The FG42 is fascinating to me for a number of reasons, but I think the most impressive one is the fact it may be the only time in gun development history where a bunch of nigh-impossible specifications were given...and then basically met entirely. That just doesn't happen.
@@pleasekillyoursefyou have to keep in mind it was made for a very specific purpose, making it in the hundreds of thousands when you don't need to is more wasted resources. Of you're talking about the FG-42 that is.
In the book "Falschirmjägergewehr 42" by Dieter Handrich there was an interesting paragraph in which the geometry of the FG42 grip was addressed. On additional reason could be, that at the beginning of the war, the german parachutist had to be jumped separately from their weapons. To use the existing transport boxes of the K98 , they had to use this kind of grip.
I've always wondered why they didn't make the grip fold, like those French SMGs. The design of the plastic grip panels almost looks as if there was room for a hinge, and it would save space if the grip could fold back and lie flush with the receiver. But perhaps it would have been too fragile.
Re: transport boxes only fit that grip Is that a realistic claim? Modifying a (wooden?) box seems much simpler than compromising the design of your brand- new high tech weapon system.
This was a huge problem for them during the invasion of Crete! Turns out that Greek villagers weren't fans of Nazis paradropping to occupy their homes, and unfortunately for the Fallschirmjager, they were landing defenceless...
@@nos9784 Of course its not the main reason. But when you design a product you have to make compromises on many aspects of the weapon. In the book which i mentioned, it was said, that the grip could try to replicate the grip of K98 which allow better shooting for soldier, which already are practise in the K98. Also the author claims, that i may also be possible because if the transport boxes of the K98. From my perspective i think it could be possible because of this. The new rifle (FG42) had a restriction that it shouldn be longer than a K98, what could be a hint of the transport boxes problem. Designing a rifle which replicate existing weapon practise and allow to use existing accessorises, sounds great. Often a idea sounds very good at the beginning but then on real practise this kind of design fails and get be changed. The book from Dieter Handrich is a very good one. I dont know if this book exist also in english.
An LMG, Battle Rifle, Room-Sweeper all in 1 paratrooper package. A German marvel of engineering, incredible that they met those impossible requirements and came out with such an impressive weapon.
It really feels like a step back for the US to capture these, then take so long studying them and not replacing their ww2 small arms, before finally settling on the M14 as the standard issue infantry rifle still supplemented by ww2 carbines and smgs. Meanwhile the same process produces the M60, a resounding success of learning from the MG42 while advancing the concept in terms of weight, necessary ammo consumption, etc. Maybe we could have had a whole family of American side mag fed, angled trigger gripped, early polymer furniture, and smaller caliber FG42 based weapons that may have excelled and been expanded upon in Vietnam, perhaps delaying the M16 coming along.
The Fedorov is the same way but it was developed by the Russians so no one cares, but when Germany does it "Oh wow that amazing Tuetonic engineering!!"
@@fromthefire4176 they build around 7,000 of these, we built over 3 million M1s and 6 million M1s carbines. This thing is a novelty at best for this time period. It's like the Russians with the Fedorov, sure it's a super advanced design and a great package, but they only built like 3500 and it would've been very difficult to make enough for a full size army.
I remember a gunsmith once describing the FG like a modern thorough-bred racehorse whose so muscled up his body can barely sustain it without injury as there are so many razor thin engineering margins (especially for the 40's) to make this gun work.
TFBTV interviewed a PSA sales rep about their stg-44 repro. The rep gave a pretty good explanation as to why you don't really see too many factory repros on the market.
What is so amazing about this weapon, is its remarkable influence upon the world of military rifles. Given its relatively small manufacturing quantities, it changed everything post-war.
FG42 is a holy standard for every niche branch wanting their own stuff. Being able to divert expensive and rare materials and industry in a time of war so you can get your own cool toy.
No it isnt, not even close. The amount of materials used in the production of the FG-42 is drop in the bucket. The Tiger II is a far greater example of using expensive and rare materials when they could have produced far more Panthers or even PzKpfw IV ausf H. I am sure there are even better examples. If you read the whole story about the FG 42 you will see that it was low priority, which is why, in the grand scheme, there were relatively few produced.
@Clay Ruppenthal I don't think you understand what I mean. I'm talking about having a niche item and having your own supply chain to fit that niche. They could've adopted other infantry arms used by the rest of the German military but they got their own purpose built stuff. It's not like there was 1 tiger 2 and some niche branch got their own heavy tank, you get it? Like say the wehrmacht got the tiger 2 but the ss would have some e100 monstrosity.
To do all of this in the middle of a war is incredible. They really took the feedback from users and made the easily one of the best rifles of its day. Probably comparable to the SCAR-H series of rifles in the 2000s.
In my opinion the fg42 is the most versatile and controllable battle rifle every created and would give every assault rifle a run for there money unless running very specific shooting challenges but for war nothing comes close. Great range . Great accuracy. Open and close bolt action. Epic handling for 8mm mauser in full auto. Compact but not to compact. Side magazine makes it so soldiers never have a problem reloading prone. Easy barrel change. The only real down side at all is the smoke that kicks in but i dont think it matters much when in actual war and not skirmishes where position and concealment is a major factor.. body armor isnt stopping this bad boy unless its like the the highest level at great range . Forgot to mention it comes with a flash hider........... Literally a flash hider in the 1942 think about that. Also a bipod that isnt garbage.
@@TannerLindbergthe reason it was t reused after the war is these still cost about 6k to produce. You could make 5 or 6 rifles for the cost of manufacturing one of these
@@FlyMysticalDJ They cost 6k to produce at small scale out of an Arizonan hobbyists machine shop, If made at an actual arms factory in mass it would be exponentially less expensive especially with the use of stamped metal
I'd argue they're still entirely viable even in the modern day. It really is the ancestor of the modern-day "battle-rifle", and I'd in some ways is better than a number of battle-rifles that came far later.
@@RaptorJesus If you could mount better optics, have replacement parts in case anything went wrong, and had an ammo supply and plenty of magazines, this would be the Mercedes Benz of battle rifles.
@@josephr.3814 I was thinking more the "fully automatic and fires a full-power cartridge" concept of the battle-rifle. Though I suppose an M14 isn't *that* different from the Garand.
@@josephr.3814 the m1 is not even comparable to this. This is a true full on battle rifle detachable mag pistol grip rail mount for scope. The m1 is just a cool rifle but it’s not revolutionary at all
Having spoken to Fallshirmjaeger veterans back in the day, they said that the whole "main weapons in the drop canister" thing was largely dropped after the Crete campaign. Canisters were not only dropped in random locations, the rocky terrain of Crete made it that much more difficult to get to their weapons. They started tying ropes to their larger weapons and dropping them just before the PLF... SMG's were sometimes stuck into the parachute harnesses. All while jumping at low altitudes, with no reserve. Those guys were truly bad-asses. Of course, major jumps were also no longer made after Crete (except for the Bulge in Dec.'44), but several insertion jumps like Sicily happened, and company-sized special drops were used in mainly the eastern front to help relieve pockets of troops. Anyhoo! History :) Thanks Ian for a great look at a ground-breaking weapon! I only had the Japanese metal non-gun replica of this model to admire for a while. I wish I had it handy to compare with your video & see if they got all the internal parts correct.
Most nations paratroops jumped without reserves in WW2... the US (and possibly Russia) were the outliers there. The difference with the Fallschirmjager is that their RZ series MAIN parachute was utter crap. (Especially compared to the US T-7 and the British X-type) Some will say its extremely hard opening was a design feature to allow lower exit heights... that may or may not be true...(note that noone else used canopy first deployment ).but that ALSO made a diving exit necessary and thus carrying any load (whether strapped to the body US style or in a Brit style leg bag) was pretty much impossible. The single riser in the middle of the back made a decent PLF impossible too...hence the knee pads you often see them wearing in photos... Feet/knees/face must have been a common landing... Ouch. I've jumped a variety of rigs, including the T-10, and even a Russian UT-15...but you couldn't pay me enough to jump an RZ!!! LOL
I have something to correct: at 07:12 you say it was done in two parts to be more easy to produce. But there is another reason - the catalog of requirements demanded a shooting cup (Schießbecher) for the german 30 mm rifle grenade. What totally makes sense to give paratroopers something to shoot grenades further then a human can throw. And these Schießbecher needed to be screwed to the barrel
Thanks for giving this absolute gem the attention it deserves. My Grandpa carried one of these and its about the only thing from that time he remembered quite fondly. Keep up the great work !
This is a bookmark. I hope to hear more of this story. My grandfather was still young, born in 1927. He seems to have been part of the german occupation in denmark for the last bit of the war. Not too many stories. Food seems to have been tight, already during training. Meat aspic that was all aspic and a single pig's hair, and sugarbeat leaves as food. They also stole the truck driver's food on the way to the pow camp. (yeah, riding a truck sounds like nonstandard luxury...) I really need to kindly squeeze my great-aunt for more details. After the war, he scrapped and upcycled plane wrecks at a field airstrip near our home. (or, maybe, an emergency landing site) We still have some stuff made from that... nothing recognizable, though. Just some sheet metal that may have been a bulkhead or skin, and a ~100mm steel sphere that was an oxygen bottle before it got turned into a weight filled with lead.
@@nos9784 Very interesting, and I think the oxygen bottle may have come from a FW 190, it had 9 spherical oxygen bottles that I believe are about 10cm in size.
@@samiam619 Inflation has really pushed the price up. Last run I believe was $5750 per gun. My gun is about a thousand more. Next production run is going to be $7500 if I recall correctly.
@@hellishcyberdemon7112 They made a select fire version, but due to the NFA you would need a special license to manufacture it. Said license is basically impossible for the average person to get and is only available to firearms manufacturers and dealers so they can make weapons for the government.
SSD (Sport Systeme Dietrich) makes FG42 repros but also a modern version called SG 11, 12 and 13. I would absolutely love to see Ian take a look at those.
Mr. McCollum, I don't really have any personal history with firearms aside from admiring them from a mechanical stand point. However, this channel has become one of my favourites and I just want to say thanks. Based on your communication skills, you must have been fortunate to have had a few good teachers or influences. So, I guess, thanks to them too. All the best.
What is particularly mindblowing is the short time frame in which this was developed. A totally new rifle concept, extremely challenging specifications, and production readyness was reached within two years!
A buddy of mines father was a Colonel with the 82 Airborne during WW2 he still owns a Fg 42 and a Sg44 and a footlocker full of pistols. And a Drilling which I'm the proud owner of now
Years ago, in a previous life, I had the opportunity to fire one of these (at RMCS Shrivenham). It was memorable for being comfortable to hold, easy to fire, controllable and it just felt right.
Few hundred germans fallscrimjager guys dropping out of planes into your neighbourhood in the 40s must have looked like goddamn space men, coming in on parachutes that werw totaly pretty new age tech for the time, with all their entirely wacky gear, the goofy looking helmet, the wacky toggle lock gravity knife with the spike on it, and a star war space man's laser blaster with an obscene rpm that still gets a bayonet on it, crazy times man
You do not understand! German parachutes (with a single link behind the paratrooper) did not allow paratroopers to have larger weapons on them at the time of the jump. They were usually limited to just a pistol and a knife, the gravity knife being mainly for cutting parachute cords in case they got caught in trees, poles, etc. Their main weapons were parachuted into separate containers, and that was the big problem of retrieving a weapon after landing. That is why they had great losses in Crete when they were also attacked by the civilian population who caught them at the time of landing poorly armed and were able to knock them down with hunting weapons, pitchforks, sticks, etc.
Lucky guy. I wish I had that chance, too. Anyway, I had the opportunity to shoot the HK MP5 9mm in full auto. Very controllable, light recoil and accurate. Another superb German sub machine gun best for police use. BTW, Ian always amazes me.
So if an M-60 is a sideways FG-42 with an MG-42 top cover, that would make the M-60 a direct descendant of the Lewis Gun!? And controllable full-auto from the shoulder in a rifle cartridge remains an impressive feat to this day!
Now this might be the first Bullpup gun ever. It’s a stretch I know, but considering that it has Magazine behind the trigger as well as ejector. It has long gun barrels, despite the profile is actually quite compact.
That this was descended from the Lewis and the basis for the M60 was something I'd never heard and very interesting. Truly original firearms are few and far between, most borrow and modify to fit whatever they are wanting to do with them.
Another outstanding video Ian! Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to make them and I can't speak for everyone but I know I appreciate all you do for keeping the history of these firearms alive!
Thank you Ian for showing us a beautiful piece of history, and thank you for making me aware of this gun, as I would have never known of it's existence without this video
I see from a video you made 8 years ago,the later model had a much more sensible pistol grip but gave the weapon a bigger profile.After Crete,there were very few German airborne operations so having a smaller weapon to manoeuvre inside a glider or Junkers 52 was not an issue.
A friend of mine , Roy , hiked from the UK around southern Europe 40 odd years ago working as he went . He ended up in a town in Crete renovating a big old house in the center of the town . At siesta time he was reading a book he had been given days before whilst sat outside the building . He was amazed to find he was sat down reading where the paratroopers had been fighting and only then noticed the bullet holes and other damage around him !
After Crete... Crete was in 1941. The amusing part of the whole FG42 saga was that it was effectively never used in airborne operations because the lesson the Germans learnt in Crete was that airborne didn't work. (Bizarrely the Allies learnt the opposite lesson from the same operation, but there you go).
@@davidyendoll5903 You can still see the bullet holes around the windows of the _Ecole Militaire_ in Paris. In Berlin you can even see the shadows where bullets hit walls, then were stopped by soldiers, then hit the wall on the other side of them.
@David Yendoll The German paras took a real beating in Crete but thanks to their determination and aggression,close air support by the Luftwaffe,and some very bad decisions by British commanders,they prevailed.Although the Fallschirmjager never took part in large scale operations again, they were still elite troops, as they proved at Monte Cassino.
I can't get over how steampunk and cool this rifle is. It's bananas - full auto open bolt, semi-auto closed bolt. Magazine fed. All that being said, for combat, I'll have a Garand, thank you.
@@infernaldaedra It's kinda like using chair as a bed - you probably can do it, but it's not what it's there for. For some reason they changed it in later models.
As soon as Ian said the magazine was missing, my ears pricked up! You see, my dealer friend here in the UK had an FG42 of this pattern in 1985, which had no magazine or bayonet! I made a magazine for him from a heavily modified BAR magazine, and it worked fine! He then sold it to a collector in the USA! Could it be this one? I will check the photos I took of it back then and return😉
Having had the pleasure of full auto mag dumps with the 8x57 FG42 in full auto; it is remarkable how low the recoil and controllable it is compared to other "full power" rifles like the M -14 or FN-FAL which are almost useless in FA.
German paratroopers dropped on my Dad's battalion at Corinth in April 1941. My Dad and his mates were armed with 303s and Bren guns. One dead paratrooper was dragged by his chute into their slit trench. As time passed he was able to count the bullet holes in the corpse. He counted 70 holes - so the guy had been hit at least 35 times before he hit the ground. The moral of the tale - don't jump out of a plane into a dog-fight.
The German paratroopers and glider troops actually did very well in the Greek campaign, Operation Marita was a resounding success. The greatest issue the German paratroopers actually had during the Battle of Corinth was actually when the troops were deployed to disarm the British demolition charges on the bridge over the canal. They had successfully defeated and driven back Allied forces and had captured numerous Commonwealth vehicles that they were using to proceed forward with their mission. While very successful in their operation when they were disarming the demolition charges however they weren’t as fortunate. The someone inexperienced commanding officer on the scene had ordered the charges to be tossed in a pile on the bridge so they could be safely disarmed later, this would prove to be their mistake. There was still significant combat in the area and a stray bullet ended up hitting the pile of explosives and detonated it, killing some men and a war reporter, while also vitally for the retreating Commonwealth and Greek forces, destroyed the bridge. This gave the Allied troops invaluable time to retreat and stopped the Germans for two days and clogged the canal so supplies couldn’t be brought through it for a time. This certainly stopped the Germans from have a total victory and the Allies from being utterly routed and captured. Within the next few weeks the Allies would be defeated with the Greeks surrendering and the British and their ANZAC troops being captured or driven into the sea. Nonetheless the bridge destruction during the Battle of Corinth undoubtedly saved many Allied units from annihilation and capture and allowed evacuation of significant soldiers and materiel.
wish i had the chedder to snag this bad boy, ive always been fascinated by the FG42. Its the one gun a soldier can use for any scenario that soldier may find himself in. I think these go for hundreds of thousands of dollars so this video is going to be the closest ill get to one probably. Very nice of whoever owns this example to let Ian make a video on this, Forgotten Weapons is basically the de-facto video encyclopedia of the modern time.
These guns have been auctioned for over 300K. Curious about what this one will do, I assume less because of the currently missing bayonet and magazine.
Your officer yelling fix bayonets has got to be absolutely terrifying knowing it’s the last ditch effort. Not that it wasn’t already before. Like the charge of the light brigade, just running or riding face first into almost certain death
Bayonets are nesdisiroy last ditch efforts. Fixing bayonets and advancing on an enemy position is a perfectly normal occurence even when you have the advantage. It tends to allow you to take ground without much of a fight as most troops withdraw in the face of enemies advancing with bayonets attached. For some reason, espeically lesser trained, soldiers fear bayonets more than gunfire. Something that keeps getting proven over and over again. Physiologists think it's an instinctual fear of sharp objects
For some context to Ian's mention of Fallschirmjaegers and their lack of weapons on drops, listen to Keith Elliott VC describe how he and his men led "bayonet charge after bayonet charge" into the Germans who had dropped onto Malame airfield in Crete. Sobering stuff.
Best gun ever. Definitely my favorite gun of all time. This basically has all I could hope for an elegant yet effective weapon combined together in one package. The side-mounted magazine sure is unique, and my favorite configuration since the MP18 from WW1. Damn, these guns look gorgeous. If I could understand it, the Type E was a more expensive version of the FG42, and the Type G was a more cost effective variant. I really like the Type E more, but some design features of the Type G were very eye catching to me, especially the magazine well of the Type G. To be a full-powered rifle and yet be incredibly controlable is something really impressive. Too bad this rifle did not see much further development after the war. Focus shifted to Assault Rifles, such as the AKs and HKs, and weapons that took design cues from it were LMGs, such as the Rambo Gun (M60), but no rifle being designed from it emerged afterwards, at least to my knowledge. Too bad, this design had such potential, and it actually could be resurrected as a new modern weapon. (to any gunsmiths who have the patience to bear with me for a moment) I would do a few (by few I mean A LOT of rework) design changes to this to make it even better, such as the baynoet being an SKS-style folding cruciform bayonet, the muzzle-break/grenade launcher/ flash hider of the post-war Italian copy of the M1 Garand, the barrel and barrel shroud of the FR F2, replacing the semi-auto with a two-round burst like the AN94, the folding charging handle like in the HCAR, the HK416 buffer tube within the OG stock, an FAL-style gas tube regulator and StG44-style iron sights. Some more aesthetic features of the Type G FG42 would be added, but I still prefer the Type E, and this would be my dream version of it, especially with picattiny rails all around it to use more modern military equipment, such as the underbarrel grenade launcher used in the M4A1 or the Kalashnikov rifles. Perhaps I would even try to disguise the Bipod in the front of the weapon as an axtention of the handguard, something similar to the Steyr Scout rifle, also mounting the top integral Weaver rail and bottom UIT rail at the forend. Making it look like a Gewehr 43 with a few design cues of the FG42 wold be a top priority for me.
I have a photo of my Öncle Geörg (who died recently) as a Fallschirmjäger in May 1942 with an FG-42, shortly before he was committed to battle in Normandy. His squad fought until they ran out of ammo and food. They saw an armored car coming their way, assuming it was German, and at the last moment saw the white star. Realizing their predicament, they wisely surrendered, and Geörg spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Texas. Afterwards he was sent to England where he was required to work on a farm for two years, finally returning to Germany in 1947.
Damn good thing he wasn't sent to the Eastern Front where he would have been abused eight ways to Sunday by the dirty Soviets had he fallen afoul of the same situation.
Fun fact: The German heavyweight champion of the world boxer Max Schmelling beat the great Joe Louis by KO and then had a rematch before world war 2, Joe Louis would KO Max in their rematch and he was sent into the German paratroopers when he returned home defeated but he survived the war. After the war he became close friends with Joe Louis and would later pay for Joe's funeral costs after his death as he died broke. Max Schmelling was the best German heavyweight that ever lived and his talent wasn't fully recognised by Nazi Germany. His boxing coach was actually a Jewish man and Schmelling was one of the first fighters to study fights by watching old footage of previous fighters to see little mistakes they made, very scientific fighter. Max probably held this rifle during his service. Love history.
@@robertbernard651 You're welcome, just a little bit of boxing history as I'm a boxing and history nut. Not many men can claim they beat Joe Louis, as Joe still has records that stand today and still haven't been broken. For the most heavyweight title defences in boxing history. And Max beat him in a fair fight and claimed the same title only won by the likes of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson etc.
He probably not... As by the time FG-42 into service, most of German Paratrooper at that point already fought on the ground and most likely they would carry like most Mechanised infantry unit at that time... 8 Mauser 98K, 1 Mg42 and 1-2 MP40.
@@boocomban Interesting stuff. Considering Max was wealthy for the time, wondering would he be able to buy one within the black market, like he could pay someone who has one a fine sum for it. Not saying he did or anything but it was common for soldiers who had money could buy guns for the added feeling of being more secure.
While Ian is usually gentle with the guns, the reverence with how things were field stripped (or not) was another step altogether XD Very nice video, thank you.
in the game Combat Arms, this weapon is classified as a light MG. on my time playing it, I kept being unable to find a reason for using it, when having other MGs like the M60, the G36 or the K3, that covered pretty much all scenarios: one heavy MG for defense, one light MG for forward support, and a mid point for comfort. it wasn't until I put my settings fine enough to control recoil, that I could see the pattern in the spread: where other MGs would spread up and down, the FG spread side to side... which made it perfect for low-clearance fire at ground level, or in between bunker shooting slits. So, I started packing this weapon whenever there was trench warfare involved,.... in addition to the M60, and heavy explosives. wasn't long until players stopped playing those maps altogether.
I've never gotten to handle or see one in person. I guess I had always assumed it was way bigger along the lines of the other WW2 full power semi autos. At the beginning of the video I actually thought it was a scaled down replica.
What I find fascinating about the design of the FG42 is that it combines the same reasoning that led to the assault rifle (greater individual firepower) while retaining a powerful rifle cartridge. Whereas the StG was developed and used in harmony with the machine gun, and could therefore commit to an intermediate cartridge, the FG42 had to replace the machine gun as well. Having to fill such a broad spectrum placed a tremendous burden on the design, and as you said, it is remarkable how well it met all these demands.
@@Joseph-mw2rl The FG42 easily fits into the 'battle rifle' category, but retroactively applying such classes misses the original point of the weapon as a purpose-built paratrooper rifle. Besides, the FG42 retains some distinguishing features such as the integrated bipod and ability to switch from closed bolt to open bolt. Both these features derive from the demand to also fill the LMG role, something that was not asked of most battle rifles.
Hi Ian, I am glad that you are back on UA-cam, i Like your content very much, iam from Germany and i am very interestet in historical firearms, your quiet manner and know how is facinating greetings from Bavaria ❤️
Quite demoralizing to land and then watch your equipment bundles drift away off to BFE (see Market Garden). Also check out the famous photos of the Crete drop, there is a jumper with a streamer going in, center of photo
It has been a very long while since I have seen it so I have no source but I vaguely remember when I was doing research about the Egyptian Hakim back when a well used surplus rifle would cost you 350-550 dollars and a very good to excellent condition would go for around 750-900 dollars. What I found was that somebody had fitted a magazine from what I believe to be the FG-42 to fit the Hakim with minimal modification, like a shaved off tab or something and it fit perfect. I also remember it being 25 rounds though, and the original rifle the magazine came from was side loading. My knowledge of firearms is fairly limited so this is all I can recall. I found it to be an intriguing endeavor at the time but didn't have the money which I have been kicking myself ever since because now Hakim's sell for much more in worse condition.
The FG42 is fascinating to me for a number of reasons, but I think the most impressive one is the fact it may be the only time in gun development history where a bunch of nigh-impossible specifications were given...and then basically met entirely. That just doesn't happen.
Those are the best ones with a higher probable out 😊
Not only that, but it actually led to a gun that wasn’t a horrid mess
The Cetme rifle was that way too, and it was never even used.
Not really, it was too expensive and complex to mass produce, its kind of an AN90 situation
@@pleasekillyoursefyou have to keep in mind it was made for a very specific purpose, making it in the hundreds of thousands when you don't need to is more wasted resources. Of you're talking about the FG-42 that is.
For those wondering, Morphy's guide price for this gun is $175,000+. The record for one is over $300,000.
woof.
I'd buy that for a dollar.
yeah it's basically the holy grail of WWII guns. I would rather pay 300k for this than 2Mio for a picture showing a pile of crap
@The13thRonin he’s not talking about the worth of your mom.
Sooo, not forgotten then?
Thank you to the estate of the late owner for allowing Ian to pull apart what is an eye-wateringly expensive piece of history.
Any idea of the number Ks or 10Ks to possess such a rarity?
@@con6lex if you have to ask, you can't afford it. You're looking somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
@@tomj819 My first two houses, combined, didn't cost that much.
@@danielburgess7785 now crackhouses go for $200k lmfao
@@solidsnake4167 Time to sell my crackhouse to get an FG-42. Unfortunately it's more of a Crackhome.
12:12 I think there is more engineering in that buffer than in an entire Sten gun !
to be fair there is more engineering in a cigarette than in an entire Sten gun
Many Stens were made by a toy company called Tri-ang and they brought the time to make each gun down to 5 hours!
There is more engineering in the sights for that model FG 42 than all versions of the Sten gun.
the rear sight of a STG57 has more parts than a makarov
The Sten was Engineered ? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
In the book "Falschirmjägergewehr 42" by Dieter Handrich there was an interesting paragraph in which the geometry of the FG42 grip was addressed. On additional reason could be, that at the beginning of the war, the german parachutist had to be jumped separately from their weapons. To use the existing transport boxes of the K98 , they had to use this kind of grip.
I've always wondered why they didn't make the grip fold, like those French SMGs. The design of the plastic grip panels almost looks as if there was room for a hinge, and it would save space if the grip could fold back and lie flush with the receiver. But perhaps it would have been too fragile.
Re: transport boxes only fit that grip
Is that a realistic claim?
Modifying a (wooden?) box seems much simpler than compromising the design of your brand- new high tech weapon system.
This was a huge problem for them during the invasion of Crete! Turns out that Greek villagers weren't fans of Nazis paradropping to occupy their homes, and unfortunately for the Fallschirmjager, they were landing defenceless...
@John V Not entirely defenceless. They jumped with MP40s and P38s but in an open field against defenders with rifles they were certainly outclassed.
@@nos9784 Of course its not the main reason. But when you design a product you have to make compromises on many aspects of the weapon.
In the book which i mentioned, it was said, that the grip could try to replicate the grip of K98 which allow better shooting for soldier, which already are practise in the K98.
Also the author claims, that i may also be possible because if the transport boxes of the K98.
From my perspective i think it could be possible because of this. The new rifle (FG42) had a restriction that it shouldn be longer than a K98, what could be a hint of the transport boxes problem.
Designing a rifle which replicate existing weapon practise and allow to use existing accessorises, sounds great.
Often a idea sounds very good at the beginning but then on real practise this kind of design fails and get be changed.
The book from Dieter Handrich is a very good one. I dont know if this book exist also in english.
An LMG, Battle Rifle, Room-Sweeper all in 1 paratrooper package. A German marvel of engineering, incredible that they met those impossible requirements and came out with such an impressive weapon.
It's almost like an AR15 but the jack of all trades kit :)
And an DMR when equiped with telescopic sight.
It really feels like a step back for the US to capture these, then take so long studying them and not replacing their ww2 small arms, before finally settling on the M14 as the standard issue infantry rifle still supplemented by ww2 carbines and smgs. Meanwhile the same process produces the M60, a resounding success of learning from the MG42 while advancing the concept in terms of weight, necessary ammo consumption, etc. Maybe we could have had a whole family of American side mag fed, angled trigger gripped, early polymer furniture, and smaller caliber FG42 based weapons that may have excelled and been expanded upon in Vietnam, perhaps delaying the M16 coming along.
The Fedorov is the same way but it was developed by the Russians so no one cares, but when Germany does it "Oh wow that amazing Tuetonic engineering!!"
@@fromthefire4176 they build around 7,000 of these, we built over 3 million M1s and 6 million M1s carbines. This thing is a novelty at best for this time period. It's like the Russians with the Fedorov, sure it's a super advanced design and a great package, but they only built like 3500 and it would've been very difficult to make enough for a full size army.
Ian and the FG-42, a match made in heaven
I never realized how compact the FG-42 was!
My favourite rifle of the WWII era, I'd love to see an episode on the other rifles that competed to become the FG42 one day. Thanks again Mr McCollum.
*favorite
@@Clown_the_Clown both are fine, one is British English, the other is American English.
@@Celene1312 nah
One is English, one is wrong English.
Believe it or not, the guy called "Clown" is wrong.
I remember a gunsmith once describing the FG like a modern thorough-bred racehorse whose so muscled up his body can barely sustain it without injury as there are so many razor thin engineering margins (especially for the 40's) to make this gun work.
The shape and ergonomics are so iconic. I really wish there was a mass produced recreation or reproduction of the fg42. Like smg arms on bigger scale.
Wish it could happen to; I've heard the gun as a whole is really expensive to make though, especially the receiver
TFBTV interviewed a PSA sales rep about their stg-44 repro. The rep gave a pretty good explanation as to why you don't really see too many factory repros on the market.
Not really possible, at least not for any less than the -6k- (edit) _7k_ SMG Guns is asking.
Way too much machining required.
I'd like an airsoft or pellet version, that would be cool.
@@BigWheel. look up "VintageAirsoft" :)
What is so amazing about this weapon, is its remarkable influence upon the world of military rifles. Given its relatively small manufacturing quantities, it changed everything post-war.
FG42 is a holy standard for every niche branch wanting their own stuff. Being able to divert expensive and rare materials and industry in a time of war so you can get your own cool toy.
Like the navy when they got machine gun muskets:)
and lose the war...
No it isnt, not even close. The amount of materials used in the production of the FG-42 is drop in the bucket. The Tiger II is a far greater example of using expensive and rare materials when they could have produced far more Panthers or even PzKpfw IV ausf H.
I am sure there are even better examples.
If you read the whole story about the FG 42 you will see that it was low priority, which is why, in the grand scheme, there were relatively few produced.
@@cvr527 Yes, but Nazi Germany was just an endless list of drops in the bucket. They had _four_ nuclear bomb projects.
@Clay Ruppenthal I don't think you understand what I mean. I'm talking about having a niche item and having your own supply chain to fit that niche. They could've adopted other infantry arms used by the rest of the German military but they got their own purpose built stuff. It's not like there was 1 tiger 2 and some niche branch got their own heavy tank, you get it? Like say the wehrmacht got the tiger 2 but the ss would have some e100 monstrosity.
To do all of this in the middle of a war is incredible. They really took the feedback from users and made the easily one of the best rifles of its day. Probably comparable to the SCAR-H series of rifles in the 2000s.
In my opinion the fg42 is the most versatile and controllable battle rifle every created and would give every assault rifle a run for there money unless running very specific shooting challenges but for war nothing comes close. Great range . Great accuracy. Open and close bolt action. Epic handling for 8mm mauser in full auto. Compact but not to compact. Side magazine makes it so soldiers never have a problem reloading prone. Easy barrel change. The only real down side at all is the smoke that kicks in but i dont think it matters much when in actual war and not skirmishes where position and concealment is a major factor.. body armor isnt stopping this bad boy unless its like the the highest level at great range . Forgot to mention it comes with a flash hider........... Literally a flash hider in the 1942 think about that. Also a bipod that isnt garbage.
@Hunter Senpai hey dude if it were so good it would still be used. Pretty much all of our gear today is better in almost every way than the fg42
@@TannerLindbergthe reason it was t reused after the war is these still cost about 6k to produce. You could make 5 or 6 rifles for the cost of manufacturing one of these
@@TannerLindbergI think he meant it's comparable in what it achieved in it's respective time. Not that it's comparable to today's rifles.
@@FlyMysticalDJ They cost 6k to produce at small scale out of an Arizonan hobbyists machine shop,
If made at an actual arms factory in mass it would be exponentially less expensive especially with the use of stamped metal
They were high tech tactical for the time period. Bipod as well. Thanks Ian
I'd argue they're still entirely viable even in the modern day. It really is the ancestor of the modern-day "battle-rifle", and I'd in some ways is better than a number of battle-rifles that came far later.
@@RaptorJesus Just sayin', but an M1 Garand is also a battle rifle, and predates the FG42.
@@RaptorJesus If you could mount better optics, have replacement parts in case anything went wrong, and had an ammo supply and plenty of magazines, this would be the Mercedes Benz of battle rifles.
@@josephr.3814 I was thinking more the "fully automatic and fires a full-power cartridge" concept of the battle-rifle. Though I suppose an M14 isn't *that* different from the Garand.
@@josephr.3814 the m1 is not even comparable to this. This is a true full on battle rifle detachable mag pistol grip rail mount for scope. The m1 is just a cool rifle but it’s not revolutionary at all
Having spoken to Fallshirmjaeger veterans back in the day, they said that the whole "main weapons in the drop canister" thing was largely dropped after the Crete campaign. Canisters were not only dropped in random locations, the rocky terrain of Crete made it that much more difficult to get to their weapons. They started tying ropes to their larger weapons and dropping them just before the PLF... SMG's were sometimes stuck into the parachute harnesses. All while jumping at low altitudes, with no reserve. Those guys were truly bad-asses. Of course, major jumps were also no longer made after Crete (except for the Bulge in Dec.'44), but several insertion jumps like Sicily happened, and company-sized special drops were used in mainly the eastern front to help relieve pockets of troops.
Anyhoo! History :) Thanks Ian for a great look at a ground-breaking weapon! I only had the Japanese metal non-gun replica of this model to admire for a while. I wish I had it handy to compare with your video & see if they got all the internal parts correct.
Most nations paratroops jumped without reserves in WW2... the US (and possibly Russia) were the outliers there. The difference with the Fallschirmjager is that their RZ series MAIN parachute was utter crap. (Especially compared to the US T-7 and the British X-type) Some will say its extremely hard opening was a design feature to allow lower exit heights... that may or may not be true...(note that noone else used canopy first deployment ).but that ALSO made a diving exit necessary and thus carrying any load (whether strapped to the body US style or in a Brit style leg bag) was pretty much impossible. The single riser in the middle of the back made a decent PLF impossible too...hence the knee pads you often see them wearing in photos... Feet/knees/face must have been a common landing... Ouch. I've jumped a variety of rigs, including the T-10, and even a Russian UT-15...but you couldn't pay me enough to jump an RZ!!! LOL
I have something to correct: at 07:12 you say it was done in two parts to be more easy to produce. But there is another reason - the catalog of requirements demanded a shooting cup (Schießbecher) for the german 30 mm rifle grenade. What totally makes sense to give paratroopers something to shoot grenades further then a human can throw.
And these Schießbecher needed to be screwed to the barrel
Thanks for giving this absolute gem the attention it deserves.
My Grandpa carried one of these and its about the only thing from that time he remembered quite fondly.
Keep up the great work !
Ayo?
your grandpa must hear the other grandpa's talking about storming Normandy and be like:"you guys were going UP the hill?
This is a bookmark.
I hope to hear more of this story.
My grandfather was still young, born in 1927. He seems to have been part of the german occupation in denmark for the last bit of the war.
Not too many stories.
Food seems to have been tight, already during training. Meat aspic that was all aspic and a single pig's hair, and sugarbeat leaves as food.
They also stole the truck driver's food on the way to the pow camp. (yeah, riding a truck sounds like nonstandard luxury...)
I really need to kindly squeeze my great-aunt for more details.
After the war, he scrapped and upcycled plane wrecks at a field airstrip near our home. (or, maybe, an emergency landing site)
We still have some stuff made from that... nothing recognizable, though. Just some sheet metal that may have been a bulkhead or skin, and a ~100mm steel sphere that was an oxygen bottle before it got turned into a weight filled with lead.
@@nos9784 Very interesting, and I think the oxygen bottle may have come from a FW 190, it had 9 spherical oxygen bottles that I believe are about 10cm in size.
Based
I'm happy some company actually made replica of this. I hope they make lots of it.
For the price I imagine they would have to charge, I doubt there was a big market at that price point…
@@samiam619 Inflation has really pushed the price up. Last run I believe was $5750 per gun. My gun is about a thousand more. Next production run is going to be $7500 if I recall correctly.
@@nicholasreilly3218 Its not even full auto
@@hellishcyberdemon7112 They made a select fire version, but due to the NFA you would need a special license to manufacture it. Said license is basically impossible for the average person to get and is only available to firearms manufacturers and dealers so they can make weapons for the government.
SSD (Sport Systeme Dietrich) makes FG42 repros but also a modern version called SG 11, 12 and 13. I would absolutely love to see Ian take a look at those.
Nothing quite scratches that itch of Ian talking about ahead-of-the-curve German guns :)
Mr. McCollum, I don't really have any personal history with firearms aside from admiring them from a mechanical stand point. However, this channel has become one of my favourites and I just want to say thanks. Based on your communication skills, you must have been fortunate to have had a few good teachers or influences. So, I guess, thanks to them too. All the best.
So true. Thank you for saying it so well.
Glad you talked about this rifle. I always thought they looked cool
He has a video firing one full auto if you look😁
Why
What is particularly mindblowing is the short time frame in which this was developed. A totally new rifle concept, extremely challenging specifications, and production readyness was reached within two years!
It really is impressive. This is the kind of tech that starts development during a war and doesn't get adopted until after the fighting ends.
Almost as if the Nazis were brilliant and crafted a well running, wealthy and advanced civilization.
Crazy.
mechanically speaking probably the coolest mass produced rifle of ww2, easily in my top 3 guns produced in the war along with the pps43 and stg44
A buddy of mines father was a Colonel with the 82 Airborne during WW2 he still owns a Fg 42 and a Sg44 and a footlocker full of pistols. And a Drilling which I'm the proud owner of now
How old is the Drilling?
There is never enough videos of this weapon
The concept for the FG42 was pure cojones, as well as the execution.
Respect.
Thank for this great video highlighting this incredible machine gun. Always a pleasure, Ian!
There are 2 FG-42's in the NZ Army museum, one very early first type and the later type.
Years ago, in a previous life, I had the opportunity to fire one of these (at RMCS Shrivenham). It was memorable for being comfortable to hold, easy to fire, controllable and it just felt right.
My favorite WW2 rifle
Mine is the AR 47, as wielded by Kaiser Wilhelm and made popular by Kutozov during Napoleon's attack on Borodino.
@@ivareskesner2019 Huh?
@@ivareskesner2019please demonstra te
@@ivareskesner2019
what
With my least favourite grip
Few hundred germans fallscrimjager guys dropping out of planes into your neighbourhood in the 40s must have looked like goddamn space men, coming in on parachutes that werw totaly pretty new age tech for the time, with all their entirely wacky gear, the goofy looking helmet, the wacky toggle lock gravity knife with the spike on it, and a star war space man's laser blaster with an obscene rpm that still gets a bayonet on it, crazy times man
You do not understand! German parachutes (with a single link behind the paratrooper) did not allow paratroopers to have larger weapons on them at the time of the jump. They were usually limited to just a pistol and a knife, the gravity knife being mainly for cutting parachute cords in case they got caught in trees, poles, etc. Their main weapons were parachuted into separate containers, and that was the big problem of retrieving a weapon after landing. That is why they had great losses in Crete when they were also attacked by the civilian population who caught them at the time of landing poorly armed and were able to knock them down with hunting weapons, pitchforks, sticks, etc.
I had the chance to shoot the FG-2 made by Dittrich Sportsysteme in Germany and it was an absolute blast. This weapon is truly amazing!
@@Armored_Muskrat Crisp, for real! I would use this as a hunting rifle, if I could afford one
(> 8.000€)
Lucky guy. I wish I had that chance, too. Anyway, I had the opportunity to shoot the HK MP5 9mm in full auto. Very controllable, light recoil and accurate. Another superb German sub machine gun best for police use. BTW, Ian always amazes me.
When Ian is being visibly ginger with a gun, you know the price tag is going to be extreme.
So if an M-60 is a sideways FG-42 with an MG-42 top cover, that would make the M-60 a direct descendant of the Lewis Gun!? And controllable full-auto from the shoulder in a rifle cartridge remains an impressive feat to this day!
A brilliant insight into a rare and impressive piece of engineering - thank you
Fascinating gun. It even uses the basic idea of the bullpup concept to shorten the length.
More FG-42 content. I love it.
i can still hear the sound the (late version) makes in COD1 in my head....
.
that gun was OP in COD1 / UO
full auto scope.... GG
its OP in most games Ive ever played
I never realized how intense the angle was on the grip
Can't imagine it being comfortable
The later models had a straighter grip
It's the Chinese Mak90 angle
100% that is totally comfortable
Your hand sets palm on the side and its only about the trigger finger anyway
Now this might be the first Bullpup gun ever. It’s a stretch I know, but considering that it has Magazine behind the trigger as well as ejector. It has long gun barrels, despite the profile is actually quite compact.
That this was descended from the Lewis and the basis for the M60 was something I'd never heard and very interesting. Truly original firearms are few and far between, most borrow and modify to fit whatever they are wanting to do with them.
To design a rifle that reliably fires semi-auto from a closed bolt, and full-auto from an open bolt, is an absolute marvel of engineering.
Das Fallschirmjäger Gewehr 42, eines der berühmtesten Gewehre der Welt.
Gloves have been usually used (also by other MG gunner) to prevent burning on hot parts after intensive use.
Still remains one of the most fascinating guns in form and function all these years later. As advanced for its time as the M16 was.
Always enjoyable seeing these rare weapons from WWII and hearing their history ,Thank you
Another outstanding video Ian! Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to make them and I can't speak for everyone but I know I appreciate all you do for keeping the history of these firearms alive!
Never knew it was that small always looked bigger but sitting on the desk there you can tell it's true size, great video
yeah, still one of the most interesting and coolest Firearms of all time. :)
17:39 "To pick up one of these, and remember..."
Ian is a timeless immortal, confirmed!
the FG 42 looks gucci as , way ahead of its time in design and vision..
Probably the most assault rifle-like not-assault-rifle ever created
this just looks so timeless and fantastic
That sloped pistol grip is a thing of beauty
Hmm, well yeah. ALAS! Just as I like the Walther P38 more than the Luger😲..i like the 2nd FG42 more. All in the eye of the beholder, i guess?
Thank you Ian for showing us a beautiful piece of history, and thank you for making me aware of this gun, as I would have never known of it's existence without this video
You wouldn’t believe how long I was waiting for FG42 disassembly video. Thank you Ian!
I see from a video you made 8 years ago,the later model had a much more sensible pistol grip but gave the weapon a bigger profile.After Crete,there were very few German airborne operations so having a smaller weapon to manoeuvre inside a glider or Junkers 52 was not an issue.
A friend of mine , Roy , hiked from the UK around southern Europe 40 odd years ago working as he went . He ended up in a town in Crete renovating a big old house in the center of the town . At siesta time he was reading a book he had been given days before whilst sat outside the building . He was amazed to find he was sat down reading where the paratroopers had been fighting and only then noticed the bullet holes and other damage around him !
After Crete... Crete was in 1941. The amusing part of the whole FG42 saga was that it was effectively never used in airborne operations because the lesson the Germans learnt in Crete was that airborne didn't work. (Bizarrely the Allies learnt the opposite lesson from the same operation, but there you go).
@@davidyendoll5903 You can still see the bullet holes around the windows of the _Ecole Militaire_ in Paris. In Berlin you can even see the shadows where bullets hit walls, then were stopped by soldiers, then hit the wall on the other side of them.
@David Yendoll The German paras took a real beating in Crete but thanks to their determination and aggression,close air support by the Luftwaffe,and some very bad decisions by British commanders,they prevailed.Although the Fallschirmjager never took part in large scale operations again, they were still elite troops, as they proved at Monte Cassino.
@Paul Davies did they use the fg42?
What an amazing and innovative weapon. Thank you for sharing this with us all.
I can't get over how steampunk and cool this rifle is. It's bananas - full auto open bolt, semi-auto closed bolt. Magazine fed. All that being said, for combat, I'll have a Garand, thank you.
Check out the Lewis BAR
Every time I see this grip angle my wrist has phantom pain.
I don't so tbh I think you are just meant to hold it like a hunting rifle and it should be fine 👍
It probably was designed for firing from the hip.
@@infernaldaedra It's kinda like using chair as a bed - you probably can do it, but it's not what it's there for. For some reason they changed it in later models.
Dosent look to far from the angle on a bolt action rifle.
There is a version of this gun which has a nice pistol grip.
This man has been an absolute blessing to us. Been watching for years, thank you Ian for what you do!
As soon as Ian said the magazine was missing, my ears pricked up! You see, my dealer friend here in the UK had an FG42 of this pattern in 1985, which had no magazine or bayonet! I made a magazine for him from a heavily modified BAR magazine, and it worked fine!
He then sold it to a collector in the USA! Could it be this one? I will check the photos I took of it back then and return😉
I just dug out a photograph of the FG42 my friend here in the UK had... its serial number was 695, so not this one!
Having had the pleasure of full auto mag dumps with the 8x57 FG42 in full auto; it is remarkable how low the recoil and controllable it is compared to other "full power" rifles like the M -14 or FN-FAL which are almost useless in FA.
Never knew it was so compact. Always been a fan on the games it's featured in. But it comes across bigger. Love to fire one for real. Thanks Ian.
German paratroopers dropped on my Dad's battalion at Corinth in April 1941. My Dad and his mates were armed with 303s and Bren guns. One dead paratrooper was dragged by his chute into their slit trench. As time passed he was able to count the bullet holes in the corpse. He counted 70 holes - so the guy had been hit at least 35 times before he hit the ground. The moral of the tale - don't jump out of a plane into a dog-fight.
The German paratroopers and glider troops actually did very well in the Greek campaign, Operation Marita was a resounding success. The greatest issue the German paratroopers actually had during the Battle of Corinth was actually when the troops were deployed to disarm the British demolition charges on the bridge over the canal. They had successfully defeated and driven back Allied forces and had captured numerous Commonwealth vehicles that they were using to proceed forward with their mission. While very successful in their operation when they were disarming the demolition charges however they weren’t as fortunate. The someone inexperienced commanding officer on the scene had ordered the charges to be tossed in a pile on the bridge so they could be safely disarmed later, this would prove to be their mistake. There was still significant combat in the area and a stray bullet ended up hitting the pile of explosives and detonated it, killing some men and a war reporter, while also vitally for the retreating Commonwealth and Greek forces, destroyed the bridge. This gave the Allied troops invaluable time to retreat and stopped the Germans for two days and clogged the canal so supplies couldn’t be brought through it for a time. This certainly stopped the Germans from have a total victory and the Allies from being utterly routed and captured. Within the next few weeks the Allies would be defeated with the Greeks surrendering and the British and their ANZAC troops being captured or driven into the sea. Nonetheless the bridge destruction during the Battle of Corinth undoubtedly saved many Allied units from annihilation and capture and allowed evacuation of significant soldiers and materiel.
wish i had the chedder to snag this bad boy, ive always been fascinated by the FG42. Its the one gun a soldier can use for any scenario that soldier may find himself in.
I think these go for hundreds of thousands of dollars so this video is going to be the closest ill get to one probably.
Very nice of whoever owns this example to let Ian make a video on this, Forgotten Weapons is basically the de-facto video encyclopedia of the modern time.
These guns have been auctioned for over 300K. Curious about what this one will do, I assume less because of the currently missing bayonet and magazine.
My fav ww2 gun, probably my fav gun of all time. So cool. The design and functionality get the highest of marks. Truly impressive.
Your officer yelling fix bayonets has got to be absolutely terrifying knowing it’s the last ditch effort. Not that it wasn’t already before. Like the charge of the light brigade, just running or riding face first into almost certain death
Bayonets are nesdisiroy last ditch efforts. Fixing bayonets and advancing on an enemy position is a perfectly normal occurence even when you have the advantage. It tends to allow you to take ground without much of a fight as most troops withdraw in the face of enemies advancing with bayonets attached.
For some reason, espeically lesser trained, soldiers fear bayonets more than gunfire. Something that keeps getting proven over and over again. Physiologists think it's an instinctual fear of sharp objects
This is soemthing that happened alot in both world wars, but also in modern conflicts like the British bayonet charges in Afghanistan.
For some context to Ian's mention of Fallschirmjaegers and their lack of weapons on drops, listen to Keith Elliott VC describe how he and his men led "bayonet charge after bayonet charge" into the Germans who had dropped onto Malame airfield in Crete. Sobering stuff.
Best gun ever. Definitely my favorite gun of all time. This basically has all I could hope for an elegant yet effective weapon combined together in one package. The side-mounted magazine sure is unique, and my favorite configuration since the MP18 from WW1. Damn, these guns look gorgeous.
If I could understand it, the Type E was a more expensive version of the FG42, and the Type G was a more cost effective variant. I really like the Type E more, but some design features of the Type G were very eye catching to me, especially the magazine well of the Type G. To be a full-powered rifle and yet be incredibly controlable is something really impressive.
Too bad this rifle did not see much further development after the war. Focus shifted to Assault Rifles, such as the AKs and HKs, and weapons that took design cues from it were LMGs, such as the Rambo Gun (M60), but no rifle being designed from it emerged afterwards, at least to my knowledge. Too bad, this design had such potential, and it actually could be resurrected as a new modern weapon.
(to any gunsmiths who have the patience to bear with me for a moment)
I would do a few (by few I mean A LOT of rework) design changes to this to make it even better, such as the baynoet being an SKS-style folding cruciform bayonet, the muzzle-break/grenade launcher/ flash hider of the post-war Italian copy of the M1 Garand, the barrel and barrel shroud of the FR F2, replacing the semi-auto with a two-round burst like the AN94, the folding charging handle like in the HCAR, the HK416 buffer tube within the OG stock, an FAL-style gas tube regulator and StG44-style iron sights. Some more aesthetic features of the Type G FG42 would be added, but I still prefer the Type E, and this would be my dream version of it, especially with picattiny rails all around it to use more modern military equipment, such as the underbarrel grenade launcher used in the M4A1 or the Kalashnikov rifles.
Perhaps I would even try to disguise the Bipod in the front of the weapon as an axtention of the handguard, something similar to the Steyr Scout rifle, also mounting the top integral Weaver rail and bottom UIT rail at the forend. Making it look like a Gewehr 43 with a few design cues of the FG42 wold be a top priority for me.
That thing is really slick
Incredibly innovative, aesthetically pleasing. Such a cool gun!
Another one I was totally unaware of. Great historical work you do on this channel.
Already impressed within the first 20 seconds of the video. The fact he can pronounce "Fallschirmjägergewehr 42" astounds me
I owned a First Model FG42 thirty years ago and regrettably sold it I wish I never had.
The engineering on these older guns is absolutely insane.
always a pleasure to have another fg42 video
I have a photo of my Öncle Geörg (who died recently) as a Fallschirmjäger in May 1942 with an FG-42, shortly before he was committed to battle in Normandy. His squad fought until they ran out of ammo and food. They saw an armored car coming their way, assuming it was German, and at the last moment saw the white star. Realizing their predicament, they wisely surrendered, and Geörg spent the rest of the war in a POW camp in Texas. Afterwards he was sent to England where he was required to work on a farm for two years, finally returning to Germany in 1947.
Damn good thing he wasn't sent to the Eastern Front where he would have been abused eight ways to Sunday by the dirty Soviets had he fallen afoul of the same situation.
Wtf is a öncle geörg
man am i the only one who would LOVE a video of Ian breaking down and comparing the different patterns of FG's like he did with K98's...?
The idea of a Fallschirmjäger spinning like a falling maple seed while he tries to fire his FG42 is my favorite mental image of the day
Had no Idea the M60 was related to this. I always learn so much when watching your videos.
Me either, I thought I heard that the M-60 was designed after the MG-42.
Fun fact: The German heavyweight champion of the world boxer Max Schmelling beat the great Joe Louis by KO and then had a rematch before world war 2, Joe Louis would KO Max in their rematch and he was sent into the German paratroopers when he returned home defeated but he survived the war. After the war he became close friends with Joe Louis and would later pay for Joe's funeral costs after his death as he died broke. Max Schmelling was the best German heavyweight that ever lived and his talent wasn't fully recognised by Nazi Germany. His boxing coach was actually a Jewish man and Schmelling was one of the first fighters to study fights by watching old footage of previous fighters to see little mistakes they made, very scientific fighter. Max probably held this rifle during his service. Love history.
Fabulous information friend
@@robertbernard651 You're welcome, just a little bit of boxing history as I'm a boxing and history nut. Not many men can claim they beat Joe Louis, as Joe still has records that stand today and still haven't been broken. For the most heavyweight title defences in boxing history. And Max beat him in a fair fight and claimed the same title only won by the likes of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson etc.
He probably not... As by the time FG-42 into service, most of German Paratrooper at that point already fought on the ground and most likely they would carry like most Mechanised infantry unit at that time... 8 Mauser 98K, 1 Mg42 and 1-2 MP40.
@@boocomban Interesting stuff. Considering Max was wealthy for the time, wondering would he be able to buy one within the black market, like he could pay someone who has one a fine sum for it. Not saying he did or anything but it was common for soldiers who had money could buy guns for the added feeling of being more secure.
150 000 Jews served in the German Army, 30 of them as generals, during WWII. Love history as well.
While Ian is usually gentle with the guns, the reverence with how things were field stripped (or not) was another step altogether XD
Very nice video, thank you.
in the game Combat Arms, this weapon is classified as a light MG.
on my time playing it, I kept being unable to find a reason for using it, when having other MGs like the M60, the G36 or the K3, that covered pretty much all scenarios: one heavy MG for defense, one light MG for forward support, and a mid point for comfort.
it wasn't until I put my settings fine enough to control recoil, that I could see the pattern in the spread: where other MGs would spread up and down, the FG spread side to side... which made it perfect for low-clearance fire at ground level, or in between bunker shooting slits. So, I started packing this weapon whenever there was trench warfare involved,.... in addition to the M60, and heavy explosives.
wasn't long until players stopped playing those maps altogether.
No
Very cool. I remember seeing this in the German paratrooper's hand in one of the WWII documentaries, battle of Monte Cassino I believe.
To me, it was the most futuristic looking gun of the war. Performance wise, I'll leave it up to gun Jesus.
Another Excellent educational video. Thank You as always. Well Done. Be Safe out there folks. Peace & Health to Us All.
I've never gotten to handle or see one in person. I guess I had always assumed it was way bigger along the lines of the other WW2 full power semi autos. At the beginning of the video I actually thought it was a scaled down replica.
Really really cool that the m60 burrows from this design that’s why I love this channel
The M-60 is basically a mix of FG-42 action with MG-42 belt feed.
What I find fascinating about the design of the FG42 is that it combines the same reasoning that led to the assault rifle (greater individual firepower) while retaining a powerful rifle cartridge.
Whereas the StG was developed and used in harmony with the machine gun, and could therefore commit to an intermediate cartridge, the FG42 had to replace the machine gun as well.
Having to fill such a broad spectrum placed a tremendous burden on the design, and as you said, it is remarkable how well it met all these demands.
So.....a battle rifle😂
@@Joseph-mw2rl The FG42 easily fits into the 'battle rifle' category, but retroactively applying such classes misses the original point of the weapon as a purpose-built paratrooper rifle. Besides, the FG42 retains some distinguishing features such as the integrated bipod and ability to switch from closed bolt to open bolt. Both these features derive from the demand to also fill the LMG role, something that was not asked of most battle rifles.
This video single handedly raised the value of these guns. As ian always does
Hi Ian, I am glad that you are back on UA-cam, i Like your content very much, iam from Germany and i am very interestet in historical firearms, your quiet manner and know how is facinating greetings from Bavaria ❤️
15:50 the sparrow dynamics grip for a AR15 reminds me a lot of the early FG42 grip and both look incredibly awkward to hold on 2
The Battle of Crete showes all the problems of having the main weapon dropped separately from the soldiers.
Quite demoralizing to land and then watch your equipment bundles drift away off to BFE (see Market Garden). Also check out the famous photos of the Crete drop, there is a jumper with a streamer going in, center of photo
@@TomP-nw4wu agreed. Will check out the image. Thanks for the info👍
That... and landing amongst a Battalion of Maoris.
@@TomP-nw4wu large Jumps do tend to have the odd mishaps in the historical images and footage.
Outstanding gun shoots from opened or closed bolt . the 42 mg were my favorite
Morphy's will indeed do that, they are a class act. They did it for a gun of mine. Found documents months later that went with it and sent it along.
It has been a very long while since I have seen it so I have no source but I vaguely remember when I was doing research about the Egyptian Hakim back when a well used surplus rifle would cost you 350-550 dollars and a very good to excellent condition would go for around 750-900 dollars. What I found was that somebody had fitted a magazine from what I believe to be the FG-42 to fit the Hakim with minimal modification, like a shaved off tab or something and it fit perfect. I also remember it being 25 rounds though, and the original rifle the magazine came from was side loading. My knowledge of firearms is fairly limited so this is all I can recall. I found it to be an intriguing endeavor at the time but didn't have the money which I have been kicking myself ever since because now Hakim's sell for much more in worse condition.