History WebVideo / ForgottenWeapons

* TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter: He discusses this tendency while showing off [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jdd-yUNfHg the MP-41(r)]], a [=PPSh-41=] converted to fire 9x19mm from MP 40 magazines; German soldiers on the Eastern Front thought the [=PPSh=] was the better gun for its huge magazine and higher rate of fire, while the Russian soldiers thought the MP 40 was better for its reliability. Then some actual research into this was done by the ''Heereswaffenamt'' after requests came in for Germany to just manufacture [=PPShes=], who concluded both were right to some degree - the MP 40 was more robust as a weapon, but the [=PPSh=] magazine was more reliable - and that the best response to this request would be to make an MP 40 that used [=PPSh=] drums, [[BaitAndSwitch only to then deliver the exact opposite]].

* NeverNeedsSharpening: Discussed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qaTRwq-IRc a video about one of his custom guns]], a short-barreled M1 Garand modified to fit a "scout rifle" profile. Short-barreled Garands were advertised for some time after the war as a tank crewmate's weapon, but they were never actually used in this purpose, as M3 submachine guns offered lower weight and smaller size for easier carry within the confines of a tank - a "tanker" Garand in non-military circulation would just be a surplus rifle with a worn-out muzzle a company fixed by chopping half a foot off of the barrel and then advertised as a rare and obscure variant.

** When trying to zero sights on a Finnish M39 Mosin rifle and match the best ammunition for it for an incoming competition, Ian procured several different types of both light and hunting ammo. Including a box of a 204 grain hunting rounds with "Hunting Rifle Ammunition" written on it instead of a brand.

* NeverNeedsSharpening: Discussed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qaTRwq-IRc a video about one of his custom guns]]. Short-barreled M1 Garands were never actually used by tank crews, since M3 submachine guns offered lower weight and smaller size for easier carry within the confines of a tank - "tanker" Garands sold to the public after WWII were a marketing spin resulting from companies receiving surplus M1 barrels that had worn-out muzzles, and fixing this by chopping half a foot off of them to get shorter barrels with now-pristine muzzles.

** Case in point: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9bULArrKs4&t=102s&ab_channel=ForgottenWeapons his video on the USFA Zip 22]]. The gun was the brain(dead)child of the company's owner, and Ian straight up says that it's quite possibly the worst gun ever made and that the owner's expectations for how popular it was gonna be were, quote, "completely divorced from reality." [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3fd4goVs-4 The following video]] showing Ian firing it at the range shows [[NotHyperbole that, if anything, he was UNDERSTATING how bad it is]] - to give an idea, the one time he says anything positive about it (that it gave "remarkably good performance", at least for the first magazine) he immediately has to cut to a text screen explaining that when they came back the next day to get slow-motion footage, it jammed on '''every single shot'''. Even the text description of the video underneath the title is snarky about it.

** Nock's Volley Gun, invented by Englishman James Wilson in 1789, was a flintlock musket with seven barrels that all fired at once when the trigger was pulled. It had one flintlock mechanism to ignite the powder in the center barrel, and the fire from that would vent into the six barrels around it to set off the remaining charges. The weapon was deemed impractical for the infantry use which Wilson had intended because it was heavy and took a long time to reload, but the Royal Navy thought that men firing these guns from a perch on the mast might be really effective at sweeping the enemy ship's deck; after getting two prototypes from gunsmith Henry Nock in 1790, they ordered 500 and then another 100. The problem was that they had excessive recoil, and often some of the barrels would fail to fire. If that happened there was no way to tell which of the barrels had fired and which hadn't, so there were a lot of bulged and burst barrels from accidental double-loading. It seems these guns weren't used very much, and in 1805 the Navy retired them from service.
** The Phillips & Rodgers M47 Medusa is a revolver that can chamber basically any cartridge with an overall length no longer than a .357 Magnum, and a bullet diameter of .357 or less. A revolver doesn't have the headspace requirements of a semiautomatic handgun, so the challenge is just getting the cartridges to sit properly in the cylinder for firing and extraction. The extractor mechanism has long, flexible fingers that snap into the extractor grooves on rimless cartridges, and that can be depressed down and away from the cases of rimmed cartridges. The idea--supposedly--is that in case of a nuclear apocalypse scenario you can keep your gun fed even if all you have is a "[[BindleStick hobo sack]]" of random scavenged ammo. It's an innovative and well-manufactured gun, and the accuracy with different types of ammo isn't that bad, but the problem is that the concept just isn't very realistic and there wasn't enough of a market for it. Even though it can shoot cartridges with a bullet diameter smaller than the bore, you'd have to be pretty desperate to use them since the bullet won't engage the rifling, meaning inconsistent accuracy since there's no spin being imparted and a low muzzle velocity since there's so much free space for the muzzle flash to escape through without having to push the bullet out of the way - even his first test of an all-9x19mm load saw one bullet hit close to center before the next three keyholed at the very edges of the target and the last two missed entirely, because of the amount of space the bullets had to travel before they actually engaged the rifling - and the extractor fingers that let it fire smaller bullets are rather fragile, enough so that Ian refused to put any amount of stress on the ejector rod, which is a big no-no for a survival situation where you'd expect to be reliant on whatever random ammo of several calibers you can scavenge. You can use 9x19mm, .380 ACP, .38 Special, .38 S&W, and .357 Magnum for best results, but the gun isn't cheap, and the only people likely to buy it are CrazyPrepared apocalypse planners who almost certainly have at least one firearm (if not several) in each of those calibers already. For them it'd make more sense to prepare for doomsday by just hoarding ammunition made specifically for whatever guns they have, rather than blowing money on a universal ammo gun that they will probably never need. The Medusa had that "money-where-your-mouth-is" problem of people thinking it sounded cool but not being ready to open their wallets, and the company only sold something like 500 of them before going out of business.

* BlandNameProduct: A real-life example. Ian tested once a box of "Hunting Rifle Ammunition", with absolutely no branding of any kind.

** The Phillips & Rodgers M47 Medusa is a revolver that can chamber basically any cartridge with an overall length no longer than a .357 Magnum, and a bullet diameter of .357 or less. A revolver doesn't have the headspace requirements of a semiautomatic handgun, so the challenge is just getting the cartridges to sit properly in the cylinder for firing and extraction. The extractor mechanism has long, flexible fingers that snap into the extractor grooves on rimless cartridges, and that can be depressed down and away from the cases of rimmed cartridges. The idea--supposedly--is that in case of a nuclear apocalypse scenario you can keep your gun fed even if all you have is a "[[BindleStick hobo sack]]" of random scavenged ammo. It's an innovative and well-manufactured gun, and the accuracy with different types of ammo isn't that bad, but the problem is that the concept just isn't very realistic and there wasn't enough of a market for it. Even though it can shoot cartridges with a bullet diameter smaller than the bore, you'd have to be pretty desperate to use them since the bullet won't engage the rifling, meaning inconsistent accuracy since there's no spin being imparted and a low muzzle velocity since there's so much free space for the muzzle flash to escape through without having to push the bullet out of the way, and the extractor fingers that let it fire smaller bullets are rather fragile, which is a big no-no for a survival situation where you'd expect to be reliant on whatever random ammo of several calibers you can scavenge. You can use 9x19mm, .380 ACP, .38 Special, .38 S&W, and .357 Magnum for best results, but the gun isn't cheap, and the only people likely to buy it are CrazyPrepared apocalypse planners who almost certainly have at least one firearm (if not several) in each of those calibers already. For them it'd make more sense to prepare for doomsday by just hoarding ammunition made specifically for whatever guns they have, rather than blowing money on a universal ammo gun that they will probably never need. The Medusa had that "money-where-your-mouth-is" problem of people thinking it sounded cool but not being ready to open their wallets, and the company only sold something like 500 of them before going out of business.

* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: While [[https://youtu.be/SMEawx7TlNQ testing the Croatian VHS rifle]]:
--> '''Ian:''' What can possibly go wrong firing a rifle grenade on an indoor range? ''(nothing happens)'' Other than having the safety on.

* FanNickname: Ian's long hair and calm demeanor has earned him the nickname "Gun Jesus", something he played into by doing a couple of videos decked out in a crown of thorns and a toga and dropping faux biblical one-liners.
-->'''Ian (as Jesus)''': I am the way, and the light, except the light is occasionally muzzle flash. (Later) BLESSED BE THE AMMO CAN OF ANTIOCH.

** The Armsel Striker, a revolving drum shotgun with a 12-round capacity, was renamed the Street Sweeper by US importer Cobray in an attempt to appeal to urban street gangs or suburban wannabes. [[TemptingFate Of course]], in the era of skyrocketing violent crime rates, this attracted the attention of Federal regulators, who had the weapon declared a destructive device, wiping out any commercial potential. Turned out to be more of an IronicName, since when Ian reviewed the gun, it was a [[AwesomeYetImpractical pretty terrible weapon]] and far less "destructive" than its designation would imply. Almost every semi-automatic shotgun is more "destructive" than the Street Sweeper (since they're far less likely to jam after one shot), but nobody was stupid enough to give them names implying they were ''meant'' to be used as murder weapons by gangsters.

** Often averted with Spanish copies of various other nations' pistols (see AKA47 above), which tend to range in quality from "decent" to "better than the original". An example Ian showcased of the latter was the Beistigui Hermanos [=MM31=], a machine pistol based on the C96 Mauser for export to China, which looks just like a Mauser but is internally significantly improved. Despite their gun actually being better than Mauser's famous Schnellfeuer, Beistigui Hermanos often used logos designed to look like a Mauser logo (especially to Chinese buyers who usually couldn't read the Latin alphabet) because that logo was so famous in China.

** In a comedy sketch, Ian tries to perform a drive-by with an Armitage International Skorpion on [[ActingForTwo himself as]] a {{gangbanger|s}}, who ends up just throwing his Jennings 9 pistol after he is unable to get it to function.

Forgotten Weapons is a [[http://www.forgottenweapons.com blog]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons/ YouTube channel]] started in 2011 by firearms specialist Ian [=McCollum=]. The show focuses on [[RareGuns rare]] and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin forgotten]] firearms throughout history, how they function, and the context surrounding their design. Initially, the site mostly featured text posts with the occasional video supplement, but as the popularity grew, the [=YouTube=] channel has become the main focus. Most videos follow a similar format with Ian sitting behind a table with the firearm of the day where he discusses the weapon's history and context before bringing the camera in closer to show the viewers how the weapon functions and comes apart. Occasionally, the weapon owners allow Ian to take the weapon out on the range for a live fire demonstration.

* RareGuns: The bread and butter of the show. Many of the firearms Ian reviews are one-of-a-kind prototypes or limited production models with surviving examples numbering in the single digits.

** Ian points out that the specific [[RareGuns/RocketsMissilesAndGrenadeLaunchers China Lake]] specimen he demonstrated had one of the cam lugs of its locking block sheared off by the cast of ''Series/SonsOfGuns''. The disdain in his voice when he mentioned them is noticeable, if subtle.

** In the RPG-7 video, Ian talks about how the projectile has a rather unsafe impact fuse located on the tip which will cause the warhead to explode as soon as it strikes something, with no minimum range at which it will detonate. The warhead sticks out from the front of the weapon, and the only safety against premature detonation from accidentally bumping it into something is a plastic cap that covers the fuse while it's screwed on. Since the warhead is basically disarmed until you remove the cap, and it takes a couple of precious seconds to get it off, users who want to be ready to fire it in case of a surprise attack have been known to unscrew the cap and walk around with their warhead sticking out armed, which is just begging for an accident to happen. An American soldier told Ian that he saw an insurgent in Iraq trip as he was running across a street while carrying an RPG with the cap removed, and as he fell on his face his rocket detonated against the ground, blowing him to bits.

** [[https://youtu.be/uqjBP6nm2o0 The L119A1]] he reviews is an interesting variation. Almost all of the parts are real L119A1 parts, ''except'' for the reciever. The upper is one that has been modified using various L119A1 parts until it was virtually identical to an actual L119A1 upper, and the lower is a semi-auto only clone that the owner put L119A1 markings on, as the actual L119A1 lower receivers have never been available on the civilian market.

* WeaponsUnderstudies: [[https://youtu.be/j0lOyjZ8Gew The Flintlock Trapdoor Springfield]]. A "Trapdoor Springfield" rifle (an early cartridge rifle) cosmetically modified to look close enough to a flintlock rifle when seen in the background of a movie scene.

** Most recently, Ian collaborated with "The Chieftain" (Nicholas Moran) on [[https://youtu.be/cmMynoZxVKA a video discussing the various weapons found on an M4 Sherman tank]].

Forgotten Weapons is a [[http://www.forgottenweapons.com blog]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons/ YouTube channel]] started in 2011 by firearms enthusiast Ian [=McCollum=]. The show focuses on [[RareGuns rare]] and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin forgotten]] firearms throughout history, how they function, and the context surrounding their design. Initially, the site mostly featured text posts with the occasional video supplement, but as the popularity grew, the [=YouTube=] channel has become the main focus. Most videos follow a similar format with Ian sitting behind a table with the firearm of the day where he discusses the weapon's history and context before bringing the camera in closer to show the viewers how the weapon functions and comes apart. Occasionally, the weapon owners allow Ian to take the weapon out on the range for a live fire demonstration.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: {{Discussed}} as being the cause behind the unfortunate fate of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn08yZAC2V0 Armatix iP1]]. A law had been passed in New Jersey in 2002 where, in order to increase gun safety when it comes to children, any weapons that will be sold in New Jersey must be considered a "smart gun," and the instant said gun reached the market, ordinary guns would not be allowed to be legally sold. On top of issues with the idea of putting computers and electronics in guns with simple mechanics, this resulted in a widespread backlash against the pistol as it was about to be launched in the United States. This even led to gun shop owners in New Jersey being sent ''death threats'' simply for even considering selling the pistol. As a result, the pistol was a commercial flop in the U.S. The worst part about all of this, however, is that after investigation and consideration by the NJ government, ''[[ShootTheShaggyDog the pistol wasn't even eligible for the "smart gun" classification in the first place.]]''[[note]] How the pistol works is that it comes with a watch that is electronically connected to the pistol, and, if in range, allows the pistol to fire where it won't otherwise, theoretically prevented the gun being stolen or handled by a child and resulting in injury or death. However, [[DidntThinkThisThrough that does not stop someone from taking the gun and shooting someone wearing the watch in its range.]][[/note]]

** Remember the [[AwesomeMcCoolName Street Sweeper]] shotgun that the Federal Government put on its naughty list for being marketed to urban youth in the [[TemptingFate middle of a murder epidemic]]? Cobray [[ReTool retooled]] the design slightly into a ''[[LoopholeAbuse pistol]]'' chambered for [[{{BFG}} .45-70 Government]] and renamed it the [[IronicName "Ladies Home Companion"]].

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: {{Discussed}} as being the cause behind the unfortunate fate of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn08yZAC2V0 Armatix iP1]]. A law had been passed in New Jersey in 2002 where, in order to increase gun safety when it comes to children, any weapons that will be sold in New Jersey must be considered a "smart gun," and the instant said gun reached the market, ordinary guns would not be allowed to be legally sold. On top of issues with the idea of putting computers and electronics in guns with simple mechanics, this resulted in a widespread backlash against the pistol as it was about to be launched in the United States. This even led to gun shop owners in New Jersey being sent ''death threats'' simply for even considering selling the pistol. As a result, the pistol was a commercial flop in the U.S. The worst part about all of this, however, is that after investigation and consideration by the NJ government, ''[[ShootTheShaggyDog the pistol wasn't even eligible for the "smart gun" classification in the first place.]]''[[note]] How the pistol works is that it comes with a watch that is electronically connected to the pistol, and, if in range, allows the pistol to fire where it won't otherwise, theoretically prevented the gun being stolen or handled by a child and resulting in injury or death. However, [[DidntThinkThisThrough that does not stop someone from taking the gun and shooting someone wearing the watch in its range.]]

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Defied, as Ian is quite the Francophile, an avid collector of French weapons (especially from World War I), and the author of a reference book on French rifles, ''Chassepot to FAMAS.'' He takes pains to debunk myths or misconceptions about the poor performance of French weapons and where criticism is warranted, explains the context behind it. Also, if you make a joke about the allegedly bad performance of the French army, [[https://shop.bbtv.com/products/poster-forgotten-2 he has a sobering poster to sell you]].

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The unfortunate fate of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn08yZAC2V0 Armatix iP1]]. A law had been passed in New Jersey in 2002 where, in order to increase gun safety when it comes to children, any weapons that will be sold in New Jersey must be considered a "smart gun," and the instant said gun reached the market, ordinary guns would not be allowed to be legally sold. On top of issues with the idea of putting computers and electronics in guns with simple mechanics, this resulted in a widespread backlash against the pistol as it was about to be launched in the United States. This even led to gun shop owners in New Jersey being sent ''death threats'' simply for even considering selling the pistol. As a result, the pistol was a commercial flop in the U.S. The worst part about all of this, however, is that after investigation and consideration by the NJ government, ''[[ShootTheShaggyDog the pistol wasn't even eligible for the "smart gun" classification in the first place.]]''[[note]] How the pistol works is that it comes with a watch that is electronically connected to the pistol, and, if in range, allows the pistol to fire where it won't otherwise, theoretically prevented the gun being stolen or handled by a child and resulting in injury or death. However, [[DidntThinkThisThrough that does not stop someone from taking the gun and shooting someone wearing the watch in its range.]]

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: In use anytime Ian looks at a gun that was meant to get around the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, such as the Olympic Arms OA96, an AR-15 pistol that got around legal descriptors of an "assault pistol" by having the top of the receive4 lift up and **loading rounds into the internal magazine** a lá an older rifle.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Near the start of [[https://youtu.be/3FHNIwWi2jE this video]] on [=InRangeTV=], Karl points two pistols at the camera.

** The Phillips & Rodgers M47 Medusa is a revolver that can chamber basically any cartridge with an overall length no longer than a .357 Magnum, and a bullet diameter of .357 or less. A revolver doesn't have the headspace requirements of a semiautomatic handgun, so the challenge is just getting the cartridges to sit properly in the cylinder for firing and extraction. The extractor mechanism has long, flexible fingers that snap into the extractor grooves on rimless cartridges, and that can be depressed down and away from the cases of rimmed cartridges. The idea--supposedly--is that in case of a nuclear apocalypse scenario you can keep your gun fed even if all you have is a "hobo sack" of random scavenged ammo. It's an innovative and well-manufactured gun, and the accuracy with different types of ammo isn't that bad, but the problem is that the concept just isn't very realistic and there wasn't enough of a market for it. Even though it can shoot cartridges with a bullet diameter smaller than the bore, you'd have to be pretty desperate to use them since the bullet won't engage the rifling, meaning inconsistent accuracy since there's no spin being imparted and a low muzzle velocity since there's so much free space for the muzzle flash to escape through without having to push the bullet out of the way. You can use 9x19mm, .380 ACP, .38 Special, .38 S&W, and .357 Magnum for best results, but the gun isn't cheap, and the only people likely to buy it are CrazyPrepared apocalypse planners who almost certainly have at least one firearm (if not several) in each of those calibers already. For them it'd make more sense to prepare for doomsday by just hoarding ammunition made specifically for whatever guns they have, rather than blowing money on a universal ammo gun that they will probably never need. The Medusa had that "money-where-your-mouth-is" problem of people thinking it sounded cool but not being ready to open their wallets, and the company only sold something like 500 of them before going out of business.
** The [=EtronX=], introduced in 2000, is a Remington 700 rifle with the trigger and firing mechanisms replaced by electronic versions. The firing pin is replaced by an insulated electrode, the trigger operates an electronic switch instead of a mechanical sear, and a 9V battery in the buttstock feeding a capacitor provides the energy to ignite the special ammunition primer, a resistor that generates heat to ignite the powder in the cartridge. The way it works is pretty cool, and it has some unusual properties such as allowing you to adjust the trigger pull, or take advantage of the fact that the action isn't under any spring pressure. The electronic mechanism also practically eliminates lock time, which is the delay between trigger pull and cartridge ignition. However it cost about twice as much as a regular Remington 700, and while lock time (which for the average firearm made since 1865 is measured in ''microseconds'') might matter to someone like a [[ImprobableAimingSkills bench-rest shooter]] who has really specific needs, it just isn't significant to the sporting rifle market. Gun buyers were also jittery about the future availability of the special ammunition, and have always tended to distrust any use of electronics in firearms out of fears over reliability. The necessity of not losing the tiny key which allows you to operate it can also be a concern. There's also the fact that ''other'' than the electronic firing system, the [=EtronX=] is just like an ordinary Remington 700. Meaning that while worries about reliability turned typical gun buyers away, the conventional bolt-action setup meant it didn't particularly appeal to high-tech enthusiasts either.[[note]]That said, Remington might not have had much choice; a semi-automatic with electronic firing would be considered a machine gun under US law, since all it would take to convert it to full-auto would be hacking the software to disable the trigger disconnect function.[[/note]] Ian praises Remington for trying, and predicts that electronic ignition is the direction firearms will go in once there's enough commitment from manufacturers and the public, but the [=EtronX=] was ahead of its time when it came out. It sold poorly, and was removed from the Remington catalog in 2003.

Forgotten Weapons is a [[http://www.forgottenweapons.com blog]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons/ YouTube channel]] started in 2011 by firearms enthusiast Ian [=McCollum=]. The show focuses on rare and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin forgotten]] firearms throughout history, how they function, and the context surrounding their design. Initially, the site mostly featured text posts with the occasional video supplement, but as the popularity grew, the [=YouTube=] channel has become the main focus. Most videos follow a similar format with Ian sitting behind a table with the firearm of the day where he discusses the weapon's history and context before bringing the camera in closer to show the viewers how the weapon functions and comes apart. Occasionally, the weapon owners allow Ian to take the weapon out on the range for a live fire demonstration.