Hotchkiss Universal: The Most Folding Gun Made

This review of the Madsen Model 1945 submachine gun, presented by Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons from the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, highlights its unique design and historical context. The firearm is noted for its quality construction, pistol-like reciprocating slide, and use of Suomi magazines. Despite its advanced features for the time, its complexity and cost led to commercial failure, making it an extremely rare collector's item.

Gearhead Guns is producing a Type 100 Nambu PCC recreation, with the first batch shipping around March. It's available in 9mm Parabellum with 9-inch or 16-inch barrel configurations for SBR compliance. Customization options include various metal and wood finishes, with optional bayonet lugs.

This review delves into the Walther MPK submachine gun, a competitor to the Uzi and MP5. Key features include an open bolt design, a non-reciprocating charging handle with a manual forward assist, and a secondary safety sear catch to prevent accidental discharges. The MPK offered selector options for full-auto and, in some variants, semi-automatic fire.

The ZK-466 is a rare Czech submachine gun developed in 1946, with only 22 units ever produced. Its unique design features a folding magazine well for enhanced compactness and a distinct safety mechanism that locks the bolt when engaged. The firearm offers select-fire capabilities with clear markings for safe, semi-auto, and full-auto modes.

The Australian Owen SMG, despite its unconventional appearance, is highlighted as an exceptionally reliable submachine gun, particularly effective in harsh conditions. Its unique design features include a bottom ejection port, a top-mounted magazine with an integrated ejector, and a 'hygienic' internal mechanism protected by a firewall. The Owen SMG offers safe, semi-automatic, and full-automatic firing modes, making it a significant piece of World War II military history.

The FN P90 is a unique bullpup Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) designed for armor penetration using a high-velocity 5.7x28mm round. Its innovative design features a sideways-feeding rotary magazine and ambidextrous controls with bottom ejection. Internally, it operates via simple blowback with an added weight to prevent bolt bounce, ensuring reliability.

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.