What the heck

[Ozzieman]

What are these happy smiling French men doing in the trench?

[Ulrice]

They are playing with grenades.

[sgms]

L'Arbalete LaSauterelle type A D'Imphy grenade thrower, saw one once in a museum and it was strange enough that I remember it. (Don't trust my spelling, French and I do not get along well.)

[Ozzieman]

Your right on that one, I am impressed you even got the name.

34 Arbalete sauterelle type A Grenade launching trench crossbow 1915 range 140 meters French and British
http://www.forgottenweapons.com/larb...type-a-dimphy/
There is a lot more great reading at Forgotten weapons


The device was called L’Arbalete la Sauterelle Type A D’Imphy, and it quite literally was a crossbow, using the tension of two bent steel rods to provide the energy storage that sinew provided back when the Romans were building this sort of thing. A metal cup held a spherical Type 14 grenade (weight roughly 1kg/2.2lb), and a pair of hand cranks on a rack and pinion mechanism were used to cock it. The device was designed by a French artillery officer by the name of Elie André Broca.
There is a lot more great reading at Forgotten weapons

[Ozzieman]

This one really surprised me. I thought I knew a great amount of information on the designer of this rifle but I didn't know about this gun. Well I wont make that mistake again

[Mike Irwin]

Easy peasy.

John Garand's design for a carbine.

It received top notch marks during the military testing for what would become the M1 carbine. Why it wasn't adopted, I've no clue.

[mapsjanhere]

According to Ian at https://www.forgottenweapons.com/lig...arand-carbine/ the original design had a top mounted magazine, he redesigned it to be more conventional but that seems to have misfired

[Ozzieman]

Garand SR-M1 Carbine I knew that wouldn't last long with the X perts around here
While looking I found out about his carbine. There isn't very much on line that I can find about it. I tried looking for the original report on the testing of the gun VS others but came up with a wall. I would find it interesting to read the government report if any one knows how or where to look?
https://www.nps.gov/spar/learn/histo...variations.htm
http://www.forgottenweapons.com/ligh...arand-carbine/
U.S. Rifle SR M1 Garand .30 caliber
This “Short Rifle” was designed by John Garand and competed against the Winchester entry which was adopted as the M1 Carbine in 1941.

[Ozzieman]

Another competitor.

[Old Bill Dibble]

Looks like a wooden stock bullpup SKS. I have never seen one with butterfly nuts out the bottom before though.

[Ozzieman]

No not an SKS and those wing nuts are about as stupid is as stupid does I have ever seen on a gun.

[tangolima]

Something to do with Tommy gun?

-TL

[Ozzieman]

It is full auto, gently pull the trigger part way back and it fires just one. Pull it all the way through and you have full auto. No selector switch

[Buzzcook]

That's the budget version of the Thompson SMG. Don't think it was ever adopted because the M-3 grease gun was cheaper still.

This is what google found.
http://www.historicalfirearms.info/p...-the-t2-the-us

On edit looks like I was wrong and it was used.

[tangolima]

Ah ha! I knew it had something to do with the Tommy gun. I guessed it by looking at front and rear sights of the gun. It was the signature Thompson style.

-TL

[Ozzieman]

5 Thompson AO-T2 Carbine
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/ria...gun-prototype/
Forgotten weapons above has a very good video of the gun.
The T2 submachine gun was Auto-Ordnance’s entry into the ongoing competition to replace the classic Thompson submachine gun with something more economical to produce. It was a closed-bolt, select-fire design using a progressive trigger and a tubular receiver, along with stand Thompson gun magazines. Examples were made in both 9mm and .45 ACP, but it was the .45 version that the US military tested. Ultimately is was rejected in favor of the Inland/Hyde M2 submachine gun (which looks rather similar to it) – which was in turn quickly replaced by the much simpler M3 “Grease Gun” that would truly replace the Thompson in US military hands.
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/displ...darticles=2189

[Ozzieman]

Any one that cant figure what the gun is,,,,
But what is the modification?

[tangolima]

For sniper configuration, that a inline scope can mounted right over the receiver?

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[Mike Irwin]

Nope. 10-round Garand integral magazine that could be loaded with 5-round Springfield stripper clips. It was a post-Korea modification that the military looked at as a means of increasing the Garand's firepower.

And, IIRC, the modification was for 7.62x51, NOT for .30-06.

At the same time they also modified a number of Garands to take detachable magazines.

Those modifications later showed up on the M-14.

[Ozzieman]

I'm going to give this one to Mike.
Its a interesting program that ended up with the M14,,, in a way.

34 U.S. Rifle M1 T35 (T65E3) with Sanford Integral Magazine .30 caliber SPAR3527
https://warisboring.com/the-side-loa...f22#.yby2mkct3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Garand
This modified M1/T35 features a Sanford Integral Magazine which holds ten rounds of .30 cal. T65E3 ammunition. The design was produced and tested in 1953-54 and demonstrates the adaptability of John Garand’s design.
by MATTHEW MOSS
In 1951 and ’52, the U.S. military’s official Springfield Armory began experimenting with re-chambering the M1 Garand with the new T65E3 light rifle cartridge. As part of these experiments, the armory tested several alternate feed and magazine systems. In order to re-chamber a standard M1 in the new cartridge, the armorers replaced the barrel and placed a machined aluminum filler block in the breech to compensate for the shorter length of the new cartridge.
Springfield awarded Roy S. Sanford & Company of Oakville, Connecticut the contract to develop a 10-round integral side-loading magazine for the M1 chambered in the T65E3 round. The magazine was to be an integral precision-made part of the rifle, which the shooter could be reload using an inexpensive clip. In contrast to the standard M1, the new system was to allow the topping off of the magazine.
Sanford was a prolific engineer who also patented a number of belt-feed systems. He adapted at least two testbed T35 Garands to fit the new side magazine. This meant a number of changes to existing subsystems, including the vertical alignment of the charging handle and the addition of a large hump on the fore stock to provide a place for the large magazine housing, which jutted out of the rifle’s receiver.
Sanford’s magazine could hold 10 rounds. However, the system was complex and required a follower, a partition assembly and a last-round feeder in order to function. The partition assembly was made up of six small pieces which attached to the follower, the entirety of which was raised by the follower arm as the magazine was expended. Sanford & Company’s final report on the magazine system, published in December 1953, explained how the magazine worked
The 10-round magazine, in effect, is a single row of rounds folded on itself,” the report read. “Feed is provided by spring loading the return bend to move the rounds toward the gun. A partition is required to separate the stationary side. This partition must also permit ‘turn around’ at the bend. The replenishing of the magazine is accomplished at the fixed end of the row.”
Sanford used sheet metal to help minimize the additional weight caused by the new magazine. The shooter loaded this first model from left side while, in the second model, the firer loaded from the right. Sanford built the second model from a partially complete receiver to allow it to load from the left — and this also allowed him to reduce the magazine orientation from 30 degrees to 15 degrees, improving the rifle’s appearance and handling, according to Sanford.
This however, increased the difficulty of retrofitting existing M1s to use the new system.

[Ozzieman]

Even though it looks like a cobbled together movie gun from several different guns,,,,, its not.

[Ulrice]

This one is the Italian Breda Modello 30. A 6.5mm machine gun produced from 1930 to 1945.

[Ozzieman]

Ulrice,,, good one
35 Breda Modello 30 Light Machine Gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breda_30
The Fucile Mitragliatore Breda modello 30 was the standard light machine gun of the Royal Italian Army during World War II.
The Breda 30 was rather unusual for a light machine gun. It was fed from a fixed magazine attached to the right side of the weapon and was loaded using brass or steel 20-round stripper clips. If the magazine or its hinge/latch were damaged the weapon became unusable. It also fired from a closed bolt along with using blowback for its action. The blowback operation was violent, and often resulted in poor primary extraction. During primary extraction, the initial very small rearward movement of the hot expanded cartridge case away from the chamber's walls must be powerful but very slow, if an automatic weapon is to be reliable. Separated cases resulting in jamming of the weapon beyond field clearing, were usually the consequence of poor primary extraction. Breda 30 also inherently lacked good primary extraction in its design and thus utilized a small lubrication device that oiled each cartridge as it entered the chamber. With the dust and sand of the deserts of North Africa, came a combination of premature wear and jamming.
As an automatic weapon's chamber and barrel heat up with prolonged automatic fire, the resulting excessive temperature can cause a chambered round to cook off or ignite without intent of the gunner. As a result of firing from a closed bolt, the Breda 30 could not fully take advantage of the cooling properties of air circulation like an open bolt weapon would, thus making cooked off rounds a realistic hazard. The disastrous results could lead to potential injuries to or even the death of the gunner. Some Bredas were eventually modified to accept the new 7.35 mm cartridge, which the Italian military was making an effort to adopt; however, this was short-lived as slowed production never fully allowed adoption of the new cartridge.
In regular Army units, one Breda 30 was issued to each squad (standard issue was 24 to 27 per battalion), although this was later changed to two weapons per squad; an Italian infantry company therefore had about six light machine guns in the early years of World War II (two per platoon), but this number eventually ballooned to twelve for the majority of the war (four per platoon).
An infantry platoon was divided into two large sections, each of twenty men, which were further split into rifle and light machine gun squads. The section was commanded by a Sergeant, who also controlled the LMG squad. The latter was made up of two Breda 30s, each manned by a Corporal gunner, an assistant gunner and two ammunition bearers. The balance of the section was found in the rifle squad of eleven men. Due to the importance of its extra firepower, the Breda 30 was most often given to the squad's most reliable soldier (unlike other armies of the time, it was not rare to see an NCO brandishing himself the squad's automatic weapon). The manual indicates that the two squads were to operate as distinct elements, with the two LMGs supporting the Rifle squad onto its objective. At the time, most other armies embedded a light machine gun with each Section/Squad, themselves roughly half the size of the Italian Squad, which by comparison seems an unwieldy organisation. Individual weapons are given as pistols for each Corporal gunner, a carbine for the Major Sergeant and rifles for all others.
The Wehrmacht adopted the Breda 30 in small numbers after the occupation of Northern and Central Italy, after the Italian armistice of 1943, using the nomenclature MG 099(i); it filled a similar role as the German MG 34, a light machine gun, predominantly utilized in the Italian Campaign battlefields.
Although distinctive in appearance, the Breda 30 was widely viewed as a poorly designed weapon. It had a low rate of fire, low magazine capacity, used the underpowered and unreliable 6.5×52mm cartridge and was highly prone to stoppages. The vital oiling system quickly picked up dust and debris, making the weapon unreliable in combat conditions.
The Breda's rear and fore sight were both on the gun body, so only one barrel could be zeroed. The magazine was loaded using 20-round stripper clips, which were known to be fragile, especially in combat conditions. In North Africa the weapon was nearly unusable: desert sand and dust caused the weapon to jam continuously. The oil from the lubrication necessary to fire the Breda exacerbated its flaws. In the Balkans, Russian Campaign and other theatres of war the weapon achieved slightly better results.
Low magazine capacity, frequent jamming and the complicated barrel-change made firing and reloading a slow and laborious process, resulting in the Breda 30 being a weapon only capable of laying down a diminutive amount of firepower and making it a very modest contributor to a firefight. When considering all of the gun's deficiencies, taken during combat when it was at its worst, the practical rate of fire of the Breda 30 could even have been comparable to a semi-automatic weapon's practical rate of fire, as the standard American rifle was (the M1 Garand).
Although considerably flawed when compared to its contemporaries, the Breda 30 was still considered the deadliest weapon of the standard Italian infantryman's arsenal, since heavy machine guns were seen in relatively small numbers and submachine guns were very rare. The Breda 30 along with the Carcano M91 rifle made up the backbone of the Italian infantry armament during the Second World War. Field reports on the weapon were of mixed nature: the Breda's very low rate of fire often resulted in a turning of the tide during a firefight against Italian soldiers; however, the Breda 30, in most occasions, was the fastest and most helpful weapon available. The Italian army attempted to counter the Breda's defects by stressing the importance of the loader's role: every soldier was trained to eventually be a Breda 30 loader and taught how to rapidly feed one ammunition strip after another (this was not always possible, as with Breda 30s mounted on motorcycles). Careful polishing was also carried out frequently with extra attention being paid to Breda's lubrication system and ammunition availability.

[Ozzieman]

A semi from just prior to 1900

[Mike Irwin]

Fedorov automatic rifle?

That's my guess, but I'm not sure about it.