of fire" or as intellectuals refer to it, *NEEDS MOAR DAKKA*

The mag reminds me of the Farquar-Hill Rifle's magazine.

" Don't shut off" sticker applied to that box in the background; lever sits in off position...

I always have a soft spot for more experimental weapon designs, even if they don't pan out.

flechette guns always amaze me, so goddamn cool.

The rifles were alright, but man, those electrical boxes really stole the show. More electrical boxes please.

Are they called SPIW because they go SPIW SPIW instead of PEW PEW

Cool guns. In case anyone went straight to the comments instead of watching the full vid, these are primer activated btw.

my favorite type of gun, the cartridge based crossbow.

I love the designs of the bolts. Probably the most fascinating part of firearms to me. The bolts, the carriers, the lock-up systems and how they are intended to cooperate in fractions of seconds.

I have never seen anything more clearly conceived of, and built in, the 60's than this gun.

I love the switch behind Ian that has a label saying “DO NOT SHUT OFF” is in the off position.

After that little ammo lecture, I think it would make a great video, going through some of the weird and wonderful rounds that have been dreamt-up.

With odd weapons like this I always wonder how they ended up there (of course with this gun it's clear but still) cool rifle, thanks for sharing

Ian. I have been watching since your 4th upload. And as someone that has a BS in History( from Springfield College, yes THAT Springfield). I have got to let you know. You have become a Premier American Historian. While watching. I feel that this upload not only shows your enthusiasm for a rifle that is truly rare. But also the intellectual enthusiasm for the subject matter. Ian. I think You have hit your stride. Keep it up!!!!!!!!!!! P.S. Ian V. Hogg is rolling in his grave while wishing he was as good as you. :)

I think of this as the American G11. Weird ammo, quirky action, goes for volume instead of accuracy, actually could have been pretty badass if they had worked out all the flaws...

Little known fact - flechettes were designed to counteract an invading force driving chevettes. A highlight in miscommunication history.

Finally, actual "forgotten weapons."

Ian, whenever The_Cheiftan gets to a place where he’ll be filming a video series, he does what he calls an “unofficial high speed tour”, walking through the whole museum in 20 minutes or so. With all of the weird museums you visit all over the world, I think a similar thing would probably fit in really well on this channel

Speaking of interesting cartridges, I would love to hear you talk about Metal Storm Limited at some point Ian.

Halfway in, I'm left to wonder: is it, by chance, primer actuated?

The drum reminds me of the Farquhar-hill drum mag.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="236">3:56</a> Sounds like someone's breaking in a new 2lt in the background.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="442">7:22</a> I scratched my head for about 10 minutes trying to remember where I had used such a safety. Not just seen or read about, but touched and operated with my hands. Finally hit me.... M203 Grenade Launcher, which was sadly not fed by a 3-round magazine.

Hey dude ,new sub here . I discovered by chance your channel few days ago and despite i don t have any particular interest in fire arms i found your videos captivating by all the tech details and historical informations you put in your work , and this one is no exception.All the best.

The arsenal museum has cool things like prototype plastic mags from the 1960s

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh when people say "spew" they mean SPIW. This is like the day I realized "skuzzy" is SCSI.

I attended a four week m14NM and M1911A1NM accurizing course in 1987 or 1988 and I got to see those two rifles in the museum. I was always interested in how they work and never had an opportunity to handle them. One of our instructors had fired them and told me that he ended up with shredded green plastic in his beard after firing one of them from the muzzle devise. Very interesting video. Thanks.

That bolt is a beautiful example of 60s metal polishing. I love that aesthetic.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="533">8:53</a> for when you need to go prone while firing a grenade and stabbing someone

I was recommended your channel randomly and I must say you have single handedly gotten me into the inner working of various firearms !!! I will one day become a collector because the history and mechanics of what we've crafted as a species amazes me.

Worth noting the decibel is logarithmic, so that 10 db difference at the muzzle is actually 10 times louder than the M16.

This is a neat weapon. One of the cool things about the guns is that it's primer-actuated. I'm not sure if the video mentions that.

In a strange way it's very reminiscent aesthetically of the Farquhar-Hill, even down to the drum magazine.

Now I want to see Caseless, Duplex, Saboted Flechette make it into a prototype military weapon.

Awesome job Ian, that is some true Forgotten Weapons right there.

It's hilarious how much that mag looks like the mag for the Farquhar-Hill rifle ... in fact, the entire rifle has the same kind of profile minus the pistol grip!

You can tell that a venue doesn't like Ian when they make him wear gloves and film in the electrical closet.

The breaker box behind Ian says "DON'T SHUT OFF', of course someone has shut it off. 😄👍

It's nice to see a schematic of the ammo, thanks! This is especially cool for rare ammo like fléchettes

Ian is amazing to listen to. His knowledge is vast.

Interesting to note that J.C. Garand's early design version of the M1 was primer actuated.

The operating springs for the SPIW prototypes took some impressive engineering in order to survive the insane cyclic rates of these weapons.

I was stationed at RIA for a couple of years. Their museum is amazing. So cool that you are there. You'll have subject matter for decades.

That super complicated muzzle device is super neat looking.

What I read about in, I believe, SCIENCE & MECHANICS in c1965 was that it was more like a shotgun, firing several dozen in one shot. I had my doubats at the time. There were also some legal problems with this on the international scene

"If you have to SPIW, SPIW in this." - Garth

Another vid on the SPIW guns! Thanks, Ian!

love the videos man. very entertaining and informative

Wait hold on, is this primer activated?

Power box in the background with a "DON'T SHUT OFF" label. Handle in the OFF position.

God you can see how excited Ian is. His moving and speaking a little faster than he usually does.

I saw a flechette 12 gauge shotgun shell used in Vietnam. The unit I was with was suffering great losses at our S4 supply storage area. Seems the local folk were using it as their personal lumber yard, stealing our plywood and such to build their hooch's in the nearby village. So the old man decided it was time to put a stop to this pilferage, he ordered a night ambush be placed in the area where the fence had been cut. Now I don't know his thoughts on this but he ordered the troops on guard to be armed with 12 gauges loaded with these flechette rounds. Perhaps he thought they were less then lethal, but boy was he wrong. When a couple of local's made their trip to the midnight plywood store, our clerks and jerks who were pulling guard duty blasted away with their 12 gauges! The results: three kids dead, ages 12, 16 and 17. The uproar in the village nearly turned into a riot, the old man lost his job over the deal, and I got to see the results of these wondrous rounds in action. They were a bit messy despite their tiny size they really tore up those boys, of course they were dressed in their black pajamas (a common night wear among they locals at the time) so there was little to no resistance. Lots of blood; I can tell you.

The Mississippi seems some what Drier than I had anticipated!

I wonder if these are primer activated..... Does he mention at all?

Excellent! I hope to see you do a video on the XM148 launcher/sight combination when you find it!

If I were to hazard a guess the Flechette was likely one of the same found in M1001 40mm canister (the only high velocity anything from that 40mm platform). These are cast metal and much like the larger 2.75inch rocket version have a habit of fins breaking off causing flechettes to go rouge. This isn’t a problem when you have a load of these things shooting a 4 foot pattern at 100 yards. Today with modern alloys and CNC machining you could probably make extremely accurate darts, they would be expensive though. If they really want it to work the Army should shine the Bill Alexander beacon on a cloudy night. He and his sidekick (Lapua man) can solve any problem.

Did he mention at some point it was primer activated?

with that drum magazine it looks kinda like sci-fi version of johnson rifle

I'm liking the way that thing looks. The handguard is cool!

I love it. The second from left cutout switch notes "DON'T SHUT OFF." And it is shut off.

How to know Ian is a real person, he gets giggly at the sound of kids and smiles

"I am here today In tHe miDDlE oF The miSsisSIPpi riVeR."

I really wish they would let Ian shoot more of these guns as part of his presentation.

Rumour has it that these were primer activated. I'm surprised he didn't mention that.

Nobody: Ian: Did I mention it's primer activated?

Thank you Ian

The best of these videos is when I see the thumbnail and think WTF IS THAT

Did I mention they are primer activated?

I have a strange feeling these are primer-activated.

Nice man! This is so cool!

Once had to pick up some new manufacture M-252 mortars from Rock Island. Most amusing part was that I had to tell my immediate chain of command that to transport the mortars we ourselves had to draw weapons and tool up.

Nobody: Gun Jesus: PRIMER ACTIVATED!!!!

"Did I mention its primer activated!!!" No only like three times 😅😅

Pretty darn cool - thanks Ian!

While I do love all of your videos on modern weapons, this is one of those weapons that would likely classify as a true “forgotten weapon”. Love this unusual stuff. I would love to see more like it

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="153">2:33</a> the muzzle device on the ‘66 pattern looks like a model of an Art Deco spaceship Interesting that the Steyr ACR flechette was also 10gr

Hey, I heard those crazy guns were primer activated or something.

I was intrigued by the heavy duty electrical breaker switch on the wall behind you labelled "don't shut off" which was nonetheless clearly switched to the off position!

The kid yelling in the background is a great new addition 😜

You forgot to mention that it's primer activated. Not many people know that

The wierder the gun is, the more is Ian excited. You can notice this if you watch Forggoten Weapons for a while

When a submarine and a rifle have a secret love child. Jokes aside what fascinating weapons. I've been really intrigued by the attempts to use flechettes in small arms.

Great video!

Not surprised these didn't make it past prototype.