Oh, man, there's nothing more rewarding than coming home from work to sit on my PPSh-41 and have a freshly Sharps Carbine-ground coffee whilst listening to the radio on my Winchester M70

Guns like swords do flex, it's the way of life and EVERYTHING either flexes or breaks

50 years from now, "I am Ian with forgotten weapons and today we will be looking at this prototype energy rifle"

Don't forget the most famous example of something built into the stock of a rifle: the Official Red Ryder carbine-action two-hundred-shot range-model air-rifle with a compass in the stock and the thing that tells time. (eye patch not included)

I have no idea why i've been subbed to this channel for years, and watch every video. Guns are illegal where im from, I dont really know anything about them outside games and movies, but I find it facinating listening to Ian talking about them with such passion.

For the viewer that asked about fast powders, if you meant a faster burn rate, there is a counterintuitive thing that happens where the fastest projectile velocity is generally achieved by the slowest powder that can be used and still be mostly consumed by the time the bullet exits the barrel. This is because the limiting factor in a given gun is pressure. The faster powder will reach maximum pressure sooner, and then drop off. As such, the push will be of the same intensity, but lower duration, resulting in lower projectile velocity.

Man. I wish I had an RSC I could lean against my bookshelf.

If you get a coffee grinder sharps you should make yourself a cup of coffee with it in the video.

I want a rifle with a kitchen sink in the stock

Speaking of radios in rifles: there was the Ryan Model 529 rifle transceiver built for ARPA's Project Agile in the 1960s. It fit inside the M16 stock and was supposed to be used in counter-insurgency like Vietnam (although the radio pre-dates combat operations in Vietnam). It used the barrel as the antenna (and an aerial) and had push-to-talk function, and could talk to AN/PRC-25 as well as itself.

I really appreciate that you label in the description when you answer certain questions Ian. (:

Thanks a million for your videos. I have been a gun "nut" since the first time my father took me out with his old Remington Target Jr. .22LR rifle and let me shoot it at a tin can. I must have been 4 or 5 at the time, and could hardly hold that heavy little rifle, in fact dad had to help me hold it up. I began reading gun magazines when I could afford them the result of mowing lawns, cleaning snow from sidewalks, and working for my Uncle on his farm every summer for 5 dollars a day, room and board. Purchased my first pistol from a "Carney" who was passing through town, it was a sawed off single shot lever action rifle cut off to about 12 inches, and illegal as hell even back then. I shot it until the firing pin finally broke. I liked it because it resembled those old flintlock pistols carried by pirates, since it had no sights, I could hardly hit anything with it but still, just shooting it was a thrill. My next gun was a semi-auto .22 that my uncle gave me when he came up sort on wages one week, that was a great little gun despite is't tenancy to occasionally pop off two or three rounds then jam. Well the list goes on, as did my love for the gun, and for the next 50 years or so, I carried, repaired, and even built my own guns. That said, your show challenge my knowledge and add to it. I maintain that we can remain young so long as we never stop learning, and these shows indeed help me stay my young 65 years of age. Please keep up the wonderful work, and I assure you, I will keep up my watching of them.

Obviously the the next development in firearms technology is going to be the phased plasma pulse rifle (40 watt range). On a slightly more serious note, if Gauss weapons (railguns, coilguns, and other such magnetic acceleration based weapons) become more practical, it would be interesting to see if they could be miniaturized enough to be practical as a man portable weapon.

Don't forget the Galil has a bottle opener built in the forend.

As a history buff, I just appreciate these Q&A's so much. Thanks Ian.

Loved this video. Ian, you have a genius for successfully explaining the complex in a simple manner. Bravo.

Why is Ian wearing normal clothes?

The coffee grinder was added because soldiers were using the but stock of their rifles to crush coffee. The stocks of the rifles were cracking so they added a coffee grinder to the stock.

I'd say that the ultra-compact sub machine guns that fire the armour piercing higher velocity pistol cartridges in the style of the HK 4.6 and FN 5.7 is the final evolution of that classification and are still relevant. The MP7 is the best example of this, as it is considerably smaller and lighter than say an M4. I know that the Bundeswher armour crewmen use it as their PDW, and I believe also some of their anti-tank infantry prefer it to carrying a rifle. I've seen pictures of various counter terrorist units using them as sidearms, as it can be hip-holstered fairly comfortably, and of course acts as a much more useful weapon than a pistol. Because it can be hip holstered like this, I imagine that there are other roles it could be used to infantry in. For example, GPMGs are not exactly nice to shoulder fire, and the infantry carrying these weapons are usually issued pistols for self defense. Carrying both a carbine and a GPMG is just too heavy. A submachine gun like the MP7 can close the gap of "too far for a pistol, not practical for a big old GPMG"

Edifying and interesting to a degree seldom approached by youtube videos. Great work, Ian! And, remember, even fans who can't afford Patreon still appreciate your expertise.

My favorite video ever! Great job Ian. A lot of interesting topics covered in one video!

Fascinating and very informative. Thank you very much sir. Being a Mechanical Engineer, I especially liked your explanation of the limitations of hypervelocity rounds and the distinction between obsolete and obsolescent. 👍🏾👍🏾

someone needs to petition the atf that welrods and maxim silencer should be exempt from the nfa because how old and rare they are and that people buying them are collectors

This was a very good video, I hope you do more of this format.

Good stuff and informative as always, Ian.

I've spoken with some people involved in the military LSAT trials and they seem pretty excited about the telescoping-cased ammunition. Essentially it's a polymer case with the bullet and powder both encased by it, making it lighter and shorter than compatible metallic-cased ammo. It's a fairly small and incremental change but it'd make ammo lighter, more compact, and significantly cheaper (the polymer cases cost much less than brass or even steel). The guys I talked to seem to think it will hit the civilian market very soon, and it is essentially already comparable with existing systems (so you can keep the existing popular designs) while offering room for future weapons development to really take advantage of telescoping-cased ammunition. There are also some newer projects trying to use case-less ammo but I think that's pretty much a dead end with current materials technology.

One of the issues of short rifles/carbines in police use is still overpenetration. Most LE services still use SMGs because the smaller, lower-powered rounds will be less risky when you consider collateral damage. They'll stop in the target (or not far from it) and usually won't go through walls, car doors, etc, reducing the risk of harming a non-visible civilian that finds him/herself in the line of fire.

Radio's in rifle stocks? Would the barrel/receiver be effective as an antenna? I'd put one in a mexican mauser, so I could be on a mexican radio. Twould be technically accurate.

Thanks to the 1805 patrons who support the show and to Ian who make this great effort of historic documentation. Really guys you are amazing.

"Nobody's gonna go rob a 7/11 with it"

Ian says theres a plateau in Firearms Development, meanwhile I'm waiting for the G11 generation 2. Caseless munitions is the next big thing? Who thinks so?

33:51 wow that thunder sound made the video have a really comfortable mood

I like the framing of this video haha. I think the wall of books, the gun, the chair make you look awesome

Great show. The next innovation will be sharks with frikken laser beams on their heads!

Ian's Chair of Wisdom

Wow, your explanation of research just helped me with college, I am going to do my essays with a different mindset now. (you make me want to do a firearms degree of some description!) Much love!

Nice to see you finally got your Fusil Automatique Modèle 1917.

@ian how noble! The preservation of knowledge is very important thank you for your work sir

in the example given on API the powder charge also is rocked back against the bolt then spreads forward, it gives a better flash-over in the charge.

How about creating a dedicated Q&A playlist on this channel? I like very much this format, with you talking about various gun related stuff for up to an hour, but without a playlist it's not very convenient to keep track of the new such videos coming (and to make sure you've seen every one that came before). Thanks!

IMHO, the AR18 is probably the greatest rifle that never was. Most of the issues were fairly minor, generally related to a fragile pivot or poorly heat treated trigger parts. If it's intended market hadn't been strangled out by NATO and Soviet subsidies it probably would have been straightened out pretty shortly had it ever had a major contract instead of piecemeal civilian sales. It's pretty heavy influence on modern service rifles is probably pretty indicative of this.

If possible I would enjoy seeing a video on reloading gear, and/or black powder accessories like wacky measuring powder horns and primer carriers.

I think the .30 carbine is an un-recognized contender for use as a PDW cartridge. Especially if someone spends some time updating the bullet and the powder loading.

I love my 5.45 kalash. love the videos by the way Ian firearms history is definitely fascinating to me, I particularly liked the folding stock luger you showed. kinda got my gears turning on how a stock like that would do today. (not quite in the pistol area but more like a carbine)

thanks for the Q/A Ian.

@26:04, higher velocity? When I got into 6.5-284 NORMA, I learned about the "sweet spot' in velocity, throat erosion and pressure vs. barrel life the hard way. I love to tinker, hand load, play with components & OAL of cartridges, obsessively working to wring the last bit of accuracy out of a rifle. Across that threshold, you may work for hours over months of your free time, finally get everything dialed in- And 500 rounds later? Time to get your next new barrel fitted and start over. They do say life is all about the journey, not the destination. It still kind of sucks. So, maybe drop back to 6.5 Creedmore or 6.5X55 Swede and enjoy actually shooting the best combo? The last iteration of the 1,000m capable 6.5X284 gets racked, to mostly be used for deer season in areas requiring 300m to 500m shots (very occasionally) while stand hunting over soybean fields...

Thanks, Ian, that was very informative. Can you please get Carl's opinion on last question about alternative intermediate cartridges?

Interesting report. Thanks, Ian.

Mr JD Jones of ssk Industries has multiple NFA exemptions for some of his cartridges like the 950 JDJ. same with things like the 600, 585, and 700 nitro express rounds.

Finally got your RSC. Good video Ian :)

Thank you sir, another great video!

Ian, it was interesting you mentioned using the momentum of the bolt twice. I was thinking about an open bolt design that had a light boltface/extractor and a heavy Spring between the face and body. The idea was to have a simple blowback on a high powered cartridge that used the bolt momentum and Spring pressure to keep the boltface closed during the high pressure phase/delay

Great Q&A!

I'm not American but from just reading it, the second amendment obviously doesn't say anything about "bearing arms" for sporting purposes. How can the government limit ownership of guns based on such a "purpose"?

The only thing I can think that SMGs do better than a short carbine would be subsonic ammo with a suppressor.

The next big advancement could be self guiding projectiles. DARPA is working on one but I imagine those are horrendously expensive right now and not altogether practical yet.

A response to two of the questions asked. Namely on design plateau and the potential adoption of a new cartridge. There is one project the US has worked on that is the Lightweight Small Arms Technologies (LSAT). Which started off with the goal of making a weapon and ammo that significantly reduces the load carried by machine gunners, without sacrificing their capabilities. Out of this came new cartridge designs. cased telescoped cartridges and caseless cartridges. Of these it was found that cased telescoped was closer to being a viable product while offering the weight and bulk savings desired. So much so in fact that while the system initially used standard 5.56 bullets they have now moved onto 7.62 bullets and found the total package weight to be only slightly more than an M249 with full ammo load. But here is the kicker. If this system were to be adopted there is absolutely no reason to stick to current bullet designs. And so work has started on finding a new bullet that due to a better and more efficient shape can offer 7.62 long range performance. While being not much more powerful or heavier than 5.56. One of the bullet designs the Army Marksmanship Unit came up with as start off point. Is a new cartridge called the .264 USA. It's a little on the powerful side, which is likely due to coming from the AMU. This is still however experimental and not slated for adoption. Let alone being close to getting into civilian or collector hands any time soon. If you want to get more information I highly suggest going to the website and forum of the very nice Anthony G Williams. www.quarryhs.co.uk/

Case-less ammo I think is the next thing. Removing the extraction and ejection components of the firing cycle will radically change firearm design. I know it's been tried before but if a cheap and effective enough solution were employed there would be a paradigm shift I think.

German V's are pronounced like an English F. So Volkswagen becomes Folksvagen. Keep up the good work, Ian.

I totally want a coffee grinder in my rifle stock. That is an accessory worth it's weight.

the next improvements could be ballistic computers like in the xm25, or caseless ammunition

An intermediate rifle can't compete with a sub gun for size when you consider that sub guns can be barely inches longer than actual handguns. A 3 or 4 inch barrel is realistic on a sub gun, but blast would be intolerable in rifle form, plus the receiver would need to be longer.

Ian touched on future developments... My best guess is that at some point we're going to see smooth-bore small arms firing fin stabilized ammunition, possibly with discarding sabots, in order to squeeze more velocity. Second, optics that work as an integrated fire control system. Probably in the form of a scope that includes buttons attached on or near the grip, allowing the shooter to take a laser range with the press of a button, and then automatically setting the reticle to compensate for bullet drop at that range.

I never knew how great of an idea API was... kewl

I have an AR-15 in 5.45x39 and I really enjoy it. At 300 yards I can hit a 10 inch steel plate every time with a 3x scope and that's plenty accurate for me.

Just one more reason to get rid of the NFA and BATFE. The new thing will be a camera optic that connects via a wire to your phone or a monitor over your eye that allows you to aim around corners and not worry about lining up your sights. 34:43 use my pistol mags interchangeably with it. 39:48 With the space fleet thing, what about a 5.56/9mm intermediate cartridge?

The Mk 7 16/50 flexes. A lot. It's a feature, not a bug.

a radio in your rifle is exactly what you need whilst out hunting 😁

Your rule is similar to the one we have in Spain: Any non rimmed high pressure cartridge (rifle) weapon of .50 caliber or greater is illegal for civilian use.

That's a pretty killer library...

I thought the little compartment in the stock of my survival rifle was for joints.

That chair looks pretty comfortable. Nicely cushioned.

The SVT-40 flexes a lot in slow motion. A lot.

I once saw a 7.62 m 14 barrel actually serpentine like a snake it blew my mind! To this day I'm still in shock! You have to see it to believe it I know it sounds insane

Regarding guns with accessories such as the coffee grinder stock, the IMI Galil had a bottle opener in the front handguard.

Interesting idea for hypervelocity guns. Electromagnetic stabilization. Use a magnet to impart spin to the bullet instead of the physical rifling, that way the issue of throat erosion is dealt with. You'd need special magnetic ammunition ('special', steel bullets) to function, but it would just need to be passive magnets there to guide the bullet with a spin, not the very complicated and fancy magnet set up for coilguns that requires a butt load of energy to fire one shot.

How do you feel about a folding stock on a police officer's sidearm, like on the B&T Universal Service Weapon?

The Winchester radio rifle is in Springfield, MO at the National Sporting Arms Museum. They have a lot of other great firearms. I hope you can some day go there to make videos on the weapons there.

Bringing up better optics and augmented reality brings to mind a game that got it's start in the late 80's known as Shadowrun which took place in a dystopian future of the 2050's where the weapons had the capability of having what they called a smartlink where though goggles or enhanced eyes you could link up a program with your weapon to enhance ones abilities to shoot and give feedback to surroundings such as distance.

There are some interesting developments in caseless ammunition that might bring about a reasonably large change in firearm design. Not having to eject a spent shell casing will be interesting. The LSAT trials performed by the US looked promising.

From the ATF curio & relic list: Finnish, m/23 Deutches Waffen Munitionsfabriken (DWM)-manufactured Luger pistols with 95cm or 120cm barrels in 7.65mm or 9mm calibers. 95cm is roughly three foot, 120cm is four. Crazy Finns ;-)

Ian I know that the chance that you see this is slim, but still... Would you and Othais (from C&Rsenal) ever think about making a book on the weapons from WW1 (and other conflicts)? One could argue that you already have made really good material on this subject. But a book, with a good register, pictures of the guns and notes on how you find it preforms. Basically a printed vision of your work, but made more manageable in sektions (country of origin, type, and so on)

I know it would be a long video, or actually a series of videos but I'd love to see what books are in Ian's library.

In relation to gun flexing. Check out a bow firing an arrow, a good archer can hit an asperin that has been thrown, yet the arrow wobbles like crazy. So it isn't hard to imagine that with the immense energy a firearm has to handle, that harmonic forces will cause flexing at some level.

As an interesting side note on destructive devices, the US Army issued thermite grenade is not regulated in the NFA because it doesn't explode...

With regards to the question about propellant improvements enabling higher velocity with lighter ammo, I think the point was more a question of making a round the size of a 5.7x28mm perform as well as a 5.56x45mm , not making a 5.56x45mm perform like a 223wssm . 5.7x28mm weighs about half as much as 5.56 ammo ,and there would be some weight savings from the shorter action length that it allows. Think smaller gun and lighter ammo but same capability.

Good to know about the destructive device thing. I would have looked it up by now if i were American but i figured i probably don't really need to know the exact laws outside of Canada

To add to the innovation discussion, I would like to state that I think that the AK 107 counterbalance gun is a great innovation which we have not seen in the US. (yet)

"I don't know that there's really anything that you could do with a SMG that you couldn't do equally well with a small carbine..." Silence it and still be able to use off-the-shelf ammunition widely available. That's the only argument I've found for pistol caliber carbines and SMGs in today's world, and even .300BLK has made that somewhat moot.

I think good, effective caseless ammo will be the next step. And of course lasers :D

With development in battery tech we could be seeing a sort of rail gun for the soldier

Noooo, you made, "26:04 - Why don't we see higher velocity bullets?" out of something more like, "Why don't we use faster-burning powders to achieve the bullet velocities we already see?" It seems like the problem of heat dissipation and consequent barrel wear you brought up might also apply to this, in addition to, possibly, limitations of chemistry; but you answered another interesting question instead of the one asked! :P And...yeah, to finish restating the question posed: "Wouldn't a faster-burning powder [even hypothetically] be more efficient in accelerating a projectile, allowing a smaller case volume and thus more compact, lighter ammunition?"

What it is, is an indicator of the pressures, and force involved in contained explosion. Without that elasticity, parts would begin to break and fail in very short order.

Look at the newish Russian 9x19 over pressure military ammo which pretty well closes the gap between an SMG and a PDW/short carbine. The Swedes also had and probably still have the CBJ-MS SMG/PDW.

4:55 what if I invent the sport of competitive artillery plotting? Bazooka skeet?

For odd stocks, The TP-82 with a machete/axe detachable stock.

34:00 With regard to 9mm vs rifle/intermediate cartridges. Is over penetration a problem if you're fighting in confined urban areas or is that considered negligible?

I can't believe you didn't mention your silent co-star, an RSC semi-auto rifle!

I love that NFA logic on destructive devices. You can own naval canon but don't fire live grenades, naughty boy!

Ian, regarding the 5.56 ammo: the US military has recently been doing a development program to create an "updated" version of the 5.56 with better characteristics, and it seems to be pretty successful so far. Also, with regards to the P-90 and MP-7: the P-90 does have a much larger magazine going for it (50 rounds), while the MP-7 is even smaller. Although, there has been an interesting development on the PDW concept. I think it was Magpul (maybe?) that came up with the "PDR" concept--essentially a PDW-sized 5.56 rifle. The idea behind it was to accomplish much of what a PDW does while being highly compatible with existing logistics. What are your thoughts on that?