I can imagine Othais giving a pre-battle briefing- "We'll be advancing on the enemy with a lot of dudes delivering suppressive fire with our super secret weapon. Unfortunately, the enemy has a lot of dudes too so it won't be a cake walk."

This really is a great contribution to our corner of history. The books I read as a kid always mentioned the Pedersen Device as an aside. Never any pictures. Now, here we are, lots of close ups, disassembly, and the one thing I never thought I'd see - someone firing the damn thing. To top it all off a crazy beard-o is just giving the info away for free. My hat's off to all of you at C&Rsenal.

I'd like to say how much I appreciate the "war were declared" clips.

I did as you said and went to watch the Springfield 1903 video. That video told me to watch the earlier Krag-Jørgensen video. It's nearly five hours later and I don't know whether to curse you or thank you.

In before Ian does a 2gun match with this.

After the Air Service rifle and this, for Mae's next trick she will shoulder fire a Lewis gun with a 97 round magazine, one round at a time, smiling throughout.

At the age of 12 I bought 2 M-1903 Mk l's. I bought them because I thought they were cool as hell. Of course, in 1970 when I was reported KIA in South Vietnam; my mother sold off some of my mil-surp guns, before I could call home 'n' tell her I was still on top of the grass. Good by to my M-1903 Mk l's... Damn it!!!

I'm not a gun person, but I am an engineer and I very much appreciate your ability to be technical, historical, and a bit humorous. It is a blend which works well. I found the Pederson story, which was totally new to me, fascinating, particularly how it played out in real military terms.

The US army must have had the biggest set of blue balls with the First World War in perspective. They have Thompsons, BAR's, and Pedersen's all ready to stack bodies on the trenches and then the Germans go: "Nein, we quit."

The Pederson could have been an excellent surprise weapon for a while, in combined arms and night attacks like those that were occurring in 1918 and planned for 1919. supressive fire from tanks,artillery, and aircraft would have covered the longer ranges. In Night attacks the low noise level would have led the Germans to underestimate the size of the attack force. I suspect it would have had a short service life, leading to replacement with submachine guns, BARs and Bazooka's(against pillboxes and small fortifications) as the assault weapons of choice..

I keep seeing flashes in my dreams of a Springfield with an Air Service length stock with the barrel cut there, fitted with a full-auto Pedersen Device in it.

And thus it was designed, and thus it was never used And thus, a French Army Bureaucrat said "STANDARDIZE ON ZIS!". Because what could be more French than a cartridge this odd?

Cyril Figgis: "Who says YOU get to decide who gets the money?" *Sterling Archer draws his M1911 Pistol* Sterling Archer: "John Moses Browning?" Great episode guys! A pistol in a rifle, now I want a Pistol in a Artillery piece.

Re-watching this episode because it's soothing to listen to Othias while I'm doing insane stuff at work. And I hear the words "We almost had a John Moses Browning SMG with souped-up .32ACP+P+ firing from 100 round mags. Why....God....Why do you torment us like this and then not give us this glorious weapon?

*Somewhere on the Hindenburg line in a possible 1919.* HANS! They all have machine guns! HANS RUN! WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

I saw live fire of a Pedersen device. Something I never thought I would see. AWESOME video guys.

YES! This is why your channel is worth the pledge, stuff like this, in depth, super detailed. Top marks, Othais.

lol armistice were declared

The bigfoot fairy UFO unicorn of WW1 guns, and C&Rsenal has a video on it. Not surprised.

I admire those that defended themselves and the secret devise's funding and resources spent for its production and adoption.

"It would have been a C&Rsenal fan favorite." In my Vader voice: "Nooooooooooo!"

Masterful. As usual. I'd like to see more of that Frenchman dancing at the Armistice though..

Man, this specific Pedersen device is going to pinball around the gun-circuit like Matt Farah's million mile Lexus

Based on all the equipment available to the US Army in WWI, a correctly functioning Pedersen device probably would have been the best available option for trench assault. The BAR would have been pretty good, but with heavier recoil and a smaller magazine than the Pedersen. None of the Army's machine guns were remotely capable of being operated effectively by a single man except for the Chauchat, and that would have been functionally similar to the BAR. Trench shotguns get a lot of hype these days, but they have a relatively small magazine, are painfully slow to reload, and have extremely limited range. Othais and Mae keep talking about submachine guns, and while they would have the best choice, the US wouldn't adopt one for another 2 decades. So as bad as it was, the Pedersen device was still probably the best you could have hoped for as a doughboy tasked with assaulting a German trench.

I think this is the earliest time in a video where “war were declared”

32:52 MAE WERE DECLARED!!!

After hearing of this device for 50 years, this is the first actual device I’ve seen. Thanks for demystifying this legend to get rid of the “if only” that had rattled in my mind. Can you imagine the potential of this device having made it massively into combat? All of us dealing with “M1 thumb” later would have to listen to the old timers telling of “Pedersen fingernail” and how we young’uns had it easy.

While this is a dead end in development, I can see why this was seen as a good thing at the time. It was an add-on to an existing rifle in a time when the armament board had a tough time finalizing any new weapon designs. All of us that subscribe remember the sights argument. Necessity being the mother of invention, for both weapons and tactics; I think the juggling act between bolts would have ended quickly. Pederson devices would have been equipped at the start of the attack on a portion of the rifles, while others stuck to stock 1903/1917 setups. The pederson shooters would have been told to hold fire until they were ready to storm the trench, while the stock riflemen would have fired at targets of opportunity/suppressive fire along with the light machine gunners. Take the trench and if/when you had breathing room, reassess your squad configuration to maximize holding of the trench.

Blessings from Australia 🇦🇺🙏 Thankyou for all the effort you all put in . Ps - Don’t mess with Mae ❤️

TY for doing a special on the Pederson Device & showing all the Pros & Cons and dispelling a few myths. Found your channel through The Great War & Forgotten Weapons. Its very enjoyable that you go in depth on the weapons you cover and the fact that the featured weapons get fully demonstrated & fired realy makes your channel stand out. TY again & looking forward to seeing all your future work.

Huzzah! I've finally made it! I slogged it through dozens of episodes to get caught up to this point. I watched through times both happy, and sad. I watched when your delivery of historical context put me to sleep, and I watched when the same history made my every nerve tingle in excitement. I patiently rushed through 3+ hours of content about 2 wonderful American rifles to make it to this moment. I am finally here, The Pedersen Device. I have returned from that moment in time from so many months ago that I tried to skip ahead, and you told me, " I have to recommend that you do not go another second further unless you've watched our 1903 episode."

You sir have earned my subscription to your channel.... The "modification" of the bolt action rifle to be converted into a semi-auto pistol caliber rifle is just one little instance of ingenuity at work within the basements, labs, workshops and offices of inventors and average Americans. Loved your everything about this video simply amazing an a wealth of knowledge! Thanks for your work and looking forward to digging through your library of knowledge and future videos.

It's here boys. Daddy did it.

Is that an Ottoman 1893 in the background? Nice.

Been up for 24 hours,.. the least I can do is stay up till 1:30 to watch the entirety. Thanks for sacrificing so much Othias and team!!

Truth be told, that is a genius design.

Wow! Over an hour of juicy info on the Pederson Device? Amazing! You guys really out do yourself. Pleaassseee keep up the GREAT work. Yall have come a loong way. - Jacob S.

It makes me immeasurably happy that you are doing this video

Somehow, Armistice Were Declared is not as exciting as War Were Declared. Great episode once again guys, well worth the wait and the sleep sacrifice!

As cool as they are, I now believe there will NEVER be any Pederson repros. It’s just not a well tested enough system and too complex for anyone to buy. The price tag would be insane, it would bring up controversies with current laws, and it might not even work out.

French Officer: "Take this Label, you get 8 rounds before reloading." French Soldier: "I'd prefer a faster reload like the Germans have." French Officer: *Rolls Eyes* "Fine then, take this Berthier. It uses stripper-clips and everything. Now you get 3 rounds before reloading." French Soldier: (-_-)

I just dug out my grandfathers M1903 Springfield Mark-I, the barrel is roll stamped S.A. 5-19 and does have an ejection port milled into the left receiver rail. I was curious so I looked, and behold it does still has both it's original split trigger sear and hook notched bolt cut-off that you described and demonstrated. So it would appear that if could find a Pederson device (that worked) I'd be all set for a little trench action. ^_^

Great job C&Rsenal! I appreciate the great efforts to bring us quality content.

Excellent video. Amazing amount of work and patience. The most comprehensive Pederson device documentation in one place. Congrats again for another not-to-be-missed video.

Wow! that Pedersen was a mechanical genius. Just found your Channel from forgotten weapons... Nice work! Great job!

i love C&Rsenal... i'll support you with money when i get my first job, i promise, thank you for lighting fire in my heart, my love to ww1 firearms is great like war that happen 100 years ago, (you know... an Great War.. heh... uh..)

I always figured that if the Pederson device was refined a little bit, and a method of fully automatic fire developed, it could have been used to convert 03's into SMGs in ww2.

“8 inches of penetration is plenty at close range!” WELL SAID!

Also prerequisite viewing: Novak having a gatgasm over it last week.

Somewhere, someday in the future, someone will open a box marked "Pedersen Device" and find it also includes a certificate of provenance which proclaims "This is the one Mae shot".

It's absolutely amazing to get this much developmental and technical history on the Pedersen Device. I've never seen or heard one of these being fired til now. Thank you very much for what you guys do. Also Mae looks damn fine in that web gear haha.

This is the most complete explanation of my 03! Thanks for your efforts. I and my Peterson 03 appreciate it.

I was in the bath when I got the notification. No soapy ass cheeks will keep me away!

Another great video, especially liked the addition of the period webbing kit Mae was wearing! Ps just had your t-shirts arrive and there great ! Keep up the good work.

Now I know there’s special kind of madness you guys just proved it.😍

Impressive work guys, managing to get your hands on this rare piece of weaponry.

This made my day, hooray Othais and May

Your skill at finding the rare stuff puts me in hope of seeing a howell or farquhar hill on here

@C&Rsenal Thanks for your hard work!

Damn another super fabulous awesome vid. Thanks you guys rock.

Thank goodness you got Mr. Zip, Zip, Zip in one finally!

This video provided the first clear images of the Pedersen Device I've ever seen and of course a the first clear (to me at least) description of how it worked/was supposed to work I have ever seen. As a former soldier myself, I can't see anything good coming out of the design in a combat situation based on my experience with young men who had little or no experience with ANY firearm prior to somebody handing them a bullet launcher during basic training. When you take into consideration how "basic" the training was back then I can only imagine how difficult it would have been to train raw troops on the finer points of utilizing, caring for, and feeding the Pedersen Device while under fire from heavy machineguns and in the muck and mud of a trench line. Nothing good for those troops could come out it me thinks. I've also seen references over the years, to Mr. Pedersen being Mr. Browning's "favorite gun designer".....And I think I know why now. As long as Mr. Pedersen was around Mr. Browning could sell just about any design he could dream up to just about anybody since most of his firearms designs were really pretty simple and tended to work even under sever conditions and in the hands of kids from the Bronx or from the Back Side of Nowhere Texas. And so the B.A.R. would remain in U.S. Army inventory for decades after WWI while the Pedersen Device would become something of a historical footnote, though a fascinating one indeed. Excellent video indeed! Keep 'em comin'!!!

@C&Rsenal Thanks to this video, I learned that my 1903 Mark 1, despite being re-barreled in 43 for the USMC, still maintains its original Seer and Magazine cut off! I wish I would have found this a-lot sooner! I would not have hesitated so much in the purchase of my 03! Thank you!

Great video! Wonderful to see it function! Keep up the fantastic work!

It’s the best way for downed airmen to raid trenches

imagine sawn-off M1903 + pistol grip + horegrip + Pedersen Device.... i need that thing

I was wondering where the episode last night. So so so happy that this exists

Love you guys and the work you do! I apologize not being able to support your patreon but I appreciate you and everyone that does. Thank for all your hard work guys!

Can't wait to see what's next, kind of hoping for more weird 32acps or hour long rifle videos.

one of the few times we will ever see Armistice were declared.

Great work as always team. Thanks for the special.

Awesome! I never thought I’d see one of these in action, as I thought they were practically all destroyed at wars end. Excellent video, thanks for posting!

*Flails happily*

YES! YES! FINALLY SOME AMERICAN FIREPOWER AT LAST! (Starts chugging moonshine and bacon) - Jack the Korean Gun guy

I've never seen footage of one of these in use in real life. This is amazing! Thank you for the awesome video! ❤

Wooooooooooooooooooooooo, I've been waiting for this ever since you posted the armory vid of it.

lemme go make some soup, this is gonna be a long one

A crimmas miracle

Old vid but adding a comment for keeping it alive. Thank you for the work on covering the Pederson. Such a unique mechanism that could easily be lost to history.

Armistice were declared is probably my favorite thing to randomly drop in an episode

Yay Armistice were declared!... ☮

I get ready to go to bed and this gets posted...

Great video guys! Very interesting to see an in-depth look on the handling of these things. Up until now, I thought that they were way more practical than they actually are.

This is just about the coolest firearms thing I've ever seen. Somewhat delicate, flawed concept, but simply beautiful.

Never clicked on a video so fast

"Ross Rifle terrifying" lol

the fact that the device even kinda works makes it a testament of engineering.

One of your BEST video's. Thank you.

Hey, the .32ACP Ruby proved a .30 Cal pistol isn't that bad an idea.

So you got Maya to straighten its shit out, good. Now I have a late bed-time story to watch. :D

Subscribed, I like the way you explain things and your general demeanor.

Wow that's a lot of information. Thanks. Really learned stuff. I am really impressed with the work you must have put into the reserch.

Imagine if the Pedersen Device came in a fully automatic version

War were declared quite early!

The producing of more Mk 1 rifles than Pederson devices actually makes sense. You can distribute the rifles thoughout the Army and then give units Pederson devices as needed. I could have seen them going to 100% Mk 1 rifles for this reason.

The music during the animations adds a very nice professional touch. Keep up the great work!

Ohhh othias you sweet summer child laziness is undefeatable

I was going to call the cops if the clock had passed 12:00 tonight, just like O-san had asked us to do in a vidya a few weeks ago...

Thanks for telling us about the "lie." The lie was fun to watch. I'm glad you edited it the way you did. It's fine with me as long as you "fess up" afterwards. Thanks for a fun video. I'm pretty sure it's the first I watched on this channel.

Outstanding! Reminds me of interesting tools I created several decades ago.