I agree it's like an ugly dog. I actually really like the buttstock. You can tell a craftsman made it as quickly as possible but still worried about his profession.
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'll never really comprehend why the British, for instance, armed their very advanced heavy fighter the Mosquito, with 4 (FOUR) rifle caliber machine guns. Even though they had the sense to arm the Mossies, with several cannon as well, seems to me 4 X .303 machine guns were essentially useless dead-weight compared to what they could have installed instead.
@@robertmaybeth3434 The Nazis did the same thing with the Bf-110 . Even the Me-410 kept two forward firing 7.92mm pea-shooters. That's two 7,92 barrel blanks that would have been better used being turned into spare barrels for MG-42s. I put it down to old habit.
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.
I read that Hitler wanted some infighting and dog-eat-dog attitude in his political mechanism, thus overlapping responsibilities of different organizations.
@@polygondwanaland8390 honestly it would probably be the other way around. Semi Auto is nice to have, sure. But Semi-auto weapons struggle from a number of issues you may run into commonly in a last ditch situation, some of these issues being: 1. Jams/failure to feed/failure to cycle Semi-auto rifles often struggle with jamming due to a number of conditions, like the cleanliness of the rifle, and the load of the rounds being fired. Semi-auto rifles can jam, but are much less likely to under the same conditions, and also do not have issues firing under-loaded rounds that would otherwise fail to cycle a semi-auto rifle. 2. Ease of Cleaning Bolt action rifles (in most cases) are far easier to disassemble and clean compared to semi-auto rifles which tend to have far more involved mechanisms, resulting in a longer disassembly time and in some cases a far more difficult maintenance checklist. There are other potential issues but referring to the last-ditch purpose of these rifles, those two primary issues seemed to be the most important to the context.
+allingtontee The normal german army standard rifle had a internal 5 rounds magazine (K98ks were still standard issue, STGs and Co were still relativly rare, the G43s too). And not all Volkssturmrifles used the 10 round magazines, the VG 5 used 30 round mags ... so no secret agenda here
@@VagoniusThicket Civilians had very heavy and strict gun laws. Volksturm were organised by the state and were paramillitaries. You can do the research yourself before making yourself look like a fool
@@MrPanos2000 well, we got really heavy weapon laws today, too...just the last update on our weapon laws, due to the hysteria about refugees (I'm ashame about my fellow citizen back then and today), allows any town to declare so called "safe zones" in wich it is illegal to carry a knife above a blade length of 4 centimeters/~1.7 inches....and blades here in germany are measured from the hilt/ end of the grip, not the effectively sharpened edge...a kingdom for a meteorite striking the Reichstag I say
@@erikstolzenberger1517 correct me if I am wrong but it was even worse back then. Today German laws favour those with money and time to go through the bureocratic process, but at least almost all small arms arms legal to own, one way or the other. During the 3rd Reich hunters and sportshooters were hit with hard laws, courtesy of the vegan animal loving authoritarian elite of that regime, with Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and even Goebbels being strongly against hunting and civillan gun ownership
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ecclectic Nerd Sort of negates the ”keep weapons out of the hands of civilians ” theory . Especially when civilians can use them against the government . Another myth gets dumped . 💩💩💩🙃
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 !
@@MorangRus The Volkssturm was composed mainly of older men with less than 20-20 eysight. It was basically a case of "Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes" !
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.
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
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
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.
+Schmidt54 I was thinking the same thing.. I would imagine they could actually function pretty well. I assume the barrels would have been pretty good quality to begin with, and as long as the bolt mechanism was solid then it should still work just fine. I would imagine the biggest problems would be how accurately the sights were mounted onto the gun, and whether the receiver was strong enough to not eventually start bending. Maybe the reliability of the feed mechanism might be an issue too... I should imagine that the lifespan of the guys trying to use those guns against the Russians was probably not long enough to ever have to worry about the long-term reliability of the action.
I would have guessed similar. It is very important that technically this rifle is a somewhat regular commercial rifle, since the Volkssturm (VS) was an action incited by the Nazi party and acted as a last ditch shadow army besides the regular Wehrmacht (official German army) and the SS (private shadow army of the Nazi party for the special war crimes). So no military standards apply to the gun, it was made knowing the war went bad. I imagine that the guns were manufactured using forced labor, but supporting my thesis with facts could be hard.
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.
.223 or .22 hornet, but naturally better finished. Could be a handy gun for shooting roe deer, minks, feral cats and for target practice. If I had a licence and did any of the above, something simple like this could well be mu choice.
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.
I disagree. Both of those guns has a full stock, while this thing has a two part stock+foregrip. Also the silhouette doesn't look much like either of those guns in either size or shape.
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)
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.
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.
At that point in the war all Luftwaffe fighters were using 20mm/ 30mm cannon mg15/17 were long out of use 'for fighters' I realize some larger aircraft used rear facing mg
I really believe if the Germans would’ve made rifles like this and the vg 1-5 from the get go for every main ground troop let alone other simplified weaponry throughout their military things would’ve ended very differently. We got lucky for that one for sure
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
I wonder why they did not use 7.92×33mm instead. Some savings in length and strength of the receiver and ammunition costs. The MG barrels would just need a bit turned off the end to rechamber them. The rifles would only be good for short range anyway, so no need for a long range cartridge.
AldanFerrox but it does not have a clip loading capability! And issuing magazines is more expensive than issuing clips. Also they are more heavy. So 10 round detachable magazin is not clearly superior to 5 round mauser-style clip.
@@romannowak8830 As the development of weapons proved, magazine and not clip fed rifles was the better option. So this would indeed have been a better option and improvement
Sillygoose210 _ Call me what you will but I don't think firearms are just for show. If it can't shoot it's worthless in my mind or at least only belongs in a war museum ya know.
Also machine guns in standard 7.92 mm were too weak for aerial combat, fighters had upgraded to much more damaging 20mm and 30mm cannon so these barrels were of no interest for Luftwaffe.
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.
Volkssturm = Folkssturm. "V" in German is pronounced as an "F". Spreewerke = Sh-pre-everke. The s is more of a "sh", and the double "e"s on the end are more like a short "a". Spree is the river that runs through Berlin. The "W" is an english "V".
@@КОМБИНАТ-т1ъ Gauleiter, pronounced gow-lighter, was the head (Leiter = leader) of the Gau = region. Gau comes from ancient Germanic gaw-ja = area or landscape.
hm, is it just me seeing some similaritys to the stamped receiver of the AKM? 9:41 The general shape of the lower part and this "stamp" at the magazine?
Long-time viewer, first time commenter etc. The VGs were produced out of desperation, certainly, but I wonder if part of the intent might have been to make the debellation of Germany as difficult as possible, so that Germany might be able to sue for peace (and, critically, sue for peace from the western powers and not the Soviets). Just a very minor thing; Gau is a medieval term that was revived by the Nazi Party for their own administrative regions. From the mid 30s, the Laender (equivalent to US states) were basically taken out of action, and the Nazi Gaus effectively became the states. Gauleiters had been the equivalent of a US state party chair, and became the equivalent of a governor. When the Allies took over, they basically redrew the map and very few of the previous administrative boundaries were kept. I believe that the current boundaries of the Laender date from the 1949 constitution. Basically, that's a long-winded way of saying that the current states are Laender rather than Gau.
+David Landon Cole basically right, just some further Infos: There were a lot more Gaus during the 1930-1940, than Bundesländer after the war(only 16). The Term Gau is still in use, I know, that it is used in Bavaria and stands vor a very small part of city or region. But I only have heard it in use in the Sport Shooting community.
If a modern factory was ever tasked with producing "last ditch" rifles, something has gone terribly wrong and your modern factories have probably been bombed to bits.
It would be Uber cool if you could post the hammer prices of auction samples you highlight/review. You must have the coolest gig in the world and the best part is, you sort of made it out of nothing. The Big Bang theory of how Forgotten Weapons got started. Now it's ever expanding. Kind of makes you a firearms history God.
Kind of cool rifles. If they’re safe guns, with detachable magazines they’d be cool to buy a modern reproduction in either 8mm Mauser or some other more common round
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!
hi :)
Hi
Bismarck!
Nyet
Hi (why are we saying hi)
Does anybody else love the aesthetic of these last ditch rifles?
+Lord Poop-Head v o l k s s t u r m g e w e h r - 2
+Ecclectic Nerd K n o b o f f w i t h y o u r v a p o r w a v e.
+Ben M I think they're fugly tbh BUT the history is definitely cool on the last ditch weapons
+Ben M Make Germany aesthetic again.
+perreterecon I think that's it. A working, post apocalyptic rifle that isn't the brain child of a prop guy or producer.
You know for a cheap manufactured rifle, it doesn't look half-bad.
I agree it's like an ugly dog. I actually really like the buttstock. You can tell a craftsman made it as quickly as possible but still worried about his profession.
RedWolf777SG The detachable magazine is a nice touch for a bolt action of the era.
@@fathead8933 I'd say it actually looks really good, except for the poor state of the receiver
It IS German, don't forget.
That's German engineering for you. Even the low-end stuff is of decent quality.
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....
jiriz0r the wonder of human nature
go away Some countries use periods/full stops instead of commas to designate thousands or millions.
The inflation in Germany by 1944 and 1945 was so high that those rifles officially cost more than a pre-war Kar98k by orders of magnitude.
jiriz0r sweet sweet
"Vell zis is an interesting turn of fate ja?"
As primitive as it seems, it is also beautiful in the simplicity of its manufacture.
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.
Ego Paris först
The italians also used. 50cals in ther Fiat g91s earlier variants
The last gun fighter the a7 had 4 50 and 1 20mm
I'll never really comprehend why the British, for instance, armed their very advanced heavy fighter the Mosquito, with 4 (FOUR) rifle caliber machine guns. Even though they had the sense to arm the Mossies, with several cannon as well, seems to me 4 X .303 machine guns were essentially useless dead-weight compared to what they could have installed instead.
@@robertmaybeth3434 The Nazis did the same thing with the Bf-110 . Even the Me-410 kept two forward firing 7.92mm pea-shooters. That's two 7,92 barrel blanks that would have been better used being turned into spare barrels for MG-42s. I put it down to old habit.
I'm impressed by the brutal simplicity of that striker.
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.
+Henrik Stromberg True - I was using party and government interchangeably, but as you say, that's not quite correct. Thanks!
+Forgotten Weapons What I somehow forgot to say is, that you are doing awesome work that I enjoy a lot!
The party was the government.
I read that Hitler wanted some infighting and dog-eat-dog attitude in his political mechanism, thus overlapping responsibilities of different organizations.
Probably the best design for a "last ditch" rifle Ive seen so far,..
Eric K I'd put it behind the semiauto one, but it's definitely a nice design.
@@polygondwanaland8390 honestly it would probably be the other way around. Semi Auto is nice to have, sure. But Semi-auto weapons struggle from a number of issues you may run into commonly in a last ditch situation, some of these issues being:
1. Jams/failure to feed/failure to cycle
Semi-auto rifles often struggle with jamming due to a number of conditions, like the cleanliness of the rifle, and the load of the rounds being fired. Semi-auto rifles can jam, but are much less likely to under the same conditions, and also do not have issues firing under-loaded rounds that would otherwise fail to cycle a semi-auto rifle.
2. Ease of Cleaning
Bolt action rifles (in most cases) are far easier to disassemble and clean compared to semi-auto rifles which tend to have far more involved mechanisms, resulting in a longer disassembly time and in some cases a far more difficult maintenance checklist.
There are other potential issues but referring to the last-ditch purpose of these rifles, those two primary issues seemed to be the most important to the context.
It figures that the people's militia, not the army, would get a rifle with a 10-round detachable magazine.
+allingtontee The normal german army standard rifle had a internal 5 rounds magazine (K98ks were still standard issue, STGs and Co were still relativly rare, the G43s too). And not all Volkssturmrifles used the 10 round magazines, the VG 5 used 30 round mags ... so no secret agenda here
I thought they were not allowed weapons according to the smart historians on on you tube . Volksturm = people’s militia . Hmmmmm?🤔🤪
@@VagoniusThicket Civilians had very heavy and strict gun laws. Volksturm were organised by the state and were paramillitaries. You can do the research yourself before making yourself look like a fool
@@MrPanos2000 well, we got really heavy weapon laws today, too...just the last update on our weapon laws, due to the hysteria about refugees (I'm ashame about my fellow citizen back then and today), allows any town to declare so called "safe zones" in wich it is illegal to carry a knife above a blade length of 4 centimeters/~1.7 inches....and blades here in germany are measured from the hilt/ end of the grip, not the effectively sharpened edge...a kingdom for a meteorite striking the Reichstag I say
@@erikstolzenberger1517 correct me if I am wrong but it was even worse back then. Today German laws favour those with money and time to go through the bureocratic process, but at least almost all small arms arms legal to own, one way or the other. During the 3rd Reich hunters and sportshooters were hit with hard laws, courtesy of the vegan animal loving authoritarian elite of that regime, with Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler and even Goebbels being strongly against hunting and civillan gun ownership
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.
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!".
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.
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.
So cool though. The story behind the weapon is the best part about this gun.
As to the barrels, Luftwaffe was also moving, as much as they could from 7,92mm to 13mm for their aircraft-mounted machine guns
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.
Ecclectic Nerd Sort of negates the ”keep weapons out of the hands of civilians ” theory . Especially when civilians can use them against the government . Another myth gets dumped . 💩💩💩🙃
@@VagoniusThicket This just makes you look like an uneducated fool.
@@Mr-Trox that idiot really thinks these were sold to civilians
11:23 Nein nein nein nein!
36? :-)
+Marek Fotr
rofl.
10,000.
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 !
Why not zero it at 300 meters?
@@MorangRus The Volkssturm was composed mainly of older men with less than 20-20 eysight.
It was basically a case of "Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes" !
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.
Wow
Hey hey no more fire alarm on the side of the screen!
Looks great
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
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
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.
Excellent work Ian, as always!
An accuracy and handling test with live ammo would be very intersting, just to see if the gun even somewhat performs. :)
It's not his rifle, it's RIA's, and I'm sure they wouldn't even think of it.
Also. it would be too risky if it was damaged. RIA would lose money.
+William Stetar Or it belongs to a private seller who is selling it thru RIA, either way, my point stands.
+Schmidt54 I was thinking the same thing.. I would imagine they could actually function pretty well. I assume the barrels would have been pretty good quality to begin with, and as long as the bolt mechanism was solid then it should still work just fine. I would imagine the biggest problems would be how accurately the sights were mounted onto the gun, and whether the receiver was strong enough to not eventually start bending. Maybe the reliability of the feed mechanism might be an issue too...
I should imagine that the lifespan of the guys trying to use those guns against the Russians was probably not long enough to ever have to worry about the long-term reliability of the action.
I would have guessed similar. It is very important that technically this rifle is a somewhat regular commercial rifle, since the Volkssturm (VS) was an action incited by the Nazi party and acted as a last ditch shadow army besides the regular Wehrmacht (official German army) and the SS (private shadow army of the Nazi party for the special war crimes). So no military standards apply to the gun, it was made knowing the war went bad. I imagine that the guns were manufactured using forced labor, but supporting my thesis with facts could be hard.
hundred bucks says it's still better than a mosin
Seeing a rifle like this definitely gets the wheels turning when it comes to building improvised weapons 😉
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.
.223 or .22 hornet, but naturally better finished.
Could be a handy gun for shooting roe deer, minks, feral cats and for target practice.
If I had a licence and did any of the above, something simple like this could well be mu choice.
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.
I swear, it looks like an M14 merged with a Gewehr
Lol it kinda does. Except this (reasonably so) look like it was thrown together by bubba.
I disagree. Both of those guns has a full stock, while this thing has a two part stock+foregrip. Also the silhouette doesn't look much like either of those guns in either size or shape.
Honestly, saw the thumbnail and thought it was a german semiauto i didn’t know about. Still enjoyed the video tho!!!
Looks like the trunnions were spot welded in place. Quite clear marks around both areas, for example right next to the serial number.
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)
There’s no ugly gun.
the deer silently judging this weapon
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.
Ian, thanks! Every day with these guns is a treat.
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.
It looks like junk because that is what it is.
Neurofied Yamato
I do like the look
@@jameshay7247 for junk it's way more worth then your words lmao
At that point in the war all Luftwaffe fighters were using 20mm/ 30mm cannon mg15/17 were long out of use 'for fighters' I realize some larger aircraft used rear facing mg
I really believe if the Germans would’ve made rifles like this and the vg 1-5 from the get go for every main ground troop let alone other simplified weaponry throughout their military things would’ve ended very differently. We got lucky for that one for sure
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.
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.
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.
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.
You know what, it's not bad at all ! Would not mind having one myself.
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.
Still good to view this again 7 years later. The quality holds
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.
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.
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.
Perfection is when there is nothing left you can detract.
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.
We need a sniper version as well.
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!
Im impressed that germans cared to put safety switch on last ditch rifle
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.
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.
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.
Oh shit so folk which means people in English is how you say volk that's coolq
Stamped receiver? Front & rear trunions? Pressed & pinned barrel? Did Mikhail Kalashnikov have one of these to play with at one point?
11:25 "Serials over nein, nein, nein".
really cool to see what they could come up with when they were being backed into a corner
michael ranasinghe The russians learned a lot from the Germans . Just like the Chinese today stealing and copying all western inventions .
I wonder why they did not use 7.92×33mm instead.
Some savings in length and strength of the receiver and ammunition costs.
The MG barrels would just need a bit turned off the end to rechamber them.
The rifles would only be good for short range anyway, so no need for a long range cartridge.
Not enough ammo
I actually like the look of this.
Enlisted Berlin moment
and I thought I was the only pinoy player xD
My favorite part I'd I get to rp the volkstrum
With more refining this weapon could have been more effective than the K98k, especially because of the detachable magazine.
AldanFerrox but it does not have a clip loading capability! And issuing magazines is more expensive than issuing clips. Also they are more heavy. So 10 round detachable magazin is not clearly superior to 5 round mauser-style clip.
@@romannowak8830 As the development of weapons proved, magazine and not clip fed rifles was the better option. So this would indeed have been a better option and improvement
Germans embraced simplicity at the end of the war while Soviets embraced it from the beginning. Also, love that safety lock style
"Embraced" may not be the right word. More like forced into it kicking and screaming.
You are a great weapons master in this world sir thanks
Wonder how it shoots. I'd imagine it would be quite acceptable.
You're an entertaining and educational host Ian. Damn I need more guns...
An excellent survival rifle with reasonable reliability and accuracy at low production cost.
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.
There for collecting not shooting
+Sillygoose210 _ they're**
Sillygoose210 _ Call me what you will but I don't think firearms are just for show. If it can't shoot it's worthless in my mind or at least only belongs in a war museum ya know.
You know, I bet a modern take on this rifle would sell well as a ranch gun.
tman008
.223 is good.
I know I want one.
Also machine guns in standard 7.92 mm were too weak for aerial combat, fighters had upgraded to much more damaging 20mm and 30mm cannon so these barrels were of no interest for Luftwaffe.
Externally It looks like the MAS-49
Reminds me of a Valmet hunting rifle. Looks really good!
The dimples above the magazine look familiar.
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.
Volkssturm = Folkssturm. "V" in German is pronounced as an "F".
Spreewerke = Sh-pre-everke. The s is more of a "sh", and the double "e"s on the end are more like a short "a". Spree is the river that runs through Berlin. The "W" is an english "V".
so baie verskillende duitsers
Too bad I already kno this.
Makro, you forgot to explain gow-lighter
@@КОМБИНАТ-т1ъ Gauleiter, pronounced gow-lighter, was the head (Leiter = leader) of the Gau = region. Gau comes from ancient Germanic gaw-ja = area or landscape.
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
Yet another awesome vid Ian.:D
The only Forgotten Weapons' video, where the gun looks old
Finally, a gun ive actually never heard of before!
Das ist ein ausgesprochen hübscher Günterantriebsgenerator! Ich empfinde große Liebe für derartiges!
FL Mail Du spinst.
Honestly it looks like a rather smooth bolt
Never knew these existed until i saw this. Cool.
hm, is it just me seeing some similaritys to the stamped receiver of the AKM? 9:41 The general shape of the lower part and this "stamp" at the magazine?
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.
Can you single load through the top like K98k? Or do you have to remove mag and load mag directly?
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.
Ah yes, a man of integrity.
Early Savage Axis prototype....
Long-time viewer, first time commenter etc.
The VGs were produced out of desperation, certainly, but I wonder if part of the intent might have been to make the debellation of Germany as difficult as possible, so that Germany might be able to sue for peace (and, critically, sue for peace from the western powers and not the Soviets).
Just a very minor thing; Gau is a medieval term that was revived by the Nazi Party for their own administrative regions. From the mid 30s, the Laender (equivalent to US states) were basically taken out of action, and the Nazi Gaus effectively became the states. Gauleiters had been the equivalent of a US state party chair, and became the equivalent of a governor. When the Allies took over, they basically redrew the map and very few of the previous administrative boundaries were kept. I believe that the current boundaries of the Laender date from the 1949 constitution. Basically, that's a long-winded way of saying that the current states are Laender rather than Gau.
+David Landon Cole basically right, just some further Infos: There were a lot more Gaus during the 1930-1940, than Bundesländer after the war(only 16). The Term Gau is still in use, I know, that it is used in Bavaria and stands vor a very small part of city or region. But I only have heard it in use in the Sport Shooting community.
I didn't know the existence of this gun. Thanks
i wonder how cheap a modern factory could produce something like this for.
I guess around 2 h of work would kost around 200 euro with tooling
If a modern factory was ever tasked with producing "last ditch" rifles, something has gone terribly wrong and your modern factories have probably been bombed to bits.
It would be Uber cool if you could post the hammer prices of auction samples you highlight/review.
You must have the coolest gig in the world and the best part is, you sort of made it out of nothing. The Big Bang theory of how Forgotten Weapons got started. Now it's ever expanding. Kind of makes you a firearms history God.
Excellent video! I really wonder where you always dig those guns out.
Those rifles are beautiful to be honest. I need one
It looks like a bolt action saiga Hunter.
+TroopperFoFo
looks like the marching band rifles that are slung into the air USED to look. i dont think they have a bolt OR fake barrel now.
Another great video Ian!
Kind of cool rifles. If they’re safe guns, with detachable magazines they’d be cool to buy a modern reproduction in either 8mm Mauser or some other more common round