Throwback Thursday: Cei Rigotti Rifle Disassembly

The Cei Rigotti is a fascinating early Italian self-loading rifle design that was tested in several countries, but never adopted or put into production. I had a chance to disassemble one at the British REME museum in Warminster back in 2012, and the video has not gotten much traction because of how small the channel was back then. So, coupled with a bit of backstory about how we filmed it, this makes an excellent Throwback Thursday video. Enjoy!

More information and photos of the Cei Rigotti

 

14 Comments

    • It reminds me of the SNL “Schweddy Balls” sketch where Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer mimic the hushed tones of NPR hosts. “‘Season’s Eatings’? That’s funny, because it sounds like ‘Season’s Greetings’.”

  1. ive been here almost since the beginning. i remember a plywood closet looking area with a helmet on the desk.

  2. There are if not countless, at least numerous, early attempts at a semi automatic rifle 1890s+. Often exhibiting breathtaking ingenuity. But there is commonly little-nothing in the way of assessments as to their feasibility. Did any of them come close to the ‘level’ that would have been required for a service rifle (putting aside such factors as complexity and difficulties of mass manufacture etc).

  3. Little bit of names curiosity …. Amerigo Cei-Rigotti reminds me of another Amerigo; Vespucci. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci

    After him the continent is named. Therefore, the name AMERICA does not belong to one country only, although U.S. almost managed to appropriate it. This ought to be of general awareness, but I would not take it for granted 🙂

    When it comes to gun – an ingenious piece of work for its time.

  4. Hmmmm… kinda looks like a Schmidt-Rubin in a way, with a gas “pushed” operating rod replacing the manual straight pull rod. I presume that manually cycling is a straight pull. Would be nice to see a new video showing more of the rotating cut and the lug lock-up.

  5. Two of the coolest gun dudes in one video (well Chuck behind the camera I presume). The channel has certainly come a long way.

    • I conclude big part of the channel huge success is in his persona, which has not changed to worse in these 10 years, nor did he had some flops, out of character moments and breakdowns that all money hungry youtubers sooner or later suffer, thus alienating their fan base. And more important, he did not start as classic youtuber, and maybe even now still, is not; first posts on the site were not video based. But he quickly realised what is a best approach in presentation, as just visually reading and looking at the pictures of these more or less rare guns, would never amass so many viewers.

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