If you are interested in the history of small arms development, this series covers the massive transition period as black powder was abandoned and smokeless powder transformed repeating arms. What makes a good rifle, pistol, carbine, machine gun, combat shotgun, etc? Othias covers hsitory and context in depth, and Mae adds first-hand impressions by spending some range time with the firearm in question so she can give a more subjective take on how an infantryman might compare the attributes and different features.
World War I was a chaotic conflict with numerous countries involved, each with various arms for every branch of their respective militaries, and various theoretical doctrines had to face the cold reality of trench warfare. Some surprising designs made their way into the hands of rear echelon troops, and a few even faced combat. These videos have been produced since 2015, with 155 episodes at the time of this post. There is plenty to catch up on, and doubtless much more to come. Additionally, some of these weapons would see inter-war development and reappear again in World War II, or even just carry over as reserve inventory.
Depending on where you are in the world, you may have seen other examples here, but there are so many crazy ideas that were abandoned after war, or quickly superseded by better designs. I personally have limited experience with guns and designs from this era. I have fired modern renditions of World War I era Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolvers and 1911 auto-loaders. I have also had some trigger time with a couple Mauser-derived bolt-action rifles. What relics have you had a chance to fire?
I get a real kick out of firearm history! The oldest guns that I own are a Japanese Arisaka, a Mosin Nagant carbine and an M1 Garand. They are an absolute joy to shoot because they are a piece of military history and everything about them is pretty straight forward and simple. The only exception is the full breakdown and cleaning of the M1...that can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.
I've seen these on my YouTube feed but ~1 hour videos is more time than I'm generally willing to invest. I have liked their shorter form videos though.
Never fired a real relic to be honest, but a friend had a replica Colt 1861 Navy in .38 Special I think. That was fun to shoot. I'd love to fire an old Maxim gun or vintage <=M16A1 AR-15. A legit vintage lever gun would be really cool to shoot too. And a C96... and a 100 year old Luger with modern ammo...
Sometimes all you want is Ian's Forgotten Weapons episodes or a flashy Brandon Herrera video shooting White Claws with an AK, sometimes you want to dig deeper.
you are really interested in guns and weapons jacob.
I am interested in a lot of things. The weather right now is just more appropriate for writing and studying inside where it is warm and dry, and firearms have been prominent of late.
I think you're interested in video games, so why don't you write about games?
I still need to write more about Dungeons 3, but my internet connection doesn't have the bandwidth for streaming on Twitch, and it would be difficult to even upload to 3Speak. I may yet try a series of screenshots and text description though.
I have a few tabletop game posts in the works. I like war games, RPGs, and strategy games in the real world, too.
Where are you living jacob?
The US mountain west, just south of Canada. The nearest major city is Spokane, Washington.
Wow, what a good place. Good for you