Does anybody else love the aesthetic of these last ditch rifles?

you know, I am more of tank and aircraft guy, but if I wanna know something about small arms, I know where I go. Excellent work!

You know for a cheap manufactured rifle, it doesn't look half-bad.

Oh the bitter-sweet irony surrounding these Volkssturm weapons! $14.000 to $22.500 for a last ditch weapon made from spare and stamped parts with a fit & finish so rough it barely qualifies as finished. While you can get the high quality K98k rifles it was supposed to replace for less than $1000, half of that for one a rough condition... These guns were designed to be manufactured as fast, cheap and simple as possible and they certainly look like it. But because of that so few were saved after the war that by now they're incredibly rare and expensive. I can't help but wonder how the original designers would feel about that development....

The reason the Nazis were able to use Luftwaffe machine gun barrels in these things was firstly that the Luftwaffe bomber force had effectively ceased to exist by late 1944 and the bomber force had been a big user of rifle caliber machine guns. Secondly, it was getting obvious by 1944 that rifle caliber machine guns were obsolete for anything other than strafing. In piston engined fighters they were of marginal use for what the remainder of the Luftwaffe found itself doing whenever it had any fuel which was shooting down bombers. You wanted to bring down something like a B-17 or an Il-2 in a matter of seconds and you weren't going to do that with a 7.92mm machine gun. The only thing you achieved by going after a bomber with a machine gun was to give every other bomber in the formation plenty of time to harmonise their guns on your fighter and blow you away. Rifle caliber machine guns were also completely useless as armament for Jets which were clearly the future by then. The only airforce to use machine guns in their jet fighters was the USAF with its .50 cals and even they began to retire the .50 in favour of 20mm cannon during the Korean war.

I'm impressed by the brutal simplicity of that striker.

As primitive as it seems, it is also beautiful in the simplicity of its manufacture.

It figures that the people's militia, not the army, would get a rifle with a 10-round detachable magazine.

I just have one historic comment on the video. The Gauleiter was the local administrator on the Nazi party. The Volkssturm-program was not administrated by the government or the army, but by the party. Germany hat a structure were there were many parallel structures having similar jobs. For example the SS had tank divisions and the army had, but the SS was a party organization. The idea beyond that was to have a lot of administrative jobs to put people in that cooperated with the Nazis. The Volkssturm was actually disliked by the general’s staff as its idea was to arm civilians, have them overrun by the front and let them fight from the underground.

Probably the best design for a "last ditch" rifle Ive seen so far,..

For being as simplified last ditch effort at making rifles it is actually a pretty cool rifle, and I wish they would have made more of them so we could have them today to enjoy. I like the idea of being able to make a stamped sheet metal receiver into a full milled rifle.

As to the barrels, Luftwaffe was also moving, as much as they could from 7,92mm to 13mm for their aircraft-mounted machine guns

The Gew 43 magazine was carried along with normal 5 round clips in different pouches (the standard leather three pocket pouch with 2 x clips of 5, total of 30). The loaded magazines are carried in a twin pouch and also one magazine in the rifle so a total of 60 rounds.

Actually kind of ingenious. Thankfully they didn't start cranking these out in say 1942. Imagine the money they could've saved for other equipment if they had started making these instead of K98s! Thanks for the review.

I always find these sort of 'last ditch' weapons very interesting, both from what the respective govt's were looking to put into the hand of the citizens as well as just how they managed to cobble together some of these guns.

11:23 Nein nein nein nein!

So cool though. The story behind the weapon is the best part about this gun.

I always enjoy these videos and am impressed with the detailed knowledge you share. I particularly find last ditch/cheap production items fascinating whether it is the sten gun, the single shot resistance pistol or volkssturm rifles. Thank you for the many hours of pleasure and education.

I swear, it looks like an M14 merged with a Gewehr

Hey hey no more fire alarm on the side of the screen! Looks great

I've never really heard of these VG Last ditch rifles made by Germany during WWII but when playing a really great historically accurate WWII game called *"Enlisted"* I was using some last ditch rifles in the battle of Berlin. The F VG2 was one of them... I have to say I love the way these guns look and feel. Maybe one day I'll be able to shoot or even hold one in life. It does seem like they are extremely rare rifles, especially in The USA because US Troops and even her allies never really got the chance to fight and take German soldiers hostage in the Battle of Berlin and other battles where the Germans were armed with these VG style rifles.

My grandfather had this rifle, it is much lighter then K98. Some of them ware used in Russian front for “canon food” child solders who ware forced mobilized from Yugoslavia.

Enlisted Berlin moment

For a last ditch weapon... this guns got quite an interesting aesthetic. Looks so beautiful compared to a sten gun (Britain's last ditch weapon equivalent)

An accuracy and handling test with live ammo would be very intersting, just to see if the gun even somewhat performs. :)

Utilizing the spare MG barrels is a good example of using what you have on hand and making it work. The stamped sheet metal receiver sure looks odd with a bolt action.

Still good to view this again 7 years later. The quality holds

I must admit that I quite like the design, the philosophy behind and the look of this rifle, considering that it was from WW2. It seems like it combines the sturdiness of the k98k, flat-surfaced simplicity of the german last-ditch designs with the clip magazines design of the G43, to make something that, accidentally or not, looks half decent. Especially with the knowledge that the parts and the gun were proof tested. You could have easily have convinced me that this gun was produced decades after WW2. Personally, I think this looks sharper than a G43 and from a later era than the K98K that both had priority production over the VG-2. The VG-2 reminds me a bit of the FG42 which I would argue, also looks ahead of its time. The back of the VG-2 and back of the metal frame reminds me a bit of the AK47 design which would not be developed until years later by the Soviets. That is kind of interesting if the VG-2 was produced and mobilized in what became Russian territory. I wish I knew how the VG-2 performed in action and on the range.

A few Thoughts- #1- The bolt is reminiscent of the Carcano's i.e, how the Handle locks, and how it's removed, by squeezing the trigger. #2- @ 5:05 The Rear Sight also looks adjustable for Elevation, by using a screwdriver to tilt the Notch forward or back. #3- The rifle having only a 100 meter Zero, the round dropped ~33" @ 300 meters. #4- If only these Rifles were made now-a-days !

I wonder if Michail Kalashnikov got his hands on one of them and was like "The Stampings... the Mag release... those dimples... blyat, thats nice!".

I love this look. Stock, metal, wood, the MAS, FN FAL look. The AK less so not as much wood at the front. Probably because I was a Phantom comic fan as a kid and that wood metal wood was how most rifles were drawn in it. Regardless its a nice look

Seeing a rifle like this definitely gets the wheels turning when it comes to building improvised weapons 😉

The town is "Hrádek nad Nisou" in Czech - in case anyone wants to find it today.

I wish there were like 9 million of these so I could get one cheaply as surplus because I like the design of this a lot.

Ian, thanks! Every day with these guns is a treat.

the deer silently judging this weapon

Looks like the trunnions were spot welded in place. Quite clear marks around both areas, for example right next to the serial number.

I remember seeing in a book about small-arms there was an even 'cruder' last-ditch single-shot rifle that was created towards the end of the WWII.

Im impressed that germans cared to put safety switch on last ditch rifle

Excellent work Ian, as always!

Grate review. If the plans for this rifle could be had some one could make it in an intermediate round, such as a .223, .300 black out, or 7.62x39. It would be a survival rifle with a folding stock.

You know, for a last ditch rifle, that doesnt look all that bad. In fact, i kinda like it. The stamped receiver and magazine give it more of a modern look when compared to something like a standard K98. At first glance, you wouldnt think it as an bolt action rifle.

Perfection is when there is nothing left you can detract.

The fact that this rifle is in short supply is the only plausible explanation why this piece fetched $20K+. Wow! I wish I knew where 1/2 dozen more were.

Hi Ian, excellent video as always. V is usually pronounced F in German and Volk (as in Volkswagen or Volkssturm) and Vaterland are no exception. Greetings

Thank you for this video. I finally know what the old rifle I inherited is. I got it my grand dad and have no idea where he got it, who made it, where or anything about it, until now. Thank you.

The main Advantage of stamped parts is the fact that you ger standardized parts even from small Shops. Stamping Tools and Patterns are designed and distributed (and Quality checked) by bigger industrial Shops. These would fit in even small stamping machines. In order to produce These parts you had to use those Tools and Patterns, or production soon gets very costly. Milled parts on the other Hand depended alot on craftmanship and measurement checking.

Stamped receiver? Front & rear trunions? Pressed & pinned barrel? Did Mikhail Kalashnikov have one of these to play with at one point?

really cool to see what they could come up with when they were being backed into a corner

Regarding the aircraft machinegun barrels, the luftwaffe had mostly transitioned from the 7.92mm MG 15/17 and MG 81 to the 13mm MG 131. I suspect most of the barrels came from cancelled in production weapons due to the switch.

The front of that bolt looks a LOT like front of the bolt from the Lewis then the FG42 and later, the GPMG M-60. Lots of interesting innovations / "work-arounds". It probably would have made more sense in 7.92 x 33, especially with minimally-trained troops, but that brings us to others in the VG series. "Drawn" / rolled / composite receiver bodies turned up in some later "sporter" designs, like the Remington 500 series that were later made by CBC in Brazil and are still made / marketed by the Brazilian company, Magtech.

This looks like junk? Nah I like the look of this! It looks nice personally. I like the uncurved lug and the metal wood color combination with a sleek looking foregrip and long simple barrel. It looks very clean, nice colors and overall fairly simple and have a bit of a classical feel to it.

Its always interesting to look at last ditch guns. See how crude and simplified they could make something. And I dont miss the irony in expelling an extra amount of resources to make a gun intended to be cheaper and save resources.

Now i want to see a version of this design made out of high quality materials and with good craftsmanship, I think the combo of that and simplicity would take that rifle and really make it shine.

You're an entertaining and educational host Ian. Damn I need more guns...

Externally It looks like the MAS-49

I like how the army that ends the war still issuing bolt action rifles as a standard is considered "too high tech" to have lost WWII.

You know, I bet a modern take on this rifle would sell well as a ranch gun.

You are a great weapons master in this world sir thanks

Germans embraced simplicity at the end of the war while Soviets embraced it from the beginning. Also, love that safety lock style

I actually like the look of this.

Reminds me of a Valmet hunting rifle. Looks really good!

Honestly it looks like a rather smooth bolt

Another great video Ian!

Yet another awesome vid Ian.:D

With more refining this weapon could have been more effective than the K98k, especially because of the detachable magazine.

its just amazing what you it must be neat to history at your fingertips. To me the best way to know about firearms is understand history. Your very intelligent on firearms. Thanks for and it's people like you are keeping history alive.

Thanks for the video. Very detailed.

I want a reprod of this, it would work as a beginner rifle into target shooting, maybe not out to very long ranges but still.

An excellent survival rifle with reasonable reliability and accuracy at low production cost.

i wonder how cheap a modern factory could produce something like this for.

I had a VG rifle that had the barrel pinned to a receiver made of a heavy pipe. the locking recesses were also cut into the pipe and out in the open like an M1 Garand receiver. The bolt had a straight bar for the bolt handle. The stock was a plain board and chamfered to eliminate the square corners. A plain blade and saddle front sight was apparently silver soldered on. there was no back sight. I shot it many times with ordinary 8mm ammo and it shot okay although not particularly accurate as expected. My brother still has it and shoots it occasionally as the bore is still in great shape.

Never knew these existed until i saw this. Cool.

Excellent video! I really wonder where you always dig those guns out.

Finally, a gun ive actually never heard of before!

This looks pretty neat actually. Crude, but kinda cool. Slap the front part of that japanese Pedersen and you have a really cool-looking gun.

Wonder how it shoots. I'd imagine it would be quite acceptable.

I didn't know the existence of this gun. Thanks

Hey Ian, here's a quick tip for the pronunciation of "Volkssturm": Just replace the V with an F and pronounce it like "Folkssturm" then you'll be spot on. In German the V can be pronounced either like an F or a W, it's one of those silly things that come with natural languages. Vogel (Bird) -> Fogel Version (same in english) -> Wersion I hope that helps. I really enjoy your videos, especially when you pronounce German words correctly (which is often really hard for English speakers). When you pronounced Heckler und Koch right in one of your latest videos I literally jumped up from my chair and cheered for you!

Interesting one this rifle. Never seen or heard of one before.

Thank you

Ian, for your info: Volk and everything devived from it like Volkswagen and Volkssturm are pronounced exactly as if they were starting with an F. For them to be pronounced like americans usually do they'd have to be written with a W in front. If you pronounce it like folk music or folk dance, you've got it nailed.

Those rifles are beautiful to be honest. I need one

Early Savage Axis prototype....

Das ist ein ausgesprochen hübscher Günterantriebsgenerator! Ich empfinde große Liebe für derartiges!

The dimples above the magazine look familiar.

Top quality fire alarm removal there. Keep up the good work...!

Looks like they kind of thing you can get in an Afghan gunsmith’s.

But what keeps the locking lug on the bottom of the bolt from hanging up on the tip of the bullets? I would REALLY appreciate if you answered

Wow the price range on these VG series of guns is just wow. I'd like to see if it can still chamber a round before I shell out that kinda cash.

Awesome thanks ian

It looks like a bolt action saiga Hunter.

The only Forgotten Weapons' video, where the gun looks old

That's one beautiful rifle

This thing is amazing. Best bolt action rifle ever :D

Ah yes, a man of integrity.

Nice looking gun .

I wish I had one of these, and the VG-5...

Can you single load through the top like K98k? Or do you have to remove mag and load mag directly?

I love this video every day trend, but for how long can we expect these? I want to know how much awesomeness there will be before there are no more forgotten weapons, because you will have reminded us about them all.