Q&A April 2026: The Good, the Bad, and the Really Dumb

Today’s Q&A is sponsored by Kyrö – get 10% off all their spirits with code SAUNAWHISKY10 at:
https://www.kyrodistillery.com

00:01:25 – The .30-06 experimental Thompson
Thompson 1923 auto-rifle video: https://youtu.be/EMO4o4yANpY
Thompson .30 Carbine prototype: https://youtu.be/lW-IjtiVthc
Previous owner talking about the .30-06 1943 experimental: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dse6kd1kDc

00:07:57 – Why side-mounted magazines didn’t catch on
00:12:28 – Other Maxim gun designs?
Maxim-Silverman pistol: https://youtu.be/F1ElpucXu6A

00:14:36 – Double-clip experimental Garand
00:17:45 – US “last ditch” rifles today
00:20:50 – High Power with 1911 trigger?
00:22:42 – Using the same action in rifles and pistols
00:26:34 – Bottom-firing revolvers
00:30:39 – What anti-tank rifle would I choose?
00:33:25 – AI in firearms manufacture or design?
00:36:02 – Just on tweak away from success…
00:38:42 – Connections between MAS-40 and AG-42 Ljungman?
00:41:10 – Viable reproduction guns
00:45:24 – Longevity of the Maxim machine gun
00:50:21 – A better Italian interwar LMG option?
00:51:56 – FRTs and belt-fed ARs in competition
00:57:38 – Mag-fed vs belt-fed LMGs
00:59:45 – Best small arms of WW1
01:01:32 – Why no more delayed blowback rifles?
01:04:07 – Parts kit builds vs pre-import-ban semiautomatic rifles
01:06:42 – I get to choose new US small arms in 1939
01:11:10 – NATO assault rifle or SMG book?
NATO Battle Rifles book:

01:12:27 – Undervalued area of gun collecting

3 Comments

  1. 1. Those new double-stack 9 x 19mm 1911s basically are “High Powers with 1911 triggers”- and 1911 everything else. Once Para-Ordnance and Caspian began making double-stack .45 ACP 1911 frames with those extra-wide trigger stirrups, this was pretty much inevitable. If I could afford one, I’d buy it to rplaace my PJK-9HP.

    2. Bottom-firing revolvers are handy in Magnum calibers for rapid fire in CQB. But then again porting the muzzle on a “conventional” DA revolver like the Taurus 627 gets about the same result, i.e. less muzzle flip. “You pays your money and you takes your choice.”

    3. Anti-tank rifle? IMHO, they all suck. Give me an M20 3.5in any day.

    4. Longevity of the Maxim? Like the Browning machine guns, M2 and M1919, it just f**king works and never f**king stops working. Machine-gunners like that for obvious reasons.

    5. Mag-fed vs. belt-fed LMG? If it’s belt-fed and has a quick-change barrel it’s a GPMG. Put a proper tripod under it and a properly-trained crew behind it and it’s the apex killer of the battlefield. If it’s box-magazine fed with or without a QC barrel it’s a machine rifle, and trying to use it for any sustained-fire type mission is mainly an exercise in futility.

    6. Best small arms of WW1?

    Rifle- Any Mauser bolt-action or variant thereof.
    Pistol- Colt 1911 .45 automatic, P.08 9mm automatic, S&W or Colt M1917 .45 revolver
    Machine Gun- Maxim, no matter who made it, where, or in what caliber. Second choice; Hotchkiss, especially the “Portative”; definitely more reliable than the Lewis gun.
    Shotgun; Winchester m1897 or M1912 Trench Gun. Although I’d rather have
    Machine carbine; Bergmann “Muskete” or Winchester M1907/M1910.
    Honorable mention; Stokes 3-inch mortar. As the Marines say, “Only bring artillery if you intend to kill everybody“.

    7. New U.S. Small Arms 1939?

    1. Accelerate development of the .30 Carbine, issue it as selective-fire from the start.

    2. Develop a true GPMG in .30-06; the Johnson M1941 might be a good start unless you can steal the blueprints of the MG42.

    3. Don’t bother with the M1/M2 versions of the Thompson- go direct to the M3A1 Grease Gun, and make damned sure the 9mm conversion units are readily available.

    4. Do not build the M1919A6, period.

    clear ether

    eon

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