@3:57 this gun must have technically the longest reload time ever if you have to mail the barrels back to the manufacturer to reload them for you and then mail them back to you to be ready to fire again
you just know that technically this gun shoots 120 shots or more per second on paper. but practically its exactly as you say. and you didn't even mentioned the electronic Trigger machanism that comes with its own baggage.
Excepting of course, the Federov Avtomat 1916. IIRC, he's still trying to find & get access to one of those. That pesky Putin & his attempted conquest of Ukraine certainly put the kibosh on *that* project!.. (for now.)
@@nunyabidniz2868or thanks to the war it might end up in Ian's hands due the Ukrainian army capturing some Russian conscript who was randomly issued that weapon due to weapon shortages
I don't know who's crazier. FPS Russian with his near suicidal usage of Tannerite and blatant disregard for the IRS. Scott from Kentucky ballistics with his manic 5-year-old energy and love for oversized guns despite a near brush with death from an exploding BMG. Or Ian who regularly gets his hands on 300-year-old museum pieces. Explaines how only 3 were ever made, and it probably cost more than the contract on his life. Then loads the things with explosive powder and fires some rounds down range without a care in the world.
I think there are some Russian cartridges that use a piston type system to similar effect. Completely contains the firing gasses so no muzzle report. Very clever.l!
There's also a German recoilless launcher that uses the same principle, the Armbrust and its further development, the Matador. What makes them interesting, is that they seal both ends of the tube.
I remember seeing this gun in an illustrated firearm book in my middle school library. Lit my young brain on fire with the idea of nato frogmen having underwater gun battles with underwater terrorists (and possibly sharks). So I've been waiting for this one.
If it hasn't been mentioned earlier, these things were made when most SF divers used oxygen rebreathers, which don't produce bubbles but can't be used much below 10m because the water pressure any deeper risks fitting/dying from oxygen toxicity.
I saw this thing for the first time as a kid in a volume of Jane's Infantry Small Arms. Later in life I worked for a guy who was a former SEAL and brought the book into work and he commented on this gun specifically. He said it worked better than anyone thought it would and that the waterproofing was absolute garbage. Apparently if you fire it in a bare hand underwater, it gives you quite an electrical shock.
Aside from the ballistic rods specifically made for sharks, a decent electrical charge should in theory, deter a shark from taking your hand. I can't imagine a shark gun would ever be used by a diver when there are better options except as a training aid when you really want to get someone's attention
@@BatCaveOz Cattle, from 400 kg cows and below up to 1 ton (1,000kg) bulls are kept in place by just 1 relatively thin wire surrounding the selected areas in open fields, connected to a 12v car battery (in most of the cases). Which provides a shock good enough to keep those wet noses from meddling nearby, and... trust me, you gotta make sure you're looking when you "aim" if you decided to "go" in the middle of the countryside. In any way, good sir, I did not intend to cross your opinion, I was actually seeking a bit more light on the subject, as I know that Watts, Amperes, and a couple, though perhaps not many more, "thingies" are what actually make an electrical current potent or not. Cheers!
Apparently Germany actually had a short production run of 1000 G11s, some of which were distributed to the Bundeswehr. If it had only ever seen trials, I'd be more inclined to believe you are correct, but I've got to imagine at least a few German special forces members have had the opportunity to handle both.
Electric firing mechanism is likely because any mechanical striker/hammer/etc based system would perform differently in water compared to out of it. Sealing water out of electronics is relatively easy.
That and just general reliability/usability - a mechanical system that can cock and release a hammer is going to have trouble if water gets into it, and it would have to be cocked by hand for each firing. Which means harder to use, and harder to keep water out as moving parts have to be exposed to the water. VS. Electrical where they have almost no moving parts, and all of them that do move are very low-powered, and driven directly by the trigger. It also makes it 'automatic' in that you can fire multiple shots without having to manually cock the gun. Biggest issue is likely water getting into the battery compartment, and as long as it's just a little even that wouldn't cause any issues with firing it.
And even if there's water around the pins for firing, as long as there's metal contact, electricity uses the path of least resistance so the water wouldn't matter anyway.
1:29 I remember playing a game called "Depth" a few years back and seen these firearms in-game. I was aware that there are a handful of "underwater guns" but its cool to learn some real life details.
I read an interview somewhere with a former Marine National diver (the French navy) who said the vast majority of his time underwater was less than 10m deep, so the relatively low water resistance isn't all that surprising in that context. I suppose if you're swimming through a river or something to covertly access a remote facility then the water is more there for concealment, and as long as you're deep enough to avoid detection from the surface that's all you need. If it's murky enough that could easily be less than 10m of depth.
I think it's linked to the fact that combat divers don't use classical compressed air bottles but oxygen diving devices that can't be used below 6 or 7 meters under water.
Pure oxygen used in rebreather become toxic at a depth of 7 meters, 22 feet. For most of people, there is a danger at only 4 meters with pure oxygen. "Oxygen toxicity occurs in most people when the partial pressure of oxygen reaches 1.4 atmospheres or greater." That's why combat swimmers dive at only 6 meters deep, 19 feet. So this weapon being rated to 10 meters max depth is enough.
Combat divers generally stay within NDS (No Decompression Stop) limits, though they can push them in practice. If you're sneaking around in a harbour you don't want to be waiting around trying to avoid decompression sickness.
@@alexandrelarsac9115 - It's something of a bell curve as not all people react the same to equivalent oxygen partial pressures. When dive tables were first created based on military diving research, 2.0 was the limit for the same reason as the US Navy decompression tables were more lenient - they were dealing with a pretty uniform sample set of physically above-average subjects. Recreational dive agencies toned that back to 1.6 and then in the last 20-25 years to 1.4, because there is a percentage of the population that has a lower physiological tolerance and may tox above 1.4 while most people were perfectly fine at 1.6.
Combat divers usually only use water as a means of covert transportation. They don't really fight battles in water, they just get to places without being seen in the water. Then they do whatever they do outside and maybe dive back into the water to get out.
Maintaining the supercavitation bubble in which the underwater dart travels is very pressure dependent. The P11 is probably rated only for 1 atmosphere gauge pressure (30', 10m) because deeper water lowers the range drastically, with the minimum speed required to keep the supercavitation rising. Also, I'd guess special forces don't spend a lot of time deeper than about 30'; they probably don't want to take time to decompress after coming out of their sub if they're heading towards land.
Another thing is that rebreathers (the bubble-free/closed circuit breathing apparatuses commonly used by the SF community) generally has a depth limit of about 6 meters anyway, due to oxygen toxicity at higher pressures.
@@lc4biker I think that's only an issue for a pure-oxygen rebreather. Modern systems can use a nitrox or heliox mix if you need to go deeper, but I recognize that those technologies may not have been sufficiently mature for military rugged requirements at the time this firearm was developed.
A P11 type ppistol was seen in the TOMB RAIDER - CRADLE OF LIFE film. Used by Lara Croft in a scene it was seen firing 'darts' above water. I have never bothered to check out IMFDB on this as i knew from journals and books that the P11 was a 'secret' pistol. So very cool to see it.
I've used a speargun for decades while scuba diving, and I have to say that pistol has an incredibly effective range underwater. I need one! Great video and description of its use and features.
I distinctly remember seeing this in the 007: Nightfire video game. Thought it was a unique design for the game, come to find it was actually a covert handgun. Neat.
I grew up playing delta force land warrior on my dads work computer. It had a bunch of weird guns in it like this, the pankor jackhammer, the OICW and the caseless G11. Great game.
The 10m depth limit is kind of surprising, but operationally it might not have been so limiting a factor. Not that their tactics are well-publicized, but my understanding is that frogmen-types tend to stay pretty shallow. They're just trying to sneak into a harbor/boat/whatever without being detected; 15-20 feet is plenty for that, in most scenarios (particularly at night). They almost always use rebreathers, which make few bubbles.
I've always been curious about these since first reading Firewall by Andy McNab. After your explanation about how quiet the pistol would be to shoot, it makes a lot more sense in the context of their appearance in the book!
I remember this as being the same concept of the silent shotgun shell , it contained the discharge within the shell and required no modification to the weapon
I can understand why the barrel clusters would have to be returned to factory for reloading, there is a lot of intricate components and reassembly required, tight fittings to ensure a proper seal.
No my friend it's just that same old tactical strategy used by HP in their inkjet printers. To make it cheaper to buy a whole new device every time to squeeze as much $£€ out of you as possible 🤑
@@spacewater7 Nah, once you line up the costs on a spreadsheet and factor in everything ill bet 100€ on it being more expensive to get ones own troops to correctly reload these barrel assemblies.
Remove the breech plug. Clean and check spark gap. remove spent sabot and clean barrel. Replace sabot, with new projectile. A little wax around the edges of the sabot can deal with the seal. load powder. insert breech plug, with an elastic seal. Not a field operation, but doesn't look much more complex than reloading spent casings.
@@spacewater7 The "test cartridges" you get preinstalled on printers contain about 15% as much ink/toner as a real one. But people who don't realise that think "uh, a new set of cartridges is more expensive than a new printer... so I'll just buy a whole new printer!" but you're losing A LOT of money over time that way. A full set of toners for my laser printer is about two times the price of the printer. But each color is 3000 pages and black is 5000 pages compared to the 400 and 600 pages, respectively, I got with it from factory. It doesn't take a PhD in math to calculate that buying a new printer is a stupid idea, even when factoring in that the printer needs the drum replaced every 50k pages, and a drum is about the price of a black cartridge.
Destin from the Smarter Every Day channel and the Slow Mo guys did a collab about a decade ago firing guns underwater. It's fascinating, and shows how poorly a regular bullet functions underwater.
And the Mythbusters tested shooting bullets into water (also not very effective, the bullets lost speed quickly, some shattered when hitting the surface).
There was a Underwater Demolition Team mission in WWII where the UDTs had to swim up a river with numerous Japanese defenses on the shores. The river wasn't very deep and was quite clear, so they were visible to the enemy, who shot at them hundreds or possibly thousands of times. The UDTs just swam through the rain of sinking bullets, catching some of them as souvenirs.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had shells for naval guns that were specifically designed to retain their ballistic properties after hitting the water, so that they could penetrate the hulls of US Navy warships even if they landed short and cause flooding. At the Battle of Cape Esperance during the Guadalcanal campaign, USS Boise was hit by two IJN 8" shells below the waterline that penetrated and started a fire in the forward magazines. This fire might have detonated the ammo stored in the magazines, but the flooding that was also caused by the shell hits, put out the fire and saved the ship, as the men who would have carried the order to intentionally flood the magazine were dead, killed by that same fire.
Id love to lurk with Ian sometime procuring rumors of secret vault guns or history and seeing the possible years it takes to find and then arrange to be able to get a proper shot(video) of said artifacts
Oh cool! I remember this being featured in the 007: nightfire videogame. Interestingly, they portrayed it as a tranquilizer dart gun, which I guess it could have that kind of ammunition, but I don't think they ever made such a thing in real life.
Fun fact. Andy McNab’s Firewall novel references this weapon, but calls it a “P7.” Nick Stone, the books protagonist, wrestles one off a US agent in a old warehouse in Finland. Great book.
I guess 15 m underwater is quite ok because seeing someone underwater at 15 meters, especially in the Baltic or North Sea where the Kampfschwimmers it was originally designed for would operate is rare. Especially at night where most operations would take place. Re depth, Combat divers are not supposed to dive deep. They have two missions basically, either land insertion or port sabotage (placing charges on ship's hulls etc) or countering both of those. You don't need to dive deeply for either.
Still makes me wonder why they didn't make it capable for more water pressure. So you at least have the option to dive deeper if required for part of the diving route
@@from_spaceit is just not necessary. Most of the high valued target (ships, docks, etc.) are on the surface. I can only see that scenario plays out if aircraft or satellite parts falling into the ocean floor and the military prefers sending divers because subs are clumsy and you as the host nation does not want that. The problem is that it is extremely likely + you can just sonar ping the enemy frogmen with the submarine in that case
The important point is not that they don't need to dive deeper, but that they can't. Closed-circuit breathing systems use pure oxygen, which becomes toxic around 7 meters. All divers using pure oxygen operate at a depth of 6 meters. So 10 meters is very generous, as divers never go that deep when using pure oxygen.
Considering water visibility and currents, these would probably be mainly used for close-in work. Interestingly it might actually be possible to shoot 'around corners' if the current is strong enough and the range is far enough away to allow time for the projectile to curve. Super keen to see you out on the 'range' with one of these!
Considering HK is so secretive about it maybe that 10m limit is one that is semi-public or one they guarantee to be safe. While it can practically withstand being deeper surprisingly well? Neat creation, I recall seeing photos of this odd thing before but never thought much of it. The way to keep it silent and prevent gas bubbles at the surface is very creative, I hope they do have some easier to reload above water practice barrel clusters that can be reloaded by the users. It would be interesting if they were ever to design something that combines a "regular" silenced pistol with a magazine that fires through a central barrel and you can fit electronically fired underwater barrel clusters around it. At least to my brain that seems like it should be possible when such a clunky thing is already acceptable for regular use, but maybe the gas trapping silencer and simplicity is more important to its users.
The fact that you had to send the empty barrel units BACK to be reloaded shows that something crazy is going on with the actual rounds themselves!! Also more money for H&K lol!!
It makes sense to make it electrically fired. If there are problems with gas blowback systems under water, then your only option really is to manually cycle it between shots, but by having it electrically triggered and multibarreled you can get something akin to semi-automatic operation.
The advantage of the Russian system is that it is reloadable by the user and its limited by depth only by the effective distance of the round. The deeper you go the shorter the effective distance. I'm looking forward to the video in it.
close circuit diving like Dreager re breather combat diving you are limited to only diving down to 30feet. We in Recon and Navy Seals train all dives at maintaining approx. 30 feet or less of depth when inserting by re breathers. The Navy also uses a LAR5 LO-MU re breather (back mounted) for EOD that goes deeper, as well as a tri-mix gas system for even deeper dives.
30 feet is also likely all you're going to need when using the water as cover to attack a target. Any deeper and the target is going to have be a submarine or similar of some kind, and therefore not something you can attack directly with manual tools. But 30 feet is plenty to give you cover when approaching a beach or a surface target.
The limit with rebreathers is only 10m on units that only replenish oxygen. If unhave a separate bottle of dilutent to dilute the mix as pressure increases u can go much deeper. U just have to monitor the ppo2. U can use sodium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide for the co2 absorber
Yes! You got one! The first time I saw it was decades ago in an article in the Dutch gun magazine SAM. The article showed several pictures of the gun, including a picture of divers posing with it and one picture with a lose barrel cluster on the gun. Needless to say, H&K was not happy with that.
those barrels look like they have a lot of room in them to work with...the sealed design and electrical firing system also gives it some additional possibilities... I'm imagining that there are classified versions of barrel clusters which contain things other than underwater darts and above-water bullets such as, having those barrels be essentially miniature torpedo tubes, launching Gyrojet-style self-propelling ammunition but underwater
The British Royal Armored museum!? If Jonathan Ferguson doesn't make a cameo I'll be disappointed! Let's be real that's the only reason many of us watch are subscribed with the bell on to Gamespot. Of course in joking, in assuming, Jonathan is a busy man when caring for his museum, but crazy to know Ian and Jonathan could be in one video, or even a photo together!
As a total geek for udnerwater firearms, this was super cool! If Ian ever gets a hold of an SPP-1 pistol or an APS rifle for a video, I could die happy.
I thought it would be hard to top the Pancor Jackhammer and the G11 videos, but here we go. I remember seeing this gun in books and magazines for years but all details were said to be secret. Was quite surprised when i saw the self-sealing mechanism on the barrels in a military magazine just a few years ago. Still feels kinda odd to see Ian with it now.
@@orbiradio2465 Irrelevant whether they got the specifications precisely right. The point is that the existence of it hasn't been secret since at least 1999.
That is so cool that you get to show this. I remember seeing this in one of the Tomb Raider movies with Angelina Jolie, and was fascinated by it. Now if only we could see you getting to shoot it, but that is probably unoptanium...
Let's see if I get this correctly; you discharge the gun, sabot and projectile accelerate, sabot plugs the narrowing in the barrel - trapping the expanding gas inside - and the projectile continues on its merry way. No wonder users were not allowed to reload; with all that pressure trapped behind the cartridge you could actually shoot yourself with the cartridge if you managed to pry it free.
I wonder if a color besides red might be better for an underwater pistol's safety. Red tends to get washed out pretty quickly as you descend. Bright yellow tends to be more common on dive gear I find as a 'high contrast' color.
Holy shit, I've been really curious about this gun for many years (pretty much since the Wikipedia article about them popped up), but never found much information on them, let alone a video. It's really cool, that you got your hands on one of these to show them!
I had no idea this was a real firearm. I remember seeing this gun in 007: Nightfire on the PS2 way back in the day and I just assumed it was a made up weapon made specifically for the game. Its really neat that its a real thing.
Ahhhh NFA question! If a civilian in the U.S.A had procured this said super rare and presumably expensive gun. Would it be considered integrally suppressed by the vague and often changing verbiage of the ATF?
This type of setup is not a one-off but used in Russian silent pistols too, often referred to as "captive piston" ammunition(albeit this one is clustered and barrel included). Few of those found its ways to US so they have precedents as to how civilian ownership is legally handled.
I'm somewhat surprised that it is battery powered, and not a piezoelectric crystal system. Perhaps I overestimate the power or reliability of a potential crystal system.
@@michelesilvestri8340 The piezoelectric crystal in a standard electric gas lighter can easily produce 800 volts....maybe they simply don't have enough amps to reliably trigger the electric cartridge, or they wanted to prevent a possible chain fire event?
I have a strong suspicion that the 24V is required for exciting the propellent in both under water and above water. It would be a very legitimate reason to have the chemical formula tightly kept within in H&K. The same era when the G11 was in full swung development with the concept of caseless ammo
Hope that Ian can someday get his hands on a Quiet Special Purpose Revolver. It was a Vietnam era project to make a gun for use in tunnels, which used a similar system to contain the propellant gases.
Did secret squirrel frogmen have a lot of use for something like this? Outside of a James Bond Thunderball scenario were there a lot of underwater person to person engagements?
Ian is piecing together his Atlantis Brutality kit. I can't wait to see him duel wield a brace of these while going after an underwater spinner.
Must be the lionfishes
He gonna geddit...?
Calico and G11 with Soviet Spear rifle
Mer-Man from Polenar gets a trident, pic-rails all the way is too heavy. Mer-Bloke steals the win.
@@bodyno3158 No it's the Tiger Sharks
The fact that the HK greyroom doesn’t even have them really shows how sneaky and covert the pistol is
@@TheInfidel_SlavaUAWouldn't a submarine be more fitting? 😅
They have plenty of them. They are just so sneaky you can´t see them.
Maybe it's in their Blue Room. 🤔
@@SeanCMonahan literally. These would certainly have been (and currently?) used on SDV’s alongside a suppressed Mk23.
@@SeanCMonahanthat boat has sailed then
@3:57 this gun must have technically the longest reload time ever if you have to mail the barrels back to the manufacturer to reload them for you and then mail them back to you to be ready to fire again
You would need lots of DGS to wait for delivery. Does UPS deliver under water ?
you just know that technically this gun shoots 120 shots or more per second on paper.
but practically its exactly as you say. and you didn't even mentioned the electronic Trigger machanism that comes with its own baggage.
@@oddctioum Hallo!?
@@Gurkenkasper kotz dich aus Gurkenkasper. nur redenden Menschen kann man helfen.
Hell at least this is sent to Germany, back when people were still using film to make pictures, we had to send our rolls to the developing countries
I love how Ian can casually reference any weapon and reliably say "We'll cover it in a future video" or "We have a video on it".
He has mentioned before that he potentially has a multiple year backlog
Excepting of course, the Federov Avtomat 1916. IIRC, he's still trying to find & get access to one of those. That pesky Putin & his attempted conquest of Ukraine certainly put the kibosh on *that* project!.. (for now.)
@@nunyabidniz2868or thanks to the war it might end up in Ian's hands due the Ukrainian army capturing some Russian conscript who was randomly issued that weapon due to weapon shortages
I don't know who's crazier. FPS Russian with his near suicidal usage of Tannerite and blatant disregard for the IRS. Scott from Kentucky ballistics with his manic 5-year-old energy and love for oversized guns despite a near brush with death from an exploding BMG.
Or Ian who regularly gets his hands on 300-year-old museum pieces. Explaines how only 3 were ever made, and it probably cost more than the contract on his life. Then loads the things with explosive powder and fires some rounds down range without a care in the world.
Retaining the sabot to suppress the gun is some ingenious engineering
I think there are some Russian cartridges that use a piston type system to similar effect. Completely contains the firing gasses so no muzzle report. Very clever.l!
There's also a German recoilless launcher that uses the same principle, the Armbrust and its further development, the Matador. What makes them interesting, is that they seal both ends of the tube.
Extremely effective, but not a mechanism I see scaling to higher ballistic performance.
@@alun7006 Yep, they go by a few names like captive-piston rounds.
@@alun7006 I was going to post this very comment. Sneaky fucking Russians! ^-^
I remember seeing this gun in an illustrated firearm book in my middle school library. Lit my young brain on fire with the idea of nato frogmen having underwater gun battles with underwater terrorists (and possibly sharks). So I've been waiting for this one.
Saw that too. Think it was a blurb about Italian Frogmen.
Sharks with frikin' laser beams attached to their heads!
Cool
Terrorist sharks sounds like a nightmare scenario. Or a upcoming creature feature on Syfy.
undwerwater shark terrorists!
If it hasn't been mentioned earlier, these things were made when most SF divers used oxygen rebreathers, which don't produce bubbles but can't be used much below 10m because the water pressure any deeper risks fitting/dying from oxygen toxicity.
I saw this thing for the first time as a kid in a volume of Jane's Infantry Small Arms. Later in life I worked for a guy who was a former SEAL and brought the book into work and he commented on this gun specifically.
He said it worked better than anyone thought it would and that the waterproofing was absolute garbage. Apparently if you fire it in a bare hand underwater, it gives you quite an electrical shock.
Tells me it uses a spark gap ignition, not resistance heating ignition.
@@BatCaveOz I also seen a cap in that, could be using a buck boost to push it higher.
Aside from the ballistic rods specifically made for sharks, a decent electrical charge should in theory, deter a shark from taking your hand. I can't imagine a shark gun would ever be used by a diver when there are better options except as a training aid when you really want to get someone's attention
@@BatCaveOzNot in water. Especially not with ions in it.
@@BatCaveOz Cattle, from 400 kg cows and below up to 1 ton (1,000kg) bulls are kept in place by just 1 relatively thin wire surrounding the selected areas in open fields, connected to a 12v car battery (in most of the cases). Which provides a shock good enough to keep those wet noses from meddling nearby, and... trust me, you gotta make sure you're looking when you "aim" if you decided to "go" in the middle of the countryside. In any way, good sir, I did not intend to cross your opinion, I was actually seeking a bit more light on the subject, as I know that Watts, Amperes, and a couple, though perhaps not many more, "thingies" are what actually make an electrical current potent or not. Cheers!
An underwater pepperbox pistol whose electronic firing system works like a distributor cap. Wild stuff.
Just HK doing HK things I suppose.
A distributor cap is EXACTLY what I thought of, too! Just that this one can cause a completely different kind of misfire.
And ultimately the big question is who the hell are you shooting underwater to necessitate this.
@@alexb7641Mermaids. E-thots of times gone by...
@@alexb7641I'm afraid that's not how military procurement works.
Between the G11 and the P11, Ian is probably the only human on the planet, outside of HK, to ever handle both.
I'm sure there are a number of guys outside HK who haven't just handled both, but even fired both. Just a handful or two, I give you that.
i think it would be more accurate to say he is the only one to have in depht assenbly, dissasembly and history footage of the guns
Apparently Germany actually had a short production run of 1000 G11s, some of which were distributed to the Bundeswehr. If it had only ever seen trials, I'd be more inclined to believe you are correct, but I've got to imagine at least a few German special forces members have had the opportunity to handle both.
@@RamadaArtistwhy would Budweiser need underwear guns. Is that how they got rid of those frogs?
Electric firing mechanism is likely because any mechanical striker/hammer/etc based system would perform differently in water compared to out of it. Sealing water out of electronics is relatively easy.
That and just general reliability/usability - a mechanical system that can cock and release a hammer is going to have trouble if water gets into it, and it would have to be cocked by hand for each firing. Which means harder to use, and harder to keep water out as moving parts have to be exposed to the water.
VS. Electrical where they have almost no moving parts, and all of them that do move are very low-powered, and driven directly by the trigger. It also makes it 'automatic' in that you can fire multiple shots without having to manually cock the gun. Biggest issue is likely water getting into the battery compartment, and as long as it's just a little even that wouldn't cause any issues with firing it.
@@DanStaal Make more noise too.
And even if there's water around the pins for firing, as long as there's metal contact, electricity uses the path of least resistance so the water wouldn't matter anyway.
@@d9720267 A hammer being lowered in water would be almost inaudible due to the way sound travels in water.
So how Russians made underwater assault rifles?
If Ian ever gets to shoot this underwater on video, he should do it wearing his Bond tux with scuba gear.
In Arizona ?
@@mickleblade he’s been known to travel
He's still saving up for a Rolex Submariner to wear.
1:29 I remember playing a game called "Depth" a few years back and seen these firearms in-game. I was aware that there are a handful of "underwater guns" but its cool to learn some real life details.
I WAITED FOR A VIDEO ON THIS GUN FOR SO LONG! Thank you!
I read an interview somewhere with a former Marine National diver (the French navy) who said the vast majority of his time underwater was less than 10m deep, so the relatively low water resistance isn't all that surprising in that context. I suppose if you're swimming through a river or something to covertly access a remote facility then the water is more there for concealment, and as long as you're deep enough to avoid detection from the surface that's all you need. If it's murky enough that could easily be less than 10m of depth.
I think it's linked to the fact that combat divers don't use classical compressed air bottles but oxygen diving devices that can't be used below 6 or 7 meters under water.
Pure oxygen used in rebreather become toxic at a depth of 7 meters, 22 feet.
For most of people, there is a danger at only 4 meters with pure oxygen. "Oxygen toxicity occurs in most people when the partial pressure of oxygen reaches 1.4 atmospheres or greater."
That's why combat swimmers dive at only 6 meters deep, 19 feet.
So this weapon being rated to 10 meters max depth is enough.
Combat divers generally stay within NDS (No Decompression Stop) limits, though they can push them in practice. If you're sneaking around in a harbour you don't want to be waiting around trying to avoid decompression sickness.
@@alexandrelarsac9115 - It's something of a bell curve as not all people react the same to equivalent oxygen partial pressures. When dive tables were first created based on military diving research, 2.0 was the limit for the same reason as the US Navy decompression tables were more lenient - they were dealing with a pretty uniform sample set of physically above-average subjects. Recreational dive agencies toned that back to 1.6 and then in the last 20-25 years to 1.4, because there is a percentage of the population that has a lower physiological tolerance and may tox above 1.4 while most people were perfectly fine at 1.6.
Combat divers usually only use water as a means of covert transportation. They don't really fight battles in water, they just get to places without being seen in the water. Then they do whatever they do outside and maybe dive back into the water to get out.
Maintaining the supercavitation bubble in which the underwater dart travels is very pressure dependent. The P11 is probably rated only for 1 atmosphere gauge pressure (30', 10m) because deeper water lowers the range drastically, with the minimum speed required to keep the supercavitation rising.
Also, I'd guess special forces don't spend a lot of time deeper than about 30'; they probably don't want to take time to decompress after coming out of their sub if they're heading towards land.
Another thing is that rebreathers (the bubble-free/closed circuit breathing apparatuses commonly used by the SF community) generally has a depth limit of about 6 meters anyway, due to oxygen toxicity at higher pressures.
It‘s also that it‘s simply not needed most of the time. You have a relatively high grade of ‚invisibility‘ at those depths already.
@@lc4biker I think that's only an issue for a pure-oxygen rebreather. Modern systems can use a nitrox or heliox mix if you need to go deeper, but I recognize that those technologies may not have been sufficiently mature for military rugged requirements at the time this firearm was developed.
A P11 type ppistol was seen in the TOMB RAIDER - CRADLE OF LIFE film. Used by Lara Croft in a scene it was seen firing 'darts' above water. I have never bothered to check out IMFDB on this as i knew from journals and books that the P11 was a 'secret' pistol. So very cool to see it.
I've used a speargun for decades while scuba diving, and I have to say that pistol has an incredibly effective range underwater. I need one! Great video and description of its use and features.
I distinctly remember seeing this in the 007: Nightfire video game. Thought it was a unique design for the game, come to find it was actually a covert handgun. Neat.
I grew up playing delta force land warrior on my dads work computer. It had a bunch of weird guns in it like this, the pankor jackhammer, the OICW and the caseless G11. Great game.
>game is called land warrior
>has an underwater gun
@@sksthrowaway2270two of them. You forgot the APS underwater rifle
@@sksthrowaway2270 it had two underwater guns.
Exactly what first came to mind!
Loved that game, only one back then that also featured bullet drop.
I still remember this gun from the PC game Delta Force: Land Warrior. It was certainly an odd one and I always figured it had some special purpose.
Same here. That was the only game I recall playing that used this firearm, but it sure was memorable.
Oddly enough, you could equip the Soviet underwater APS rifle as your primary gun.
I just started playing this again for old times sake.
Oilrig night mission...
It was so secret, only to be revealed in that popular PC game.
Please do more videos on underwater firearms! There are so many odd and cool guns in that world
The 10m depth limit is kind of surprising, but operationally it might not have been so limiting a factor. Not that their tactics are well-publicized, but my understanding is that frogmen-types tend to stay pretty shallow. They're just trying to sneak into a harbor/boat/whatever without being detected; 15-20 feet is plenty for that, in most scenarios (particularly at night). They almost always use rebreathers, which make few bubbles.
I've got to admit I didn't think we'd ever see a P11 on the channel! Impressive work.
I've always been curious about these since first reading Firewall by Andy McNab. After your explanation about how quiet the pistol would be to shoot, it makes a lot more sense in the context of their appearance in the book!
I remember this as being the same concept of the silent shotgun shell , it contained the discharge within the shell and required no modification to the weapon
I forgot how many decades ago that I saw photos of the HK P11. Thanks, you added to the limited details that I had learned in the past.
I can understand why the barrel clusters would have to be returned to factory for reloading, there is a lot of intricate components and reassembly required, tight fittings to ensure a proper seal.
No my friend it's just that same old tactical strategy used by HP in their inkjet printers. To make it cheaper to buy a whole new device every time to squeeze as much $£€ out of you as possible 🤑
@@spacewater7 Nah, once you line up the costs on a spreadsheet and factor in everything ill bet 100€ on it being more expensive to get ones own troops to correctly reload these barrel assemblies.
Remove the breech plug. Clean and check spark gap.
remove spent sabot and clean barrel.
Replace sabot, with new projectile. A little wax around the edges of the sabot can deal with the seal.
load powder.
insert breech plug, with an elastic seal.
Not a field operation, but doesn't look much more complex than reloading spent casings.
@@hanelyp1 One would assume so but I am certain there is more to it than that, there is almost always more to something than initially thought.
@@spacewater7 The "test cartridges" you get preinstalled on printers contain about 15% as much ink/toner as a real one. But people who don't realise that think "uh, a new set of cartridges is more expensive than a new printer... so I'll just buy a whole new printer!" but you're losing A LOT of money over time that way. A full set of toners for my laser printer is about two times the price of the printer. But each color is 3000 pages and black is 5000 pages compared to the 400 and 600 pages, respectively, I got with it from factory. It doesn't take a PhD in math to calculate that buying a new printer is a stupid idea, even when factoring in that the printer needs the drum replaced every 50k pages, and a drum is about the price of a black cartridge.
"Sneaky people doing sneaky things" - This statement totally deserves a T-shirt (with interesting graphics) :)
Destin from the Smarter Every Day channel and the Slow Mo guys did a collab about a decade ago firing guns underwater. It's fascinating, and shows how poorly a regular bullet functions underwater.
And the Mythbusters tested shooting bullets into water (also not very effective, the bullets lost speed quickly, some shattered when hitting the surface).
I wonder if you could design a super-cavitating bullet?
There was a Underwater Demolition Team mission in WWII where the UDTs had to swim up a river with numerous Japanese defenses on the shores. The river wasn't very deep and was quite clear, so they were visible to the enemy, who shot at them hundreds or possibly thousands of times. The UDTs just swam through the rain of sinking bullets, catching some of them as souvenirs.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had shells for naval guns that were specifically designed to retain their ballistic properties after hitting the water, so that they could penetrate the hulls of US Navy warships even if they landed short and cause flooding. At the Battle of Cape Esperance during the Guadalcanal campaign, USS Boise was hit by two IJN 8" shells below the waterline that penetrated and started a fire in the forward magazines. This fire might have detonated the ammo stored in the magazines, but the flooding that was also caused by the shell hits, put out the fire and saved the ship, as the men who would have carried the order to intentionally flood the magazine were dead, killed by that same fire.
@@Bacteriophagebs[citation needed]
Id love to lurk with Ian sometime procuring rumors of secret vault guns or history and seeing the possible years it takes to find and then arrange to be able to get a proper shot(video) of said artifacts
So you'd love to be his apprentice
Oh cool! I remember this being featured in the 007: nightfire videogame. Interestingly, they portrayed it as a tranquilizer dart gun, which I guess it could have that kind of ammunition, but I don't think they ever made such a thing in real life.
Lol i beat that game on ps2 so many times. The multiplayer was pretty dope too.
That game went so hard
Wow was just thinking this as I looked at where the ammo went
I seem to remeber the pen gun being the tranquiliser, and this just being a silenced dart gun?
Night Shift. And yeah, Nightfire is an awesome game. I grew up with the Bond films, and this was my first FPS and first multiplayer game. :D
Fun fact. Andy McNab’s Firewall novel references this weapon, but calls it a “P7.” Nick Stone, the books protagonist, wrestles one off a US agent in a old warehouse in Finland. Great book.
I guess 15 m underwater is quite ok because seeing someone underwater at 15 meters, especially in the Baltic or North Sea where the Kampfschwimmers it was originally designed for would operate is rare. Especially at night where most operations would take place. Re depth, Combat divers are not supposed to dive deep. They have two missions basically, either land insertion or port sabotage (placing charges on ship's hulls etc) or countering both of those. You don't need to dive deeply for either.
Still makes me wonder why they didn't make it capable for more water pressure. So you at least have the option to dive deeper if required for part of the diving route
@@from_spaceit is just not necessary. Most of the high valued target (ships, docks, etc.) are on the surface. I can only see that scenario plays out if aircraft or satellite parts falling into the ocean floor and the military prefers sending divers because subs are clumsy and you as the host nation does not want that. The problem is that it is extremely likely + you can just sonar ping the enemy frogmen with the submarine in that case
The important point is not that they don't need to dive deeper, but that they can't. Closed-circuit breathing systems use pure oxygen, which becomes toxic around 7 meters. All divers using pure oxygen operate at a depth of 6 meters. So 10 meters is very generous, as divers never go that deep when using pure oxygen.
Finally he found one! Ines hoping for this review ever since the HK room videos
Considering water visibility and currents, these would probably be mainly used for close-in work. Interestingly it might actually be possible to shoot 'around corners' if the current is strong enough and the range is far enough away to allow time for the projectile to curve. Super keen to see you out on the 'range' with one of these!
Considering HK is so secretive about it maybe that 10m limit is one that is semi-public or one they guarantee to be safe. While it can practically withstand being deeper surprisingly well?
Neat creation, I recall seeing photos of this odd thing before but never thought much of it. The way to keep it silent and prevent gas bubbles at the surface is very creative, I hope they do have some easier to reload above water practice barrel clusters that can be reloaded by the users.
It would be interesting if they were ever to design something that combines a "regular" silenced pistol with a magazine that fires through a central barrel and you can fit electronically fired underwater barrel clusters around it. At least to my brain that seems like it should be possible when such a clunky thing is already acceptable for regular use, but maybe the gas trapping silencer and simplicity is more important to its users.
The fact that you had to send the empty barrel units BACK to be reloaded shows that something crazy is going on with the actual rounds themselves!! Also more money for H&K lol!!
Also H&K can control who has access to loaded barrels.
Reloading the barrels looks similar in complexity to reloading a spent shell.
It makes sense to make it electrically fired.
If there are problems with gas blowback systems under water, then your only option really is to manually cycle it between shots, but by having it electrically triggered and multibarreled you can get something akin to semi-automatic operation.
Forgotten Weapons uploads a new video
Brain: YIPPEE!!!
And I thought I knew everything about firearms.
Thank you Ian, for another great video.
The advantage of the Russian system is that it is reloadable by the user and its limited by depth only by the effective distance of the round. The deeper you go the shorter the effective distance. I'm looking forward to the video in it.
I’ve known about this model for years and there’s never really been much info that I could find on it, thanks for the video.
Something about this pistol just *screams* retrofuturistic pepperbox 😂
ROTFL. It's true!!
For when the fish cheat at poker or the shark at the bar slaps your girl on the arse
@@krissteel4074 😂
By "something" you mean Everything?
appreciate your work ethic
close circuit diving like Dreager re breather combat diving you are limited to only diving down to 30feet. We in Recon and Navy Seals train all dives at maintaining approx. 30 feet or less of depth when inserting by re breathers. The Navy also uses a LAR5 LO-MU re breather (back mounted) for EOD that goes deeper, as well as a tri-mix gas system for even deeper dives.
30 feet is also likely all you're going to need when using the water as cover to attack a target. Any deeper and the target is going to have be a submarine or similar of some kind, and therefore not something you can attack directly with manual tools. But 30 feet is plenty to give you cover when approaching a beach or a surface target.
The limit with rebreathers is only 10m on units that only replenish oxygen. If unhave a separate bottle of dilutent to dilute the mix as pressure increases u can go much deeper. U just have to monitor the ppo2. U can use sodium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide for the co2 absorber
@@hardmcshaft7931
Really unwanted technical info, and of doubtful credibility.
That would make a fine conversation piece in any collection. Awesome!
I was hoping for a "stay tuned for the next video when we take this one out on the range" at the end 😟
Been waiting a long time for thIs, LFG!
I'd be curious how much each loaded barrel-cluster costs when billed to a NATO military
You find fascinating weapons to explain! This is a fine example.
Yes! You got one!
The first time I saw it was decades ago in an article in the Dutch gun magazine SAM.
The article showed several pictures of the gun, including a picture of divers posing with it and one picture with a lose barrel cluster on the gun.
Needless to say, H&K was not happy with that.
those barrels look like they have a lot of room in them to work with...the sealed design and electrical firing system also gives it some additional possibilities... I'm imagining that there are classified versions of barrel clusters which contain things other than underwater darts and above-water bullets
such as, having those barrels be essentially miniature torpedo tubes, launching Gyrojet-style self-propelling ammunition but underwater
So, a pepperbox with an electronic firing system. Looking forward to their waterproof matchlock.
Matchlock Minigun
Ian thankyou for this video.
Given the Russian combo of armed combat dolphins & patrol boat's underwater weapons can be essential.
So Ian is also a certified diver....he just went up in my estimations even further! Best dive ever Ian?
The British Royal Armored museum!? If Jonathan Ferguson doesn't make a cameo I'll be disappointed! Let's be real that's the only reason many of us watch are subscribed with the bell on to Gamespot.
Of course in joking, in assuming, Jonathan is a busy man when caring for his museum, but crazy to know Ian and Jonathan could be in one video, or even a photo together!
They’ve done several videos together. One that comes to mind is a video on homemade guns in the uk. Way before the video game videos.
@@beelow84 sounds like it, but I'll go watch it now.
Royal Armouries.
@@AtheistOrphan auto corrected, not editing now.
Very cool stuff.
The sealing element that makes it basically silent kinda reminds of the Russian PSS with its self-sealing cartridges
Happy holidays forgotten weapons staff and crew.
Sending barrels to factory for reloading sounds really German.
It must be at the proper specifications!
Na, more like Apple...
@@Dylan-M This and the fact that people in HK loves extra money too.
@@GruoldfarSteve Jobs' mother was German...
As a total geek for udnerwater firearms, this was super cool! If Ian ever gets a hold of an SPP-1 pistol or an APS rifle for a video, I could die happy.
The lion fish video finally pays off!
Really? I personally thought that video was sick!
Now if he combines the two....❤
I thought it would be hard to top the Pancor Jackhammer and the G11 videos, but here we go. I remember seeing this gun in books and magazines for years but all details were said to be secret. Was quite surprised when i saw the self-sealing mechanism on the barrels in a military magazine just a few years ago. Still feels kinda odd to see Ian with it now.
IDK how secret this is. It was featured in 1999's Delta Force 2 game by Novalogic.
Were the specifications in the game correct? And can you prove it?
@@orbiradio2465 Irrelevant whether they got the specifications precisely right. The point is that the existence of it hasn't been secret since at least 1999.
Really cool I've never heard of this before
There's an old Delta Force game, came out in like, '98 or something that features this pistol, if I remember correctly.
My thoughts exactly!
That is so cool that you get to show this. I remember seeing this in one of the Tomb Raider movies with Angelina Jolie, and was fascinated by it.
Now if only we could see you getting to shoot it, but that is probably unoptanium...
Bond James Bond
James Pond
I’ve been waiting for this video for YEARS now, since seeing it on the world guns website forever ago!
Let's see if I get this correctly; you discharge the gun, sabot and projectile accelerate, sabot plugs the narrowing in the barrel - trapping the expanding gas inside - and the projectile continues on its merry way.
No wonder users were not allowed to reload; with all that pressure trapped behind the cartridge you could actually shoot yourself with the cartridge if you managed to pry it free.
I think the soviets ostensibly had an above-water suppressed revolver that used the same principle.
@@ToastyMozartthey still do, it's a weird piston type cartridge.
@@ToastyMozart Its Russia not USSR. OTs-38 Stechkin silent revolver was designed in 2001. *PSS silent pistol in 1979.
Quite possibly, yeah. Over time, the pressure would probably leak out, but it would definitely be dangerous.
Oops. Did not think of that. My rich self in the parallel universe just died 😢
"Hah! Observe whilst I reload my OWN cartr"POW!
I wonder if a color besides red might be better for an underwater pistol's safety. Red tends to get washed out pretty quickly as you descend. Bright yellow tends to be more common on dive gear I find as a 'high contrast' color.
When will louis rossmann talk about right to reload
Holy shit, I've been really curious about this gun for many years (pretty much since the Wikipedia article about them popped up), but never found much information on them, let alone a video. It's really cool, that you got your hands on one of these to show them!
I had no idea this was a real firearm. I remember seeing this gun in 007: Nightfire on the PS2 way back in the day and I just assumed it was a made up weapon made specifically for the game. Its really neat that its a real thing.
In 007: Nightfire this pistol was used as a tranquilizer gun in the skyscraper mission.
Why have I never seen this thing in sci-fi? This is one of the most unique reloads you can have on a pistol.
I can imagine a hammer or striker slowing down a lot in water, thus electrical firing being more reliable.
The Russians somehow have no problems with that in their underwater rifles and pistols. Which btw rated for much deeper use.
These things are why he is Gun Jesus. Nobody else shows us these kinds of incredible firearms
Waiting also for Russian APS, FN Minimi, and TMP..
Best sidearm to ever see service in the Atlantian Defense Force!
Ahhhh NFA question! If a civilian in the U.S.A had procured this said super rare and presumably expensive gun. Would it be considered integrally suppressed by the vague and often changing verbiage of the ATF?
yes
This type of setup is not a one-off but used in Russian silent pistols too, often referred to as "captive piston" ammunition(albeit this one is clustered and barrel included). Few of those found its ways to US so they have precedents as to how civilian ownership is legally handled.
Great video and very informative!!
Were underwater weapons ever used ? The odds of encountering enemy divers during covert ops seems fairly unlikely.
If they were used it would have been a handful of times at most, and more than likely kept secret
Sharks
We'll likely never know specifics. All sneaky beaky stuff with people going places they're not supposed to be.
This gun is from the same era in which the USA and the Soviets trained Seals and Dolphins to attack enemy divers with knifes on their heads.
The only scenario I can think of that is somewhat possible would be divers defending a harbor/ship encountering attack divers.
I remembered seeing this in 007: Nightfire as a tranquilizer gun.
I'm somewhat surprised that it is battery powered, and not a piezoelectric crystal system.
Perhaps I overestimate the power or reliability of a potential crystal system.
piezo electric cristal arenot able to produce the 24v used by this gun tho
Or put the battery in the magazine so you swap out a fresh battery every time you reload.
@@michelesilvestri8340 The piezoelectric crystal in a standard electric gas lighter can easily produce 800 volts....maybe they simply don't have enough amps to reliably trigger the electric cartridge, or they wanted to prevent a possible chain fire event?
I have a strong suspicion that the 24V is required for exciting the propellent in both under water and above water. It would be a very legitimate reason to have the chemical formula tightly kept within in H&K. The same era when the G11 was in full swung development with the concept of caseless ammo
If you've ever used a cheap piezo lighter they're pretty darn reliable at least as far as sparking every time.
how nice of Ian to record the audio underwater
Underwater full auto rifle would be pretty cool to look at
HK416 😁 ua-cam.com/video/0NGBgide4oc/v-deo.html
The Soviets made one IIRC.
APS Underwater Assault Rifle and SPP-1M Underwater Pistol.
Cool, I’ll check them out!
@@paleoph6168 Also ASM-DT (a more modern thing)
When are you taking this spearfishing?
Way cool video. Thanks!
Hope that Ian can someday get his hands on a Quiet Special Purpose Revolver. It was a Vietnam era project to make a gun for use in tunnels, which used a similar system to contain the propellant gases.
Now that would be cool. Someone should make some ammo with the same design as the qspr
Alas, the ATF decided that the ammunition qualified as a silencer.@@noturfather1106
Very interesting pistol. Thanks for the video.
Who operates from a pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob HecklerPants!
I remember first seeing this gun in the classic and underrated 007 video game, Nightfire. Such a cool, weird Cold War era firearm.
NovaLogic's Delta Force gang. Who up?
Brings back memories of the game "Depth"
New movie, Shooting Nemo.
Super Video, danke und viele Grüße aus Deutschland.
Did secret squirrel frogmen have a lot of use for something like this? Outside of a James Bond Thunderball scenario were there a lot of underwater person to person engagements?
Better to have it and not need it et cetera.
Always cool to see alternative designs.