August Coenders' 9x19mm Belt-Fed MG

The Coenders Bolt-Less Rifle was a desperate late-WWII German prototype for the Volkssturm, featuring a unique forward-sliding barrel action instead of a traditional bolt. Designed by August Coenders for Roechling, it suffered from poor trial performance, including accuracy issues and breakages. Despite its flaws and limited production, it represents an interesting, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to arm militia forces under extreme wartime conditions.

The Rideout Arsenal Dragon pistol features a unique lever-delayed blowback system designed to reduce recoil by lowering the bore axis. This design aims for a linear impulse, minimizing muzzle flip. It also incorporates ambidextrous controls and a 1911-style sliding trigger for enhanced ergonomics and safety.

The Cordova Estandar is Colombia's domestic service pistol, developed by Indumil starting around 2009-2010 and entering production in 2014. It features a polymer frame, hammer-fired action with a Browning tilting barrel, and a modular fire control unit. Design influences from the IWI Jericho and Beretta are evident, with shared manufacturing processes and materials with the Galil rifle.

This expert-level review details the Indumil Cordova pistol, highlighting its design lineage from the Galil rifle. It covers manufacturing processes, including forged steel slides and injection-molded polymer frames, and unusual technical specifications like a 1:8 twist rate barrel. The analysis emphasizes the factory's strategic use of existing tooling and expertise for indigenous firearm production.

The M240 Bravo, the US Army's FN MAG variant, replaced the M60. It features a simple cross-bolt safety and a unique top cover mechanism with a spring-loaded roller bearing for reliable cycling. The hydraulic buffer in the stock effectively manages recoil, contributing to its stable operation at a rate of fire around 600 rounds per minute.

The 6.5x25mm CBJ cartridge offers significant armor-piercing capabilities, even outperforming standard rifle rounds against hardened steel. It achieves this by utilizing a small, high-velocity tungsten penetrator within a sabot, scaled down from tank ammunition technology. The cartridge is designed for easy conversion of existing 9x19mm platforms like the Glock and MP5 with just a barrel change, maintaining compatibility with standard magazines and bolts.

This video details the unique 'French Finger Trap' issue with the MAS-36 rifle's bayonet, where two rifles can become unintentionally locked together. A 1951 French arsenal memorandum identified this problem, proposing a simple modification to the bayonet handle. Drilling a small hole allows a tool, like a firing pin, to depress the internal spring, enabling the separation of locked rifles.

The M134 Minigun is a scaled-down 7.62 NATO rotary cannon, requiring 24V DC power and consuming 1.5 kW. Its high rate of fire (3,000+ RPM) is essential for aircraft engagement windows. The complex delinker mechanism is critical for feeding ammunition, and practical hand-held use is impossible due to weight and recoil. Live fire demonstrates rapid ammunition consumption and the need for indirect aiming.

The H&K G11 is a revolutionary prototype assault rifle designed in the late 20th century, notable for its caseless ammunition and unique rotating drum bolt mechanism. Despite advanced features like a 2000 RPM burst fire rate and integrated optics, its development was ultimately halted by geopolitical shifts and cost concerns.

This video demonstrates the assembly and live-fire of the German 1936 pattern light mortar (L.Gr.W.36). It highlights the mortar's leveling mechanism for accuracy and the difficulty in visually tracking its 50mm projectiles after firing. The content showcases historical military hardware and its operational use.