Ah, finally the 1911 episode. Finally people can stop begging about when it's being made! Fun fact, it has the same name as some obscure pistol nobody's heard of. Meh, we don't need an episode on that one.
@@coreystockdale6287 To be fair, most Americans that care about that gun of trivial importance probably already know a lot about it anyway, so why do they need an episode? All they'd miss out on is some great historical research, humor, information on John Moses Browning, a shooting montage, discussion of war-worthiness... Eh. Might as well give up on it now.
@@coreystockdale6287 I've enjoyed all of them so far. Obviously, I wasn't actually advocating for there to not be an episode on the pistol of dubious nomenclature, but thought a reply attempting to match the tone of the original comment would fit nicely.
*Swiss Soldiers* "This mannlicher action is too complex!" *Swiss clockmakers* "GASP!" *Swiss Children - drop their chocolate* *Furrer glances at toggle locked whatever*
He hinted in the swedish mauser episodes and on the podcast that it was to be one of the next episodes he got to work on but the Corona Virus threw a wrench into things. 1911 -confirmed- cancelled.
@@presidentmerkinmuffley6769 I don't really get the attraction to a 1911 episode. The 1911 has plenty written and video'd about it. The best C&Rsenal stuff is the weird stuff. Montenegrins anyone?
@@88porpoise I have one. It's over 100 years old and is an absolute tack driver at 100 yards. It's one of my favorite rifles. Sharp and easy to pull trigger. Clean break. Great iron sights. Smooth and fast bolt.
After watching this I thought: "Man that Schmidt - Rubin 96/11 is a really cool rifle!" So I started checking around and sure enough the local Cabelas had one on the used rack. Now I have a new (to me) rifle, 7.5x55 Schmidt - Rubin reloading dies and pile of PRVI Partisan brass to load. I needed one of these like I needed a hole in my head. Thanks Othais, Mae and the crew, you are all equally culpable! I like what you do, don't stop.
It was well worth the wait to find out what that 1911 everybody’s been talking about finally was. I do wonder if Switzerland had entered WWI if we’d see them move to a stripper clip rather than the cardboard charger? It makes sense for a disposable charger, but as we saw with the trench guns paper and wet trench conditions don’t mix
Dustin Cox Sure it is. But it remains to be seen how reliable it would be in combat in the trenches. I would lean towards it being (at least) good enough, but many things that seemed great failed the test of battle, and this never saw that test. Of course neither was the metal clip, and that didn’t even survive regular tests.
The Swiss actually made cut outs for a stripper clip on all 1911 guns and the K31s but I guess it wasn't worth the change since originally stripper clips (probably just prototypes) are super rare. I guess they saw a benefit in the chargers since it's what was used into the STGW-57 which got it's own special magazine loader.
Kaiser Wilhelm: All very nice, but what happens if Germany invades with twice the men? Swiss President: We'd shoot twice. Great trash talk, Switzerland.
@@Furudal And because swiss terrain is really bad to fight in as an attacker, and even if an invasion is successful swiss terrain is very useful for guerrilla warfare especially in the mountainous areas to the south.
@@Dash8Fan That wall wasn't because the Romans couldn't have won but because they realized that the Scots would be just as bad as the Germans to pacify nevermind the Terrain
I really didn't expect these episodes on the Swiss rifles. Pity the final improvement, getting the lugs all the way forward finally, took until 193-freaking-1. I need to eventually get a K31. Thanks for this as well as the previous one.
You very consistently make some of the most professional, entertaining, informative, and all around great videos. Keep making this content, it will stand for all history as the go to video of these historic weapons, I nearly guarantee!
I do love C&Rsenal. They are such a great source of information about weapons. It's like a college class in every episode. And it's significantly increased my understanding of the politics and state of the world prior to WWI.
Yes. It is. But historical treasure could imply treasure from history. If you dont clarify your comment by mentioning monetary treasure, pirate treasure, and the like, people will be confused.
Austin McCune Electing for accuracy on the range over practicality in the field has been a fairly common thing around the globe. A great many countries have done that on various occasions (the US fight over rear sights is a good example from this channel, and it also likely played a significant role in adoption of 7.62 NATO rather than an intermediate cartridge).
All the other things others are pretty good too, but nobody comes close to the swiss in Hornussen! (some areas in Austria do something vagely similar with burning pieces of wood during some traditional celebration, but not as a sport)
51:40 the long range sights weren't for "precision" shooting but for saturation shooting, when several lines of infantrymen would shoot one line after another, allowing for a very high rate of fire for quite a long time. It became obsolete of course with the democratization of the machine gun on the battlefield. 1:01:55 but Switzerland was quite poor compared to its big neighbours at that time. It only became a rich country in the 1950s. Hence the recycling of 1896 rifles as 96/11 (or the use of the 1882 revolver well into the '60s).
I always learn something new watching this show, today is fire twice and I went from wanting 0 swiss rifles to wanting 3. Time to tell the wife I need another gun safe. Truly thank you to everyone who helps create these episodes, keep up the good work.
Anybody else watch these to put themselves to sleep? It’s like the perfect mix of being very chilled out without any excitement so I don’t keep myself awake trying to hear more, but also being very interesting so my mind doesn’t wander off and enable my insomnia. Sometimes I end up watching the same episode a dozen times because I only make it through a few minutes at a time.
I've been watching ever since I found out about you guys through the Great War! You guys and Ian are my favorite channels! Keep up the good work and thank you!
The swiss straight pulls are just about my favorite bolt action rifles for no reason. I can't explain why but I just think they're awesome. So these last two episodes has made me quite happy.
I still have my grandfathers 1911 carbine, a fine fine rifle, i shoot it 3, 4 times a year and take really good care of it, the only thing i have left from him beside the sabre his father wore during WWI. I really cherish both of these precious items.
"When you have nation fixed on precision..." what you said in that entire section of the video is increadibly accurate to my experience in the USMC and our resistance to switch from the M16 to the M4.
I personally love my 1911 rifle, still the most accurate iron sight rifle I have ever shot, 1.1 inch group at 100 yards with GP11, absolutely phenomenal
Loved the episode. Somewhat confused that there was no mention of the quality of GP11 though - never corrosive and match grade - which is a step above other cartridges used by other countries in that time period.
To the team producing this glorious informative and entertaining series: I continually recommend your channel to people I know, especially those that are interested in historic firearms. This is so fascinating and I can't help rewatching the older episodes. Keep up the great work!
Britain: Get a decent design execute it poorly then spend 20-30 years of tinkering in the backshed with tea and crumpets to get a quality service rifle
@@robertbodell55 I truly think you're a little too harsh, since the principles were solid but there was so much change and uncertainty in the period. Smokeless powder rand new. Small caliber brand new. What about compressed black powder like the Swiss designed their rifles around? The great thing is the Lee design withstood so many changes around the basic concept, and resulted in a family of some of the world's best battle rifles. P.S. I''m American, so I don't have a chauvinistic element to my opinion. What beats an SMLE? A Swiss K11 or K31.
Thank you very much for your great episode on Schmidt-Rubin Swiss rifles. I was fortunate enough to pick up a Schmidt-Rubin Model 1911 Carbine in April 2020. What a wonderful venerable weapon that is a masterpiece of gunsmithing from a century ago. All of the numbers match save for the bayonet. After checking the serial number, I found out that my carbine was produced in 1918. The weapon is in very good shape for being over 100 years old. Yes, it has acquired some "character marks" over the years, that only tend to give credence of its worth to me. Mechanically, it was in fine shape. the barrel is beautiful with no pitting. There was some surface rust on the butt plate, and also a patch on the side of barrel near the muzzle. I was quick to dispatch with those patches with some 0000 steel wool, gun oil and a little elbow grease. I had done some reading about the carbine, and the legend that soldiers would insert a small piece of paper with their information underneath the butt plate. I removed the butt plate in order to remove the small patch of rust that had developed on it. After removing the two buttplate screws, indeed, there was a piece of paper with what appeared to be the citizen-soldier's name, town, address and canton. I didn't remove it, I took a picture of the paper, and had a Swiss friend of mine interpret it for me. After working on the rust patch, I replaced the butt plate, complete with the piece of paper still in place. I feel that I am but a caretaker of this fine firearm, and want to leave things as I found them as much as possible. Keep up the great work.
the rain at the range was a nice touch. When Mae was working that bolt, I could hardly see the expended shells coming out- that sucker wings them! I love straight bolt pull
My 1911 Carbine has the smoothest action I've ever used on a bolt gun, it's impressive. I realize the K31 was a better all around rifle but the craftsmanship of the 1911s is stunning. I can't imagine what a hand tooled rifle to that quality would cost to make today. The rear sight is at 300 because the user didn't need to make any adjustment at that range. You use a bullseye hold out to 200m and a 6-o'clock hold at 300+ with the idea being that at the further ranges you want to be able to see your target instead of having it covered by the front sight.
I agree. I have both the K11 and the K31. Each has their pluses, but darned few negatives. The K11 is better for a person with a smaller hand. it is "elegant'. The K31 is the beefy cousin. Both are accurate to a fault. If a choice was demanded, i would do the K11 for open sights, and the K31 for a scope. (Black ace makes a great mounting!!).
Well! I left a ton of jokes about Norwegians on both the krag episode and the Swedish Mauser episode and no one even gave it a thumb up! But I will comment a lot more from now on!! Thank Mae and Otis(mark said it like that) for a nice show
Othias, I must say that the production level and writing seem to have made yet another large jump in quality. Congrats and the work you all do is amazing.
Put a Swiss Products offset scope mount on my (previously) sporterized 1911. Highly recommend for shooting tennis balls at 500 yds. Oh yeah you will need to build a cheek rest unless you are right handed and left eyed.
There's lots & lots of research and scholarship that goes in to this channel. Love the interaction between Othias & Mae, too. Genuine entertaining & educational.
Thank you for doing this episode. I've been waiting to see a really in depth review of this particular firearm. Very informative, very interesting. Kudos!!
I have one. I pulled up the serial number and found out it was manufactured in 1917. I love it and is very accurate. It has been sporterized many years ago before my father owned it. I pulled the butt stock off and found the soldier's name and rank written on paper. I put it back.
A reading from the Gospel Of Our Lord According To Browning (Browning 19:11): And Gun Jesus said unto Othias and the other disciples “I am the way and the light... only occasionally the light is muzzle flash!”
Yes, I know this is a relatively common rifle but I've never taken the time to dig into their details. Thanks C&Rsenal for the great video (as is normal for you guys)! Very educational.
Some times we swiss use the strength of the ejector on these guns for a bit of friendly fun on the range. If it's just range training and a good buddy of ours is on the next lane over we cant the rifle to the side a bit in an attempt to hit them on the head with the empty case coming back down :)
How does C&R not have more subscribers? They aren't willing to skip ahead to the popular click-bait firearms. I have learned more of firearm history post late 1800s from this channel than any other.
I own a 1910 serial number 1896/11, and it is SUCH a fantastic rifle. The recoil is incredibly manageable, and the action is incredibly fun to use. It is incredibly gorgeous, and even people I know that aren't fans of firearms love it. I love that these were never really used in conflict, as it makes it one of the *only* European infantry rifles of the time that most likely have never taken a life.
Jeff Carver Well, it has worked for them two WorldWars. The banking business didn`t hurt either. But it all was backed by a wellfunded Army manned with dedicated citizens. Btw Swiss servicemen are not soldiers ; they are called Wehrmaenner, defenc men.
Switzerland did not survive two world wars because of their army (Germany would have probably walked through Switzerland in a week, including sightseeing breaks), but because it provided a great spot in the middle of Europe for all the spy agencies to operate freely and carry secret talks. Oh, and to stash all the loot.
mountainhobo Absolutely right about the banking and spy stuff. True, the Wehrmacht could have overrun Swiss defence - at a cost. Other countries have done that before. The problem was not getting INTO the country, but to get OUT, ALIVE.
Hi guys, thank you for a detailed, very informative and entertaining dissertation on these cool rifles. I watched your, Bloke’s and Ian’s videos multiple times before purchasing a 1889, a 1996/11 and a K31. All beautiful pieces of engineering. Thank you for your efforts and I am glad to support your research via Patreon.
Hello dear C&R Team and thank you for this great episode. it reminds me once again that I finally have to occupy myself a bit with patreon - or at least buy another batch of t-shirts. Now after this nice introduction, allow me to add a bit of context to some statements and opinions voiced here ;-) Othais mentioned that he wasn't sure if he would have chosen this gun as the standard rifle if he was in charge of arming a country due to it's complexity and possible difficulties in ensuring resuply regarding the attritional character of warfare in 1914-18. Let me push back on that a bit from a Swiss perspective: You have to remember that the swiss army wasn't just an army of citizen marksmen but above all it strategically was meant to be a minute men kind of militia which in case of emergency had to mobilize ALL its reserves at once without much chance of resupplying on its own to begin with. Take a look back to the map of Europe and Switzerland in 1914 and you will realise that this tiny nation with most of its major cities within shouting distance to considerably bigger countries surrounding it could in no way fight a prolonged war against any of its neighbouring countries as all of them including Austria were many times bigger back then. Furthermore, the borders of Switzerland as we know it today were very much drawn in agreement with its neighbours at the conference table in Vienna in 1815. So while there wasn't much unsettled dispute in Switzerlands relations with its neighbours the main potential for war was if that country would have been sucked into a greater conflict between its neighbours like (as you mentioned) Belgium was in 1914. So the planning was that Switzerland would stay neutral if possible but when being attacked by one side in a likely conflict between - say for example - France and Germany (who would have seen that comming), it would then joined with the other side who would then hopefully help resupply with both men and material for the rest of the war. In fact, there was some secret planning and even some coordination going on with the french army when a german invasion looked likely (which then went north through belgium instead) - in this case the swiss army would try to delay the german onslaught just long enough so the French could bring up reinforcements and help them stabilise the front. For that reason, easy production of replacement wasn't that important compared to the ability to provide your firebrigade army with the best possible tool to master the most critical first 3-5 days of such a conflict. After that, Switzerland would either be occupied or the front would had been stabilised along some valleys or mountain ridges with help arriving from abroad. As every able man who could hold a gun already had one stored in its cubboard in peacetime, there also would not be much of a stream of new recruits to be armed (contrary to Russia or Great Britain for example, who both mobilized their manpower over time in different steps). If they would loose guns, they would likely loose them together with the soldiers which would even more quickly be running out of stock. So ease of resupply of guns wasn't as important as in other countries. furthermore, Othais mentioned that gun fire at 1000m + was pretty useless as this job was taken over by artillery during the war. Here again, I would emphasize that not only was Switzerland relatively poor at the time and could not afford much artillery, it would likely fight in the mountains (although not so much in the Alps as rather in the less pronounced and less internationally famed Jura mountain range) where gun fire at 1km + could - to some degree - have been proven quite usefull as substitute for artillery since the woody scenery with it's many narrow passages and limestone cliffs would help highly mobile "tirallieurs" in delaying the advance of a bigger and stronger army. you sure would not see a soldier at 1,5 km but you would likely see a road with lorries and carriages on it. and with a bit of luck you could drop a few horses and block the road that way - causing chaos and delay which would have been crucial. Also accurate fire at medium ranges as experienced by the british in the boar war could have again proven its value. Sure, all those scenarios are just concerning the opening stage of a conflict. But again - that would be the crucial one and the only one where an independend swiss army would have played a major role. After that, what would be left of it would have made due with what it could get so if a swiss soldier would have survived a possible german invasion in 1914, he probably would have had to thankfully accept a Lebel if he lost his rifle in 1915 (which would probably motivated the average Swiss chap even more, to take care of his rifle). So I hope I could somehow explain why - in my view - swiss army authorities were right in chosing to emphasize marksmanship over anything else and in this context both the Langgewehr and the K11 were just tailormade for their purpose in my opinion.
I love all the Swiss straight pulls. I am fortunate enough to have gotten into them just before they really shot up in price so was able to get one or two of each model from the 1889 to the K31. Fun to shoot, fun to reload for, all very accurate and well-made.
Hey guys, I really want to thank you for the incredible work that you do on these videos. I can't even begin to imagine how much time and effort you put into these but it really does show. You are my favorite channel on youtube and I look forward to your videos every single week. Yes, I have watched every single takedown video too. I hope you guys know that we really appreciate you. Hope this helps the algorithm.
Ah, finally the 1911 episode. Finally people can stop begging about when it's being made! Fun fact, it has the same name as some obscure pistol nobody's heard of. Meh, we don't need an episode on that one.
Angry american noises
@@coreystockdale6287 To be fair, most Americans that care about that gun of trivial importance probably already know a lot about it anyway, so why do they need an episode? All they'd miss out on is some great historical research, humor, information on John Moses Browning, a shooting montage, discussion of war-worthiness... Eh. Might as well give up on it now.
@@benjaminmiddaugh2729 I mean we got the Ross rifle so I was happy after that🇨🇦🇨🇦👌👌
@@coreystockdale6287 I've enjoyed all of them so far. Obviously, I wasn't actually advocating for there to not be an episode on the pistol of dubious nomenclature, but thought a reply attempting to match the tone of the original comment would fit nicely.
@@benjaminmiddaugh2729 I just love guns so any episodes are good episodes
*Swiss Soldiers* "This mannlicher action is too complex!"
*Swiss clockmakers* "GASP!"
*Swiss Children - drop their chocolate*
*Furrer glances at toggle locked whatever*
Furrer hides toggle locked sub gun behind his back
Who was it who said: Any idiot can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make something simple.
@@johannesmichaelalhaugthoma4215 Mikhail Kolashnikov (don't have the spelling right).
@@SlavicCelery kalashnikov
@@SlavicCelery "kolashikov" lmfao
"GIVE US THE DAMN 1911 EPISODE ALREADY!"
>Monkey paw finger curls
damn that monkeys paw
He hinted in the swedish mauser episodes and on the podcast that it was to be one of the next episodes he got to work on but the Corona Virus threw a wrench into things.
1911 -confirmed- cancelled.
1911 the colt one will be the Finale of the c&r World War One project, if you have not realised that yet.
Its a metaphysical cursed monkey's paw not an actual severed one, right guys? Poor monkey... ;P
I say get to the damn Martini-Henry episode already.
Man that photo on the opening was the epitome of turn-of-the-century gun safety
I like the dude on the ground at ua-cam.com/video/6x2r7IyOt88/v-deo.html
Had no clue the bolt worked separately as a gun.
Sir, are we practicing melee or shooting today?
...
Yes
Mexican stand-off, Swiss edition.
Or rather a paranoia free time.
I missed the picture first time round. Thank you sir.
C&Rsenal Community: Do a 1911 episode!
Othais: *laughs in Swiss 7.5mm*
We cant let them keep getting away with this!
@@NorwegianAmericanKid i love watching the m1911 guys squirm...
@@presidentmerkinmuffley6769 I don't really get the attraction to a 1911 episode. The 1911 has plenty written and video'd about it. The best C&Rsenal stuff is the weird stuff. Montenegrins anyone?
I hope they leave it as long as they possibly can, just for the epic trollage! 😂😂😂😂
@@sitnam9054 I dont either give me a gasser or some wierd styer video over the 45, I mean eventually get there but no hurry.
This isn’t the 1911 that we wanted, but it is the one we deserved.
It is the one I wanted and deserved.
Sorry, just far more interested in rifles than pistols.
@@88porpoise I have one. It's over 100 years old and is an absolute tack driver at 100 yards. It's one of my favorite rifles.
Sharp and easy to pull trigger. Clean break. Great iron sights. Smooth and fast bolt.
Me at 12:05am: I should get some sleep
C&Rsenal: 65 minutes of straight Swiss beauties
me: fine, you win... again
Yup I'm back for more nerd knowledge
2:19 am for me
Awesome troy
Yup
After watching this I thought: "Man that Schmidt - Rubin 96/11 is a really cool rifle!" So I started checking around and sure enough the local Cabelas had one on the used rack. Now I have a new (to me) rifle, 7.5x55 Schmidt - Rubin reloading dies and pile of PRVI Partisan brass to load. I needed one of these like I needed a hole in my head. Thanks Othais, Mae and the crew, you are all equally culpable! I like what you do, don't stop.
It was well worth the wait to find out what that 1911 everybody’s been talking about finally was. I do wonder if Switzerland had entered WWI if we’d see them move to a stripper clip rather than the cardboard charger? It makes sense for a disposable charger, but as we saw with the trench guns paper and wet trench conditions don’t mix
Isnt the cardboard charger lacquered with wax to keep it waterproof?
@@SasoriZert yes
Also Chargers are not as tight a tolerance as a cartridge.
Dustin Cox Sure it is. But it remains to be seen how reliable it would be in combat in the trenches. I would lean towards it being (at least) good enough, but many things that seemed great failed the test of battle, and this never saw that test. Of course neither was the metal clip, and that didn’t even survive regular tests.
The Swiss actually made cut outs for a stripper clip on all 1911 guns and the K31s but I guess it wasn't worth the change since originally stripper clips (probably just prototypes) are super rare. I guess they saw a benefit in the chargers since it's what was used into the STGW-57 which got it's own special magazine loader.
Kaiser Wilhelm: All very nice, but what happens if Germany invades with twice the men?
Swiss President: We'd shoot twice.
Great trash talk, Switzerland.
And a nice smackdown.
Uncle Dan Switzerland was only saved because it is more convenient to invade France via Belgium
@@Furudal And because swiss terrain is really bad to fight in as an attacker, and even if an invasion is successful swiss terrain is very useful for guerrilla warfare especially in the mountainous areas to the south.
@@LunaNicoleTheFox Agreed. Ask the Romans about Scotland. They built a wall for a reason.
@@Dash8Fan That wall wasn't because the Romans couldn't have won but because they realized that the Scots would be just as bad as the Germans to pacify nevermind the Terrain
I really didn't expect these episodes on the Swiss rifles. Pity the final improvement, getting the lugs all the way forward finally, took until 193-freaking-1. I need to eventually get a K31. Thanks for this as well as the previous one.
You very consistently make some of the most professional, entertaining, informative, and all around great videos. Keep making this content, it will stand for all history as the go to video of these historic weapons, I nearly guarantee!
I do love C&Rsenal. They are such a great source of information about weapons. It's like a college class in every episode. And it's significantly increased my understanding of the politics and state of the world prior to WWI.
This channel is a genuine historical treasure.
Yes. It is.
But historical treasure could imply treasure from history. If you dont clarify your comment by mentioning monetary treasure, pirate treasure, and the like, people will be confused.
Glorious Gewehrpatrone 1911, when your government issue ammunition must be match grade accept no substitutes.
I remember one military chose a pistol because it was was more accurate, instead of choosing a browning high power, I think it was Norway.
Unbelievable. The highest quality ammunition ever used by an army. Greetings from America.
Those Berdan primed Ruaag cases are soooooo pretty I can't bear to toss them. Even though I will never be able to reload them.
Austin McCune Electing for accuracy on the range over practicality in the field has been a fairly common thing around the globe. A great many countries have done that on various occasions (the US fight over rear sights is a good example from this channel, and it also likely played a significant role in adoption of 7.62 NATO rather than an intermediate cartridge).
And even then, the hard core marksman guys carried Winchester Model 70's into Vietnam
Played Tannenberg with my friend all evening and now I’m watching C&Rsenal-it’s been a good night
The Swiss: doing chocolate, firearms, and money laundering better than everyone for centuries while pretending to be into cows and yodeling.
you can do chocolate, watches, firearms, banks, cheese and still appreciate cows, yodeling and hornuss
Yes but behind Cayman and USA 😉
All the other things others are pretty good too, but nobody comes close to the swiss in Hornussen! (some areas in Austria do something vagely similar with burning pieces of wood during some traditional celebration, but not as a sport)
Don't forget the cheese! Challehocker is amazing.
Gotta be able to shoot the yoddeler on the next mountain over...
*Schmidt* :"Nein! Ze gun is fine!"
*Russian gun designers* :"That´s our boi."
5.45 is less boolet per boolet than 7.62. Moar boolet is better. Rifle is Fine.
51:40 the long range sights weren't for "precision" shooting but for saturation shooting, when several lines of infantrymen would shoot one line after another, allowing for a very high rate of fire for quite a long time. It became obsolete of course with the democratization of the machine gun on the battlefield.
1:01:55 but Switzerland was quite poor compared to its big neighbours at that time. It only became a rich country in the 1950s. Hence the recycling of 1896 rifles as 96/11 (or the use of the 1882 revolver well into the '60s).
I always learn something new watching this show, today is fire twice and I went from wanting 0 swiss rifles to wanting 3. Time to tell the wife I need another gun safe. Truly thank you to everyone who helps create these episodes, keep up the good work.
Anybody else watch these to put themselves to sleep? It’s like the perfect mix of being very chilled out without any excitement so I don’t keep myself awake trying to hear more, but also being very interesting so my mind doesn’t wander off and enable my insomnia. Sometimes I end up watching the same episode a dozen times because I only make it through a few minutes at a time.
The love of John Moses Browning’s light is a noble cause to subscribe for. Also, sounds like we’re getting a whole JMB episode 4 years later
I've been watching ever since I found out about you guys through the Great War! You guys and Ian are my favorite channels! Keep up the good work and thank you!
The swiss straight pulls are just about my favorite bolt action rifles for no reason. I can't explain why but I just think they're awesome. So these last two episodes has made me quite happy.
America when they hear 1911: Pistol
Switzerland when they hear 1911: Rifle
The Swiss liked it. They put a ring on it. *disengages safety*
Joseph Driesenga ! Laugh my ass off on that on!!! 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, it’s exactly that ;)
bro that's the most facts I've heard all day
I still have my grandfathers 1911 carbine, a fine fine rifle, i shoot it 3, 4 times a year and take really good care of it, the only thing i have left from him beside the sabre his father wore during WWI. I really cherish both of these precious items.
I literally am picking one of these up tomorrow. Looks like I'm not going to sleep
"When you have nation fixed on precision..." what you said in that entire section of the video is increadibly accurate to my experience in the USMC and our resistance to switch from the M16 to the M4.
If you haven’t already, watch the Krag and 1903 Springfield episodes to have a ton of fun in that area.
The USA and Switzerland have a very similar "Marksman" history with their rifles.
M4A1s in Fallujah would have made far more sense then A4s.
I think this show has the best production values of any firearm UA-cam channel.
I personally love my 1911 rifle, still the most accurate iron sight rifle I have ever shot, 1.1 inch group at 100 yards with GP11, absolutely phenomenal
Another nice piece of history content produced by people who clearly care about the subject matter and making a good show.
Loved the episode. Somewhat confused that there was no mention of the quality of GP11 though - never corrosive and match grade - which is a step above other cartridges used by other countries in that time period.
To the team producing this glorious informative and entertaining series: I continually recommend your channel to people I know, especially those that are interested in historic firearms. This is so fascinating and I can't help rewatching the older episodes. Keep up the great work!
Swiss: meticulousness in engineering
France: WE’LL DO IT LIVE &^%$ IT! DO IT LIVE!
US: when in doubt “borrow” without permission or get JMB to do it
Those poor bastards
Britain: Get a decent design execute it poorly then spend 20-30 years of tinkering in the backshed with tea and crumpets to get a quality service rifle
@keith moore I was actually referencing the Lee Metford / Lee- Enfield
@@robertbodell55 I truly think you're a little too harsh, since the principles were solid but there was so much change and uncertainty in the period. Smokeless powder rand new. Small caliber brand new. What about compressed black powder like the Swiss designed their rifles around? The great thing is the Lee design withstood so many changes around the basic concept, and resulted in a family of some of the world's best battle rifles. P.S. I''m American, so I don't have a chauvinistic element to my opinion. What beats an SMLE? A Swiss K11 or K31.
@keith moore Wasn't HK actually owned by a Brit at the time?
Bless the almighty UA-cam hoops and obstacles getting in the way of amazing content from C&Rsenal.
Awesome-the Swiss live up to their reputation, and I love your analysis of this vs the Italian guns.
Thank you very much for your great episode on Schmidt-Rubin Swiss rifles. I was fortunate enough to pick up a Schmidt-Rubin Model 1911 Carbine in April 2020. What a wonderful venerable weapon that is a masterpiece of gunsmithing from a century ago. All of the numbers match save for the bayonet. After checking the serial number, I found out that my carbine was produced in 1918. The weapon is in very good shape for being over 100 years old. Yes, it has acquired some "character marks" over the years, that only tend to give credence of its worth to me. Mechanically, it was in fine shape. the barrel is beautiful with no pitting. There was some surface rust on the butt plate, and also a patch on the side of barrel near the muzzle. I was quick to dispatch with those patches with some 0000 steel wool, gun oil and a little elbow grease. I had done some reading about the carbine, and the legend that soldiers would insert a small piece of paper with their information underneath the butt plate. I removed the butt plate in order to remove the small patch of rust that had developed on it. After removing the two buttplate screws, indeed, there was a piece of paper with what appeared to be the citizen-soldier's name, town, address and canton. I didn't remove it, I took a picture of the paper, and had a Swiss friend of mine interpret it for me. After working on the rust patch, I replaced the butt plate, complete with the piece of paper still in place. I feel that I am but a caretaker of this fine firearm, and want to leave things as I found them as much as possible. Keep up the great work.
THIS IS ME SHOWING ENGAGEMENT
Nice comment 👍
I AM ENGAGING WITH YOUR ENGAGEMENT
@@milamber319 ENGAGE!
@@Havok0159
Captain
Jean-Luc Picard
Of the USS
Enterprise
Captain
Jean-Luc Picard
Of the USS
Enterprise
(M-m-m-m-m-make it so, make it so)
was that a call to action early in the video that you were responding to?
the rain at the range was a nice touch. When Mae was working that bolt, I could hardly see the expended shells coming out- that sucker wings them! I love straight bolt pull
My 1911 Carbine has the smoothest action I've ever used on a bolt gun, it's impressive. I realize the K31 was a better all around rifle but the craftsmanship of the 1911s is stunning. I can't imagine what a hand tooled rifle to that quality would cost to make today. The rear sight is at 300 because the user didn't need to make any adjustment at that range. You use a bullseye hold out to 200m and a 6-o'clock hold at 300+ with the idea being that at the further ranges you want to be able to see your target instead of having it covered by the front sight.
An engeneering school made an estimate. Eye watering. Look it up.
I agree. I have both the K11 and the K31. Each has their pluses, but darned few negatives. The K11 is better for a person with a smaller hand. it is "elegant'. The K31 is the beefy cousin. Both are accurate to a fault. If a choice was demanded, i would do the K11 for open sights, and the K31 for a scope. (Black ace makes a great mounting!!).
@@lawyerjohnb OR, use a K31/43. :)
Just ordered my 1st Swiss 96/11. Came straight to C&Rsenal to learn about it's history.
Well! I left a ton of jokes about Norwegians on both the krag episode and the Swedish Mauser episode and no one even gave it a thumb up! But I will comment a lot more from now on!! Thank Mae and Otis(mark said it like that) for a nice show
Been watching for several years. Not really what I thought it would be, better. Thanks.
Last time I was this early, the US was still considering a rod bayonet.
Othias, I must say that the production level and writing seem to have made yet another large jump in quality. Congrats and the work you all do is amazing.
At this rate we'll be on the Small Arms of WWIII by the time we see a M1911 episode.
The opening picture is pure gold. Only soldiers could put such facial sang froid into clowning around.
Swiss 1911!
Oh yeah! Never heard of it before!
Oh......
Still love any Swiss content though!
Much love and appreciation from PA!
If you love Swiss content, nothing can be more highly recommended than checking out Bloke on the Range, if you haven’t already.
@@88porpoise already found him. He's great
Thanks guys. You helped me decide on a K1911 and I absolutely love it.
Swiss: War Weren't Declared.
Put a Swiss Products offset scope mount on my (previously) sporterized 1911. Highly recommend for shooting tennis balls at 500 yds. Oh yeah you will need to build a cheek rest unless you are right handed and left eyed.
There's lots & lots of research and scholarship that goes in to this channel. Love the interaction between Othias & Mae, too. Genuine entertaining & educational.
Last time I was this early, the US rifle trials were still setting up for the Springfield 1908
Thank you for doing this episode. I've been waiting to see a really in depth review of this particular firearm. Very informative, very interesting. Kudos!!
Look UA-cam this is me giving this video some sweet sweet interaction!
I am commenting on this video because you asked me very nicely. Thanks for the great show Othias, May, and gang.
I love Swiss rifles! A video of the ZFK-55 would be great.
Morning coffee and Othias sprinkling knowledge on my brain. Good way to start the day.
The first photo was awesome. Maybe I could re-create it with some buds.
This channel is a national treasure
I would take my K-11 over any other WW I era rifle! I'm so glad you guys did the neutral nation rifles.
I have one. I pulled up the serial number and found out it was manufactured in 1917. I love it and is very accurate. It has been sporterized many years ago before my father owned it. I pulled the butt stock off and found the soldier's name and rank written on paper. I put it back.
I am not sure people want to feel the love of John Moses Browning's light, seeing as that's a muzzle flash.
A reading from the Gospel Of Our Lord According To Browning (Browning 19:11):
And Gun Jesus said unto Othias and the other disciples “I am the way and the light... only occasionally the light is muzzle flash!”
Yes, I know this is a relatively common rifle but I've never taken the time to dig into their details. Thanks C&Rsenal for the great video (as is normal for you guys)! Very educational.
Commenting to ensure more people feel the love of John Moses Browning's light.
Just bought a SR 96/11, had to watch again to get all the goods, love your work!
extra long barrels and long range sights: So Swiss border guards can join in the 'fun' at Verdun without having to leave the comfort of their hut!
"ha! I got a French officer!" "damn.. That beats my German flamethrower.. Oh I see a German officer! Ha! Our scores are even!"
Pumped! First mil-serp I bought, and started an avalanche of of collecting odd actions. Love you C&R team!
The neutral rifle episodes gives me hope for a taste of the many flavours of dutch mannlicher carbines
I think they said they were coming
@@admechskitarii6967 good to know. I know othais loves them because he said so in reply to a comment about them in the romanian mannlicher episode
I'm commenting because I have been here for almost 5 years. I love your content and hopefully more people will see it.
Always causing trouble them Swiss types, they have quality rifles and personal military equipment.
No wonder BotR moved there.
Some times we swiss use the strength of the ejector on these guns for a bit of friendly fun on the range. If it's just range training and a good buddy of ours is on the next lane over we cant the rifle to the side a bit in an attempt to hit them on the head with the empty case coming back down :)
Not very neutrial of you!
Holy crap, a carbine was too complex for the Swiss. Damn
How does C&R not have more subscribers? They aren't willing to skip ahead to the popular click-bait firearms. I have learned more of firearm history post late 1800s from this channel than any other.
This comment is a sacrifice to the capricious UA-cam algorithm to give C&Rsenal more viewers.
34.18. example of why I love this channel.
Swiss Rubin Episode 2: The Electric Boogaloo...
Or something I'm not a Swiss Rifle Nerd.
- Jack the Korean Gun Nut.
These Swiss rifle episodes are some of my favorites.
Commenting because we were asked, I think I'll go buy a shirt.
^^ Ditto. Except my bright orange "Patented Plastic Pokie Hand" shirt turned up two days ago...
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the awesome Swiss-ness, and machining that goes into this
We would shoot twice... that's a savage comeback lol
I own a 1910 serial number 1896/11, and it is SUCH a fantastic rifle. The recoil is incredibly manageable, and the action is incredibly fun to use. It is incredibly gorgeous, and even people I know that aren't fans of firearms love it. I love that these were never really used in conflict, as it makes it one of the *only* European infantry rifles of the time that most likely have never taken a life.
Switzerland: Neutrality through superior firepower
Jeff Carver Well, it has worked for them two WorldWars. The banking business didn`t hurt either. But it all was backed by a wellfunded Army manned with dedicated citizens. Btw Swiss servicemen are not soldiers ; they are called Wehrmaenner, defenc men.
Switzerland did not survive two world wars because of their army (Germany would have probably walked through Switzerland in a week, including sightseeing breaks), but because it provided a great spot in the middle of Europe for all the spy agencies to operate freely and carry secret talks. Oh, and to stash all the loot.
mountainhobo Absolutely right about the banking and spy stuff. True, the Wehrmacht could have overrun Swiss defence - at a cost. Other countries have done that before. The problem was not getting INTO the country, but to get OUT, ALIVE.
Love these! My k31 was actually my first gun purchase. Kicks harder than my other stuff though.
Switzerland! Homeland of the FLIING CARROTS OF DOOM...
Yes, but that's more than 50 years in the future
One of the best series on UA-cam!
this is my comment, there are many comments like it but this one is mine.
Great vid as always, love both my 1911 and k1911s. The distance you get when extracting the spent casings is crazy.
Was a fun episode, thank you both. Also thank you Bloke for the help as well^^
Totally enjoyable. Lots of practical information.
I love the work you do. The passion and dedication shows in the quality of your content.
Hi guys, thank you for a detailed, very informative and entertaining dissertation on these cool rifles. I watched your, Bloke’s and Ian’s videos multiple times before purchasing a 1889, a 1996/11 and a K31. All beautiful pieces of engineering. Thank you for your efforts and I am glad to support your research via Patreon.
Hello dear C&R Team and thank you for this great episode. it reminds me once again that I finally have to occupy myself a bit with patreon - or at least buy another batch of t-shirts. Now after this nice introduction, allow me to add a bit of context to some statements and opinions voiced here ;-)
Othais mentioned that he wasn't sure if he would have chosen this gun as the standard rifle if he was in charge of arming a country due to it's complexity and possible difficulties in ensuring resuply regarding the attritional character of warfare in 1914-18. Let me push back on that a bit from a Swiss perspective: You have to remember that the swiss army wasn't just an army of citizen marksmen but above all it strategically was meant to be a minute men kind of militia which in case of emergency had to mobilize ALL its reserves at once without much chance of resupplying on its own to begin with. Take a look back to the map of Europe and Switzerland in 1914 and you will realise that this tiny nation with most of its major cities within shouting distance to considerably bigger countries surrounding it could in no way fight a prolonged war against any of its neighbouring countries as all of them including Austria were many times bigger back then. Furthermore, the borders of Switzerland as we know it today were very much drawn in agreement with its neighbours at the conference table in Vienna in 1815. So while there wasn't much unsettled dispute in Switzerlands relations with its neighbours the main potential for war was if that country would have been sucked into a greater conflict between its neighbours like (as you mentioned) Belgium was in 1914. So the planning was that Switzerland would stay neutral if possible but when being attacked by one side in a likely conflict between - say for example - France and Germany (who would have seen that comming), it would then joined with the other side who would then hopefully help resupply with both men and material for the rest of the war. In fact, there was some secret planning and even some coordination going on with the french army when a german invasion looked likely (which then went north through belgium instead) - in this case the swiss army would try to delay the german onslaught just long enough so the French could bring up reinforcements and help them stabilise the front. For that reason, easy production of replacement wasn't that important compared to the ability to provide your firebrigade army with the best possible tool to master the most critical first 3-5 days of such a conflict. After that, Switzerland would either be occupied or the front would had been stabilised along some valleys or mountain ridges with help arriving from abroad. As every able man who could hold a gun already had one stored in its cubboard in peacetime, there also would not be much of a stream of new recruits to be armed (contrary to Russia or Great Britain for example, who both mobilized their manpower over time in different steps). If they would loose guns, they would likely loose them together with the soldiers which would even more quickly be running out of stock. So ease of resupply of guns wasn't as important as in other countries. furthermore, Othais mentioned that gun fire at 1000m + was pretty useless as this job was taken over by artillery during the war. Here again, I would emphasize that not only was Switzerland relatively poor at the time and could not afford much artillery, it would likely fight in the mountains (although not so much in the Alps as rather in the less pronounced and less internationally famed Jura mountain range) where gun fire at 1km + could - to some degree - have been proven quite usefull as substitute for artillery since the woody scenery with it's many narrow passages and limestone cliffs would help highly mobile "tirallieurs" in delaying the advance of a bigger and stronger army. you sure would not see a soldier at 1,5 km but you would likely see a road with lorries and carriages on it. and with a bit of luck you could drop a few horses and block the road that way - causing chaos and delay which would have been crucial. Also accurate fire at medium ranges as experienced by the british in the boar war could have again proven its value. Sure, all those scenarios are just concerning the opening stage of a conflict. But again - that would be the crucial one and the only one where an independend swiss army would have played a major role. After that, what would be left of it would have made due with what it could get so if a swiss soldier would have survived a possible german invasion in 1914, he probably would have had to thankfully accept a Lebel if he lost his rifle in 1915 (which would probably motivated the average Swiss chap even more, to take care of his rifle). So I hope I could somehow explain why - in my view - swiss army authorities were right in chosing to emphasize marksmanship over anything else and in this context both the Langgewehr and the K11 were just tailormade for their purpose in my opinion.
I love these episodes. I appreciate all the effort that each episodes take you, May and Bruno are doing such a great job.
Good to see y'all finally get around to the long-awaited 1911 episode
I love these long videos! So interesting. I like to let them play in the background while I work in my shop. Keep up the good work.
I love all the Swiss straight pulls. I am fortunate enough to have gotten into them just before they really shot up in price so was able to get one or two of each model from the 1889 to the K31. Fun to shoot, fun to reload for, all very accurate and well-made.
Hey guys, I really want to thank you for the incredible work that you do on these videos. I can't even begin to imagine how much time and effort you put into these but it really does show. You are my favorite channel on youtube and I look forward to your videos every single week. Yes, I have watched every single takedown video too. I hope you guys know that we really appreciate you.
Hope this helps the algorithm.
Another great episode! I really enjoy the subtle backing music.
Just bought one of these today. Thanks for the detailed history
Another Great Show and snap shot of History..
One of my favorite channels.