From the side one could be fooled into thinking that this is in .30 Carbine or maybe even something larger...only to be bitterly disappointed to find out that that's just the goofiest, clumsiest magwell/ejection port ever designed.
And of it WERE .30 Carbine or fuck even 9mm with a simple ejection port and mag it would be a super retro PCC that if I were a gun nut back then, I'd totally want
It's goofy, impractical, has pointless crazy expensive features, and failed to pass a basic endurance test with the ammo used by the Nation is was being sold to. I love it.
There is something deliciously eccentric about it all, as if an American engineer designed it to captivate his English counterpart by lampooning the laws of miss-placed physics. Somehow though, in the depths of wartime Britain, the irony may have been lost. Shame : )
It's like S&W were intentionally making shit that wouldn't be as functional as US issue. Kind of like Soviets giving countries crap export versions of their tanks.
Came to the comments to post this very thing, leaving with a like on Mr. First's comment instead. As per usual though, this community seems to be of one mind which at least is somewhat interesting
Between the open bolt, and the fluted barrel, the platform entirely suggests the creator meant it to be a fully-auto firearm. My guess is that they hit some type of reliability snag in the full-auto version, so only marketed it as a semi-auto.
Tend to agree. I suspect when the guns kept breaking into two peices after 5 or 6 magazines they decided it should be semi-auto and added that little finger.
Maybe what failed was the magazine capacity? just think they get it all put together and suddenly realize that the 20 round stick isn't going to be enough and there's no way to fit a bigger mag
Oleum Camino They were firing 9mm semi auto they did not need a barrel that would require strengthening or expensive weight reduction techniques. Usually heavy fluted barrels like that is so that you get the benefits of heat distribution when using a fully automatic weapon. It's almost like they originally designed it to be fully auto but perhaps realized their receivers were crap and could not take the strain and just made the minimal change of making it semi only and hoped no one would notice.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat That was pretty much my first thought when he showed how the trigger worked. You could convert it into full auto with a pair of pliers by snapping that disconnector finger off the trigger group. Seems like it would have been an easy gun to fix, extend teh end cap, maybe give it a pistol grip, snap off the disconnector and convert the tower into just a deflector to keep the brass from hitting you in the fingers and it would have been a decent SMG.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine. Not bad as in badly working but seemed to cheap out on the stock and sights at least compared to the original. Cheap would perhaps been a better wording than "bad" (i meant "bad" copy as in not a perfect copy and not a badly functioning piece of equipment) In any case it is not a s&w original design but a copy of the kpist m45 witch in its case is very much a simplified suomi smg mixed with a sten gun. Sights, Barrel, Replaceable barrel jacket (simplified) , magazines and trigger group (minus selector) from the Suomi. Bolt and metal tubing reciever, saftey (via the bergman smg) and the no frills attitude (no need for a wooden stock and the pistolgrip on the m 45 is one step above a metal wedge) from the sten gun. Add to that a simple but apparantly unusually stable folding tube stock and you have basically the kpist m45
I thought at first that it was in a rifle caliber and was confused by the short barrel; And then that the magazine had its spring behind the bullets for some reason.
My brain was a bit confused by the miss-match of information: I see a big looking magazine but Ian keep saying 9mm. Then, he removed the actual magazine...
It's amazing that a company with so much experience of firearms design should come up with something like this and think, "Oh yeah, the military are definitely going to accept this!" Also, easiest full auto conversion ever?
honestly after seeing a couple videos on open bolt semi autos i can see why with the rules being what they are the ATF gets a bit antsy about them being sold commercially
mfw i realized (even before ian said it) that the bolt needed more space and a stronger spring to bypass braking :-) mfw i instantly realized how to turn it pretty easy into fullauto :-) mfw, german noguns forever :-(((((
At that point not much expeirence at all with semi automatic fire arms (let alone rifles) s&w even today is pretty much still known for revolvers but back then that was pretty much it and a semiautomatic rifle is very different from a revolver, for context remington makes an absolute garbage pos handgun but amazing and well built rifles and shotguns. As for full auto really? After this video? It wouldn't make it very long but yes very easy but not really any easier than an AK or something in any case semi-full all you need to do is remove what ever catches the firing mechanism on the way back but doing that you also run the risk in many cases of making the gun so it won't stop until the mag is empty it seems like this would be the case here and probably why instead of doing a full auto conversion and going back the US they just took it to the brits
Davey Jones threw them back! Probably dumped in place called Hurd's Deep of the Channel Island of Alderney. That's were most of the nasties ended up following WW2.
They didn't even make a SMG. They made a pistol-caliber carbine. Ran right up to the threshold of making a submachine gun, stopped, and immediately punched themselves in the face.
I'm guess that it was designed as a SMG but they kept breaking (just like the Brits found) so they made it semi-auto to "fix" the problem and it did until the Brits used a slightly more powerful round.
When the company that designed and built the gun will only sell it as a non-firing historical wallhanger (and is so afraid of it being used they glue a giant red placard to the stock), I'd argue the matter has advanced past goofy into "embarrassing". Lucky for me, having lived through the Clinton administration I know that S&W is incapable of being ashamed of anything it does.
Here we see how far Ian has grown. Before he used to only be able to look at guns with a camcorder and give a brief overview. But now he has his own table, camera mount, microphone system, and high quality production.
7:37 "Because, it...you can't..y- dunnt work" Great technical terminology Ian! Reminds me of "Rifle no worky" with the Remington EtronX video from a while back! xD
My Uncle had an Aztek, and quite aside from its weirdo styling he quite liked it. Unlike this "light rifle" it actually performed the duties to which it was designed adequately.
From the "first time seeing it, no idea about the functionality at all" perspective, I really REALLY want this. It's so uniquely thin, slender, dare I say petite even, and, that barrel! But I'll be damned if there isn't one decision on this firearm that makes a bit of sense. This isn't even hyperbole, LITERALLY the various design choices just don't make any sense at all. This *HAD* to be a lightweight SMG/auto-carbine design that just failed to come to fruition as intended in reality, insurmountable barriers that prevented this from being a real functional automatic carbine, then, say, they have too much invested in this design and want to try to get some kind of return on R&D, so they offer it as some goofy ass open bolt semi-auto carbine.
The Bergmann MP 18 had been around since 1918. The Bergman MP 28 had been around since 1928. Why on earth did S&W bother with this turkey? Those guns were easier to make (ESTONIA made an MP 18 copy) and actually worked. S&W was re-inventing the wheel, and turning it into a triangle in the process. Thanks for this excellent video which shows how hard good design is.
Fr imagine laying there hidden with this rifle as your only protection as you watch your comrades be finished off by German shocktroopers armed with stg44s and MG42s
Ed Nash looks to me like they were patent dodging. I have no idea what patents a detachable mag that is 'lugged' onto the receiver would infringe on Or maybe they based it off of some ww1 pilot rifle they used at the start of the war to shoot at eachother in scout planes. The magwell is the strangest thing about this to me. Other than that it's just a sub par open bolt pipegun
Yes, good point...like an early SMG also oddly enough, when ian stripped it, with that fluted barrel and the damn tower on the side, it sort of looks like the Roman 'fascisti' republic reed bundle and axe head...italian indeed, to the very core!
Mr. Dmitri Ravenoff What is worse is that the "light" bullet has much less range and penetration compared to lighter rifle bullets (a 5.56 x 45 mm NATO rifle bullet has a typical weight of 62 grains but a 9 x 19 mm Parabellum pistol bullet has a typical weight of 115 grains).
@@itsconnorstime Eh, what? Ernst Heinkel was a USA arms manufacturer? Well paint me purple and call me a republicrat! And here's me thinking he was a German!
The Reggiane Re.2000, that lost the competition to the macchi C.200 and Fiat G.55 in Italy, was sold to Hungary, Sweden and United Kingdom (the contract with the Brits was blocked by the Ministry only due to the onset of the war).
It's so elegant and beautifully made for a sten type subgun. Almost like an ornament like it was made for a steampunk type movie. In full auto it would be very cool.
I feel like just a couple of "small" changes and this could be a perfectly fine weapon. Things like simplifying the barrel, replacing the tower with a traditional mag lockup and ejection port, full auto only, and adding a little bolt travel room with strengthened spring.
@@USMValor-jc5xu easy. Firmly grasp the rifle by the stock and the magwell. Then proceed to throw the rifle into the nearest commercial trash compactor.
This is why I love Ian's channel. Weird guns like this. Truly a forgotten weapon. With a bit of refinement and a recoil buffer, this would have made a decent smg.
They were desperate, they put WW1 weapons like the ross and p1917 back into service, along with non-standard foreign weapons, and even ordered something like a quarter of a million pikes, but yeah, when you're weapon is as likely to injure the operator as the enemy...
This thing looks like it's one camera part away from being a Star Wars blaster. Honestly the big goofy tower, the huge weight and the fluted barrel make me wonder if this thing wasn't based on a design originally for a full power rifle round and then had weight chopped off it until it was deemed suitable to be a 9mm PCC. That might explain the receiver issues if they downgraded the metal for final manufacture from a heavier original spec.
I've never been more excited than when I saw the size of the magazine in the thumbnail. I've never been more disappointed than when you took the actual magazine out.
I think the idea behind the tower is to give you a place to hold the thing, as the magazine is right where you'd wanna put your hand, and since it ejects downward, if you gave it a mag-well grip, it'd just shoot cases into the web of your thumb.
That firing pin lever works similarly to one on a thomson machine gun. Theoretically, when the lever hits a surface on the receiver, it thrusts the firing pin forward about 2 times the speed of the bolt. It also prevents out if battery fire. They likely deemed it unnecessary for function, as the doubled speed is substituted with double the impact force.
This is such an attractive carbine in my opinion. I have watched this video dozens and dozens of times (along with all of Mr Ian’s many videos) and I would genuinely love to have one. I wonder if using subsonic ammo would reduce the stress on the receiver or if it just wouldn’t cycle at all… I really love learning about the history and mechanics of firearms but as I am closing in on eighty, I don’t think it would be wise to start a new hobby this late in life. I wish the very best of health and happiness to you all and your families!
Dear Ian,your autocorrect created a funny. You have receiver endocarps in place of endcaps. Somehow I do not think Biology 100 and plant terminology applies to ferrous type manmade ironmongery. I wish I could think of an amusing juxtaposition to apply here,but it just will not load. Almost suggesting to just leave it in place for a huh? moment. Almost waited for a while to see how long it took for others to comment. Nice to see that Rube Goldberg S&W item again. Even the best have their off days but whoever let it out to the light of day should have been removed from management by responsible investors. Reputation damage like that takes a long time to recover from. Cheers.
So basically a carbine, but S&W we're afraid that it was the name "carbine" that would make it unpopular, so they named it a "light rifle"? Like that would be any better...
The ejection system reminds me a lot of the KelTec RDB. I imagine the RDB would have a similar issue in military trials. And I think you probably touched on this in your mud test on InRange.
After rewatching this a few times I have come to the conclusion that it could very easily be converted to full auto. I believe that I and everyone else who knows this are now on a watch list. You're welcome guys.
IMO these are some if the best looking rifles I've seen. If someone could reproduce it and keep the main look while improving the overall design I would snatch one up in a heart beat.
Imagine them done at the time in .30 Carbine, actually functioning and with the silly ejection tube shortened. They would have been serious contenders.
What i find noteworthy was the british weren't so desperate for guns as to demand S&W fix the guns but instead just demanded their money back. If S&W tried they probably could have reinforced the guns and made them cheaper and probably within months. The fact the british wanted their money back then settled for revolvers rather than waiting for a proper improvement. Wonder if once they got their hands on them they had second thoughts and used the failure in the endurance tests to try to get away from them.
The Army were never interested in the Light Rifle. They were bought for the Royal Navy, who wanted a handy carbine for boarding actions (instead of a SMLE). They were a stopgap until the Lanchester SMG was available.
Can't believe the Elbonians didn't buy this for their MPs and tankers, with premium chrome plated innards that never need cleaning and relieve the Elbonian army of having to stock cleaning kits or lubricant.
The more i'm watching of this video/design; the sadder i'm becoming. This must be the *First* video of Ian's where the design was so sorry, so depressing; . . .that i can't bear to continue learning about it-- and am exiting this video, UNfinished.
Why the fluted barrel? If you dumped every round you had out of this thing all as fast as you could even a pencil barrel would barely be warm to the touch...
I’m not a gun guy but I love this channel. I feel like the history books fail to mention the tools that shaped our modern world. This channel fills those gaps. BTW What a “goofy” weapon!!
Why would they go out of their way to make it semi-auto if they were going to try and sell it to the military? Removing one part would make it full auto only. Did they know it was too weak to be able to do that? It just seems like with a few small tweaks this could have been a far more passable military rifle.
@@davidsachs4883 no what I mean is, why did they design it that way in the first place when they were going to try and sell it to the military? Yeah if they designed it as a semi-auto and then took the disconnecter out, I'm sure it would fail real quick.
My thoughts after watching this video is that this was going to be a totally different gun that, maybe a competition gun or some other niche application, and then someone had the idea of making a light rifle out of the same molds and stampings. the gun is aesthetically gorgeous, like they spent a lot of money in design and tooling of non funcional aspects of the gun, and i don't think that would be approved by any serious gun manufacturer even by 1930s standards
Amazingly bad weapon even for its time. If I remember correctly the M1 Carbine, which is like 1/2 of the weight and has a stronger cartridge was being trialed at about the same time.
Just came to thank you for making my day better with your avatar, makes me want to change mine to the professor, or maybe the crow would be more fitting
"And they go out to 400... yards?"
Feet, yards, meters, whatever, S&W probably didn't know either.
They knew it shot farther than 400 inches or centimeters, so any standard measurement that exceeded 400 of those was a success.
400 fathons. They got a bit overconfident in their marksmanship.
I love how they made a Mk 2 and didn’t address any of the big problems that potential sellers have
Sequels in a nutshell
S&W everyone.
Yeah, I was really confused as to why a 9mm carbine would come with a .50 bmg box mag.
That ejection tower is meant to confuse the enemy by making it look like you're firing rifle rounds with no recoil.
The psychology of designing a gun that no one really knows the purpose of is fascinating.
Nothing special here. Just some greedy folks trying to prey on fools or desperates.
To be fairl pistol calibre carbine was a popular thing, at time around and before world war one.
the psychology of buying it more so.
I expect this was envisioned as a civilian use rifle in case of invasion (Operation Sealion).
@@markreeter6227 or a give this to the home guard and take away their number 4s to give to the frontline troops
From the side one could be fooled into thinking that this is in .30 Carbine or maybe even something larger...only to be bitterly disappointed to find out that that's just the goofiest, clumsiest magwell/ejection port ever designed.
I was hoping it was in 30.06
Same.. I thought it was a .30 carbine, I wonder why they designed a magazine that long for the 9mm.
And of it WERE .30 Carbine or fuck even 9mm with a simple ejection port and mag it would be a super retro PCC that if I were a gun nut back then, I'd totally want
When I heard "light rifle" and saw that mag well I thought, that is a tiny 30-06. The disappointment when he pulled that 9mm magazine out.
It's goofy, impractical, has pointless crazy expensive features, and failed to pass a basic endurance test with the ammo used by the Nation is was being sold to.
I love it.
There is something deliciously eccentric about it all, as if an American engineer designed it to captivate his English counterpart by lampooning the laws of miss-placed physics.
Somehow though, in the depths of wartime Britain, the irony may have been lost. Shame : )
This makes the Ross Rifle look safe....
so this is basically an early version of the L85
Oh, if someone made a modern reproduction I'd snap it up in a second. It's charmingly shit.
It's like S&W were intentionally making shit that wouldn't be as functional as US issue. Kind of like Soviets giving countries crap export versions of their tanks.
Words to live by.
"Because.... the.... you can't.... Eh.... Dudn't work."
-Ian McCollum, 7:37
Came to the comments to post this very thing, leaving with a like on Mr. First's comment instead. As per usual though, this community seems to be of one mind which at least is somewhat interesting
Fucking lol’d.
You know it’s something “special” when it leaves Ian flummoxed.
@@BlackMasterRoshi Of course.
@@BlackMasterRoshi man this has to be something spicy that u made us wait this long
Between the open bolt, and the fluted barrel, the platform entirely suggests the creator meant it to be a fully-auto firearm. My guess is that they hit some type of reliability snag in the full-auto version, so only marketed it as a semi-auto.
Florida almost looks like the early ww1 aircraft rifles(and is pretty similar design wise). Maybe that was the intention, albeit 30 years too late
Tend to agree. I suspect when the guns kept breaking into two peices after 5 or 6 magazines they decided it should be semi-auto and added that little finger.
If the endurance test on semi-auto failed, imagine how quickly it would have failed on full auto
And you have a point, David, but full auto with the lesser 9mm rounds it was designed for might have made it last ... 1000 rounds or so.
Maybe what failed was the magazine capacity? just think they get it all put together and suddenly realize that the 20 round stick isn't going to be enough and there's no way to fit a bigger mag
The fluted barrel was designed as a secure hand grip for when the thing stops working and the soldier is forced to use it as a club!
Oleum Camino They were firing 9mm semi auto they did not need a barrel that would require strengthening or expensive weight reduction techniques. Usually heavy fluted barrels like that is so that you get the benefits of heat distribution when using a fully automatic weapon. It's almost like they originally designed it to be fully auto but perhaps realized their receivers were crap and could not take the strain and just made the minimal change of making it semi only and hoped no one would notice.
@@FakeSchrodingersCat That was pretty much my first thought when he showed how the trigger worked. You could convert it into full auto with a pair of pliers by snapping that disconnector finger off the trigger group.
Seems like it would have been an easy gun to fix, extend teh end cap, maybe give it a pistol grip, snap off the disconnector and convert the tower into just a deflector to keep the brass from hitting you in the fingers and it would have been a decent SMG.
Plus it's great for keeping a long, thin-walled barrel from bending from forces other than shooting, such as dropping the gun.
“When it stops working” you mean when it evolves to it’s 2nd form?
When your machinists are 100x better than your engineers... you work at S&W.
Exactly my own thoughts. The workmanship is top notch, but the design is completely nuts.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine and that is a "bad" copy of the swedish submachinegun
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine until you get some brass stuck and have to take the whole piece of shit apart
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine. Not bad as in badly working but seemed to cheap out on the stock and sights at least compared to the original. Cheap would perhaps been a better wording than "bad" (i meant "bad" copy as in not a perfect copy and not a badly functioning piece of equipment)
In any case it is not a s&w original design but a copy of the kpist m45 witch in its case is very much a simplified suomi smg mixed with a sten gun. Sights, Barrel, Replaceable barrel jacket (simplified) , magazines and trigger group (minus selector) from the Suomi. Bolt and metal tubing reciever, saftey (via the bergman smg) and the no frills attitude (no need for a wooden stock and the pistolgrip on the m 45 is one step above a metal wedge) from the sten gun. Add to that a simple but apparantly unusually stable folding tube stock and you have basically the kpist m45
So eloquently put...
I'll never forget the disappointment I felt when you removed the magazine on this in your original video of it.
Cat I thought it was some kind of weird high capacity magazine, until he took out the *actual* magazine. I was so disappointed .
I thought at first that it was in a rifle caliber and was confused by the short barrel; And then that the magazine had its spring behind the bullets for some reason.
My brain was a bit confused by the miss-match of information: I see a big looking magazine but Ian keep saying 9mm. Then, he removed the actual magazine...
@@dareka9425 I thought it was some kind of crazy high capacity magazine
This is like the opposite of the Grease Gun as far as being a triumph of aesthetics over performance.
It's amazing that a company with so much experience of firearms design should come up with something like this and think, "Oh yeah, the military are definitely going to accept this!"
Also, easiest full auto conversion ever?
honestly after seeing a couple videos on open bolt semi autos i can see why with the rules being what they are the ATF gets a bit antsy about them being sold commercially
mfw i realized (even before ian said it) that the bolt needed more space and a stronger spring to bypass braking :-)
mfw i instantly realized how to turn it pretty easy into fullauto :-)
mfw, german noguns forever :-(((((
At that point not much expeirence at all with semi automatic fire arms (let alone rifles) s&w even today is pretty much still known for revolvers but back then that was pretty much it and a semiautomatic rifle is very different from a revolver, for context remington makes an absolute garbage pos handgun but amazing and well built rifles and shotguns. As for full auto really? After this video? It wouldn't make it very long but yes very easy but not really any easier than an AK or something in any case semi-full all you need to do is remove what ever catches the firing mechanism on the way back but doing that you also run the risk in many cases of making the gun so it won't stop until the mag is empty it seems like this would be the case here and probably why instead of doing a full auto conversion and going back the US they just took it to the brits
hey the british used the sten
@@cognitivedisability9864 At least it's a decent to average smg, the LR is a pipe bomb
It's got that 6 year old's "crayon war drawing" aesthetic about it.
Would dumping these things in the ocean have counted as upgrading them to Mark 3? It seems to be a notable product improvement.
Davey Jones threw them back! Probably dumped in place called Hurd's Deep of the Channel Island of Alderney. That's were most of the nasties ended up following WW2.
Toss them in the channel like they did the savage made sub guns.
give them to Californians
7.62 x39mm californian Government*
Mark 3 SEAL version.
It's like the bastard love child of a Colt-Burgess rifle and an MP-40 with absolutely no upside.
Night Train123 That is...terrifyingly apt, good sir.
It might make a better club
I guess the British and my sexual preferences have something in common, we’re desperate but not that desperate
Invictus Prima Underrated comment
+500
Omg lmao 😆😆😆
Lol! Good one!
Try the Russians, they're ALWAYS that desperate.
This "carbine" is basically S&W writing the book on how NOT to make a submachine gun
TheGoldenCaulk Including not making it a, you know, subMACHINE gun.
They didn't even make a SMG. They made a pistol-caliber carbine. Ran right up to the threshold of making a submachine gun, stopped, and immediately punched themselves in the face.
I'm guess that it was designed as a SMG but they kept breaking (just like the Brits found) so they made it semi-auto to "fix" the problem and it did until the Brits used a slightly more powerful round.
Change the spring and maybe file some weight off the bolt and I may be a fairly decent .380 PCC.
LOL well obviously 'cause like, it isn't a GODDAMN SUBMACHINE GUN in the first place. its a semi automatic carbine. duhh
Looks at the size of that "magazine" and then hears "9mm" 🤔🤔🤔
@@darthspeaks6451 If you see it from afar it would look like a pipe with a huge box under it
When he said "the US wanted it in 45" I figured he meant 45-70 government with a mag that size...
Very disappointing caliber
_9x39 blocks your path_
darthspeaks on hell of a battle rifle for ww2
"Extremely Hazardous Do Not Load Or Fire"
Yeah, thats not a bad sign for this gun.
"Don't even put bullets inside this gun" is a new one for me
This entire video can just be summarized as "It's goofy."
When the company that designed and built the gun will only sell it as a non-firing historical wallhanger (and is so afraid of it being used they glue a giant red placard to the stock), I'd argue the matter has advanced past goofy into "embarrassing". Lucky for me, having lived through the Clinton administration I know that S&W is incapable of being ashamed of anything it does.
It's not catastrophic failure, it's a feature.
Like they would scatter it all over the battlefield and trick the Germans into using them.
@They Live! Again. except it actually doesn't lol
Todd..
I lost it right near the beginning when I saw the sign that says "Extremely hazardous do not load or fire" and knew this was gonna be a good gun.
Here we see how far Ian has grown. Before he used to only be able to look at guns with a camcorder and give a brief overview. But now he has his own table, camera mount, microphone system, and high quality production.
*sees what looks like a giant magazine in the gun*
"oh yes!"
*ian takes tiny magazine out*
":/"
7:37 "Because, it...you can't..y- dunnt work"
Great technical terminology Ian! Reminds me of "Rifle no worky" with the Remington EtronX video from a while back! xD
The Pontiac Aztek of firearms.
Walter White does not approve.
My Uncle had an Aztek, and quite aside from its weirdo styling he quite liked it. Unlike this "light rifle" it actually performed the duties to which it was designed adequately.
Aztek is ugly and practical. This thing is almost pretty but damn useless
Paint it mint green and I'll buy one
More like the Ford Pinto
From the "first time seeing it, no idea about the functionality at all" perspective, I really REALLY want this. It's so uniquely thin, slender, dare I say petite even, and, that barrel!
But I'll be damned if there isn't one decision on this firearm that makes a bit of sense. This isn't even hyperbole, LITERALLY the various design choices just don't make any sense at all.
This *HAD* to be a lightweight SMG/auto-carbine design that just failed to come to fruition as intended in reality, insurmountable barriers that prevented this from being a real functional automatic carbine, then, say, they have too much invested in this design and want to try to get some kind of return on R&D, so they offer it as some goofy ass open bolt semi-auto carbine.
This is the real version of the guns i used to draw as a kid.
The Bergmann MP 18 had been around since 1918. The Bergman MP 28 had been around since 1928. Why on earth did S&W bother with this turkey? Those guns were easier to make (ESTONIA made an MP 18 copy) and actually worked. S&W was re-inventing the wheel, and turning it into a triangle in the process. Thanks for this excellent video which shows how hard good design is.
“Triangle in the process” 😂
Funny how a gun with so much steel on it turned out to be too weak.
True literally 10 lbs and the damn thing is still fragile
The consistency in your videos over the years is remarkable.
The Mk1 Sten never looked so good as it does when considering the prospect of being sent into combat with one of these abortions.
Fr imagine laying there hidden with this rifle as your only protection as you watch your comrades be finished off by German shocktroopers armed with stg44s and MG42s
I would love to see those warning labels as sticker merch.
Is it just me or does this look very Italian?
Ed Nash looks to me like they were patent dodging. I have no idea what patents a detachable mag that is 'lugged' onto the receiver would infringe on
Or maybe they based it off of some ww1 pilot rifle they used at the start of the war to shoot at eachother in scout planes.
The magwell is the strangest thing about this to me. Other than that it's just a sub par open bolt pipegun
It looks like the guns I used to draw when I was 5 years old.
Judson Joist girls built like a Breda lmg. Mmmm mmmm
Looks more like Astra tried to make a rifle version of their 400
Yes, good point...like an early SMG also oddly enough, when ian stripped it, with that fluted barrel and the damn tower on the side, it sort of looks like the Roman 'fascisti' republic reed bundle and axe head...italian indeed, to the very core!
I guess that the term “light rifle” was a bit of a misnomer.
Heavy PCC would have been more apt.
Light bullet. Heavy rifle.
Mr. Dmitri Ravenoff What is worse is that the "light" bullet has much less range and penetration compared to lighter rifle bullets (a 5.56 x 45 mm NATO rifle bullet has a typical weight of 62 grains but a 9 x 19 mm Parabellum pistol bullet has a typical weight of 115 grains).
It may be a reference to the 9mm pistol cartridge used in a rifle. Or, SW had an excellent marketinng department.
I dunno, it seemed happy to shed its own mass so maybe it's true..?
Some early G T Distributors history. I still have a few of the crates they were found in laying around. Jim Orr
I have no idea what S&W was thinking/smoking... what aspect of this gun is a good idea, I just dont see it.
Well in effect its an M1. A bad one, but thats what it is
@@wierdalien1 its worst in every aspect; weight, range, sights, handling, cost, durability, locktime and aesthetics.
@@RaDeus87 yeah the semi auto open bolt is a bit weird. I quite like how it looks
They are just nicely made and have quality looks, all polished and well finished. But they don't look like guns from 1940 at all, they are so 1920...
The trigger mechanism is pretty neat I guess? That's all I got.
Removing that magazine hurt me.
Standard practice at US arms manufacturers in 1940. If you've designed a pup, try flogging it to the Brits!
Spud Gunn when Ernst Heinkel was told his He 112 had lost to the Bf 109, he was told to flog it off to Romania, Hungary, Turkey and Japan.
@@itsconnorstime Eh, what? Ernst Heinkel was a USA arms manufacturer? Well paint me purple and call me a republicrat!
And here's me thinking he was a German!
The Reggiane Re.2000, that lost the competition to the macchi C.200 and Fiat G.55 in Italy, was sold to Hungary, Sweden and United Kingdom (the contract with the Brits was blocked by the Ministry only due to the onset of the war).
@@neutronalchemist3241 sorry, mate, still don't see what that has to do with US arms manufacturers in 1940!
It may be poorly designed trash, but it does have really nice aesthetics with that classic stock, nice blueing and fluted barrel.
It's so elegant and beautifully made for a sten type subgun. Almost like an ornament like it was made for a steampunk type movie. In full auto it would be very cool.
Looks like a .30-06 SMG.
Twirlip Of The Mists unfortunately it’s a 9mm 😂
That's what I thought it was when I clicked on the video
Shane Sizemore same
Goes to show, size isn't everything.
I thought it was a .30 carbine rifle lol and submachine guns fire pistol cartridges haha
Idiosyncratic, but well machined and finished. I like the Bakelite stock as well, the whole weapon has an Art-Deco look to it.
1:00 is what you came for.
I just keep clicking that 1 minute mark and I think I could do this forever, this is so good
This is great! I love it!
We need an hour loop
Ian is Gun Jesus. That's that. Humor, knowledge, insight, detail, all in one. Nobody else can do it the way he does.
Hahaha
Am I the only one here that actually likes the look of this rifle. I like the simplistic design, smooth curvature and bare metal appearance.
Smith and Wesson couldn't design a strong 9mm open bolt carbine?
That's just sad...
I love the looks of that rifle, very smooth, sleek, and pretty. Wish they worked, they would indeed be fun to plink with.
The barrel fluting is one of those rare design touches that proves the maker loves his product.
I feel like just a couple of "small" changes and this could be a perfectly fine weapon. Things like simplifying the barrel, replacing the tower with a traditional mag lockup and ejection port, full auto only, and adding a little bolt travel room with strengthened spring.
Been waiting for a more in depth video of this ever since the original. Awesome stuff.
It’s exactly as stupid as it looks.
My first thought was: "Okay, how in the hell are you supposed to handle this thing?".
U.S.M. Valor it’s simple, you don’t
@@USMValor-jc5xu easy. Firmly grasp the rifle by the stock and the magwell. Then proceed to throw the rifle into the nearest commercial trash compactor.
This is why I love Ian's channel. Weird guns like this. Truly a forgotten weapon. With a bit of refinement and a recoil buffer, this would have made a decent smg.
2 grains difference? As you say, in a 9X19, that's huge! Another interesting video! Thanks!
I really respect the fact that you started making more in-depth and longer videos.
I knew the British were desperate, but not this desperate.
Apparently hey weren't, you have to make a real stinker for your client to ask for a refund on the eve of a potential nazi invasion
Any gun would have been better than a pike made from a bayonet welded to some piping, which for a time was what we were reduced to.
Look at the sten haha. A simplified mp18 made of tubing and round stock. Can always be worse(not that the sten was 'bad', just brutally simple)
Alexander Strickland At least the Sten submachine gun is workable compared to the S&W light rifle.
They were desperate, they put WW1 weapons like the ross and p1917 back into service, along with non-standard foreign weapons, and even ordered something like a quarter of a million pikes, but yeah, when you're weapon is as likely to injure the operator as the enemy...
It’s amazing how well it’s made and how poorly it’s designed.
Looks like a tube gun made by plumber. But it is actually more complicated than you might think, unnecessarily.
This thing looks like it's one camera part away from being a Star Wars blaster.
Honestly the big goofy tower, the huge weight and the fluted barrel make me wonder if this thing wasn't based on a design originally for a full power rifle round and then had weight chopped off it until it was deemed suitable to be a 9mm PCC. That might explain the receiver issues if they downgraded the metal for final manufacture from a heavier original spec.
Goofy shiny pistol cal carbine that has length as a Garrand.
Actually Ian has said goofy hundred times in this vid alone, make it is a record!
I've never been more excited than when I saw the size of the magazine in the thumbnail.
I've never been more disappointed than when you took the actual magazine out.
Nobody:
Absolutely nobody:
Smith & Wesson: HEY GUYS! Look what I made!!
I think the idea behind the tower is to give you a place to hold the thing, as the magazine is right where you'd wanna put your hand, and since it ejects downward, if you gave it a mag-well grip, it'd just shoot cases into the web of your thumb.
SMLE No.1 Mk. III: - "The bloody hell is wrong with him? Is he alright?"
M1 Garand: -"Oh, him? He's on the spectrum."
I’m convinced that this was someone’s “F U Guys, it’s my last day” design
At 1 min mark where Ian says “ehhhh” that’s my new text message alert!
That firing pin lever works similarly to one on a thomson machine gun. Theoretically, when the lever hits a surface on the receiver, it thrusts the firing pin forward about 2 times the speed of the bolt. It also prevents out if battery fire. They likely deemed it unnecessary for function, as the doubled speed is substituted with double the impact force.
Seems like a lot of esoteric over-engineering that missed many critical combat requirements. Sounds very Italian in that regard
This actually makes sense, I'd see this being built by Italians
Meanwhile, in this same timeframe, Beretta is building some kickass SMGs.
As much as I appreciate your videos Ian, I especially appreciate your video descriptions
Did anyone else think this was a .30-06 rifle at first?
Not me, I thought it were in .30 carbine before I realised this gun is older than the cartridge.
@@Isaac-ho8gh yeah, you would never guess 9mm. At least I wouldn't have lol
Yeah true.
This is such an attractive carbine in my opinion. I have watched this video dozens and dozens of times (along with all of Mr Ian’s many videos) and I would genuinely love to have one. I wonder if using subsonic ammo would reduce the stress on the receiver or if it just wouldn’t cycle at all… I really love learning about the history and mechanics of firearms but as I am closing in on eighty, I don’t think it would be wise to start a new hobby this late in life. I wish the very best of health and happiness to you all and your families!
The biggest magazine I have ever scene for a 9mm or 45 ACP.
As always, I love Your video! And I'm amazed again by Your Understanding of everything. True knowledge!
Dear Ian,your autocorrect created a funny. You have receiver endocarps in place of endcaps. Somehow I do not think Biology 100 and plant terminology applies to ferrous type manmade ironmongery. I wish I could think of an amusing juxtaposition to apply here,but it just will not load. Almost suggesting to just leave it in place for a huh? moment. Almost waited for a while to see how long it took for others to comment.
Nice to see that Rube Goldberg S&W item again. Even the best have their off days but whoever let it out to the light of day should have been removed from management by responsible investors. Reputation damage like that takes a long time to recover from. Cheers.
I saw that and came down here to see if anyone else commented on it. It is kind of funny if you know what endocarp means. *:-)*
Watching that magazine come out of the tower broke my brain for a bit
So basically a carbine, but S&W we're afraid that it was the name "carbine" that would make it unpopular, so they named it a "light rifle"? Like that would be any better...
The ejection system reminds me a lot of the KelTec RDB. I imagine the RDB would have a similar issue in military trials. And I think you probably touched on this in your mud test on InRange.
After rewatching this a few times I have come to the conclusion that it could very easily be converted to full auto. I believe that I and everyone else who knows this are now on a watch list. You're welcome guys.
IMO these are some if the best looking rifles I've seen. If someone could reproduce it and keep the main look while improving the overall design I would snatch one up in a heart beat.
Imagine them done at the time in .30 Carbine, actually functioning and with the silly ejection tube shortened. They would have been serious contenders.
What i find noteworthy was the british weren't so desperate for guns as to demand S&W fix the guns but instead just demanded their money back. If S&W tried they probably could have reinforced the guns and made them cheaper and probably within months. The fact the british wanted their money back then settled for revolvers rather than waiting for a proper improvement. Wonder if once they got their hands on them they had second thoughts and used the failure in the endurance tests to try to get away from them.
If they had worked then we of brought more until STEN production was up and running.
The Army were never interested in the Light Rifle. They were bought for the Royal Navy, who wanted a handy carbine for boarding actions (instead of a SMLE).
They were a stopgap until the Lanchester SMG was available.
*Pistol caliber carbine that weighs 9Lbs.*
Smith and Wesson: "ah yes, the light rifle."
Smith & Wesson Light Rifles: The Brewster Buffalo of "military rifles."
'eck, the Finns made the Buffalo work. I doubt they would've had done anything to this...."rifle"
Can't believe the Elbonians didn't buy this for their MPs and tankers, with premium chrome plated innards that never need cleaning and relieve the Elbonian army of having to stock cleaning kits or lubricant.
this seriously looks like a child drew this weapon in those massive battle drawings they made while in class.
The more i'm watching of this video/design; the sadder i'm becoming. This must be the *First* video of Ian's where the design was so sorry, so depressing; . . .that i can't bear to continue learning about it-- and am exiting this video, UNfinished.
"But Why?", The Gun.
Using this gun--even the reloding process--seems like it's from those impossible mobile ads or the impossible quiz.
Why the fluted barrel? If you dumped every round you had out of this thing all as fast as you could even a pencil barrel would barely be warm to the touch...
What we in Britiain would call Go Faster stripes. Coach lines painted on a heap vehicle to make it look sexy.
I’m not a gun guy but I love this channel. I feel like the history books fail to mention the tools that shaped our modern world. This channel fills those gaps.
BTW What a “goofy” weapon!!
Why would they go out of their way to make it semi-auto if they were going to try and sell it to the military? Removing one part would make it full auto only. Did they know it was too weak to be able to do that? It just seems like with a few small tweaks this could have been a far more passable military rifle.
If it failed an endurance test on semiauto, think how much quicker it would have failed on full auto
@@davidsachs4883 no what I mean is, why did they design it that way in the first place when they were going to try and sell it to the military? Yeah if they designed it as a semi-auto and then took the disconnecter out, I'm sure it would fail real quick.
My thoughts after watching this video is that this was going to be a totally different gun that, maybe a competition gun or some other niche application, and then someone had the idea of making a light rifle out of the same molds and stampings. the gun is aesthetically gorgeous, like they spent a lot of money in design and tooling of non funcional aspects of the gun, and i don't think that would be approved by any serious gun manufacturer even by 1930s standards
I've never seen a gun that looked so much like a repurposed kitchen appliance. Hard to believe this was made by S&W.
The video to the right for me is the Blyskawica that was made out of real stove parts.
Imagine having to choose between this bad boy or a mp40..
I have an english thesis to write but this video deserves a second viewing beforehand
Amazingly bad weapon even for its time. If I remember correctly the M1 Carbine, which is like 1/2 of the weight and has a stronger cartridge was being trialed at about the same time.
beautifully machined and blued rifle. folding stock would have helped and shortening the ejection chute like an inch below the receiver
The perfect personal protection weapon for the Elbonian Secret Service.
Always a good job Ian..
I saw in the news that RIA has John Garands personal M1 for auction. So... we going to see it eh?
Just came to thank you for making my day better with your avatar, makes me want to change mine to the professor, or maybe the crow would be more fitting
I used to live near Springfield! Yes in Massachusetts