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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

Man, that was good.

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.

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.

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. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿❤️

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Excellent video. Amazing German engineering. Thanks

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

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

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.

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 😍

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

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

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

What an outstanding little brief. Thanks guys.

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.

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

After watching this video, one of my life goals is to make my way to Australia and go out drinking with this man.

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

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

Great, as always.

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

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

Brilliant video.👍

Best thing I've ever seen on the 34!

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!

Great video guys!

Pretty damn cool gun

Excellent video 👍

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.

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

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

"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 !

Nice paper weight and door stopper collection.

Zeer mooie uitleg van dit wapen en zijn toebehoren. Jullie zijn goed bezig met deze filmpjes. Groeten uit Nederland.

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.

Great video I loved it! The presentation Darryl was superb! You're so knowledgable about the minutiae of this weapon system that most weapons enthusiasts like me probably had no idea about hardly anything you demonstrated. More please! That belt loader would work much better with clean brass like it would have been during the war. I'd get a vibratory tumbler and put all your old rounds in for 24-36 hours and they would come out like they would have been originally and when on display they would make a better presentation to your restored tanks etc.

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

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

Excellent presentation. The photo's in the books will show so much more after the knowledge you imparted. It is interesting that many photo's of MG teams have them with multiple belts of ammo around their necks...I guess more is better when you can carry only so many ammo boxes each, and the high fire rate of the guns, particularly the MG42. Fascinating the intelligent design of many of the guns features and accessories.

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

I was working on a 1/1 3D printed MG34 but had to stop as I didn't have dimensions. But I fell in love with the gun while studying it. What a wonderfully engineered thing.

Excellent choice of presentation. Daz is right in that there's numerous videos showing the operation and tear-down of the MG34 and MG42. I just watched Ian rip off a hundred rounds or so yesterday on a "Forgotten Weapons" video. But this display of the accessories and mounts was something that was missing.

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

Fun fact........the company that won the tender to make the MG-42 stamped parts........did so because of their expertise in stamped sheet metal technology for making toys. When fighting human wave attacks on the eastern front, an MG-42 would be fired all day, by using its quick barrel swap feature and about 6 spare barrels that the gunners mate kept nearby to cool down, using asbestos gloves.

How cool.

Excellent video. Thank you.

Really good. More like this please 🙂

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.

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

Wow, best video I have seen on German MG’s…👏👏👍👍👌

Excellent Video with equipment you never see.

Wonderful presentation Daryl. We need more like this in the future. Thanks guys for having this awesome channel. Greetings from Florida, US.🙂🤞

More videos like this please

Wow, really informative and good stuff! Thanks guys.

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

The best job in the world.I love military antiques and WWll history.

Love a shot outta one of those

Awesome. Thank you.

Excellent presentation! Good job!

Great video, however I wish he would have went in to greater detail of the Lafette 34s features. Such as the search fire mechanism, the semi auto/full auto feature, the oiler brush in the trigger mechanism, the data plate and optic options. Also the multiple set up options for heavy fire, bunker defence. His description of AA fire he doesn’t use the flip up AA site on the rear sight intended for AA use.

Fascinating. The MG34 system (really seems more like a comprehensive system) is masterful engineering and manufacturing. And of course the MG42 is the template for many of the heavy MGs up to today.

Fantastic work guys!

Brilliant

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

👍👍👍!!!

Have a look at the MG34 "Panzerlauf" which had a heavier barrel jacket and fewer cooling holes. This was the variation used in the heavy vehicles. Some very interesting details shared here. I had seen the Bakelite stock before and was trying to understand when the change was made to a simple wood stock. The tank attachment piece is also of great interest. Thank you for making this.

very nice

Great presentation , thanks.

Great explanation and presentation

Fantastic video.

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

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

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

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

Awesome

Practical rate of fire was 120 rounds per minute for the MG-34