Project Lightning

March 13, 2019 3:44 PM

This is a real world field comparison of (almost) all of the light machine guns of the First World War. It's a collaboration by Ian McCollum, previously, and Mae and Othais, of C&Rsenal, who contributed so much to the The Great War history channel. These guns are all over 100 years old and it won't be possible to shoot them much longer. To get started, Episode 01: Introduction

Episode 02: 100 Yard Test
Episode 03: Walking Fire
Episode 04: Field Strip
Episode 05: Reload
Episode 06: Total Damage
Episode 07: Conclusions
Episode 08: Outtakes
And, if you're still awake, After Action Report with Mark, the machinist and gunsmith that kept these antiques running.

posted by Bee'sWing (6 comments total)

These guns are all over 100 years old and it won't be possible to shoot them much longer.

Well, it's high time that they were silenced.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:25 AM on March 14, 2019

I don't think any of these guns have the appropriate barrel threading for that.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:09 AM on March 14, 2019 [3 favorites]

This is a great series and the three of them are some of the best presenters on guntoob.
posted by Seamus at 8:27 AM on March 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

I don't think any of these guns have the appropriate barrel threading for that.

And, as Ian has tought us, part of the reason that machine guns are effective at making soldiers duck and hide is that they are really loud and scary.
posted by Bee'sWing at 9:39 AM on March 14, 2019 [1 favorite]

One of the most interesting aspects of this project was the work that had to be done to get these museum pieces to work. The French, always at the forefront of military tech, made the Chauchat, maybe the earliest modern cheap, stamped metal, automatic rifle. It uses cheap, stamped metal magazines that were intended to be disposable. So they had to meticulously rebuild them, pounding out all the dents just to start the process.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:04 AM on March 14, 2019 [2 favorites]

Really, my only complaint about the series is that each episode is something like 45 minutes long. When I have a block of time that size, I'm more likely to fill it with something narrative. So I've only seen the first three episodes so far, but those were really interesting.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:45 AM on March 14, 2019