Sorry for the poor audio quality – I am back at the Cody Firearms Museum talking to Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries in the UK. Jonathan has written a new book on the history of British bullpup firearms, which Headstamp is very proud to be publishing! Today we are looking at the finer details of an E.M.2 rifle; specifically Jansen’s own personal rifle. He brought this with him, we believe, when he moved to the United States to start working for Winchester in the 1950s. The rifle is currently in the collection of the Cody Firearms Museum, and Jonathan will use it to explain some of the many changes that were nearly continuously being made to the E.M.2 as it went through trials.
Semiauto Rifles
Farquhar Hill: Britain’s WW1 Semiauto Rifle (Video)
The Farquhar-Hill was a semiauto rifle developed in Britain prior to World War 1. It was the idea of Birmingham gunsmith Arthur Hill, and financed by Aberdeen industrialist Mowbray Farquhar. The design began as a […]
Bolt Action Rifles
The Short-Lived No1 Mk6 SMLE at James D Julia
The SMLE No1 Mk3 was the iconic British infantry rifle of World War 1, but not the final evolution of the Lee Enfield design. By World War 2 it had been replaced by the new […]
Gunsmithing
SA80 History: XL70 Series Final Prototypes (Individual Weapon and LSW)
Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in […]
The flange on the carrying handle (which is not on earlier ) models is also to protect the firers right eye from being hit when the cocking handle jumps out of the gas tube slot, this happens sometimes on worn guns, Also it is very easy to fire the gun with the gas plug in the wrong position
Stupid question: is it faster to do a reloading action right-handedly or left-handedly? I am thinking about the context of AK (or AR) vs L85 here…
Ohhh…yeah-aah…
It seems that “stories about forgotten weapons” are gradually turning into “stories about books about forgotten weapons”…
It is probably worth recalling that the number of stories does not replace their content.
Sadly…
Soon, it will be “stories of lost bookstores of lost books of forgotten weapons.”
For the love of god, Ian, please quit jigging the table!
I watched that Steyr Aug mud test on Inrange which, had “issues” with the cocking handle & mud… Thought at the time, it could do with a foward extension to said rod (running even further forward over the barrel) that you could “mortar” well… In reverse; smack it, and thus move the bolt with more impetus than trying to grab the cocking handle. Anyway the Aug was a bit short for said extension, but this looks ok for it. Point being, that type of cocking handle with the mud gap can cause problems watching the Aug video… Less chance of gunk egress from a extended to the front, rod; maybe I.e. It would just be the rod without a tube around it.
Suppose thats a benefit of the Ar… Modern ones, rear cocking handle in that it is “enclosed”
Don’t know how you’d solve that Aug problem bar fitting a “mud” Rws 52 type cocking type mech (side lever airgun) to gain impetus while keeping it short I.e. No space for said extended forward rod aforesaid.
A blank, like those aircraft guns… Sat in a chamber above the bolt; manual firing pin I.e. Smack a pin, blank fires against a “piston” on the trunnion… Bit complicated & potentional problems, that really failed though; had to strip it totally down, and that was a pain.
No kitemark for that Aug: An angry forigner would have killed you by the time you cleared that jam.
Or face the blank towards the firer, use the blank as a piston against the trunnion; no… Bit hard really, like getting rid of a virus.
I mean, that thing totally jammed; shocked me.
Did anyone notice that Jonathan looks like Max Payne?
Actually someone should test that Aug with a cocking handle, a new one attached to the bolt carrier; use a drill etc. Point being; what an awful jam, must be rectified somehow even 1/4 better if it then catches the cartridge sa80 a1 wise.
Do something.