Beltfed Madsen LMG: When the Weird Gets Weirder

2023 ж. 14 Қар.
191 699 Рет қаралды

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First produced in 1902, the Madsen was one of the first practical light machine guns, and it remained in production for nearly 5 decades. The Madsen system is a rather unusual recoil-operated mechanism with a tilting bolt and a remarkably short receiver. The most unusual variation on the system was the belt-fed, high rate-of-fire pattern developed for aircraft use. This program was initiated by the Danish Air Force in the mid 1920s, and several different patterns were built by the time World War Two erupted.
The model here was actually a pattern that was under production for Hungary when German forces occupied Denmark. Taking over the factory, they continued the production and the guns went to the Luftwaffe for airfield defensive use.
In order to use disintegrating links instead of box magazines, some very odd modifications had to be made to the Madsen. One set of feed packs are actually built into the belt bo itself, and the cannot function without the box attached. The only feasible path for empty link ejection is directly upwards, and so a horseshoe-shaped link chute was attached to the top cover, guiding link up over 7th gun and dropping them out the right side of the receiver. Very weird!
While several thousand of these were made under German occupation, very few survive today and they are extremely rare on the US registry.
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  • Get Entered to WIN this incredible Madsen LMG! go.getenteredtowin.com/forgottenweapons DEADLINE to ENTER is 11/24/23 @ 11:59pm (PST).

    @ForgottenWeapons@ForgottenWeapons5 ай бұрын
    • Give IMBEL IA2 now

      @johntory8330@johntory83305 ай бұрын
    • Will there be any future prize draws for people outside of the USA?

      @TammoKorsai@TammoKorsai5 ай бұрын
    • Your timing on this couldn't have been better! I've spent a significant amount of time in the last 2 weeks trying to find any information on this model a rare gun that I could find. For the first several days I was actually convinced it never existed until I finally found old black and white photographs.

      @Mygg_Jeager@Mygg_Jeager5 ай бұрын
    • No, sorry.

      @ForgottenWeapons@ForgottenWeapons5 ай бұрын
    • @@ForgottenWeapons NOOOOOOOOOOOO

      @johntory8330@johntory83305 ай бұрын
  • In case anyone was wondering about the term "grabby arms", it's a genuine translation of a real Danish firearms-related term. One of the reasons Danish weapons have been so successful over the years, is that we make it damn near impossible for the enemy to reverse engineer our guns, by filling them up with grabby arms, dingle swingers, counter-threaded stubby cams, crescent-flippers and that bendy thing nobody can remember the name of so they just hold up a thumb and wiggle it around a bit to describe which doohicky thingamajic they're talking about (every Dansih armorer does this, I swear). We're so good at this, that we've managed to confuse even ourselves to the point where we no longer have any serious arms manufacturing going on in the country. So yeah, try invading us _now_ and see what happens...

    @mace8873@mace88735 ай бұрын
    • Well, you have got LEGO...

      @TheSrSunday@TheSrSunday5 ай бұрын
    • @@TheSrSunday After we signed the Ottawa Treaty, we _also_ ramped up production of Lego bricks, and became suspiciously adept at tactically stealing the boots of invading forces. Coincidence? I'll let you be the judge of that...

      @mace8873@mace88735 ай бұрын
    • For the sme reason we invented the EDB-stik for suddbin offices specifically to charge computers. So in the case the Russians invade us they cant charge their computers. Ha ha, jokes on them. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#/media/File%3ADanishComputerPlugSocket-DK-2-5a.png

      @tekha1977@tekha19775 ай бұрын
    • Explosions of peace?

      @robertkubrick3738@robertkubrick37385 ай бұрын
    • @@robertkubrick3738 Impossible to say for certain, but whatever the consequence, I'm pretty sure it'll be _most_ confusing for everyone involved.

      @mace8873@mace88735 ай бұрын
  • _finally sees a gun to rival the visual complexity of a G11_ "Several thousand were acquired by the Luftwaffe" Ah, makes sense

    @whitestarlinegoodnight@whitestarlinegoodnight5 ай бұрын
    • The Washington Generals of the history channel.

      @Daniel-Weaver@Daniel-Weaver5 ай бұрын
    • Primitive german space magicians recognized the need for a cooky wacky gun

      @noturfather1106@noturfather11065 ай бұрын
    • How in the hell is almost perfect geometric rectangle visually complex? Mechanically, sure, but in reality you are hard pressed to find visually more simple gun than what G11 looks like.

      @anteshell@anteshell5 ай бұрын
    • @@anteshell Until you open it.

      @maxwell120L55@maxwell120L555 ай бұрын
    • @@maxwell120L55 yeah, exactly as I said: "mechanically".

      @anteshell@anteshell5 ай бұрын
  • That sucker would keep a whole team of reverse-engineers busy thru an entire war 😂

    @schiltronmunitions3820@schiltronmunitions38205 ай бұрын
    • That is probably why you don’t see a Chinese knock off of a Madsen.😂

      @tekha1977@tekha19775 ай бұрын
    • @@tekha1977 We actually made the Madson back to the Qing before they collapsed, hand-fitted of course.

      @mcnodtrooper6413@mcnodtrooper64134 ай бұрын
    • @@mcnodtrooper6413 And depsite having a perfect example the chinese never managed to reverse engineer the Madsen LMG. That shows how overly complicated this thing is.

      @tekha1977@tekha19774 ай бұрын
    • ​@@tekha1977they did, did you not read they are literally produced to small number?

      @alexanderrohaj4794@alexanderrohaj47943 ай бұрын
  • It is always amazing to me how over complicated early weapon systems were. It is the simplification of firearms that has always captivated me. Making a spring perform 2 functions or ditching a cam because it is not necessary. Reducing weight by stamping rather than milling parts. Most guns today do not have superflous gadgets and gizmos on them. Back when the Madsen was made they were charting new areas of design. They were teaching themselves how to solve problems no one had considered before. Their descendents in the weapons industry simply needed to focus on improving and simplification.

    @bobbressi5414@bobbressi54145 ай бұрын
    • My thoughts are: it's because many artisinal aspects survived in design and production a long way after the advent of mass production. The designers wanted to create an excellent product that they were proud of. They, and the armies that used them, didn't realise three cheap okay-ish submachineguns were a lot more useful militarily than one expensive really excellent gun. They wanted the best even though the best wasn't always the best. 😄

      @puppetguy8726@puppetguy87265 ай бұрын
    • Simplicity is genius, as they say.

      @Mygg_Jeager@Mygg_Jeager5 ай бұрын
    • ​​@@puppetguy8726 That kind of thinking only really works for Mass peasant armies like the Red Army. When you have a small core of professional and elite soldiers, like the Waffen SS, the US Army Rangers, the US Marines, and any current standing NATO Army, quality and reliability becomes very important. Conversely, with the red army, more weapons were lost in the field than ever sent to shop for maintenance. It's mass production was more important than even being capable of repair.

      @Mygg_Jeager@Mygg_Jeager5 ай бұрын
    • I was thinking about that too, the action of the Madsen is simple, the other parts... Aren't lol, even more when you belt fed it, that could've been done way simpler actually, a gas operated Madsen with a different feed system, something more akin to the MG42, on the side, would be quite a gun.

      @Rrgr5@Rrgr55 ай бұрын
    • @@puppetguy8726 The cheap okay-ish weapons tend to be very reliable. Often the realization was that you don't actually need an SMG to have perfect accuracy, because if that ever matters then you're using it wrong.

      @alltat@alltat5 ай бұрын
  • Regarding the Fl.-number above the serial number: The Luftwaffe had a special system to catalog their inventory during WW2. It was unique to the Luftwaffe and not in use with other branches of the German military. The system was based on numbers with an abbreviated prefix, very often Fl. or Ln. Fl. stands for "Flieg" (Flight) and Ln. for "Luftnachrichten" (literally Air-messages, basically radio equipment for planes). There were other prefixes as well but these two are the most common. The numbers were used for equipment that wasn't in use and therefore not already cataloged by the Heer or the Marine. So it makes sense for an Fl-number to be on this gun since the Luftwaffe were the only ones to use it. One such number could stand for anything from an entire weapon system to a single mounting plate or something like that. Tl;dr: It's a Luftwaffe inventory number.

    @vibeslide@vibeslide5 ай бұрын
    • that sounds about right for Goering's flying insanity circus.

      @sawyerawr5783@sawyerawr57834 ай бұрын
    • Thanks for your explanation, I have one correction though. The ,Wehrmacht' was not the army, it was the armed forces. Its three branches are called: Heer (army), Kriegsmarine (war navy) and Luftwaffe (air force).

      @karlwilhelmmeinert7592@karlwilhelmmeinert75924 ай бұрын
    • @@karlwilhelmmeinert7592 You're totally right, thanks for the correction.

      @vibeslide@vibeslide4 ай бұрын
  • *Excited shrieking in Portuguese intensifies somewhere around Rio*

    @krissteel4074@krissteel40745 ай бұрын
    • BOOOOORRRRAAAAAA PORRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

      @luanfonseca5179@luanfonseca51795 ай бұрын
    • That was a bad attempt at a joke. Stay in your lane.

      @nathanworthington4451@nathanworthington44515 ай бұрын
    • @@nathanworthington4451 calm down buddy

      @theowlfromduolingo7982@theowlfromduolingo79825 ай бұрын
    • I hope you guys that he's in his own gun show room every show no big deal just saying

      @Hondabond35@Hondabond355 ай бұрын
    • Hello

      @gabrielsantosbastos5257@gabrielsantosbastos52575 ай бұрын
  • It reminds me of something the Fallout developers would try to pass off as an assault rifle 😂

    @chrisp99999@chrisp999995 ай бұрын
    • say what you will I really like the fallout 4 machine gun's design, its wonderfully stylized and retro-punky and fits the aesthetic of the game really well. the only issue it has is the last minute rename of it to "Assault Rifle" all the files and technical stuff refer to it as a machine gun, the assault rifle folder goes to an unused Chinese assault rifle.

      @Pigness7@Pigness75 ай бұрын
    • Lol all it needs is a nonfunctional water jacket around the barrel.

      @kawaiiarchive357@kawaiiarchive3575 ай бұрын
    • ​@@Pigness7i think the suppressor still has .50 cal on it, even in fallout 76

      @jmjedi923@jmjedi9235 ай бұрын
    • @@Pigness7 But the Lewis gun already exists in the Fallout Universe so there is no reason to make a weird implausible fake version of it. It already looks like a lasergun so you don't need to modify it in any way.

      @TheBuilderize@TheBuilderize5 ай бұрын
    • yeh terrible, the lmg "assault rifle" cannot make its mind up if its a water jacket for a vickers or a lewis gun air induction jacket lol, why not just employ one gun nerd next time bethesda ffs

      @callumherbert2708@callumherbert27085 ай бұрын
  • "How complicated should the gun be?" "Yes."

    @capnstewy55@capnstewy555 ай бұрын
    • True, but still simpler than the Breda 30.

      @JuanPabloSenaPera@JuanPabloSenaPera5 ай бұрын
    • "as much as possible; also the 'belt magazine box' thing"

      @MesaperProductions@MesaperProductions5 ай бұрын
  • As a reloader, I greatly appreciate the effort they put into controlling the ejection.

    @DonziGT230@DonziGT2305 ай бұрын
    • Back in the day, Danish military used to use a catcher for empty cases mounted to the G3.

      @herosstratos@herosstratos5 ай бұрын
    • @@herosstratos One I've always wanted to see is a Japanese LMG I heard about years ago. Due to their shortage of metals, it apparently took rounds from it's feed tray, fired them, then put the casings back in the tray so they could be re-used. I can never remember the name of it, and apparently it wasn't very reliable but it's a mechanism I'd love to see.

      @brolohalflemming7042@brolohalflemming70425 ай бұрын
    • @@brolohalflemming7042ahhhhhh I swear I just watched a FW video on it too. 20 round feed strips

      @16bittech@16bittech5 ай бұрын
    • @@brolohalflemming7042I did! Breda M37 kzhead.info/sun/f86OYtWCgZqXeGw/bejne.html

      @16bittech@16bittech5 ай бұрын
    • ​@@brolohalflemming7042Breda 37, IIRC. Not sure if any of the Japanese Hotchkis derivatives had the same functionality. IMHO, if you're worried about brass costs, the Soviet way of just using lacquered mild steel cases is the right way to go.

      @hailexiao2770@hailexiao27705 ай бұрын
  • The old saying "where there's a will there's a way" perfectly describes the existence of this firearm.

    @randyhavard6084@randyhavard60845 ай бұрын
    • Strangely enough that was the saying of the famous Danish jewellery thief Carl August Lorentzen. He wrote it over the entrance to his 18 meter long tunnel out of prison, that he escaped through on Christmas eve 1949.

      @andersjjensen@andersjjensen5 ай бұрын
  • *takes a shot of scnapps* Hey guys, what if we made it a belt-fed?

    @KevinCreighton@KevinCreighton5 ай бұрын
    • In Danish it's just "snaps", or akvavit if you want to be fancy.

      @Nukle0n@Nukle0n5 ай бұрын
    • And put it on some reproduction, reinactor Viking ship railings! hehe

      @Dack.howaboutyou@Dack.howaboutyou5 ай бұрын
    • Needs to be dual feed for AP and HE selectable with another belt box and a couple of rotors.

      @robertkubrick3738@robertkubrick37385 ай бұрын
  • It's nice to see oddities like this - the Ethiopian guns have some very cool history, but are mostly mechanically unremarkable - this is a hilariously complex and strange way to deal with a problem, but much how if all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, if all you have is Madsens, then the pressure to develop that further, instead of starting again, must be very strong. Fair play to the designers for getting this to work reliably - you've built something so bizarre and complex even Ian won't take it apart for fear of not being able to reassemble it, but it passes military reliability tests? That's impressive!

    @richardbanks2669@richardbanks26695 ай бұрын
    • Small Danish entrepreneurial thinking, of the time, in a nutshell. The less retooling the better. But janky unreliable crap is unacceptable too so complexity becomes an art form. It's funny, though, that if you look at the design philosophies that made Danish furniture all the rage in the 50s you still see the same thinking, but in reverse: To avoid complicated tooling there was an enormous focus on making simplistic shapes look clean, harmonic and deliberate. And it paid off, as it sparked an entire industry of small volume, but rather pricy, functional ornaments that sell internationally and retain their value very well.

      @andersjjensen@andersjjensen5 ай бұрын
  • I was very curious how they could have converted it into a belt feed, but I never would have guessed this. It's like the extinct megafauna ancestor of the Boberg pistol.

    @jonp8015@jonp80155 ай бұрын
  • That has got to be one of the best belt feed systems I've ever seen, genius engineering.

    @Malthus@Malthus5 ай бұрын
    • “best” is somewhat subjective in a case like this.

      @guaporeturns9472@guaporeturns94725 ай бұрын
    • @@guaporeturns9472 "genius" also.

      @blshouse@blshouse5 ай бұрын
    • @@blshouse true

      @guaporeturns9472@guaporeturns94725 ай бұрын
    • Denmark may be technically a small country on the map, but the history of that territory is huge and full of brilliance. :D This vid makes me really want to get at least one of these to mount on my reproduction Viking ship, or maybe have as an option to pop on a weapon mount somewhere on my my Neo-Norseman-Airship gondola.. or maybe one of the fighters docked there. :D

      @Dack.howaboutyou@Dack.howaboutyou5 ай бұрын
    • @@guaporeturns9472 Mind you I haven't seen that many belt fed systems to start out with. ^^' Still enjoyed the hell out of finding out how this mechanism works...my main question during the video was: "so where do the links go?"(I'm not that smart).😆

      @Malthus@Malthus5 ай бұрын
  • Madsen made a scaled up anti aircraft cannon in 20mm. They also made an aircraft mounted 23mm cannon with belt feed. US evaluated but ultimately rejected them. Some were mounted under the wings of Curtiss P-36s in Chinese service.

    @johnyricco1220@johnyricco12205 ай бұрын
  • The extractors pulling the cartridge back may look weird, but there's a good reason for it. It's acting as a delinker to extract the cartridges from the belt. Browning machine guns do something similar, though the Browning design looks simpler. The Brownings pass the belt over the chamber, the bolt pulls the cartridges backward out of the belt, then drop them down before inserting them into the chamber. This Madsen design passes the belt up beside the chamber, extracts the cartridges backward and moves them sideways before inserting them. However, the Madsen doesn't have to pull the cartridges as far, as the belt only partially overlaps the chamber and the extractors aren't on the bolt.

    @dwaneanderson8039@dwaneanderson80395 ай бұрын
  • What’s not obvious is what Ian calls the belt box is actually a belt magazine. Unlike most (all?) belt-fed MG’s where you have to manually insert the belt into the feed mechanism, (mount box-open feed tray-put belt into feed prawls, cycle the charging handle), a two man crew might take 6-10 seconds commence fire. This is functionally a magazine. With this system you attach the magazine box, cycle the charging handle and commence firing in maybe 2-3 seconds. This is a real advantage for AA machine guns where engagement times are short.

    @alaretse@alaretse5 ай бұрын
  • Ian never fails to take an extremely complex mechanism and break it down so someone who knows relatively little about the mechanics beyond a fascination can follow along without much of a headache. Makes taking a look at some of these truly interesting historical weapons that much more fun!

    @nottherealahsoka840@nottherealahsoka8405 ай бұрын
    • The "layman's summary" type phrases like "the easiest way to think about it is to consider it a full-auto adaptation of the Martini-Henry" go a long way as well. This sort of "practical" description is not only helpful in a straightforward way, but being able to describe something complex in simple terms like this is an excellent sign of someone understanding the subject at hand very well.

      @BleedingUranium@BleedingUranium5 ай бұрын
  • I hope one day that you can make a video on the 23 mm madsen. Info is REALLY scarce about it on the internet.

    @puppetguy8726@puppetguy87265 ай бұрын
    • 20 or 23 mm THAT's thé question...

      @dallesamllhals9161@dallesamllhals91615 ай бұрын
    • @@dallesamllhals9161 As I've understood it the 20 mm Madsen is the ground/vehicle based AA/AT gun while the 23 mm was for aircraft, but I really don't know. Love for Ian to do a video on that as well though.

      @puppetguy8726@puppetguy87265 ай бұрын
    • I know from Danish Resistance literature that DISA (or at the time Dansk Riffel Syndikat) on their factory in Copenhagen Free-port in the 1940' ies produced quad-20 mm on ground mounting for AA. This was one of the 2-3 Danish factories that the Allies most wanted to see 'decommissioned' by the resistance. The blowing up of the DISA factory was one of the biggest and most spectacular sabotages in Denmark during the entire war. So the Allied considered the Madsen guns VERY important!

      @ulrikschackmeyer848@ulrikschackmeyer8485 ай бұрын
    • @@puppetguy8726 Os' mig aka Metoo.

      @dallesamllhals9161@dallesamllhals91615 ай бұрын
    • @@ulrikschackmeyer848 Mnjaah, det er der så lige et par meninger om! Mayhaps..and a few+ disagreements about that! The entire war...really? NEJ!

      @dallesamllhals9161@dallesamllhals91615 ай бұрын
  • A point not brought out in the video or (so far) in the comments is that these pull-the-round-from-the-belt feed systems allow the gun to handle rimmed (e.g. 8x58mmR, 6.5x53mmR, 8x56mmR) as well as rimless cartridges with equal ease.

    @joelvca@joelvca5 ай бұрын
  • Every time you do a video on the inner workings of a Madsen i'm half expecting there to be a swabbing or priming step shown. It's like they made a fully automatic gun by watching someone load and fire a single shot gun repeatedly, then made a seperate mechanism for copying each action the shooter took, then somehow crammed them all into the same case without any of the parts colliding. It's especially fun to alternate viewing Madsens with ww2 soviet submachine guns.

    @Eserchie@Eserchie5 ай бұрын
  • Star Wars prop dept. immediately orders 50 coffee mugs and starts googling "Belt-fed Madsen"

    @lukyphill@lukyphill5 ай бұрын
  • I love when Iain is super excited about a strange weapon :)

    @Nikosab92@Nikosab925 ай бұрын
    • He likes weird shit .

      @Daniel-Weaver@Daniel-Weaver5 ай бұрын
    • present day present time

      @uwu_smeg@uwu_smeg5 ай бұрын
    • ​@@uwu_smegand you don't seem to understand...

      @aesthetic-ds2mt@aesthetic-ds2mt5 ай бұрын
  • No wonder Germany attacked Denmark, they couldnt let it slide that another country had a more complicated gun than them

    @thrifikionor7603@thrifikionor76035 ай бұрын
  • This weapon isn't forgotten. It has been erased from history. This channel is awesome.

    @Losgansosalvajes@Losgansosalvajes5 ай бұрын
    • HRMPH! From Denmark!

      @dallesamllhals9161@dallesamllhals91615 ай бұрын
  • I love how complicated old firearms can be! And they work magnificently!

    @danilonakazone386@danilonakazone3865 ай бұрын
    • Some do work, yes.

      @TheSrSunday@TheSrSunday5 ай бұрын
  • Investment castings ( and their moulds!), stampings, different steel grades, so many fixtures. This was before CNC and CADCAM. Hand drawings, manual jigs. Lists and reports without Excel . Hats off !

    @woutergijs5246@woutergijs52465 ай бұрын
    • Pre-digital engineering is always such a mindbogglingly impressive thing, be it mechanical things, buildings, etc.

      @BleedingUranium@BleedingUranium5 ай бұрын
  • The MG Ian Hogg described as the equivalent of two lifts operating in the same shaft :)

    @shanerogers24@shanerogers245 ай бұрын
    • Ian Hogg had an amazing turn of phrase. I had a copy of his book on WW2 artillery a long while ago, and I treasure his quips about some of the weirder or less suitable designs.

      @christopherreed4723@christopherreed47235 ай бұрын
  • The ejection port looks like a fun little slide for the brass to play on.

    @kawaiiarchive357@kawaiiarchive3575 ай бұрын
  • And I thought the insides of a sewing machine were complicated !

    @Kevin-mx1vi@Kevin-mx1vi5 ай бұрын
  • I know a hand-cranked drill when I see one.

    @gustavgnoettgen@gustavgnoettgen5 ай бұрын
  • I wonder if any prototypes of the DISA (Madsen company) DISA Karabin (assault rifle prototype from 1960s using a 7x36mm cartridge) have survived to this day. There is also the Weibel M/32 using a 7x44mm cartridge developed by DISA in the early 1930s to replace the Madsen LMG. There seems to be couple of examples of the Weibel M/32 in Danish museums.

    @hendriktonisson2915@hendriktonisson29155 ай бұрын
    • Yes there supposedly is. In the defence museum in Aalborg.

      @puppetguy8726@puppetguy87265 ай бұрын
    • Wasn't Weibel meant to supplement the Madsen rather than replace it?

      @puppetguy8726@puppetguy87265 ай бұрын
    • @@puppetguy8726 Not sure. There's not much info on the internet about the Weibel M/32. You might be correct about that.

      @hendriktonisson2915@hendriktonisson29155 ай бұрын
  • Whenever I see the Madsen I think about how it looks like a budget video game "Machine gun" model, except real.

    @TheLegendsmith@TheLegendsmith5 ай бұрын
  • Royal Armories recently did a video on a Harston patent device to turn a Martini Henry into a repeater. It looks suspiciously like the feed system of a standard Madsen. Harston approached the UK war office about a year before the first early Madsen rifle would appear (1887/1888).

    @JimmySailor@JimmySailor5 ай бұрын
  • If ever there was a gun that needed a C&Rsenal 3D view treatment...

    @BSJ-VT@BSJ-VT5 ай бұрын
  • I’ve always thought the Madsen system would have made an excellent auto-cannon. Very short receiver and recoil operated. But I never knew how it could be made belt fed, I guess the answer is: Not Easily. Still, very cool.

    @JimmySailor@JimmySailor5 ай бұрын
    • Anything can be made belt-fed if you try hard enough. :D On a similar note, I believe the Japanese were the only ones to manage a belt-fed 20mm Oerlikon, with their later Type 99 variants.

      @BleedingUranium@BleedingUranium5 ай бұрын
    • Check out the British design of a belt feeder for the Hispano cannon. It replaces the magazine and is literally a clockwork mechanism, being powered by a large clock spring that gets re-wound by the gun recoiling...

      @nerd1000ify@nerd1000ify3 ай бұрын
  • The Madsen family as a whole can best be described as "this should not work as well as it does." The base Madsen is already a terrifyingly complex design, and this is space magic to surpass the G11, but it just works.

    @asteroidrules@asteroidrules5 ай бұрын
  • JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT WW2 GUNS. Ian be like: hold my MP5.

    @FRIEND_711@FRIEND_7115 ай бұрын
    • Its like dragon ball you never what the final transformation of bizarre in forgotten weapons

      @miguelgameiro8063@miguelgameiro80635 ай бұрын
  • Intersting look into a rather peculiar piece of Danish arms history. Just a little tip: the d in Madsen is silent. So, to anglophones, it should be read something like "massen"

    @biornr.4031@biornr.40315 ай бұрын
    • Ian does point out the Danish pronounciation in most videos about the gun. :)

      @BleedingUranium@BleedingUranium5 ай бұрын
    • @@BleedingUranium just checked, and you seem to be right. But that just leaves me wondering why he keeps saying it incorrectly, when he has shown both knowledge of and ability to say it properly. It's not some deliberately hard name like brzęczyszczykiewicz or something

      @biornr.4031@biornr.40315 ай бұрын
  • I love it when Ian pulls out the weirdest of the weird.

    @NikeaTiber@NikeaTiber5 күн бұрын
  • I feel like a belt fed infantry Madsen would put a browning to shame well before it lost its water jacket and got a stock.

    @mandrakevermilyea7488@mandrakevermilyea74885 ай бұрын
  • The boys in Brazil are gonna love this one.

    @coreybenson3122@coreybenson31225 ай бұрын
  • Best description I've ever heard of the Madsens: They really had no right working as well as they did considering the fact that it was bloody amazing that they worked at all!

    @user-nh3wl3zn8y@user-nh3wl3zn8y5 ай бұрын
  • These MGs, both in 7.65x54 and 11.35x62 calibers, were standard equipment for many of the aircraft used by the Argentine Army Air Service during the 1930/40s, particularly with our "beggar's choice" fighter, the Curtiss Hawk 75O. The larger caliber one is exactly the same design, just a tad longer and beefier. I think there's one mounted on a TOE or Scarff ring and fitted with a French gun camera at the Air Force Museum. Thanks for sharing, Ian. It's always a pleasure to watch a video with some "Madsen Madness" in it. Cheers.

    @The_Modeling_Underdog@The_Modeling_Underdog5 ай бұрын
  • earlier today i was talking to some friends about how weird the madsen was... this is different

    @xirensixseo@xirensixseo5 ай бұрын
  • Fl = Flugzeug (aircraft) anything bought by the Luftwaffe had to be an aeroplane, and was thus given an aeroplane number. An interesting side-note is that Leica cameras used by the Luftwaffe can be partially identified if such Fl numbers match. The patent company, Leitz, made binoculars etc. and even made the night sights on the WWI Gewehr 98 you discussed in another video.

    @user-hx7xk3hl9v@user-hx7xk3hl9v5 ай бұрын
  • "Hey Ian, are you going to do a video on how to strip and reassembled???" Ian: "Fuck no"

    @SnoopReddogg@SnoopReddogg5 ай бұрын
  • Love how weapons systems get more and more silly and complicated between generations. Now we've got freefloat handguards for equipping lasers and lights, flat tops for optics, and tunable gas settings for running suppressed in an AR, but when the M16 was newer the modifications were more bolt-on, with simple clamps mounting flashlights and optics on gooseneck mounts

    @stevebutters306@stevebutters3065 ай бұрын
  • Great timing! I was just looking for information on belt fed madsens.

    @franklynotyourbussiness9401@franklynotyourbussiness94015 ай бұрын
  • Kraut Space Magic Alpha! Someone looked at this thinking "This is the most convoluted complicated thing ever!" and HK said "Hold my beer stein!"

    @rednecktek2873@rednecktek28735 ай бұрын
  • I always knew that gun had potential, nice find Ian!

    @gabrielsantosbastos5257@gabrielsantosbastos52575 ай бұрын
  • It's really wild that the belt feed mechanism makes the Madsen seems almost... elegant.

    @jef_3006@jef_30065 ай бұрын
  • That's a beautiful mousetrap.

    @MSUbulldog21@MSUbulldog215 ай бұрын
  • In My country Argentina, we used them on airceaft in 7.65 and 11.35mm

    @nicolaspeterkin9154@nicolaspeterkin91545 ай бұрын
  • Yeeees! I have been looking forward to a video on this gun for so long!

    @Mattebubben@Mattebubben5 ай бұрын
  • Love it. Thank you Ian for showing us this wonderful gun.

    @stumpythedwarf8712@stumpythedwarf87125 ай бұрын
  • Great to wake up to a new Forgotten Weapons video :)

    @absolutelyNOTchicken@absolutelyNOTchicken5 ай бұрын
  • "Full Auto Martini-Henry" Well I am definitely adding that to the list of Turn-of-the-Century Steampunk Goodness.

    @HellbirdIV@HellbirdIV5 ай бұрын
  • I imagine it jamming in the field and just being like "welp"

    @MiniRPD.@MiniRPD.5 ай бұрын
  • "Simplicity? Where we're going we don't need simplicity!"

    @LUR1FAX@LUR1FAX5 ай бұрын
  • A big thanks to the new owner for letting you film this. But boy would I love to Bruno do a C&Rsenal animation of this belt fed Rube Goldberg contraption's mechanisms :D

    @jonathansmith6050@jonathansmith60505 ай бұрын
  • I could see this gun making a cameo in star wars, if it hasn't already

    @YCCCm7@YCCCm75 ай бұрын
  • This gun looks like it had a run-in with Kel-Tec and their special choo-choo train...

    @nextcaesargaming5469@nextcaesargaming54695 ай бұрын
  • "When the Weird Gets Weirder" - Yes please!

    @joshuarebennack68@joshuarebennack685 ай бұрын
  • Guns to me...I love the weird shite like this, the VZ 52, which I owned never fired was just amazed at the quality. Guns relate to industry and machines and tell the story of industry to me from flintlocks on. Never fired the VZ 52. But did a VZ 52/57. Bit of a regret there. 7.62 X 51 to big for shoulder fired full auto. 7.62 X 39 perfect but range wind issues. I often wonder if 7.62 X 45 could have been the sweet spot between the 2

    @davidleonard1813@davidleonard18135 ай бұрын
    • Remember when those were cheap in the US(80s)…. lots of things were cheap in the 80s.. military surplus guns , old cars , hookers , cocaine…. the list goes on

      @guaporeturns9472@guaporeturns94725 ай бұрын
  • Are you sure it is just one rifle? When you pulled it apart I thought there were several more hiding inside it.

    @TheLobstersoup@TheLobstersoup5 ай бұрын
    • I think that's by design. It may actually be modular. Disassemble it and you can then reassemble it into two standard Madsen LMGs. : )

      @davidcox3076@davidcox30765 ай бұрын
  • It looks like a broom handle Mauser that got assimilated by the Borg.

    @nobodysbusiness87@nobodysbusiness875 ай бұрын
  • The pistol grip looks straight from Polish RPG-40 grenade launcher.

    @poloziki9990@poloziki99905 ай бұрын
  • Thanks for the Video Ian :)

    @CorneliusSchick@CorneliusSchick5 ай бұрын
  • Looks like there's a new winner for 'It's too bad Ian didn't have dummy rounds in this caliber.' Great video Ian, and congratulations to the new owner.

    @manythingslefttobuild@manythingslefttobuild5 ай бұрын
  • Designed before there was a typical LMG layout so they did their own thing. Found it works and lasts well with their quality engineering and production standards. Even better as materials improved. It works fine so why change it? Keep it clean and oiled and your great grandson can still be issued with it. Cheaper in the long run than the opposition. Now my favourite LMG over the L4.

    @johnfisk811@johnfisk8115 ай бұрын
  • Thanks

    @williamjensen4531@williamjensen45315 ай бұрын
  • French Automatic Weaponry from the 1900's up until the 1950's had a sweeping, flowing, sewing-machine style of engineering to them. Given the long history of fabric fabrication in France it is no suprise that their weaponry shared the same styling. Danish weaponry most definately is of the Danish industrial style--Form Follows Function First and Foremost. Strip away the excess, think about how it will be used. Design-->Improve-->Design-->Improve. Thanks again for a great vid!

    @gregbrown4009@gregbrown40095 ай бұрын
    • Except for the Chauchat, which looks like it's trying to be the next motive power for express trains on the Paris-Lyons-Marseilles route.

      @christopherreed4723@christopherreed47235 ай бұрын
    • *CHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGCHUGS ANGRILY*

      @Chaosrain112@Chaosrain1125 ай бұрын
  • It is a marvellous contraption. At the Royal Danish Navy base at Holmen in Copenhagen they have a dual mount version of this that originally was on a pintle mount on a ship :-)

    @mandkbhn@mandkbhn5 ай бұрын
  • Weird and cool. I want that box-fed one.

    @JasonLihani@JasonLihani5 ай бұрын
  • Hi Ian - love your canal ! As a Dane; forgot the "d" - Madsen are in Danish pronunsed Masen.

    @Sonamic@Sonamic5 ай бұрын
  • Elbonian airforce adopts new machine for their ground breaking M2023 Hot-air Balloons

    @yesthecrumbs5806@yesthecrumbs58065 ай бұрын
    • Also fits on the gondola/Viking-ship railing weapon mount fixed slots (for when you want to land on water or make a quick escape pod/lifeboat launch). :D

      @Dack.howaboutyou@Dack.howaboutyou5 ай бұрын
  • I'm reminded of your video on the bullpup pistol during that belt loading system.

    @DanStaal@DanStaal5 ай бұрын
  • Danish made Weapon, excellent

    @Aardvarkdk1@Aardvarkdk15 ай бұрын
  • Perhaps an apt episode title to remark... I think I was your receptionist at a hotel in Zagreb a year ago XD I believe were carrying a storage box and you were very polite during your check-in... or perhaps a check-out. In either case, thank your for you informative videos and for being so nice!

    @thetophat6833@thetophat68335 ай бұрын
  • Something about that feed system reminds me of the DeserTech MDR. The way it pulls a cartridge farther back than the feed way makes me think of the MDR pulling empty cases back into the ejection chute and holding them there until the bolt goes forward again

    @JunkyardBashSteve@JunkyardBashSteve5 ай бұрын
  • Beautiful Danish Engineering!

    @iberiksoderblom@iberiksoderblom5 ай бұрын
  • That thing is wild.

    @Crodmog88@Crodmog885 ай бұрын
  • Ian, Royal Danish Air Force was commisioned in 1950!!!!! The Period you are talking about is when Denmark had 2 Air Corps, one was the Army Air Corps and the other was Navy Air Corps, one for artillery spotting and one for maritime (with floats), they were disbanded in 1940 and several off their pilot fled to England to fly for the Royal Air force, which was the reason for establishment off an Airforce after the war!!!

    @jrnmller1551@jrnmller15515 ай бұрын
  • I always enjoy the weird ones! Thanks!

    @gregbrown4009@gregbrown40095 ай бұрын
  • I absolutely love this - stolt Dansker

    @MaltedBastard@MaltedBastard5 ай бұрын
  • You are right : A FL number is the Luftwaffe part number of a given system. Everything that was fitted on a/c had its own FL number

    @vincentkermorgant@vincentkermorgant5 ай бұрын
  • Very satisfying clunks, clinks, snaps and thunks

    @zxggwrt@zxggwrt5 ай бұрын
  • That is a truly bizarre and wonderful gun instantly near the top of the weirdest forgotten weapons you've come across!:3

    @artfact2@artfact23 ай бұрын
  • The ingenuity! Here I thought that the insides of a G11 were complex, only to be beaten by the _outsides_ of a Danish gun several decades older [insert Todd Howard jokes here.] Then again, this is the country that had lever-action muskets in the late 17th century in combat service (still waiting a video of those Kalthoff repeaters, Ian!)

    @stalhandske9649@stalhandske96495 ай бұрын
  • I absolutely love the little grabby arms which pull the cartridge backwards

    @sirlorax9744@sirlorax97445 ай бұрын
  • That giveaway Madsen is sweet.

    @rays.5764@rays.57645 ай бұрын
  • I've said before and I'll say it again, you can never go wrong with a Madsen!

    @AndreasMadsen@AndreasMadsen5 ай бұрын
  • One of the few times a feed system on a machine gun comes under the heading of...'a face only a mother could love'.

    @ironwolfF1@ironwolfF15 ай бұрын
  • A "Forgotten Weapon" eh? Ho ho... Very funny Ian! I'm a huge fan of all things Danish, except the food, and Danish Warmblood horses are my second favorite breed of horses, second only to American Quarter Horses, so this was great for me to learn about. I got to see them do lots of great stuff when my ex-wife, her best friend and I attended the annual horse show in Henning, Jutland, in Denmark in 1992. It's nice to hear about such a very small country having such success selling one of their products and generating some revenue for Denmark. About thirty years ago they sold one of their Danish Warmblood stallions to the Germans for one million dollars and they were very gleeful about that. Memories of the German occupation of Denmark during WWII live on... Thanks!

    @dinsdalemontypiranha4349@dinsdalemontypiranha43495 ай бұрын
  • Sort of Sums Up Denmark: Rest of the World: This is Too Complicated to Work!! Denmark: Naah... it's Us; We're Like That: it'll work Just Fine...

    @samrussell9264@samrussell92645 ай бұрын
  • Put some polished brass parts on that thing, and it'd be so amazingly steam-punk it's unreal.

    @mattyt9999@mattyt99995 ай бұрын
  • Getenteredtowin moving from cars to guns now? I can dig it.

    @judgebigmansion3492@judgebigmansion34925 ай бұрын
  • I kept thinking it was a belt-fed Bren for some reason. I was like, DAMN that is a weird looking Bren.

    @johndoe7270@johndoe72703 ай бұрын
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