The gun: flimsy, uncomfortable last-ditch carbine Call of Duty: lightweight full-auto assault rifle with many attachments available, one of the best guns in the WW2 era
Or how about the Fallout 4 dlc Far Harbor with its radium rifle, different attachments with the ability to deal radiation damage as well as ballistic. One of my favorites from that dlc.
How did Call of Duty go from being one of my favorite franchises to the absolute worst? I hate call of duty now. It used to be great. When the very first one came out.
It has come up in discussion elsewhere, so for those who didn't know: The Volkssturmgewehr is *not* a Volks sturmgewehr ("People's assault rifle"), but a Volkssturm gewehr ("Militia rifle").
The same problem they had with developing anything (tanks, aircraft etc) ... huge resources put into 'new' weapons when they could have had greater 'battlefield effect' putting those resources into improving and increasing production of existing types. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course .
Alf Noakes the thing is thought with tanks and aircraft as u mentioned, the germans lacked oil very badly. making 100 good tanks was a much better decision for them than 500 good enough tanks. the same thing is true for aircraft.
9mm is easy peasy to make simple which was the mp3008. This thing was firing an intermediate cartridge that has a wee less power than a 7.62x39 ak round. For these kinds of rounds, you'd need a delay of some sort to keep the shit from blowing up the gun which complicates everything. The fact that they made the rifle fire the powerful rounds without a locking mechanism of some sort is pretty amazing. All they needed to do on this rifle was lathe a few parts, rivet and drill a dew holes in comparison to the headache that is the AK or AR bolt. Although the trigger group is way too complex.
@@thedogisaneldritchgod491 I was familiar with the sturmgewehr and other German guns before this video but this was the first time I had seen one of these. I am a machinist by trade and bet I could make one of these pretty easily but much better looking and well constructed with my access to lathes and milling machine as well as pretty much anything else I could possibly need. I think I will try in the future. This looks soo simple that it would be a awesome gun to modernize and remarket.
Incidentally, the most common "last ditch" defense for Japanese civilians in 1945 was a wooden spear. So the Volkssturm were lucky to have actual guns! My mother was relatively "lucky," and was assigned a longbow. Yes, if Olympic had happened my mom, then 15 years old, would have taken on GI Joe like an Indian in a cowboy movie!
The longbow was considered for use by Wellington during the peninsula war against napoleon because of the difficult hilly terrain. Training to adequately use it would have been to long though so it never saw reality. I know what you speak of was crazy and desperate but a longbow is a viable weapon used correctly.
@ - Yes, but if WWII had not been fought at all, my father would probably have never meant my mother, since he was sailor in the postwar U.S. Navy. In other words, "history matters."
Hannah Miyamoto or more likely she would have been killed... And then you Wouldn't be here. There's a reason most nobody used bows in this particular time period. Although, if she was smart enough, and was in good positioning, i suppose she could have done some damage. Technological superiority doesn't always grant one victory.
As you were beginning to take this apart, I initially thought "wow you could actually probably make this in your garage". And then you pulled out the trigger group.
they swapped the standard issue riffle in 1943, with the Gewehr 43. As they had to compete with M1 Garand and the russian Machinepistols and their half automatic rifles.
practically every standard infantry unit was armed with at least one machine gun man. Had semi/full auto rifles come into the game sooner, who knows how things could have went, especially since full auto gave every soldier that wielded them the effectiveness of a machine gunner.
They were considered useless long range mind you they ran out of ammo fast with the kill death ratio getting dimmed down. Full auto even today is only good for suppression most good soldiers prefer semi auto fire more accurate.
@@fragglefknrock7568 Most battles take place in urban settings with engagements being at usually 75 meters. You don't really need that much range especially when you are giving weapons to kids and other folks who hasn't been trained that much at all.
@@thedogisaneldritchgod491 Whereve you been for the last 30 years? Lol urban. Most engagements are in the desert or rural areas. When i was in service it was long range that mattered.. Most engagements in the middle east are all long distance. The close proxy battles as you refer arent. Even during ww2 and especially ww1 most engagements were highly long distance being between 50 yards to 400 yards. There's many many battles you can look up involving long spans. Long range weapons are highly nessesary. My original comment was severing the idea of submachine guns being overly effective. Meaning they weren't efficient. The last ditch rifle enplaced was a good concept the bolt action was effective for ww1 if they had more semis to begin with youd look at another 2 years added to ww2. Think about that.
I know people are looking at it and saying it's crude. But compare it to the crude guns of other nations. Liberator, Sten, Last ditch Japanese guns, etc. From a machinist perspective: This gun is way too complicated, simple things like the protective flaps on the sight or the sling having it's own mount, to more complex ones like it's trigger group or it's gas sealing operation.
@G Sav I'd rather have a "way too complicated" Jerry Can, than one of those really simple, continually leaking, tool needing cannisters from before that.
@@undertakernumberone1 if I'm the one paying the maintenance bill, I'll take the leaky shitty can. I might die in a fiery explosion, but at least I won't be bankrupt when I do.
Most of them were fighting in Berlin by now,all the other fronts already overrun. This was a last ditch battle fought by fanatics and men and boys conscripted into the Volksturm. The men were in their seventies and the boys about fourteen. All in all they were a menace to themselves and the regular Wehrmacht Soldaten.
@@slmb_b Most of the Wehrmacht had been captured by the time the last ditch battle for Berlin started. The relief armies that Hitler was calling up no longer existed. The sixth army was marching into captivity by then. Only fanatics and kids were left for the Party to call up.
@@slmb_b No, but a lot of historians see Stalingrad as 'the beginning of the end' of the Wehrmacht. Bear in mind the invasion of russia was by far the largest invasion force ever assembled. The Wermacht was huge
@@hugebartlett1884 It's a common misconception that Berlin was the end. It wasn't. The Wehrmacht had forces all across Germany in garrisons and the Volkssturm was lead specifically by Wehrmacht troops reassigned to these groups. There's a reason why there was an official call to surrender after Hitler died. Because all across Germany there was still a few hundred thousand troops in service waiting to either die fighting or surrender depending on who made it to them first. The Wehrmacht was an intimidating enemy till the very end and many, many allied troops would continue to die in the final months of the war. It's just here the ratio was a clear 1:1 or 1:1.3 in allied favor in terms of losses by this point.
Crude in many ways, and Leaves eye appeal behind. If it was me I'd Shoot it, and Take a Real military Piece of hardware, maybe a Thompson Submachine Gun...🙊
“So only 10,000 were ever made?” “Yeah, pretty interesting right? And the ones that were mad weren’t even full au-“ Battlefield 5: *”I’LL TAKE YOUR WHOLE STOCK.”*
@@gloomsouls I just bought BFV and holy shit the Sturmgewehr 1-5 is probably my favorite gun in the game I can’t believe it’s a starting weapon for assault
Fun fact: The origin of the expression "last ditch" comes from a 1715 speech by William of Orange where we promised to fight and die in the last ditch.
Hey you know that MP44 we spent years designing on? Lets throw away half the improvements we've made to it make a crude version of it to mass produce for old men and boys.
For some reason i love that someone there was dumb enough to always do weird shit like this. Like all the superweapons and weird guns are really nice to look at these days. Like I personally think this gun looks really nice and has interesting story to it.
@GangnamMu Yeah you're wrong bucko. The MP44 is what the Wehrmacht called it to get the programme through under Hitler's nose, he didn't like. By the time it was fucking great and the army had already made it, he relented but said it should have a proper name, and renamed it Sturmgewehr-44. Same gun, two names. Search this channel for a video on it, Ian covered it well.
GangnamMu it was titled the MP 44 because Hitler didn’t like the idea of a full auto combat rifle. So his advisors renamed it as a machinenpistole so he would think of it as an improved submachine gun.
hello you are 70 years old by my estimate. anything you regret? what was your proudest achievement ? what made you the happiest ? how do you feel about the information age and coming generation? thank you for taking part in our exit interview :)
Thank you for all the knowledge you share. You make history of some of the most obscure firearm very enjoyable to learn about. As a novice historical weapons connoisseur, I find the videos you make both enjoyable and educational. While explaining the features, functions, reason behind a certain design as well as the overall purpose the weapon would have served at time of production - You never dwell on something, never sound dull/boring and the info you share is always accurate and well explained. Well done and thanks for all the great info!
Isn't it just strange? Think of all the World War II games that have been released. Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Wolfenstein. Yet the game that introduced so many people to this weapon--that was made during the final days of Nazi Germany--is set in the late *23rd* century.
+Dh4v0c If you have the tools and machinery, you can! But you still need wooden furniture and such. If i was going to build any gun in my garage i'd rather make a sten than this, it's basically metal tubes with metal strips and a few springs :P
Always amazed at the weapons you review, but much more at your abilities in breaking down ones like this one! You have an understanding of so many variables in weapons, and you don’t hesitate to disassemble, then somehow reassemble them!! WELL DONE!! And thank you👏
+Joseph V Also the Volksturm was a local militia, run by the local Nazi-party. So if the gun needed to be stripped it would be at home at the kitchen table, not in a field.
I think the (hopelessly optimistic) expectation was that enough of the Volkssturm would be WW1/Freikorps/Reichswehr veterans that it would be easy enough to retrain them to strip and clean it quickly.
+27suf Sachsen-Anhalt would be Saxony-Anhalt, but yeah. I learned them all in German classes, so hearing the english names is pretty weird for me as well, even though I'm american
Thank you for the detailed explanation including the structure of VG1-5 that I like the most. I like ”Last ditch ”weapons the simplicity of the design, which gives off a sense of "aesthetics of destruction."
Fun fact, the center stock pin with the steel clip retainer has been used extensively in all German service rifles since. My G3 has those same pins, two in the stock to pull out the internals, and one in approximately the center just behind the magazine well. Same principle, same design, same level of genius.
It was nice to see one of these field stripped, having only seen photos. The service life of the weapon certainly exceeded the service life expectancy of the person being issued the weapon. Fascinating construction, thanks for the walk around. Do you have any idea for the basic issue of magazines? Was it three or six using the same mag pouches as the MP-44?
+James Carmean Ideally, it would have been 4 (one in the gun and 3 in a pouch). In practice, most had just a single magazine. You would be pretty lucky to get two.
I know this is an older video but I would like to thank Ian for doing what no one else is doing. Ian I envy you for being able to handle and sometimes fire the weapons.
When I got my hands on a copy of battlefield 5 for $30 a year ago I saw this gun I thought oh crap it's another ribeyrolles 1918 where they produced one of them and the only thing that survives is a picture of a picture but thankfully thanks to the early video I'm a SWOT then I am happy to have learned this isn't just another phantom.
BF5 and BF1 are full of BS weapons that like you said, never saw use and mass production. We have Fliegerfaust, the Hellriegel, the Type-2A and the list goes on
If you want to play some actually nice and historically accurate WW2 game play Post Scriptum. As for WW1 Verdun and its sequel (cannot remember the name) are awesome.
Another fantastic video, I never even knew about this weapon and I've read so much about the last months of the war, Berlin, Budapest etc. Now thanks to you u I have something new to read up on. Thanks again and may your channel continue to grow! 😁
wow, that is a fascinating design, I'm surprised how shoddy the welds are. I never thought of a delayed blow back action before. A remarkable piece of history, that's for sure.
You have to remember that Nazi Germany was in many cases down to cottage industry. I doubt it was an economy measure but a redundant production line in case something happened to the STG production. Literally people were building parts for ME 262 at home.
Really good video. Also, I stand corrected: I previously commented on a photo-post from Ian's Subreddit that the VG-1 was a selective-fire weapon. According to Ian, only the Gusloff firsts were capable of auto fire. 😊
First time I saw this thing was in CoD WWII and I looked up the Primitiv Waffen Programm. Gotta give SHG credit on that one. Made me learn something, even with all the annoying inaccuracies of the other guns.
"The gun wasn't designed to have a very long service life" is a polite way of telling the poor untrained "volk" you were giving it to that the Operator wasn't expected to have a very long service life.
@@gubbikiller But it'.s some fanatical nazis (mostly children and the elderly) armed with basically nothing instead of actually decent laser rifles, war-hardened men, and advanced artillery.
@John Smith True. If an inexperienced fighter can take a better weapon from a more experienced fighter while armed with an inferior one they can have the better weapon (for as long as the ammo holds out), but it's more "if" than "when".
Im definitely getting a Mad Max vibe. The crude welds and tube steel seems really post-apocalypse... And at the end of WWII Germany was for all intents and purposes! I thought it would be simple blow-back. Seems like a simple concept, is that action not common because of the weight you mentioned? I wonder if people have tried reproducing it. I know there was that one project a while back, but I mean individuals making it in their shops and stuff. I bet you could simplifying the trigger group or modify and existing one to make it even easier to make.
lptomtom I always forget about American Graffiti haha... I like Star Wars, but ive always felt from a filmmaking point of view they were overrated (blasphemy I know)
Thanks for the video! Heres a little tip on how to pronounce "Volkssturm": The V is spoken like an F. The "st" is pronounced as "sht". So say it like "folks shturm" :)
Or when still failing, try the following: order two pints of decent German Pilsener Beer. Drink up in quick succession. Now you will have no problemsh shayying, uh... Folksh sh.. shshtoorm.!!
AudieHolland To add some confusion - Pilsen (where a pilsner beer comes from) is a Czech town, so “German Pilsener” has a “British Wiener” or “Japanese Champagne” sound to it.
When looking at how cheaply and from the last scraps made during the last desperate months of Berlin defence it seems, it's just a good fit in the Fallout unsiverse.
I think more than getting larger amounts of weapons out they were also looking at saving metal, getting rid of extra unneeded accoutrements to use that material towards the making of a second rifle
When looking at how cheaply and from the last scraps made during the last desperate months of Berlin defence it seems, it's just a good fit in the Fallout unsiverse.
Had an opportunity to fire an MP44 years ago, buddy of mine bought one on a local reservation, he had to load his own 8mm Kurtz rounds, and had a hard time making them hot enough to function in the gun. If I recall he ended up loading with a few grains of bulls-eye over some unique powder and finally got it running right. He was living back in the sticks so we simply went out in his yard and shot cow pies with it. Fun gun to fire.
2:56 This is something you rarely hear about the Nazis. Hitler set things up to minimize the power of anyone under him, even encouraging infighting between factions under social Darwinist beliefs, competition breeding a stronger Germany. This had the opposite effect, weakening the nation when had managed to unite the rest of the world against them. For example, Nazis actually had a nuclear weapon programs. However, not only were all these programs rejecting any discoveries or theories made by Jewish scientists (which made up a huge percentage of all the nuclear physics known at the time) but each program was fighting over the same resources and personal for pipe dreams that wouldn't have worked. There was plans for a bomber spaceship that would launch into space by a rocket propelled sled, drop a huge amount of radioactive material that would rain onto an enemy city. None of that would've worked with the technology they had. The leader designer figured out that his invention would fail, didn't want to fail Hitler and pretended everything was fine.
It's very interesting to see that the gun I used when I was in the army in Norway in about 2005/2006 (the AG3/G3) is based on weapons tech from the 1940's and that there hasn't been that much of a change :-) Specifically the bolts holding the gun together and the mechanics (when dismantling this specific gun), but also that the M2 and MG34/42 was virtually unchanged from then until when I was in the service. I've heard that they've changed most of the guns by now, but the M2 (from the 1920's) and the MG42 is still in service here
only in the US. in the middle east if they find one it'll be dirt cheap and even legal in countries like Iraq which allow one full auto rifle ownership per household
Honestly the overall shape of this gun is quite attractive to me. I guess the oddity the two-piece stock configuration is what I like since I also like the look of the BAR and lever rifles.
Fantastic! I've never seen these before. I'm baffled at how they could continue to make these engineering innovations as everything was going to hell around them. It can't have been easy.
+crashandburnbirner My other consideration is that especially with guns like these, it is worth looking at multiple examples. That let's you find patterns in features or markings that cannot be discerned from individual guns alone.
+Exploatores that description reminds me of the odd Asian pistols Ian has showcased from time to time, sometimes with features copied off of Western firearms but without them functioning, borrowed solely for cosmetic purposes.
+Exploatores It was made in a third World country for a local warlord. By that time most of the machinery to make weapons in Germany was destroyed or inoperative.
+Exploatores Would not it be cheaper for a local warlord just to buy guns from the illegal international arms trade ? If he want any local production would not ammo be something he goes for .
This is one of those guns that proves a couple of Bethesda's devs are real gun nerds: this VG1-5, the American 180, the China Lake. I like when those guys get to have fun with the games.
I think the reason behind resources being put in to this weapon as opposed to the MP-44 is one of logistics and manufacturability. You must take this example in the full context of the time. Two factors would come in to play. First is the condition of "centralized manufacturing" by this point in the war in Germany. Big factories are big targets. Then there is the question of "logistics". By that time in the war, if it moved it was shot at. Looking at this weapon as a machinist, and from a manufacturing standpoint, I see nothing here that could not be made in a garage. Even the stampings could be done with a hydraulic press using dies made in another garage. A large stamping press would not be required. Everything else could be made in ANY shop with a good lathe, milling machine, arc welder and torch (to heat treat the springs). With this in mind, you are correct in your statement that the resources would have been better used to produce MP-44's. This however would be true only if you were not being bombed in to oblivion with known arms plants being big fat targets. When you take in to account the idea of distributing manufacturing among small shops with limited resources, its utility as a weapon becomes more clear.
Functionally the Gustloff is a pure blowback AR. There 's no way a gas port placed past the half of the barrel can have any effect in delaying the opening of the action before the projectile leaves the barrel. For the same reason a gas port placed there doesn't open the action, in a standard gas action, before the projectile leaves the barrel. The only function of the gas piston in this, or in the Steyr GB, is to slow down the bolt/slide when the opening already happened, to avoid it slamming too hard on the frame.
OMG that is the most crude design that I have seen. The stamped steel with the tack welds. Wow man that is wild. I envy your job man you get to see some strange designs.
The gun: flimsy, uncomfortable last-ditch carbine
Call of Duty: lightweight full-auto assault rifle with many attachments available, one of the best guns in the WW2 era
Or how about the Fallout 4 dlc Far Harbor with its radium rifle, different attachments with the ability to deal radiation damage as well as ballistic. One of my favorites from that dlc.
Same deal in Battlefield V
Fucking Beta C magazine in Vanguard 😂
How did Call of Duty go from being one of my favorite franchises to the absolute worst? I hate call of duty now. It used to be great. When the very first one came out.
Call of Duty Logic
It has come up in discussion elsewhere, so for those who didn't know:
The Volkssturmgewehr is *not* a Volks sturmgewehr ("People's assault rifle"), but a Volkssturm gewehr ("Militia rifle").
potato potatoe.
Volkssturmwagen, let's make it happen
I really don't care which one
Which is also why its called VG, and not VStG.
@@Benedocta Yep
A house is a house is a house is a house
Christ, the Germans couldn't make good last ditch guns because even their siplified designs were too complicated.
Love German design.
The same problem they had with developing anything (tanks, aircraft etc) ... huge resources put into 'new' weapons when they could have had greater 'battlefield effect' putting those resources into improving and increasing production of existing types. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course .
Alf Noakes the thing is thought with tanks and aircraft as u mentioned, the germans lacked oil very badly. making 100 good tanks was a much better decision for them than 500 good enough tanks. the same thing is true for aircraft.
9mm is easy peasy to make simple which was the mp3008. This thing was firing an intermediate cartridge that has a wee less power than a 7.62x39 ak round. For these kinds of rounds, you'd need a delay of some sort to keep the shit from blowing up the gun which complicates everything. The fact that they made the rifle fire the powerful rounds without a locking mechanism of some sort is pretty amazing. All they needed to do on this rifle was lathe a few parts, rivet and drill a dew holes in comparison to the headache that is the AK or AR bolt. Although the trigger group is way too complex.
30% of their tank and aircraft losses were just from running out of fuel so they ditched them
@@thedogisaneldritchgod491 I was familiar with the sturmgewehr and other German guns before this video but this was the first time I had seen one of these. I am a machinist by trade and bet I could make one of these pretty easily but much better looking and well constructed with my access to lathes and milling machine as well as pretty much anything else I could possibly need. I think I will try in the future. This looks soo simple that it would be a awesome gun to modernize and remarket.
You know you're in trouble when the magazine is the nicest part of the weapon.
And it wasn't even originally made for it gun
Why?
@@radityarakha90 the magazine was originally intended for the STG
The magazine is the most important part of a repeating firearm
But that is true for lotteraly every smg of that time.
Me: Mom can we get the STG44?
Mom: We have the STG44 at home
*The STG44 at home*
-the-
Burger
@@Hchris101 BORGER
*MP43
DUDE! lol golden comment
Incidentally, the most common "last ditch" defense for Japanese civilians in 1945 was a wooden spear. So the Volkssturm were lucky to have actual guns!
My mother was relatively "lucky," and was assigned a longbow. Yes, if Olympic had happened my mom, then 15 years old, would have taken on GI Joe like an Indian in a cowboy movie!
The longbow was considered for use by Wellington during the peninsula war against napoleon because of the difficult hilly terrain. Training to adequately use it would have been to long though so it never saw reality.
I know what you speak of was crazy and desperate but a longbow is a viable weapon used correctly.
@@54356776 Yeah longbowmen were used extensively by British till the late 1600s
@@54356776 But not against automatic rifles, aeroplanes, and tanks.
@ - Yes, but if WWII had not been fought at all, my father would probably have never meant my mother, since he was sailor in the postwar U.S. Navy. In other words, "history matters."
Hannah Miyamoto or more likely she would have been killed... And then you Wouldn't be here.
There's a reason most nobody used bows in this particular time period. Although, if she was smart enough, and was in good positioning, i suppose she could have done some damage. Technological superiority doesn't always grant one victory.
As you were beginning to take this apart, I initially thought "wow you could actually probably make this in your garage". And then you pulled out the trigger group.
I think that it's weird a last ditch weapon was a semi auto rifle while the standard issue riffle was a bolt action
they swapped the standard issue riffle in 1943, with the Gewehr 43. As they had to compete with M1 Garand and the russian Machinepistols and their half automatic rifles.
practically every standard infantry unit was armed with at least one machine gun man. Had semi/full auto rifles come into the game sooner, who knows how things could have went, especially since full auto gave every soldier that wielded them the effectiveness of a machine gunner.
They were considered useless long range mind you they ran out of ammo fast with the kill death ratio getting dimmed down. Full auto even today is only good for suppression most good soldiers prefer semi auto fire more accurate.
@@fragglefknrock7568 Most battles take place in urban settings with engagements being at usually 75 meters. You don't really need that much range especially when you are giving weapons to kids and other folks who hasn't been trained that much at all.
@@thedogisaneldritchgod491 Whereve you been for the last 30 years? Lol urban. Most engagements are in the desert or rural areas. When i was in service it was long range that mattered.. Most engagements in the middle east are all long distance. The close proxy battles as you refer arent. Even during ww2 and especially ww1 most engagements were highly long distance being between 50 yards to 400 yards.
There's many many battles you can look up involving long spans. Long range weapons are highly nessesary. My original comment was severing the idea of submachine guns being overly effective. Meaning they weren't efficient. The last ditch rifle enplaced was a good concept the bolt action was effective for ww1 if they had more semis to begin with youd look at another 2 years added to ww2. Think about that.
I know people are looking at it and saying it's crude.
But compare it to the crude guns of other nations. Liberator, Sten, Last ditch Japanese guns, etc. From a machinist perspective: This gun is way too complicated, simple things like the protective flaps on the sight or the sling having it's own mount, to more complex ones like it's trigger group or it's gas sealing operation.
@G Sav I'd rather have a "way too complicated" Jerry Can, than one of those really simple, continually leaking, tool needing cannisters from before that.
@@undertakernumberone1 if I'm the one paying the maintenance bill, I'll take the leaky shitty can. I might die in a fiery explosion, but at least I won't be bankrupt when I do.
@@dynamicpaintball Aka why everybody and their mother switched to the Wehrmachtseinheitskanister.
Wait...
@@undertakernumberone1 To be fair in the war they were free, and after the war you might as well have the fancy tin.
@@Kadeo-ms6qw erm, Stens are quite well known for having a shoddy build quality, they might have done the job but they were rushed
It's like an SKS and a Sten gun had a one-night stand...
with the sturmgewehr being the unfortunate single mother.. yeah work that thing out
Headframe Hunters And then gave birth to a child with a lot of deffects.
Well, thats the best thing i've read all day.
the child had Down syndrome as well
The mother drank during the pregnancy
The service life of the user wasn't very long either
Most of them were fighting in Berlin by now,all the other fronts already overrun. This was a last ditch battle fought by fanatics and men and boys conscripted into the Volksturm. The men were in their seventies and the boys about fourteen. All in all they were a menace to themselves and the regular Wehrmacht Soldaten.
Huge Bartlett Wasn’t the Wehrmacht defeated after Stalingrad?
@@slmb_b Most of the Wehrmacht had been captured by the time the last ditch battle for Berlin started. The relief armies that Hitler was calling up no longer existed. The sixth army was marching into captivity by then. Only fanatics and kids were left for the Party to call up.
@@slmb_b No, but a lot of historians see Stalingrad as 'the beginning of the end' of the Wehrmacht. Bear in mind the invasion of russia was by far the largest invasion force ever assembled. The Wermacht was huge
@@hugebartlett1884 It's a common misconception that Berlin was the end. It wasn't. The Wehrmacht had forces all across Germany in garrisons and the Volkssturm was lead specifically by Wehrmacht troops reassigned to these groups.
There's a reason why there was an official call to surrender after Hitler died. Because all across Germany there was still a few hundred thousand troops in service waiting to either die fighting or surrender depending on who made it to them first. The Wehrmacht was an intimidating enemy till the very end and many, many allied troops would continue to die in the final months of the war. It's just here the ratio was a clear 1:1 or 1:1.3 in allied favor in terms of losses by this point.
I love the wooden “furniture” looks like it was (and probably actually WAS) made from actual old furniture!
martyb999 yeah to right it looks like school desk material probably was just collected from a bombed out school
Fan thats too 🔥
At first i thought it was from a wooden pallet.lol
Crude in many ways, and Leaves eye appeal behind. If it was me I'd Shoot it, and Take a Real military Piece of hardware, maybe a Thompson Submachine Gun...🙊
B.Y.O.F.
"Hans, were we not supposed to make a simple to produce gun?"
"Jawohl. I used rivets instead of removable pins!"
Hans , thats more complicated 😂
“So only 10,000 were ever made?”
“Yeah, pretty interesting right? And the ones that were mad weren’t even full au-“
Battlefield 5: *”I’LL TAKE YOUR WHOLE STOCK.”*
And make it a really good starting weapon
@@rokairu0-216 And better than the STG 44... and nearly every single gun in the game.
Enlisted does it a bit better, the starting weapon for the Berlin campaign is the VG.2 and late-war Kar 98s, the VG 1-5 unlocks later.
@@gloomsouls I just bought BFV and holy shit the Sturmgewehr 1-5 is probably my favorite gun in the game I can’t believe it’s a starting weapon for assault
@@Im__Andy-f6xi usually try to run with Gewehr 1-5 since it's more historically accurate but hackers and pros say no :(
Fun fact:
The origin of the expression "last ditch" comes from a 1715 speech by William of Orange where we promised to fight and die in the last ditch.
ok
I learned something new
William of Orange died in 1702
@@diurdi - Took most of the "fun" out of Eaton's "fact."
@@diurdi you sure? Dudes fact was fun, if he was dead not so much!
Officer : " hans, this is last ditch weapon, how complex do you want it ?"
German Engineers: *YES*
*Ja
Bad joke, not funny, get new joke.
@@spazemfathemcazemmeleggymi272 go on, make it yourself.
@@Kevin-fj5oe no, you get new joke.
Hey you know that MP44 we spent years designing on? Lets throw away half the improvements we've made to it make a crude version of it to mass produce for old men and boys.
MP44 ??? Dood ... its called Sturmgewehr 44 STG44 or STGW 44. nothing like a fucen MP.
For some reason i love that someone there was dumb enough to always do weird shit like this. Like all the superweapons and weird guns are really nice to look at these days. Like I personally think this gun looks really nice and has interesting story to it.
@GangnamMu Yeah you're wrong bucko. The MP44 is what the Wehrmacht called it to get the programme through under Hitler's nose, he didn't like. By the time it was fucking great and the army had already made it, he relented but said it should have a proper name, and renamed it Sturmgewehr-44. Same gun, two names. Search this channel for a video on it, Ian covered it well.
Or because they didn't have enough resources to make the better, more advanced, more expensive version? We're talking about the end of the war here.
GangnamMu it was titled the MP 44 because Hitler didn’t like the idea of a full auto combat rifle. So his advisors renamed it as a machinenpistole so he would think of it as an improved submachine gun.
I want to be Ian when I grow up. I am 69 years old, so that should be happening at any moment.
ElZorro99 Become the gun Jesus you always could be
hello you are 70 years old by my estimate.
anything you regret?
what was your proudest achievement ?
what made you the happiest ?
how do you feel about the information age and coming generation?
thank you for taking part in our exit interview :)
ElZorro99 ... Ditto here, except I’m 60.
I hope you enjoy your remaining years you old dinosaur
@@Iainandnums that's an absolutely horrendous thing to say, Harrison.
This makes the shovel AK look like a competition rifle
Thank you for all the knowledge you share. You make history of some of the most obscure firearm very enjoyable to learn about. As a novice historical weapons connoisseur, I find the videos you make both enjoyable and educational. While explaining the features, functions, reason behind a certain design as well as the overall purpose the weapon would have served at time of production - You never dwell on something, never sound dull/boring and the info you share is always accurate and well explained. Well done and thanks for all the great info!
They are so crude they are beautiful....
+Jeremiah Dillard yeah, the furniture looks like they nicked it from chopped down school desks
To me crude is a tec 9 or an armscor. Wonder how much these guns jammed.
They look so cool
@@TheDealer6373 Not often when you consider only 10k were made and they were intended for fanatics to use after the rest of Germany surrendered.
Weird how often firearms, from the firsts to the newests, can pull off the fresh outta bed beautiful/no filter or make-up look flawlessly.
Isn't it just strange? Think of all the World War II games that have been released. Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Wolfenstein. Yet the game that introduced so many people to this weapon--that was made during the final days of Nazi Germany--is set in the late *23rd* century.
Jonathan Szuhai fallout4
You mean 24th century? Isnt fallout in year 2350?
Uh...no. That's Duck Dodgers.
Forgotten Hope 2 has both the Volkssturmgewehr 1-5 and the Volkssturmkarabiner VK98. Literally my favorite game of all time, and it's free.
Jonathan Szuhai if it shoots it kills if it kills it works
Looks like it was manufactured in the hills of Afghanistan. But I want one.
+Matan Pulverman So small arms are manufactured in Afghanistan now?
+HammerheadGuitar yup! In Afghanistan caves. Look up the Vice doco.
+HammerheadGuitar weapons and bullets is common thing to be manufactured there
Booger Finger Lol, hell I've seen prettier weapons made in tribal Afgianistan.
+@Ododlighet yes actually, you'd be surprised by their ingenuity.
Looks like Stengun and BAR had a baby that was then raised by STG44.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
ok I guess guns have children and personalities now
No shit
Arsenic Poisoning it’s a figure of speech, they didn’t actually do it or actually have personalities
Stg got cucked lol
makes a grease gun look elegant!
+vector6977 haha was thinking the same. Looks so crude you could build one in your garage.
+Dh4v0c If you have the tools and machinery, you can! But you still need wooden furniture and such. If i was going to build any gun in my garage i'd rather make a sten than this, it's basically metal tubes with metal strips and a few springs :P
Nah. The grease gun still looks like god's failure.
+Manilla Ice Good god that thing makes me die a little inside when I see it.
+SlimeCrusher or pps43?
Always amazed at the weapons you review, but much more at your abilities in breaking down ones like this one! You have an understanding of so many variables in weapons, and you don’t hesitate to disassemble, then somehow reassemble them!! WELL DONE!! And thank you👏
Seems like a pretty complex field strip for a rifle made for militia and not trained soldiers.
+Solid Spooks I think the main line of thought here was that the militia shouldn't be field-stripping it at all.
+Joseph V Also the Volksturm was a local militia, run by the local Nazi-party. So if the gun needed to be stripped it would be at home at the kitchen table, not in a field.
Try stripping a M1903 hammerless
The militiaman carrying this was not expected to live long enough to need to clean this.
I think the (hopelessly optimistic) expectation was that enough of the Volkssturm would be WW1/Freikorps/Reichswehr veterans that it would be easy enough to retrain them to strip and clean it quickly.
“Semi-automatic”
Activison: I’m just gonna pretend that i didn’t see that
There are rumors of an automatic variant.but It was allegedly never put into production and used only in tests
As a German I actually did not know that there was a non german way to say Thüringen. Thuringia sounds so odd to me.
+27suf Almost every province has a french/english enquivalence.
bisus Baden- Würtemberg doesn't. Brandenburg doesn't. Sachsen-Anhalt doesn't. Bremen doesn't. . Niedersachsen doesn't. Schleswig-Holstein doesn't. Hamburg, Hessen, Saarland don't. Most seems exaggerated.
+27suf Sachsen-Anhalt would be Saxony-Anhalt, but yeah. I learned them all in German classes, so hearing the english names is pretty weird for me as well, even though I'm american
+27suf Niedersachen is actually called lower-saxony ;) But I agree, its so akward to hear German provinces or cities with their english name
+27suf
North Rhine-Westphalia?
Thank you for the detailed explanation including the structure of VG1-5 that I like the most.
I like ”Last ditch ”weapons the simplicity of the design, which gives off a sense of "aesthetics of destruction."
This weapon gives the word "pistol carbine" a whole new meaning.
The phrase "Designed for ease of manufacture" comes to mind. The trigger group is a little design vignette.
Ian;
Have seen one of these in a U.S. military museum, that is smooth bore. That must be REALLY late production.
SFC Bruce R. Gadbois
Bruce R. Gadbois fuck it good enough
@@culture4519 It's better than a flintlock rifle tho.
@@ahumanbeingamnayplaceholde1746 flintlocks were at least made to be useful. This thing looks like trash
Fun fact, the center stock pin with the steel clip retainer has been used extensively in all German service rifles since. My G3 has those same pins, two in the stock to pull out the internals, and one in approximately the center just behind the magazine well. Same principle, same design, same level of genius.
It was nice to see one of these field stripped, having only seen photos. The service life of the weapon certainly exceeded the service life expectancy of the person being issued the weapon. Fascinating construction, thanks for the walk around. Do you have any idea for the basic issue of magazines? Was it three or six using the same mag pouches as the MP-44?
+James Carmean Ideally, it would have been 4 (one in the gun and 3 in a pouch). In practice, most had just a single magazine. You would be pretty lucky to get two.
Thanks for the follow up info. Not a bad combat load if well supplied and only firing semi-auto.
I know this is an older video but I would like to thank Ian for doing what no one else is doing. Ian I envy you for being able to handle and sometimes fire the weapons.
When I got my hands on a copy of battlefield 5 for $30 a year ago I saw this gun I thought oh crap it's another ribeyrolles 1918 where they produced one of them and the only thing that survives is a picture of a picture but thankfully thanks to the early video I'm a SWOT then I am happy to have learned this isn't just another phantom.
BF5 and BF1 are full of BS weapons that like you said, never saw use and mass production.
We have Fliegerfaust, the Hellriegel, the Type-2A and the list goes on
If you want to play some actually nice and historically accurate WW2 game play Post Scriptum.
As for WW1 Verdun and its sequel (cannot remember the name) are awesome.
@@edyslavico3761 Battlefield has never tried to be a hisyorically accurate game, it's historically authentic.
Another fantastic video, I never even knew about this weapon and I've read so much about the last months of the war, Berlin, Budapest etc. Now thanks to you u I have something new to read up on.
Thanks again and may your channel continue to grow! 😁
"Thuringia" is already the English translation, so nothing to misspell there. In German it's "Thüringen".
Thank you, I was like "Where the hell is Thuringia" until it doomed me that he means Thüringen, never heard the englisch pronounciation of it before^^
Auch schwedische Gothenburg/Göteborg! Zwei richtige name
Wieso müssen die Amis immer alles übersetzen ? München-Munich, Köln-Cologne. Wenn sie es nicht aussprechen können ihr Pech.
wow, that is a fascinating design, I'm surprised how shoddy the welds are. I never thought of a delayed blow back action before. A remarkable piece of history, that's for sure.
You have to remember that Nazi Germany was in many cases down to cottage industry. I doubt it was an economy measure but a redundant production line in case something happened to the STG production. Literally people were building parts for ME 262 at home.
You have one of the coolest, most informative channels on YT. Thank you for doing such a great job.
(Scrolls through comments.)
...
Hey everyone, it's the radium rifle from Fallout 4!
Literally every comment. Not that i'm complaining, but come on guys.
AK47 LCOB Yup...
I was waiting for someone to say this
You can't fool me Ian. That's half a sheet of OSB, a bicycle pump, and some stuff you found in the dumpster behind home depot
7:59 Finally i understand the Radium Rifle loading animation in Fallout 4.
Really good video. Also, I stand corrected: I previously commented on a photo-post from Ian's Subreddit that the VG-1 was a selective-fire weapon. According to Ian, only the Gusloff firsts were capable of auto fire. 😊
Ian, Which of all of those last ditch weapons you consider to be the most usable or most thought through?
+xmeda I think the gerat 06H was the best.
+Forgotten Weapons You think there'll be any chance in the near future that we could get a new video of a Gerat 06H? :)
+Forgotten Weapons I very much agree
+Rowan Turner (Sin) he has video of a Gerat 06 and 06H
*****
I know, hence why I said new video rather than a video.
First time I saw this thing was in CoD WWII and I looked up the Primitiv Waffen Programm. Gotta give SHG credit on that one. Made me learn something, even with all the annoying inaccuracies of the other guns.
"The gun wasn't designed to have a very long service life" is a polite way of telling the poor untrained "volk" you were giving it to that the Operator wasn't expected to have a very long service life.
Imperial Gurad, the gun is more worth than the soldier
@@gubbikiller But it'.s some fanatical nazis (mostly children and the elderly) armed with basically nothing instead of actually decent laser rifles, war-hardened men, and advanced artillery.
that's another way to say they were made with the ass
@John Smith True. If an inexperienced fighter can take a better weapon from a more experienced fighter while armed with an inferior one they can have the better weapon (for as long as the ammo holds out), but it's more "if" than "when".
Saw one IRL today, only recognized it after seeing this video. Thanks for bringing these Forgotten Weapons to us!
Im definitely getting a Mad Max vibe. The crude welds and tube steel seems really post-apocalypse... And at the end of WWII Germany was for all intents and purposes! I thought it would be simple blow-back. Seems like a simple concept, is that action not common because of the weight you mentioned?
I wonder if people have tried reproducing it. I know there was that one project a while back, but I mean individuals making it in their shops and stuff. I bet you could simplifying the trigger group or modify and existing one to make it even easier to make.
There’s a reason this was in Fallout 4
ian. your reviews are the best. you have no competition .
8:52 you know your gun is made in nazi germany when even it has a gas chamber
bruh
Dude I shit myself from laughing, bless you.
That was dark. But funny.
You think only germans use gas in guns?
the two original wholes in the buttstock are the same as H&K, the take down pins when removed are placed in those holes so they will not be lost.
Th1138, there's a reference you don't hear everyday.
Could you elaborate for me pls
+lcater9555 He is talking about an old SciFi movie called THX 1138.
Its actually a really good movie. Very underrated, Lucas's best film probably.
lptomtom I always forget about American Graffiti haha... I like Star Wars, but ive always felt from a filmmaking point of view they were overrated (blasphemy I know)
Spielberg's first movie.
For some reason I think that is one of the coolest rifles that is the epitome of 'last ditch' for a major industrial nation. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the video! Heres a little tip on how to pronounce "Volkssturm":
The V is spoken like an F. The "st" is pronounced as "sht".
So say it like "folks shturm" :)
Or when still failing, try the following: order two pints of decent German Pilsener Beer. Drink up in quick succession. Now you will have no problemsh shayying, uh... Folksh sh.. shshtoorm.!!
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!!
AudieHolland To add some confusion - Pilsen (where a pilsner beer comes from) is a Czech town, so “German Pilsener” has a “British Wiener” or “Japanese Champagne” sound to it.
@@draxxicek Yeah, better go with Kölsch, Weissbier or Altbier! Taken together with Doppelkorn schnapps, you're guaranteed to shtart shpluttering.
@@draxxicek You maybe disagree but Pilsen was pretty german until 1945. I mean "Königsberger Klopse" arent "Kaliningrader Klopse" now 😉
Thanks for the video and lesson in history. I have read about these weapons and saw drawings but never seen such a detailed review. Very neat!
It's the Radium Rifle...
I renamed mine the Nukagewehr
Was wondering that myself
Certainly does look like one!
When looking at how cheaply and from the last scraps made during
the last desperate months of Berlin defence it seems, it's just a good fit in the
Fallout unsiverse.
I named mine Experiment 238 because its Legendary Perk makes it do more Rads Damage. It does over 200 Rads Damage.
Yep, saw you guys on T.V. the content is awesome. Keep up the great work!
This actually reminds me of the description of the rifle in World War Z, the book not the movie
I think more than getting larger amounts of weapons out they were also looking at saving metal, getting rid of extra unneeded accoutrements to use that material towards the making of a second rifle
This thing looks like the radium rifle from fallout 4
You're right. It's an obvious copy.
When looking at how cheaply and from the last scraps made during
the last desperate months of Berlin defence it seems, it's just a good fit in the
Fallout unsiverse.
Swag Potato yeah i realized that its most likely based on it
Swag Potato it is
Charles Lee Ray then ruined the gun like they did the fallout series
Had an opportunity to fire an MP44 years ago, buddy of mine bought one on a local reservation, he had to load his own 8mm Kurtz rounds, and had a hard time making them hot enough to function in the gun. If I recall he ended up loading with a few grains of bulls-eye over some unique powder and finally got it running right. He was living back in the sticks so we simply went out in his yard and shot cow pies with it. Fun gun to fire.
2:56
This is something you rarely hear about the Nazis. Hitler set things up to minimize the power of anyone under him, even encouraging infighting between factions under social Darwinist beliefs, competition breeding a stronger Germany. This had the opposite effect, weakening the nation when had managed to unite the rest of the world against them.
For example, Nazis actually had a nuclear weapon programs. However, not only were all these programs rejecting any discoveries or theories made by Jewish scientists (which made up a huge percentage of all the nuclear physics known at the time) but each program was fighting over the same resources and personal for pipe dreams that wouldn't have worked. There was plans for a bomber spaceship that would launch into space by a rocket propelled sled, drop a huge amount of radioactive material that would rain onto an enemy city. None of that would've worked with the technology they had. The leader designer figured out that his invention would fail, didn't want to fail Hitler and pretended everything was fine.
Why do you think this is not very well known? it actually is very well known
+Jeffrey Reardon The Nazi infighting is pretty well known, the fact that Hitler actually wanted it to be that way is not.
One of these is sitting at the Battle of the Bulge museum in Bastogne. Pretty cool to see.
literally one of the few WW2 german guns where the designation "nazi rifle" actually is correct
fuck off
It's very interesting to see that the gun I used when I was in the army in Norway in about 2005/2006 (the AG3/G3) is based on weapons tech from the 1940's and that there hasn't been that much of a change :-) Specifically the bolts holding the gun together and the mechanics (when dismantling this specific gun), but also that the M2 and MG34/42 was virtually unchanged from then until when I was in the service. I've heard that they've changed most of the guns by now, but the M2 (from the 1920's) and the MG42 is still in service here
Ian can you do a video on the Army Advanced Combat Rifle program?
The forgotten m16a2e2, hk g11, and the most interesting being the Aii and steyr ACR
Nicholas S Those are very difficult to get a hold of, but considering he was able to get a pancor jackhammer, i'd still have hope.
The point about resources and stuff: The VG 1-5 were mainly manufactured using looted equipment, refitted to use the 7,92 x 33mm cartridge.
This weapon had to be cheap...today is one of the most expensive things you can own.
only in the US. in the middle east if they find one it'll be dirt cheap and even legal in countries like Iraq which allow one full auto rifle ownership per household
Honestly the overall shape of this gun is quite attractive to me. I guess the oddity the two-piece stock configuration is what I like since I also like the look of the BAR and lever rifles.
Do you have a video of the ppsh 41 by any chance?
+TheAmericanGuy Not yet...
+Forgotten Weapons This design reminds me of the american M1 Garand, did the nazis copy some of the Garand design maybe?.
mongo skitpåre garand is absolutely different in design. This rifle is much closer to any 9mm pistol than garand
Fantastic! I've never seen these before. I'm baffled at how they could continue to make these engineering innovations as everything was going to hell around them. It can't have been easy.
I got this recommended as it released in the new call of duty well two of my best things
Yet another amazing, informative and entertaining video! Keep up the great work!
Didn't you shot one of these before?
+Ryan Ulick Yes.
+Forgotten Weapons But Now In HD!
+crashandburnbirner My other consideration is that especially with guns like these, it is worth looking at multiple examples. That let's you find patterns in features or markings that cannot be discerned from individual guns alone.
+Forgotten Weapons Yes and I will say you presenting skills have improved from the earlier videos.
+crashandburnbirner oh yeah I agree. Not only that...most people havent seen the EARLY videos.... so he might as well make some "doubles" in HD!
What’s really interesting is that the sling on the one is fashioned from a gas mask canister strap.
looks like somthing don in a third World country for a local warlord, in a metalshop by sombody with som knowledge how to build a semiautomatic rifle.
+Exploatores that description reminds me of the odd Asian pistols Ian has showcased from time to time, sometimes with features copied off of Western firearms but without them functioning, borrowed solely for cosmetic purposes.
+Exploatores It was made in a third World country for a local warlord.
By that time most of the machinery to make weapons in Germany was destroyed or inoperative.
+SuperFunkmachine
On top of that it was issued to child soldiers who were forced to fight for their local warlord
+Exploatores Would not it be cheaper for a local warlord just to buy guns from the illegal international arms trade ? If he want any local production would not ammo be something he goes for .
Bart Hoving i Think it´s easyer to build a gun then ammo. then their exists all kind of strange copys of guns.
This is one of those guns that proves a couple of Bethesda's devs are real gun nerds: this VG1-5, the American 180, the China Lake.
I like when those guys get to have fun with the games.
If they can make this in 10mm Auto today, this may be a marketing success. A cheap 10mm carbine like this may have good sales prospects.
Christopher Christian Sanchez why would anyone even need one ?
des g Probably for fallout 4 fanboys.
oh man i always get excited when you make a new video
The Radium Rifle from Fallout 4 is based on this rifle, I think
Noah Peterson looks like it.
Yeah it is pretty same look on the barrel
Thanks again Ian for showing us these cool guns. Didn't knew these guns existed. They're like, disposable guns.
germans find a way to engineer a last ditch gun in such a way that it is beautiful... breathtaking
simplicity at its finest. I'd love to procure one of these for myself.
“Judged too simple “ - German engineering in a nutshell
You have a very cool job I'm jealous you get to play with all these awesome inventions made throughout the time of history very cool
these rifles deal bonus radiation damage
I think the reason behind resources being put in to this weapon as opposed to the MP-44 is one of logistics and manufacturability. You must take this example in the full context of the time. Two factors would come in to play. First is the condition of "centralized manufacturing" by this point in the war in Germany. Big factories are big targets. Then there is the question of "logistics". By that time in the war, if it moved it was shot at.
Looking at this weapon as a machinist, and from a manufacturing standpoint, I see nothing here that could not be made in a garage. Even the stampings could be done with a hydraulic press using dies made in another garage. A large stamping press would not be required. Everything else could be made in ANY shop with a good lathe, milling machine, arc welder and torch (to heat treat the springs).
With this in mind, you are correct in your statement that the resources would have been better used to produce MP-44's. This however would be true only if you were not being bombed in to oblivion with known arms plants being big fat targets. When you take in to account the idea of distributing manufacturing among small shops with limited resources, its utility as a weapon becomes more clear.
It sure does look crude, but will probably go bang every time. Wow they want 30,000-50,000 for one of these.
Well, I wasn't thinking of actually looking for one before, but now I certainly shall try to find Th.1138
"it was judged a little too simple."
Typical German engineering right there...
Totally subscribed. Love historical weaponry, and very informative.
looks alike the new rifle in far harbor (fallout 4) DLC
xD ikr
Alice Dexter the radium rifle. Probably based on it
iggi Aronsson damn you!! i clicked on this video just to comment that! 😂 you beat me to it lol
@ 6:40 Since an earlier Post, I've learned these Rifles were most likely Zeroed for 100 meters; placing the Round ~33" low at 300 meters.
To those asking, YES, this is the Radium Rifle from Fallout 4: Far Harbor.
You have to be 18 to use 4chan
Functionally the Gustloff is a pure blowback AR. There 's no way a gas port placed past the half of the barrel can have any effect in delaying the opening of the action before the projectile leaves the barrel. For the same reason a gas port placed there doesn't open the action, in a standard gas action, before the projectile leaves the barrel.
The only function of the gas piston in this, or in the Steyr GB, is to slow down the bolt/slide when the opening already happened, to avoid it slamming too hard on the frame.
im glad im not the only one who thought of the radium rifle.
OMG that is the most crude design that I have seen. The stamped steel with the tack welds. Wow man that is wild. I envy your job man you get to see some strange designs.