Now this is a true forgotten gun

Overengineering level : germany

Standebach: what you want fam German military: just fuck me up

This thing is so Wolfenstein it's not even funny. Only the Germans would come up with something this Dieselpunk.

Gun designers: I think we've finally devised the best way to design a rifle and magazine for maximum ease and efficiency! Stendebach: Okay but consider the following...

U.S.A.-"Could German engineering be more complicated?" Germany-"hold my toggle fed, rotary mag bratwurst launcher"

Kinda want somebody to make a functional replica of this gun to see its feasibility.

I can't help but respect a guy who, in 1936, was clearly thinking, "detachable box magazines are a fad! The future is in rotary magazines!" The only things this is missing are a magazine cut-off and volley sights. I can't imagine who would even buy it; it's practically made of man-hours and cost overruns. But as a statement that says to the world, "I wanted to design a rifle for fun, so I designed the ever-loving, blue-eyed Pogo out of this rifle." it is top notch.

How to be german? Take something simple and make it overly complicated so nobody really knows how it works and what it’s good for. Than die without leaving any information about it. The longer it takes to solve your mystery, the more german you are :D

+Forgotten Weapons There are actually quite a number of patents registered with the Imperial Patent Office by a Friedrich Stendebach (mostly under the name Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Phillip Stendebach, but the applicant's registrar is the same until the dissolution of the German Empire, so we can safely assume this to be the same person) from the late 19th century onwards, many of which deal with firearms design. Many of these patents deal with electric locomotives, but from 1900 onwards quite a serious amount of firearms-related patents start to pop up under his name: sighting devices, projectiles for smoothbore guns, several patents regarding a "Kipplaufgewehr" (break action rifle), etc. There are no patents by this person in either 1913 or 1914, it'd be interesting where you got the information from that there were applications at that time from Stendebach. Interestingly, the patents for the toggle lock (Kniegelenkverschluss) and rotary magazine (Walzenmagazin) were only registered in 1918 and announced in 1920 (according to the Imperial Patent Office), which was a normal time span at that time, as the patent office wasn't reopened until 1920. depatisnet.dpma.de/DepatisNet/depatisnet?action=pdf&docid=DE000000329462A depatisnet.dpma.de/DepatisNet/depatisnet?action=pdf&docid=DE000000330336A (note that the documents also includes detailed sketches of the lock and magazine of the same or a similar design as the ones in the video).

They should definitely put this in the new wolfenstien game because it just looks the right amount of outlandish and complex enough to be a good fit

Kraut space magic : 1936 edition

The trigger guard, magazine cover and Barrel bands may be cast of zinc as opposed to aluminum. Unfinished Zinc tends to hold its luster better than unfinished aluminum. At that point in time zinc would have also cost considerably less and been much easier to cast.

"brought it home" is a nice term for "he stole it from the owner"...

This is one of those crazy gun designs that I would just LOVE to see some slow motion footage of it firing.

Dieselpunk as hell This thing is gorgeous

Most of these old prototypes are the coolest looking weapons ever. They unintentionally look way better than virtually every modern firearm.

Me: I want a gun that is not complicated at all Germans: *sweating intensifies*

I have such a weakness for toggle locks, I really hope Ian eventually gets ahold of the Luger 1906 rifle and gets video

Stendebach-"Hey guys, let me design a rife and I will make it as complicated as possible."

aha! my favorite weapon feature: The magazine release that looks like a safety, allowing you to quickly unload your weapon when trying to prepare to fire!

what a mechanical beauty this rifle is... complicated but fascinating

I love this rifle so much. It's a work of art. I don't care that it's over-engineered. The man who made it deserves accolade.

Looks like something from Wolfenstein.

It's deeply saddening that it isn't finished, I would love to see that gun fire.

Most steampunk looking gun in existence

This is the perfect fusion of a luger, revolver, mauser rifle, Johnson thing, and a lot of Schnapps

Its like the designer had a bunch of favorite guns and combined them .

The amount of machining on this prototype makes me think the guy was of the mad scientist persuasion. The aluminum may have been put by someone after the original designer to finish up the prototype while wanting it to be clear that that in fact was what they were doing and wanting it to mimic the likely original design aesthetic

A rifle made by a mad locksmith!

A German Johnson but more complicated.

Just imagine trying to clean this on the eastern front and you hear a bunch of Soviet conscripts screaming “URA”

And here I thought the Mauser selbstladers were complicated... This has to be one of the most confusing guns you've demonstrated yet! Nice find!

Well this thing explains some questions I had for some time. For a time I wondered why the Germans never seem to have looked at a toggle locked rifle like the Pedersen, seeing as they didn't want to drill a gas port in the barrel, well until they did and then the came up with the Mkb 42 and the MP43/44/STG44. :P Well, seems they did. Further this thing is so damn "German" that it seems to surpass even Swiss standards. :P Really, engineering this thing is brilliant, making it is a bloody nightmare... Then about the aluminium. Well, the Germans where using the material for some military equipment during the 1930's like the carriage of the 15cm sFH 36 howitzer. It wasn't completely unheard of to use it in Germany. Mercedes for example was defiantly working with aluminium alloys for there line of MB500 series diesel engines. Same with Maybach and some of there engines, like the HL210, installed in the early Tiger tanks.

unfinished prototype almost made me cry - would love to see it working... I love the mechanics involved as a spectator!

It makes me very happy that a functional example is located in Koblenz.

The amount of engineering thought that went into this... my god. Just take a shot every time you see a spring loaded mechanism in this gun.

These prototype guns are just so mesmerizing in a strange way. They might not be that practical but they sure do look good!

Somewhere in the USVI, in a partially destroyed bungalow is me still patiently awaiting a video of an HKG11. With my supplies running out, my soul draws closer to reuniting with Gun Jesus in his holy bunker.

Just about the coolest over engineered gun I have seen in a long time, very neat!

Rube Goldberg "Look at this projectile propulsion device I designed." Stendebach "Hold my Lager."

"Hey guys, lets design the worst thing for someone to try to machine!"

Most interesting gun I've ever seen on this channel yet. Left only with more questions. Thanks Ian, outstanding as usual!

"The carving of the inner stock is crudely cut out."... the dude wasn't a wood carver.

I literally fell asleep to the MP-18 video. I was so tired and Ian's voice is so calming to me for some reason. XD

Found my new favorite gun.

Well... They certainly considered all sorts of systems... Even the obviously over complicated ones. So fascinating to imagine the thoughts that must have gone into the design...

Love seeing experimentals with FW commentary. Also older obsolete weapons.

its absolutely Fantastic how you disassemble each weapon - even such Prototypes which is unique! Fantastic!

Its quite sad that this was unfinished as I would love to see it in operation. Such a mechanically interesting firearm

The back half looks almost like the M1941 Johnson with that rotary magazine.

This is so damned cool. Thank you Ian! I know I wouldve never heard of it even without this channel.

I was thinking that the magazine spool looked awfully like an unfinished rough casting. Compared to the level of finish and machining of the other parts, I would agree that the cast aluminum parts were placed there by someone else. Very interesting rifle though!

strange gun, the gun have some krag similarity thinking it looks like a clock merged with a gun

One thing we do know about Stendebach is that he was a rather brilliant engineer.

Another great video Ian , thank you for what you do !

Anybody else think this would be an insanely cool range toy? (I mean a working replica ofc)

For a military funded contract, aluminum is an easily machined metal that can be copied by machinists. It’s a wonderful example of an unfinished and very heavily engineered rifle. That was made with a great deal of care and talent. You should slug the barrel and cast the chamber to see what it was chambered for. I think it’s great.

This is an absolutely fascinating rifle, with so many cool features! I love the way the stripper clip guide appears for feeding the magazine, the mechanism for that cover is really cool. I can imagine it would be a bit disconcerting to fire though, what with that whole toggle system suddenly springing up into your face - reminds me of the mars pistols in that sense. I'd love to see a working version of this!

Bless you, Ian. This was in the very first Rock Island catalog I received (like two months ago) and I've been waiting hopefully ever sense.

это видео наглядно показывает, что помимо ума, нужна ещё и мудрость.

I have one of these with all cast/stamped parts as seen in the rest of the receiver there. but it has 8-round cylinder, the bayonet section is corrected. no titanium, the rear sight is gone, the rear sight now looks like an M1 Garand sight that moves with the mechanics as a single piece. And you are correct, my rifle has a Stendebach mark on its front receiver part and proof marks on the stock, the Stendebach mark on mine has an Spät-36 under it. the cylinder section as seen here is larger then mine, and the munition feed is generally the same, but mine is noticeably more canted to the right. i dont see any sort of lever system as see on this rifle compared to mine though. the barrel on mine is a little shorter and the front sight is a bit thinner and taller as well. that neck connecting the action to the shape of the barrel of the handguard isnt as deep on mine. in general. it was suppose to be an indirect competitor to the M1 Garand, if it was to be put in use. My revision rifle of Model 1936 was most likely suppose to be what was SUPPOSE to be used in WWII Nazi german Standard service rifle. But Hitler preferred the bolt actions more. its pretty much a scaled up Luger. The war would have been different if the Germans had a rifle like this in their arsenal.

Wow, what a monster! It went for $18,400 if anyone is curious. Actually seems a little low given what some prototypes go for, but I suppose the lack of documentation doesnt help.

A few thoughts: Aluminium may have been used by the designer because it was much easier to work with (casting in the backyard?), maybe he had some stock laying around from the 20s, where it was not so sought after for aircraft/military use. But in the 30s quite some normal "household" items where made from aluminium, so it wasn´t too scarce at all. The middle barrel band probably got its shape on purpose - it can hold an upper handguard, but it also holds the barrel itself, not just through the handguard. I think the gun had been finished to full function by Stendebach, otherwise a gold-inlayed marking, year included, makes no real sense, the proofmarks also don´t, now only something´s missing/damaged so that the trigger doesn´t work. The part moving in the frame on trigger pull may be the disconnector or part of its mechanism. The cleaning rod would interfere with a normal bayonet anyway, so maybe Stendebach had an idea for a special one?

Gotta love how none of this was documented. Who knows what mysteries lay in this world.

I would guess the use of aluminum was to meet weight requirements. If you look at the specifications drawn up by armies at the time, when everyone was still using bolt actions, there was invariably an upper weight limit. Every designer seemed to have trouble meeting it, as it was extremely hard to design a reliable semi-auto mechanism that would weigh less than the simpler bolt action mechanisms everyone was using at the time. In the end, the US just accepted that the Garand would weigh more than the Springfield it was replacing, and adopted it anyway, but the goal had been to adopt a rifle that was no heavier. The use of aluminum would make sense here as a way to trim as much extra weight as possible off the rifle so that it would meet the weight requirements specified by the German army.

By far my favorite video of yours.... Such a cool rifle!

He was one of this guys never abandonning their ideas, but keep improving it hoping that at some point it will actually start working. :D

Did a rocket scientist make this?

Goliad,Texas? Man, what a place for this gun to land (Quick thing for non-Texans... Go-Lee-Ad)

Man all the click and ticks and latches on that thing just SOUND so satisfying.

That is one of the most steampunk looking firearms I've ever seen. It's beautiful.

It's a piece of machining art work. I think it amazing, to bad it was unfinished.

Here's a speculation for ya: In the 1930's Goebbels, thrilled by all the cinematic innovations displayed in Liefenstahl's "Triumph des Willens", decided to step it up a notch by doing a steampunk propaganda movie about arian supremacy, which needed props to go with it. When he pitched the idea to Hitler, not known for his progressive taste, he dismissed it completely and bullied Goebbels back into sticking to his boring regular nazi propaganda. As such this nazi steampunk prop never made it into production phase.

"If you'd like the own the--THE 1936 Stendebach" lol. Ian is an expert, a gentleman, and a damn good salesman.

WOW. Amazing find Ian.

Looks like something from Fallout...

Holy Gun Jesus, this specimen is amazing

That rifle is bad ass....alot of work went into making it. ...lov these old rare rifles

I wish this rifle could have seen use. What a fascinating piece!

Its pronounced Go Lee Ad Texas

Is so weird I fell in love with it.

Wow, mechanically stunning and the machining omg

Beautifully crafted and a marvel

REST OF THE GUNSMITHS CONTRACTING FOR MILITARY DEALS: let's make a simple box mag, usually internal and try to keep the gun light. STENDEBACH: but what about revolving rifles? and what if we made it heavier?

My brain hurts just looking at it

I could also imagine that the aluminium parts are prototype ones. Aluminium is much easier to melt but still strong enough to carry loads, so you would make a wooden model, cast it in aluminium, try it on the gun, change the model again and reuse the aluminium. The wood is easy to work on and the prototype part is always new.

So complicated. I can’t imagine how much it would cost to produce today. Unbelievable amount of machining

Maybe the one who added the aluminum parts chose aluminum to reduce the chance that someone will mistake them for originals?

The barrel band could also be intentionally oversized to allow for the wooden forestock to expand and contract in extreme cold weather conditions ie: Russia/Eastern Europe, just as the Mosin Nagant was designed with that in mind. Just a thought. I'm very curious about this rifle now after watching this video.

Man, what an interesting design! How do we not know anything about this guy?

I think Walther and Luger had a toggle lock rifle, and there was a balloon gun that used a side toggle lock in WW1. The aluminum fittings might have meant it was intended to be used as an air weapon, and they were trying to lighten it up, and there were probably a lot of bits of aluminum around to work with in air- specific factory areas. The rotary mag gives a person the ability to top it off one shot at a time from a loose bag of rounds, and that may have seemed ideal for balloon use. It may have been worked up again as an idea in the pre-WW2 years but it was never used, though you will see the use of little cam surfaces a lot in German rifles. If you have a bunch of parallel r and d programs going on, things like this are going to be made. It's easier to mill aluminum also, and they may have been working on the dimensioning of the parts, instead of using wood for the prototyping.

Well thats one hell of a name.

i am trying for the life of me to find where I remember this but I am aware of some cases of Aluminium being used (surplus to airship construction) as a quick easy method of prototyping parts before setting up the machining etc for production, and being that the parts used are not pressure bearing, it is possible this might be the reason also????

It's so chunky looking and over engineered... I love it 😍

It seems as though any question that might have a believable answer only results in more questions. Not knowing more, it's the questions without answers that makes it.... Intriguing.

Very interesting concept and beautiful machining. Sadly, this would’ve been hopelessly impractical. The Russians can build a tank out of the resources and man hours that this thing takes.

This thing looks like it came right out of a video game...

I've had my eye on this gun since it was listed in the auction. Dream gun for me. It's so freakin cool.

Maybe not particularly suitable for a battlefield with all those intricate parts, but imagine having a rifle like this in functional form for sporting or hunting purposes. Would probably be a lot of fun and turn a lot of heads at the range. :D What a delightful piece of forgotten armament history.