Seen these guns all my life, and learned more about them in this 15 min video. Wonderful, more like this.

There's something so connective in hearing someone who actually works on these pieces talk about them, as opposed to historians/curators. The knowledge is pure nerd gold that's based on hands-on experience. Keep up the great work lads!

That was awesome . Never knew or seen any of the accessories before . Thanks Darryl . They certainly were dealers of death

So with that rear MG34 mount on the Schwimmwagen it looks like tailgaters were a problem back then too.

Great job Daryl, loved the presentation. It's great to see you not just slogging it out in the workshop. I especially liked seeing all the different accessories and how they all worked together with the MG platforms. I have see lots of videos on the weapons but never with all the bits to go with them.

It's always awesome to hear the stuff from an actual "every day" enthusiast. This makes a significant difference over what we're hearing from historians and gun experts.

I love the workshop Wednesday's, but these little videos are marvellous, such a knowledgable bloke 👍

This presentation is WUNDERBAR! Just the type of weekend surprise we love from y'all down-under guys! Thanks for the effort, boys!

The level of engineering of this system blows my mind. Very neat!

Great presentation! When I was in the German army in the mid-1970s as a Jaeger (light infantry) we used the MG3. MG3 is basically the MG42 with some minor improvements. As ingle weapon or together with the 'Lafette' (the tripod) it was a great weapon. Our bataillon commander was a big fan of the MG, so everyone had to be good at handling it. Just in case the Lieutenant Colonel came by and asked a soldier about some specifics.

One of your best videos yet . Totally different to what else out there. Like Daryl said plenty of operation videos . Personal thanks to Kurt and Daryl on this one

Fantastic! Maybe Ian should take a trip to Australia?

The German Ammo Cans can hold six belts (300 rounds). To fit them in there, you link two belts together (102 rounds including the starter tab), and you load them in opposite direction as the normal feeding direction, then you link together four belts (202 rounds, including the starter tab) and load them in the normal feeding direction. When you stack the belts, the belts do not sit flat, they start to collapse forward, so by loading the first two belts in the opposite direction, it allows you to counteract that tendency to fall forward and allows you to fit 300 (304) rounds in the can, much easier, than trying to fit 300 rounds with the belts all facing the same direction. One of the German MG42 manuals shows how to do this. Compare that to Czech 8mm Mauser Ammo cans for the ZB37 machine gun. These had an angled ramp in the bottom of the can to help the rounds sit straight, but this reduced their capacity to 250 rounds. The handles on the ammo cans (and even the gurtrommel holders) are also designed to accept a leather sling, so that poor basterd could connect the two cans with the sling and carry them around his shoulder. One full can weighs about 10 kg, so probably 2 cans is about as much as anyone would want to carry at a time.

Man, that was good.

By the way, "ящик" is scrawled on the aluminum box for cartridges, which means "box'' or "case"))))

G'day Mates! I love how you bring WWII history and others back to life with respect to how you save what can be saved and when needed, recreate as close to the original so not to be noticed. As a retired U.S. Marine, I will ALWAYS have a soft spot for the Aussie Diggers and Kiwis. They will always have a round of beers on me. In the dark days of 1942, you opened your hospitals and homes to give succor and comfort to our wounded and tired Marines. You gave us safety when there was no where else to go. The bonds of friendship created during those hard times created lifelong relations (and marriages) that last to this day. God bless the Aussies and Kiwis. Semper Fidelis.

I love how everyone on the channel knows about WW2 weapons and vehicles, this is my number one channel for the histrory of WW2 armour and weapons.

Today on The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum Utube channel,…”Forgotten Weapons”…subjects which Ian McCollum used to show us.

Good introduction to the type. Nicely explained. Well done. Loved it when our Leopard 1s had MG3s up top.

Great Vid! I’ve done the Vegas thing and 40 rounds with the 34 lasted about 3 seconds!

I'm amazed at the level of usability and design on all these things. I can see where the German engineering memes come from.

Thanks Daryl, a really well delivered and thoroughly absorbing video. I am really impressed with the collection of MG34 paraphernalia. Thanks again, Cheers

I watch quite a few firearm channels and really appreciate the accessories review

Wow, you guys kicked this one outta the park, fantastic vid.. well done !

Excellent video and presentation by Daryl. These new type of videos are great. Thank you!

My father and relatives fought in W.W.2; Dunkirk, Normally ( died), Burma (2, one who suffered until deceased was malaria), my father; R.N., 1940-, Malts convoys ( torpedoed, Russian convoys protected, Africa convoys etcetera. As a kid I enthused about Germs weaponry to which he replied ( having gone through the inter-war Depression) “They’d been preparing for war for years. No one watching this could doubt that. Let’s hope that the similar economic mistakes cutting out military’s doesn’t cost more lives and crippling injuries and bereaved. I thoroughly enjoy your videos. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿❤️

🇦🇺 I agree with Kurt - WOW! Excellent content!

Informative as usual.....love your work Daryl 👍

Excellent video. Amazing German engineering. Thanks

I am sure Daryl is secreting missing Jason; however, Daryl's like a kid in a sweet shop when handling the MG's ... I learnt a lot in that short presentation ... Thank you 😍

Love these extra videos. Thank you so much

Being a MG3 (MG 42 v/7.62mm) operator, I like your video. Much more to be told about it but your video is very good 😊.

Amazing video, the whole weapon system is so well designed

Bloody brilliant presentation from someone who is enthusiastic about what he does it shows. Ted RNZAF vet 27 yrs.

Great presentation! Here in the USA, I remember in the late 1990s to early 2000's a whole bunch of ex-Bundeswehr kit showed up on the surplus market after the post-Cold War draw down. One could buy a practically brand new MG3 tripod, with optical sight and battery box, for $250 USD. The majority of states in the US permit ownership of live machine guns provided one can pass the FBI criminal checks, but MG34s and MG42s are horrendously expensive ($30K-40K USD). There's hardly any surplus 8x57mm ammo left so shooting these bad boys cost a small fortune; $500-$1000 per minute.

The best vid on KZfaq about mg34/42 hands down. Cairns is killing it with AusArmour!

Daryl is absolutely fantastic. A pleasure to watch and listen to...

What an outstanding little brief. Thanks guys.

I have to admit that these artworks of engeneering make me proud to be German. Americans try to solve problems when they occur. Germans try to solve problems before they occur. As a skilled German metal worker (3.5 years of practise and school) I don't only know what will happen - I also learnt why.

Great, as always.

Pretty damn cool gun

nice video - as a bit of a gun nerd who used to fire a fair number of different weapons (150+) in my younger years, i have to say i always admired the German MGs, the 34 and 42 were indeed some of the finest pieces ever made, my personal favourite would have to be an Stg44 (who wouldn't), our UK Bren was a tad problematic, i used to fire one that belonged to my dads friend, it was very picky on ammunition brands, and sometimes might double tap or fire 3-5 shots on a single shot setting, interesting but, and another friend of mine collected German gear, the clothing while original was never washed so maintained the smell of gun oil etc and natural dirt from the weapons, his MG38 was well maintained and licensed to fire blanks during enactments and any film work undertaken, i loved it, the mechanism ran so smooth even after so many years work its so cool to see all the different tools and kit required, the snail drums are amazing, and a bit rare these days to find in good working order - great to see this and look forward to more tank and weapon fixes

I knew about the spare barrels but hadn't realised how much other kit was supplied with the MG34. Thanks Daryl, great video.

Fantastic details. It shows how good German product engineering was. Practical, cheap & durable. Here it all is 80 years later, still working. Pick up a Sten today! They hardly worked when new.

Great video guys!

Brilliant video.👍

The aa extension pole for either the 34 or 42 lafette was not carried by the assistant gunner as it had no provision to be carried,no strap or carry case was issued for it..... because of this the extension pole was rarely issued in the field and was only issued in static emplacements....the double spare barrel containers were a tank accessory...max recommended length of ammo belt is 5 x 50 round belts linked to make a 250 continuous link belt.

Excellent video 👍

"Now if Indiana Jones is coming up behind yah, yah just release this, and remount the gun to the rear !" You crazy Ozzie jokers, I love it !

Great the presentation! i have read about the belt loader but this is the first time I have seen one. What I did not see is the armoured barrel cover used in the tanks ball mount. Daryl does like the MG34 but the MG42/G3 have their avantages.

I was lucky enough to fire both the MG34 & MG42 in the USA.. Such an awesome weapon

It's not just the engineering that went into these items it's the consideration of the user in the various designs that stands out.

Austrian army still uses them as the MG74 (still being produced today...), nowadays chambered in 7.62 Nato though.

Wow that was some awesome presentation Sir❤👍🏻👍🏻✌🏻🇱🇺

Thanks so much for showing us this kit!

Best thing I've ever seen on the 34!

Incredible kit!

Man I love anything WWII. The constant evolution of technology. The problem solving. "Germans made this new armor now how we do we defeat it" It just blows my mind. It's much more fascinating than modern warfare technologies. I appreciate what you gentleman are doing, preserving history!

Awesome

Beautiful collection, thank you for sharing!

Awesome. Thank you.

That was excellent thank you.

Fantastic work guys!

Excellent video. Thank you.

Thanks, well done and very informative.

Great stuff

Loaded the belts for MG3 a whole day with that loading tool. 30 shots each for the exercise. When it jams, you just turn half turn back and you can go again. Sometimes whe the belt is a bit older a bullet won't go into the belt completely so you have to help a bit manually. Works like a charm but selfdisassembling belts are a lot easier to use.

Great presentation , thanks.

Great video thanks for sharing

Man I love your videos! Just outstanding.

Excellent presentation! Good job!

Very interesting! I learned a lot from this one. Thanks guys!!!

Great video 👍

Just Awsome!! Love the info and Enthusiasm!👍😁😁😁😁

I love it. Thank you 👍😀

Thanks guys! It's amazing to see all parts together and with practical explanations about their use.

Great explanation and presentation

Brilliant

Love a shot outta one of those

Amazing video! A real pleasure to be taken through such a great piece of equipment and history. Thank you

Wow, really informative and good stuff! Thanks guys.

Brilliant informative vlog, well presented and adding another side to the armament of the tanks.👍

Excellent Video with equipment you never see.

Ahhhh...my interim fix! Thanks so much!

Awesome presentation... very detailed ... the use of spare stuff I didn´t know... Congrats.

Really good. More like this please 🙂

amazing

Great to see all the extras that come with the weapon. Never knew there was so many

How cool.

This video was tremendous with detail, thank you so much. I learned more than I often do in longer presentations.

Excellent video, I didn’t know that they came with so many accessories

Awesome bit of extra video

Great vid!

Thanks Daryl, that was great :) Thanks also Kurt for putting this together!

Thanks for this boys. Fascinating information, and great for military modelers...

This was a ripper video to see love watching the tank restos but love the In-depth look into the accessories and guns in the tanks them selves

very cool! ive seen videos about the guns themselves before but not all the cool toys that go with it. really nice to see it all in one place. thanks guys! believe it or not id have to say my favorite piece is that little leather battery box. just something cool about it.

Ahh,just brilliant guys....!! Thanks for this episode. Appreciated. Anymore,just great....really. Thanks All..

Thatvwas another great video from The AAAM, I had the pleasure of being at the museum a couple of weeks ago, and absolutly enjoyed my time there, best regards from a Kiwi living in Melbourne

A Crash Course in MG34 & 42, Thank You !!!