Ultra-Rare Colt AR-15 Survival Rifle, with firearms expert Jonathan Ferguson
Designed to provide US aircrews with enough punch to defend themselves in a pinch and potentially survive behind enemy lines, the CAR-15 had all the hallmarks of a successful design.
But the project was shelved and this example is 1 of only 10 to survive, entering the museum collection under some mystery, as Jonathan explains.
0:00 Intro
0:15 Colt Model 608 Survival Rifle
1:15 Firearm Details
3:15 A Firearm Halved...
5:00 Details Continued
9:46 Survival Purposes
11:18 AR-15 Rifle Comparison
14:21 CAR-15 Family History
16:01 Survival Rifle Outcome & History
17:58 Outro
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A Colt archive memo (from the Small Arms Review archive, now offline) shows that the intent of their "noise and flash moderator" was user comfort, not detection by the enemy, the target being to reduce dB to a similar level to the 20" M16 (which they achieved) and, presumably, to not induce flinching with flash. Of course having a short weapon with M16 sound and flash levels also DOES prevent the enemy detecting you as easily as if you didn't have the device, but still, that was not the goal as I implied in the video.
My Grandpa Cpt. John W Miser was one of the youngest B17 captains, his B17 was named "FiFi" and was in the 8th Air Force as part of The Army Air Corps. He said during the war at some point they made all the air crew men switch out their 1911 pistols for M1 Carbines W/ the "Para" style folding stock. He said he hated it because they were supposed to carry the M1 Carbine is a pistol type holster while the plane was in the air. He explained that it was very awkward and uncomfortable and would get caught on random shit in the B17 all the time. Luckily when they were supposed to turn in their 1911s he reported his 1911 lost or stolen. Then stashed his carbine somewhere in the plane and instead carried the 1911 in an officer's style shoulder holster for the rest of the war. Then when the war was over he shipped his 1911 home. He kept it until he died, then put in his will that it be given to my father Willam J Miser. And then when my dad died from the asbestos cancer "mesothelioma" at the early age of 53 he put in his will that his gun collection be passed down to me (Joshua D Miser) and my brother Noah J Miser. We had a pretty decent gun collection about 25 guns when my dad died with some were also passed down through generations. Me and my brother fought pretty hard about who gets the 1911 but I ended up telling my brother he can have grandpa's 12gage hunting shotgun, all the pistols except the 1911, and more than half of the other guns if I could have the 1911, the preban PWA "556 Commando" AR15 (which was actually a full length M16A2 style, the name Commando seems kind of misleading), the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, M14 (M1A1 all wood style M14), and the nicest K98K. All the guns I got were 100% original with matching parts numbers, furniture, and were all in beautiful condition. The K98K even had German eagles and SS markings and an original bayonet. He got a lot of really nice guns out of the deal but I got what I considered the best of the bunch because of they were my favorites to shoot and all very collectable war guns in damn near perfect condition. None of the rifles I got were hand me downs though only the 1911 was, but they were my favorite guns to shoot and probably worth more than the entire rest of the collection. One gun he got that I really wanted was a late 1800s Ithaca 12gage double barrel side by side coach gun with the really short barrels. That thing would damn near break your arm but it was a cool collection piece. Unfortunately like a year later we were in Florida for Christmas and when we got back someone had thrown a garden gnome through the glass patio door and stole both my brother's handgun safe and rifle safe, just took the whole safes. Luckily I had all my stuff in my room hidden and my brother had a few of his guns hidden and they only took the safes. The cops came, didn't even take finger prints and said I hope you have insurance on them because chances are we will never find them unless they get used in a murder or something.
Hi Jonathan, would you do a video about the weapons in the movie "Leon the professional"? I watched it the other way and i have many questions about the guns in that film.
I used and fired both the 20” M-16 and the GAU-5A during my time in service and the report from the two was quite similar. The moderator was a good idea in that regard because it got the noise down to an “acceptable” level but didn’t require routine maintenance like a true suppressor.
@@itsapittie Thank you - that was definitely Colt's goal - a report and flash not significantly worse than the full-length rifle.
@@bootstraspbill I got to handle the 'hero' pistol from that movie some years ago. We're not really doing "guns of X franchise" at the moment (focusing on What's This Weapon?' and 'Up in Arms') but I'd like to return to that at some point as time permits.
Thank you, Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history.
fucking AI comment
I second that. This video featuring Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history, discussing the ArmaLite Rifle model 15's Colt-licensed survival rifle was superb.
the person that keeps firearms in the building colloquially known as Royal Armouries Museum
...Kuzcos poison
I thought he said his name was "Jonathan Asalways"?
Option one - don't get shot down; Option two - if shot down have a ready to use gun
Funny how it's almost as though we've come full circle with small arms aboard aircraft. Originally pistols used by pilots to shoot at one another from biplanes in WW1 while flying now PDWs to shoot at ground troops on the ground in case you plane gets shot down.
Have a ready to use gun?
I always keep mine NOT ready to use. I need time to get ready to use it.👍🥃
Option two is what we are talking about.Is a PDW,Light,small with 200 meter range,Practical?9mm pistols-smgs don't at Distance.Can 556 Carbines/Smgs be made Practical for Aircrews?
Love your videos. My survival training the RCAF was focused on 1. Shelter 2. Heat source 3. Food. Combat was not a topic our goal was to survive long-term to be picked up eventually. Army of one idea is a little to Hollywood I think.
Always fun to listen to this British gent speak about firearms, especially ultra-rare almost non existent pieces.
First order trooper? Heretic!!!!
Would be cool to have him cameo in the Continental or something and he was secretly an armourer for hitmen in that universe all this time.
Normal person wouldn't be allowed in the room with that beauty, without an unobtainium licence. 😮😢
I got to visit the Royal Armouries for the first time last Saturday! Had a blast and the staff were very friendly and informative. I saw the Weapons Of Mass Seduction exhibition and couldn't help but crack a smile at the thought of Jonathan cringing at the sight of their golden, butterfly encrusted AK🤣 can confirm it houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history too.
We're glad you had a good time Sam :)
Born after the turn of the millennium, born before flying cars, born in time to watch Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history.
For a second then I thought you were claiming Jonathan was born after 2000… … which made me feel *very* old, then I checked, and he’s just (just) older than I am!
@TheHorzabora Don't worry your still old ❤❤❤ Cheers from a 2002 baby
I can't speak as an air crew person, but as a battlefield player I will say I've never had problems pulling out my m60 as I'm ejecting out of a jet
@@capturedflame Not with an M60. Gotta use a bolt action for that.
Qjqqt@@capturedflame
As far as the assembled/disassembled debate, aircrew survival weapons are always a compromise. You want something which will give you a fighting chance but compact enough that it will go with you and not injure you when you eject or land. Pilots aren’t paratroopers; it’s not possible to arrange their gear in the same way. Additionally, ejection from an aircraft is violent and most aircrew have never landed a parachute before. A longer object is more likely to injure the crewman upon ejection, landing, or both. In order to go with the pilot when he ejects, the weapon has to fit under the seat, which immediately imposes significant limitations on dimensions. Given the constraints, a weapon that is easy to assemble quickly is probably the best you can hope for. The pilot also had a handgun on his person which he could bring into action quickly if needed. But to be honest, if he didn’t have a few seconds to assemble his weapon, he was probably screwed anyway. A downed aircrew man is expected to run rather than fight and when he finds some safe cover, he can assemble his carbine and pray he doesn’t need it.
Thats pretty much what i woukd have gussed. If you dont have the few seconds to assamble, then you are propably better of with your hands in the air insted of on a gun.
You ever hear the story of the pilot in Vietnam who killed well over 10 NVA with a Springfield M6 survival rifle?!?! I have an old original M6 from the 70’s, dad got it for me when I was in middle school because I begged and begged for one. He picked it up for 150 bucks and it’s a 16” (not 14) 22/410 (not 22 hornet/410) like the original. Take a look into that rifle, it’s a break action and it rules.
@@user-mj1vb8jr6j trigger guard optional, yikes
Race relations were bad in Military.The Authoritys were afraid Black trouble makers would've broken into Aircraft Ejection Seats Packs to steal Weapons.Remember There were Race Riots on The Aircraft Carriers and Some Airbases in Vietnam.Weapons were controlled when possible!
Still most Aircrew wanted something better than a,38 pistol.I know a few USAF/Navy Pilots who were shot down.When captured,they were only facing a squad of Enemy with rifles,+ they had only pistols.Most of them told me ,they would have fought back if better armed.A 38 pistol vs. a Mosin-Nagant-You,,'re Dead!!
God im so glad i live in the same timeline as Jonathan Ferguson, the keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK (which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history)
The Air Force has always gone back and forth on aircrew survival weapons. Especially in ejection aircraft. I'm actually in the US Air Force currently (AFSC is 1P0X1A, Aircrew Flight Equipment), and we use a modified M4, designated the GAU-5A or Aircrew Self Defense Weapon, inside the ACES II seat kits. It's basically the CAR-15, but the whole barrel system and handguard detaches from the upper instead of removing the entire upper assembly. It also has the standard buffer tube system and a FAB Defense pistol grip that folds up for storage. Honestly, they aren't great. The barrel life is at about 500-600 rounds until the barrel starts to warp, the pistol grip breaks at the hinge on a lot of the rifles, and it's really only effective out to 200 meters. We are constantly having to send them back to the manufacturer for replacement/repairs.
I was definitely shocked when they settled for the shitty looking FAB grips, as though the USAF couldn't afford to coax a company to make a folding grip that doesn't suck. Also I can't imagine what kind of shit barrel they use that'd get fucked that fast. A decent barrel is like $250 lol. 200M is very far in the realm of air crew weapons to be fair though. I also wondered why they used a standard buffer tube and stock, when they could get a much more compact PDW stock.
I'm not surprised at some of the problems with it. I've got a different maker's take down AR it has a few "warts" with the take down especially. I SBR'ed it a long time ago since it's basically a 200 m and in rifle. The same thing I determined with it, so it might as well be a short barrel.
@bower31 The "barrel" isn't the overall fault it's the mounting hardware/ system that is a major problem. "FYI" my friend has bought a Civ version copy from the company that made them for USAF his wife is in A.F. That cuts out proprietary action springs and buffers, keeping more consistent with standard rifles for training. The U.S. military small arms training is proprietary to job in service. AKA a infantry, scout, S.F. get extensive experience with them. a pilot, desk jockey administrative ect don't. I've actually met some former A.D. service that had almost no contact with a firearm in service. Being a former infantryman I was surprised by how little experience even some who had been in Army and U.S.M.C. had.
@DB-yj3qc I know the Cry Havoc quick change barrel mechanism. This would be the first I've heard of issues with it. Rounds count should have no impact on the QRB system in any way, so they probably are improperly installed. You're supposed to lap the reciever before installing AFAIK, or you'll not get repeatable return to zero.
@DB-yj3qc For a already nearly entirely proprietary rifle, any argument for maintaining standardization is just a way to make the program worse. The USAF already is known for effectively zero standardization in small arms. They could absolutely handle configuring these rifles better. Also I cannot parse your point about training. No air crew do not get extensive small arms training, it's effectively worthless for them. Standardization on training is no issue, they will all go to a specialized school. If they need familiarization with the GAU-5A theyll recieve it there. They have vastly more critical skills, even survival related, to learn than their adeptness with a rifle. Most USAF personally could never be trained on small arms and it would never impact their career at all. They only even qualify air crews on their sidearms every 2 years in some units.
From what I understand, most air crew strongly prefer not to crash in the first place, but that if they do, it occur in close proximity to friendly forces and/or the 'nice' Hilton.
Just make sure it isn't the Hanoi Hilton.
For whatever reason the early Colt AR-15 carbines are among my favorites both in terms of aesthetics and handling. Grateful to live in the US where I can one.
We can also have any opinion we want with out going to jail like in England..
I'm a simple man: I see a video by Jonathan Ferguson, the Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories Museum in the UK, home to thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history, I watch said video. Former Petty Officer Birch's opinion: Don't get shot down. Should you get shot down, (just about) any firearm is better than a pointy stick
comment isnt very original either
@@datadavis... And your point being... What, exactly?
@@YYCEyeGuyGord stop being unoriginal?
@@datadavis can you tell me which part of my comment got your knickers in such a twist?
Thank you Johnathan As Always!
Always good to see a video from Jonathan Ferguson, the Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories Museum in the UK, which houses an iconic collection of thousands of weapons from throughout history in my feed.
It's always a pleasure listening to Jonathan's explanations of such cool and unique guns and the Model 608 is a treat to look at, it would be a very popular collection piece for a gun firearm enthusiast.
Calling Colt's Moderator a silencer is kind of a misnomer (legally motivated in the US), as its primary purpose is to reduce the mighty flash and noise which .223 produces from a stubby 10" barrel, making the report more like an 18" barreled rifle, thus not really more unpleasant or conspicuous than a regular 20" barreled M16. The secondary purpose/utility of the Moderator is that it functions as a booster, ergo it increases back pressure, which is pretty helpful. Gas operated guns, particularly those which are a much shorter variants of an existing rifle, tend to struggle a bit with reliable cycling, and devices like the Colt Moderator provide much needed help. The muzzle devices on the AKs-74u and some other very short Kalashnikov carbines work as boosters as well, though to my knowledge they don't work as blast chambers on any of them, so they're still pretty loud and flashy, but the blast chambers on the Colt Moderators were also difficult to clean, hence their use was eventually discontinued, people who had to use them just had to put up with the obnoxious report. US soldiers and spec ops types found 12.5" and 14.5" AR15 carbines to be short enough while offering better reliability and also better range and power, this mirrors how the Russian ones were never all that fond of the AKs-74u, as its particularly short 8" barrel seriously cramps your range and power.
As far as I'm aware, the AKS-74U muzzle device is indeed a blast chamber, and the reason why these guns tend to be loud and flashy these days is the ammunition used in them: commercial ammo is designed without consideration for barrels shorter than 350 mm (due to the legislation surrounding the matter), and the military has moved the goalpost for penetration & ballistic performance so far during the last three decades that the AKS-74U, which is out of production for decades and has seen further limitations to its use scope during that time, naturally suffers from these changes.
I've also read in the past that these types of muzzle devices on the Vietnam-era carbines did in fact 'moderate' the sound to have a different acoustic signature, said to be similar to that of an AK firing... with the idea that if the enemy heard it they'd think it was friendlies. I'm not sure how effective that'd be though as surely if you heard your own side firing it'd still mean there's trouble.
Jonathan, thank you for sharing such a rare part of history.
Hello Jonathan as always! Loving your videos. Working my way through them all pretty briskly 😄
Thanks for showing these rare weapons in that detail!
I looked up the CAR-15 M2 heavy assault rifle he mentioned, found some low-contrast Xeroxed-looking black and white pictures of it. That thing is bonkers looking.
The museum at joint base lewis mchord has a Colt 607 with the shortened rifle like stock and a short flared cone flash hider. They have many other rare Colt variants.
that tiny SA-80 is cool. is there any at the museum?
They do have them, the L22A2 and L85 carbine. Ian McCollum (Forgotten Weapons) has a video on them from when he visited the Royal Armouries 6 yrs ago.
Hi Jonathan As Always, pleased to meet you...
2 quick notes: 1. The ATF has at least one, the Institute for Military Technology has at least another 2 copies; 2. @ 8:03 the frequently used photo actually features an MGC blank-firing replica (note the unique forward assist)
Thank you for showing us this beautiful exhibit - I enjoyed seeing that TIG welding around the muzzle device. Very neat and I'm thankful it wasn't lost to history
Interesting stuff as always! A video about the rare SIG SG 530 rifle would also be interesting.
Congratulations on reaching 300k subscribers
Nice to see the G&G Armament L85 AFV 2.0 getting some air time! Great content as always Jonathan Ferguson!
Looks great! Soo small and smooth.
Got to visit the NFC in January…. Amazing experience !! Just a small note, the photo of the US soldier used to show what a XM177 looks like is actually carrying a replica ‘cap firing’ rifle made by a Japanese toy company called MGC (Model Gun Company) in the 1970s. You can tell it’s a replica if you look at the bolt and it’s oversized extractor to take out the dummy cap cartridges and also the two vertical split pins holding in the fire control group, which clearly isn’t an AR fire control group lay out of the hammer and trigger pins. These replicas were used a lot in the movie business and most extras in Full Metal Jacket (filmed in the London Docklands) carried MGC M16A1s. I don’t know if this is a photo from a movie set or a real US service person in training. You can still buy these old 1970s replica rifles in the UK, but in the 1980s MGC changed their design to replicate in many ways the genuine rifles with correct layout of the fire control group pins and bolt etc, which makes the more modern replicas hard to distinguish from a real rifle at a glance. Keep up the good work Jonathan !
Cool vid! Thx folks! 😎👍
You may clarify that the us airforce were issued model 10s chambered in 38 s&w special. Cause in America we call the 38-200 cartridge 38 s&w
The issued ammunition for those was quite anemic, by the way. IIRC, it was a 130 grain full metal jacket ball at about 700 feet per second. Better than nothing, I guess. 🤷♂️ Fortunately, I never had to use it.
Well, not exactly. 38-200 mk1 is a variant of 38 s&w. Specifically used by the british.
Yes, there's an on-screen correction when I mention the M1911A1 being standard issue. I wasn't technically wrong, but very misleading since we're talking USAF here, so I asked for the correction :)
@@ahalfsesameseedbun7472 Correct, the .38/200 (which has been dubbed .38 Super Police and .380-Mk.IIz at times), is the .38 Smith & Wesson revolver cartridge loaded with a relatively long and heavy 200gr projectile, unjacketed lead and all. I believe it was chosen by the British armed forces because it had the particularly useful (at least for MPs) quality of rarely overpenetrating, instead tending to tumble and expend all its energy inside the target, described in some sources as "keyholing" on penetration. Gave it a bit better performance than some .38 Special loads at the time, while reducing risk of collateral damage. Can be somewhat likened to how hollowpoint ammunition came to be used by law enforcement, and there was some paranoia regarding if the .38/200 load was compliant with the Hague Convention, so there was a Mk.IIz variant which had a lighter 174gr bullet with a jacket (possibly a zinc jacket, thus the Mk.IIz designation). In spite of no longer being a 200gr load, that part of the name stuck.
@@jonathanferguson1211 the Vietnam era is kind of the wild west of air crew weapons. Everything from 1911s to 38s, I've even heard of guys being given a colt 1903 pocket hammerless and many instances of bringing commercial market revolvers from home.
The USAF did not issue the Colt 1911 to aircrews in the 60s and 70s. Although some USAF personnel were trained with it. Aircrewmen were issued .38 revolvers specifically Ex Navy M10s, new model 10s with 2inch barrels, Model 15s with 2inch and 4inch barrels as well as some Colt Agent 2 inch revolvers. Ammo was the 130gr fmj but Transport aircrewman were also issued Supervel 110gr hollow point ammo, the AF claiming then that transport crews were non combatants. I was there then and often collected the handguns and ammo from crews to take to the armory.
I remember a documentary years ago, back when the history Channel still showed history programs. It was about air crews in Vietnam and it mentioned that most of the crewmen opted to have a mat-49, sten or m-3 grease gun in their bailout kit. One pilot had a sawn off double barrel 12ga in his kit and another preferred an uzi. I always thought the mat-49 was especially well suited for the role, with its already compact design and the fold-in magazine. It was developed for paratroopers. Seems a natural fit.
Looks like something you’d give a kid in the 70’s as a gift.
Lucky little sods 😂
Little correction: 0:06 I am Jonathan Ferguson, keeper of firearms and artillery at the Royal Armouries museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history; as always....
I think that it's really only Dave at Gamespot and his Mum who use his full name.
Beautiful
Another excellent video Jonathan Asalways. Not sure whether I'm correct or not, but I'd read them longer flash hider/flash suppressor on these and the XM series were for making the sound of the gun more like an AK when firing, not for sound suppression?
Nowadays it's accepted a "submachine gun" needs to fire a pistol or PDW cartridge. But at one point an assault rifle with a short barrel could be labelled a SMG.
That's so pretty. They could put pivot arms on the rear sight/handle, front sight so they fold down flat for added compactness. A simple pull up to lock to bring up sights. It's totally fine as it is though.
I thought the same thing
Supet cool! Ive never heard of that one before
What a beautiful rifle.
Armalite had produced an aircrew survival rifle in the 50s , the AR 5 . A bolt action in 22 Hornet which split into butstock and barreled action which stowed in the butstock and floated if immersed . Again pretty rare as the project for which they were designed was cancelled. The primary reason for the muzzle device on these short barreled ARs is to build gas pressure for reliable cycling. The DIGS system in this platform likes at least 50 to 75 mm of barrel beyond the gas port . The device aids cycling of what is a rifle length buffer tube , buffer and spring . Today we would use the pistol length gas tube ( around 6.75 " - 170mm) to cycle a carbine length buffer tube assembly with a barrel of this length .
I think all it needs folding stock and move recoil spring to upper part and done you have very compact survival rifle.
The 607 with it's short telescoping rifle style stock is the absolute coolest. Sure the xm177 is damn cool and one of the coolest guns of the Vietnam conflict, but it looks a little too much like the m4. The 607 and this 608 are cooler because the aesthetics are unique.
There are websites where you can buy replica parts to clone the 607. I recommend checking out the retro ar subreddit
I myself am rather partial to the 605. The Colt engineers just went "Eh, take off 5 inches, that'll be fine".
I like the original CAR-15, which is just a shortened M16.
@@FlyboyHelosim CAR-15 is the whole Colt Automatic Rifle family, which was Colt's attempt to rebrand the AR-15 as theirs. M16 is just a military designation.
My brother worked with a chopper pilot who flew in Vietnam who claimed to have been shot down 7-8 times. His preferred survival weapon was a .45 Tommy gun without the buttstock.
As an old Vietnam era vet the CAR15 is my favourite AR variant. I was too low speed high drag to be issued one of those but I could occasionally look on in envy while carrying the 20 inch barreled M16A1. I was unaware of this carbine predecessor of the XM177.
The XM177 was and is the absolute coolest M-16 varient IMO. Ive always wanted one. But the closet i could come to getting one was to build an AR pistol patterened after it, in semi auto of course, extremely accurate 111/2 inch barrel, hit sights at 300 meters easily.
Those moderators where not actually originally considered silencers by Colt (that’s why they called them moderators). It wasn’t until 1974, two years after the ATF was stood up that they (the ATF) decided to declare them to be “silencers.”
I was literally thinking about this gun today for no reason and Jonathan read my mind. All hail our resident Psyker
4:12 It seems to me if you were to hold the upper above the lower, you would get a more compact "rectangular" package, the butt reinforcement plate matching the rear of the sight ramp, and the pistol grip with magazine fitted slotting in between the front of the ramp and the back of the front sight. That configuration leaves it flat above and below, and would fit nicely behind a rectangular aircraft seat.
hell yeah! Love this odd ball I made a body kit of this for airsoft
That's awesome! Any chance we can look at it online?
6 minutes ago? Just what I needed
Very cool to see this variant! This is my first time seeing this and quite a surprise. I put together a similar compact build including the short barrel, cut down pistol grip, non forwards assist upper, minimalist buffer tube end ( not the same but pretty much a sling holder), and turned my own conical flash hider on the lathe. I guess there is nothing new under the sun.
I always like Fort Nelson, and the changes to the displays are always nice to see. Still a bit sad the area with the conservation work isn’t on show only more, as I played a small part (very small part), in the court case that recovered one of them
Which area, sorry?
@@jonathanferguson1211 where they used to have the Gerald Bull gun, and now the train, the far end of there used to have an open section where some cannons from the sea were being treated, and many other guns (in the artillery sense) that were in various states, some almost falling apart, some rebuilt but stripped down and it was always interesting to see
@@LiveDonkeyDeadLion Oh of course, sorry. Yes, it was nice to be able to see that but the whole area badly needed a tidyup.
@@jonathanferguson1211 the whole place did back then, and now it looks great. Although I do miss the the shooting gallery game with the Bren and Lee Enfield
That actually looks like a nifty little weapon. Looks handy. Probably deals with all the usual problems of a short barreled AR platform (especially in the early days), but would be a relief to have if you suddenly found yourself somewhere you don't want to be. At least better than just the standard 1911 with an extra mag or something.
May I ask what the indexing method is for the stock interfacing with the buffer tube? A standard A1 buffer tube would have small flats at the tip with a threaded hole so theoretically the welded steel or aluminum stock portion could index on those flats but the flats may not always end up in the same orientation from rifle to rifle. Cheers!
Not sure if you have already covered the AR7 'survival rifle' which went through so many variants and is still produced by Henry, but it would make a good companion feature to this. Come to think of it, could you do a short series based on the concept of different 'survival' style weapons created for military applications? What did/do other nations create in the way of compact firearms for aircrew or other units that may require a 'bug out' gun? What else is in the collection?
My guess on the moderator is that it was intended to protect the shooter rather than to hide from the enemy… Anyone who ever shot a 10 inch 556 knows the amount of concussion and fireballs that come out of the barrel.
I was watching some other videos breaking down different guns and I came to a realization. All the gun racks in the Royal Armouries reference vault seem to be a hodgepodge with different guns seemingly mixed up I came up with an excellent solution to fix that: Sort the rifle racks by national origin and stack them in the row from oldest to newest. Unique examples like the Carcanos rechambered for 8mm, etc... could be stacked in the native national rack but at the end with special notes on their collection tag.
The ejection seats of that time were nothing like modern aircraft ejection seats. Modern ejection seat systems monitor aircraft speed, angle, pitch, yaw, acceleration/deceleration weight of the person in the seat, etc. When a modern ejection seat is fired the ejection seat computer calculates the optimum ejection force, which is just enough for the crewman being ejected to clear the aircraft and no more. The maximum Gs a modern ejection seat can pull is enormous, on the magnitude of 25 Gs. Most ejection events pull less Gs than that to minimize danger to the ejectee. The early style ejection seats had little or no capability for moderating the ejection force so they pretty much went from 0 to 11. At max Gs the crewman can be seriously injured or killed by objects on his person or near him during an ejection event. Those weapons were designed to mitigate against pilot injury during an ejection event. An early example of light-weight pilot survival guns intended for use in the jet age was the Colt Aircrewman which was developed in the early 1950s. The Colt Aircrewman was patterned on Colt's well established snub-nose revolver the difference between the Aircrewman and the standard snub-nose revovlers was in the materials the gun was made from. The Aircrewman was made almost entirely out of aluminum and weighed only 11 ounces. The Airforce issued special low pressure .38 spl loads for the gun. Unfortunately many of the Air Force personnel who were issued the guns did not heed the warnings and would fire the gun with standard .38 loads. Eventually the Air Force recalled most the guns and destroyed them.
I was hoping you could maybe answer a question I had regarding the L85 and the Theatre Entry Standard model. So I've seen two versions of it, one where it's just the Daniel Defense forend and one which also has a rail on the upper receiver. I was wondering if the railed upper receiver is a whole new unit or is it simply a rail slotted into the dovetail?
Pilots are very valuable personnel and would almost certainly be high value POW's if captured, I would speculate that most pilots would surrender rather than get into a firefight. Wild animals and such could be a concern however
For some reason a survival CAR 15 Reminds me of Arma Cold War Assault even though they used the XM177E1 as a survival rifle for pilots.
Side by side comparisons are very appriciated. That gun is so much shorter than the normal pattern.
Apparently these types of suppressors on the various M16 versions weren't to suppress the noise, just make it slightly quieter, to make it sound like a rifle. Such a short barrel has a lot different sound signature than a full sized M16 with a 20" barrel, but the suppressor/hider takes the decibel level down enough so it mimics a rifle noise, something that ground troops, not say, a special forces squad, or downed aircrew, would have.
Great information as usual from Jonathan Ferguson, The Official British compliment to Ian McCollum (insert further official titles) ... I wonder if this predated enough R&D time of the carbine length buffer tube and assembly, so a rifle length buffer was the go to proven design already in production so that's what determined the oddly long stock length? 🤔 I think the short rod guided stock was being used because only round buffer tubes existed at that point, although shorter and with shorter buffer weights and neccessary springs... I'm sure tooling up to produce a short buffer with the lower rectangular car stock guiding rail was quite the manufacturing change from a simple round tube which could easily be literally turned down instead of what I assume became quite the milling process in comparison... But I'm 100% just guessing 🤷♂️👍
Is there anyway Jonathan can do an in depth video of the Cei-Rigotti?
I'd be interested in more on .22 Caliber survival weapons.
Not an air crew but it makes sense to have something with a telescoping stock and then let the barrel fold to the side if you ask me
The Lee bolt-action and 10-round magazine capacity enabled a well-trained rifleman to perform the "mad minute" firing 20 to 30 aimed rounds in 60 seconds, making the Lee-Enfield the fastest military bolt-action rifle of the day. The Lee-Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of the British Armed Forces from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957. (Wikipedia) How effective was this rifle by WW1 and WW2?
Will you cover the current break down version they have in the current survival packs?
The muzzle device is more akin to an expansion chamber to increase dwell time. It would aid in reliability.
I believe it would have that effect, yes (like the booster on the AKS-74U) - but that was not its primary, stated purpose. As I say - Colt themselves called it a "sound and flash moderator".
I assume the gas system is the length of the barrel and is part of the gas block. if so, I'd assume the suppressor is mostly there to increase back pressure for reliable functioning, as was on the home-built dissipators. Sound suppression is probably an intention as well though.
You can do that to any ar pattern rifle. Nicer, and easier, with captive pins, bùt hey! 😊 edit. Thanks Jonathan, for pocinting out the Armalite angle.....extra edit...! Maybe the silencer was found to be necessary for reliable cycling?
I am amazed how Jonathan Asallways, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK, which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history keeps finding these.
I suspect he digs through his collection of thousands of weapons…🤔
*iconic
Loaded magazine inside the weapon wouldn't be a great idea in a crash that could comprise the geometry of the rounds inside, they could pop out, get stuck under the bolt and jam it too. Keeping the components separate gives them wiggle room to move with the impact.
There's a compromise to that as well. The German Paras at Crete jumped without a primary weapon, their rifles and heavy weapons being dropped in separate canisters, which were blown away from each other causing a disastrous outcome for the German Paras, the little fighting done by the Germans being mostly pistol and grenade s. Dropping things separate from each other doubles the possibility that one item is completely lost, and in this case both items must be present for the tool to function.
@@CharlieBarkinTheDog I'm not saying the components need to be in separate cases but inside a single case. A good folding/hot swap design on an AR-15 will still take up some space, an inserted magazine will stick out like a sore thumb and having those magazines stowed under the handguard or any other area that a form fitting case would allow means it would still be close by, easy to inspect for damage and use.
Love to know the whole story of that exact rifle. How would a niche experimental get into the hands of the general public.
Would the increase of back preassure from the "silencer" benefit the reliability of a short barreld 5.56. Like the Krinkovs muzzle device.
Considering how close to the muzzle the gasblock is, it might be the real reason for it to begin with, with added bonus of flash and sound suppression.
I suppose this would be stored in the seat pack with the magazine unloaded to save the spring?
I have seen photographs of SAS troopers on Jungle Training in Belize with CAR 15 short barrel carbines and underslung M203 grenade launchers. Do you know which model this was? It would have been early 1970s I believe.
The D-Day exhibition sounds to be something I would really like to see. I am not in Blighty so....no go.
The muzzle "moderator" is also there most likely so the user's ears aren't getting obliterated by such a short barreled rifle. They had tons of issues with the short carbines back in the day being too nasty to use for common use.
"But AR stands for Armalite and was designed to only shoot semiautomatic!" Thanks for helping to debunk the fudd lore.
The AR always stood for Armalite..The original full auto firearms were AR15's..Then Armalite sold the rights to Colt who first used the AR15 designation..When the military officially adopted the AR15 it became the M16..Then in 1964 Colt made the civilian semi auto AR15..They used the original designation for their civilian model.. So yes, the original full auto military rifle was called the AR15..
AR does stand for Armalite, and I have not heard 1 person say it was designed to fire semi auto. What people say is that the firearm that is widely available is semi auto. Saying it was designed to shoot semi auto is not even fudd lore because no one says that. Now if you want to get technical the design came from the AR10, which was 100% semi auto very early on. The military requested it to be full auto, and in Stoners own words, the gun was still a hand full even with the huge comp he throw on to tame the recoil. The design was scaled down and narrowed HEAVY from civilian varmint rifles. The companies involved with ammo made similar rounds for shooting rabbits. They basically made the gun more effective by making it weaker, less power, lighter, more ammo. I’m not sure why the anti gun lore is that it’s “high powered”
I cannot believe someone would turn in such a beautiful and even historical piece like that willingly. What the hell is wrong with people
That's the weapon Big Boss used to dispatch The Boss
Looks like they just used a regular rifle length buffer tube. With that, I'd prefer the standard A1 buttstock because then you'd have a place to keep a pack or two of Skittles (In the cleaning kit storage)
The XM177E1 had a flash suppressor. The XM177E2 extended the barrel and changed the suppressor to quiet the weapon down some is what I understand. I could be wrong. A few years have passed and my memory is not what it once was.
I wonder if the aircrew of F-111s got anything different where you have the entire cockpit module eject to safety you'd have a lot more room for storage of survival supplies and weapons
F-111 standard issues ejection equipment was an M-2 & a bazooka.
How to cool barrel chamber?
Why not trim down the carry handle? Maybe some vent holes in the grip.
I think the moderator is mostly to increase back pressure for improved reliability
I would love to build one up. Just finding erverthing other then the receiver.
Need a video about the L22
I like the earlier stock that looks like a cut up a1 stock
I think it literally is just an A1(or M16) full length buffer tube with a buttplate slipped over the end.
5:56 Similar to Galil nomenclature in which "AR" actually does stand for "Assault Rifle." "Automatic" has a broader definition.
AR stands for Armalite
@@massmike11 In Armalite nomenclature, sure, but not in Galil or Bulgarian AK nomenclature. For example, Galil AR, Galil ARM, Galil MAR, Galil SAR, etc.
Where can I get that Stock??
1:11 So that's what seemed wrong to me! 3:39 ...If not for the somewhat comical carry-handle. 4:42 It seems that this attitude is shared in some circles, judging by the recent adoptions in this niche. 6:50 That wouldn't stabilize the bullet enough with this barrel length, would it? 7:47 I wonder what prevented the designers from making this muzzle device as wide as the foregrip to increase it effectiveness? Were there observable negative side-effects like increased backpressure that prevented them from going that route? _PS_ Also, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm starting to see a theme here. Last time there was a small gun with excessively large suppressor (if I recall correctly, M10's suppressor was designed for 7.62×51 initially), now there's a not so small gun with a tiny suppressor. Does that mean that the next one will be kind of in the middle on both counts?
Only my subconscious knows the answer to that one :D
@@jonathanferguson1211 I wasn't expecting you to give up any cards here, so to speak; after all, that would kill the fun of guessing.😀
Made me think of Clark in the book (Not tv show) of Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.
You forgot to introduce yourself as Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in the UK