Schwerer Gustav

Schwerer Gustav (black) compared to an OTR-21 TochkaSRBM launcher (red) with human figures for scale.

Hello, this blog will be taking a trip into WWII and one of my favorite parts of that time.  The experimental Nazi weaponry. More precisely experimental artillery. The Schwerer Gustav, my new favorite artillery piece. It was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built in terms of overall weight, and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece. This thing is a monster designed with the battle of France in mind but was never finished until after that battle was over.

The Schwerer Gustav weighted 1350 tonnes, was 155 ft. 2 in. long with a barrel of 106 ft. 8 in.  And was 38 ft. 1 in. tall. This behemoth fired a 31 inch caliber (800 mm) 1,500 lb. bullet at an effective range of 48 Km. upon impact it exploded causing a 30 ft. wide by 30 ft. deep crater. It could fire these projectiles at a rate of 1 every 30-45 minutes. It was very effective once it got into place.

800 mm shell next to a Soviet T-34-85 tank at the Imperial War Museum, London

The problems were many and the reason there was only 2 built.  The cost in 1941 when it was completed was 7 million Reichsmark which I can’t find a conversion to today’s currency but 7 million anything in 1941 would be a lot now.  The next reason is it took a team of 2,500 to lay track and dig embankments. 2 Flak battalions to protect the gun from air attack.  It was a crazy idea but effective the only other things that could deliver that much firepower were bombers but they took longer to get to the target.  If the reason it failed is not clear the price was ridiculous and you needed a small army to work the thing. But that’s the reason I love it so much. It’s just ridiculous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav

V-3 cannon

Welcome, I will be talking about some WWII experimental artillery again more precisely a super long range artillery piece built by the Nazis. It was called the V-3 cannon (Vergeltungswaffe 3) also known as the Hochdruckpumpe ("High Pressure Pump", HDP for short), which was a code name intended to hide the real purpose of the project.  The V-3 was built with a goal of firing over the English Channel at London all the way from France, however that purpose was never fulfilled due to it being destroyed by allied bombings.

The V-3 cannon 430 ft. in length and was a very particular design. It was a multi chamber weapon. Meaning the cannon had multiple solid fuel rocket boosters all going off at once to use the explosive energy from all of them to launch the 5.9 in. caliber 310 lb. projectile a range of 165 Km. to add to that it had a fire rate of 300 an hour. Compared to other artillery of the era it was quite good except for one little detail.

The problem was the fact that the V-3 had to be built into the ground and could not move after it was built. The elevation could not change making it a hit the target on your first try or someone is getting fired type weapon. This also was bad due to the fact that if the Germans had to retreat they would have either had to disassemble the gun or blow it up so the allies couldn’t get their hands on it.  I personally think that this weapon, had it been operable during the blitz would have been a massive game changer. The Germans would have been able to bomb London without risking the lives or their pilots. Cause damage with 0 risk of casualties on your side. However the fact it had to be built into a stationary position was its downfall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-3_cannon

Armatix Smart system iP1

Hello, this time I will be talking about a more recent firearm design that seems quite interesting. It’s called the Armatix Smart system iP1. The idea is it is a gun that connects to a watch you wear around your wrist and it locks the gun unless you have the watch within 10 inches of the gun and you enter a pin code to unlock it. Think of it as James bonds gun but instead of scanning your fingerprints it connects to a watch. What that technology is supposed to help with is to reduce the number of accidental discharges and keep the gun from being used if stolen.

The Armatix Smart system iP1 is a semi-automatic .22 caliber handgun with a 10 round magazine. Which is great for plinking but it’s supposedly a defence handgun. I’ll get back to that in a minute.  Let’s say your 14 year old son figures out the combination to your bedside safe and grabs a regular gun loads it and maybe shoots a hole in the wall. The iP1 will stop things like this from happening by electronically locking the gun making it impossible to fire. The gun is an amazing idea for that reason… And that reason only.

I don’t think it is a good idea for a defence handgun because of two big reasons. One its .22 caliber. I have nothing against .22’s and wouldn’t want to be shot by one but there are other options out there that are the same size, maybe smaller, that pack more of a punch.  The reason it is .22 is because the recoil of anything more would shake the electronics apart.  Also its strength is its weakness. The fact you need a passcode to operate the gun is good unless you need the gun quickly.  Imagine yourself at night after hearing a bump downstairs. You put the watch on open your safe try to remember your code hopefully punch it in right all while someone is running around your house. It’s a good idea there are just better options out there.  All in all it is a pioneer, and like the first apple computer it has a long way to go before it is a hose hold name. I love the idea but it just needs more work. Next time I talk about a REALY big gun from WWII.

http://www.armatix.de/iP1-Pistol.779.0.html?&L=1 

Pepperbox Guns

Hello, this blog will be talking about a design of fire arm that in itself lasted quite long but did in fact fail due to none of the models of this gun selling very well along with other problems that I will get to later.  This design is known as the pepperbox gun named due to its resemblance to a pepper grinder.  The pepperbox gun design has been around for hundreds of years, since the 15th century in fact. But before I continue let me explain what a pepperbox gun is for all those who may not know.  The pepperbox gun is a firearm that had multiple charges (projectiles, and propellant) or bullets in anywhere from 3 to 24 barrels each one set to rotate either manually or mechanically by the pull of the trigger to fire independently using anything from match lock (a burning piece of string lowered into the black powder to regular center fire bullets we have today.  

                                             

This design had lots of advantages over the very similar revolver, though both had chambers holding the charge and projectile, the pepperbox gun had an individual barrel for each bullet.  This made the cost of producing the guns much lower and in some cases made it more reliable.  When the timing for the hammer of a revolver was not exact the bullet could still be fired but could cause an explosion in the gun possible injuring the operator.  The pepperbox on the other hand if it was not lined up properly it would still fire safely because each bullet had its own barrel.

The down side to this was the fact that most pepperbox guns were very front heavy and that made it difficult to aim.  The lack of sights didn't help that.  Now those points don’t matter when you think of the reason the gun was used in France for self defense and shot from the hip.  But nowadays we have much better self-defense handguns.  Which is I think the main reason the gun failed and is not really seen today.  Now before I end I would like to mention my personal favorite odd gun from the world of pepperbox guns.  The Apache revolver.  Not named after the Native Americans but after the French street gang that used this strange weapon.  Gun knife and brass knuckles it looks strange and deadly and that’s why I like it.  Next blog will be on the Armatix Smart system iP1 a more modern fail but possibly a pioneer in its field. Thanks for reading and have a good day.

The Winans Steam gun

Hello yet again we have quite the weapon to talk about this time. The Winans steam gun, which was designed in 1858 and built in 1860 by the confederate states of america during the civil war.  This gun as you can guess is steam powered, it uses a steam engine just like in trains back then but instead if powering wheels is spun the barrel of the gun and as the round lead bullets dropped into the barrel they were stopped at the end by a mechanism that only allowed one shot to leave per revolution.  The competition of weaponry in the civil war included multiple very efficient rifles like the very famous Henry repeating rifle.

The rifles of that time had a very decent fire rate but this steam machine gun had a fire rate of supposedly 400 rounds per minute which is ridiculous for that time.  But this weapon wouldn't be here if it had succeeded. The gun is massive and its lethality is nothing compared to its gunpowder powered competitors and its effective range is no where near as good.  There was only one of these built so all of these statistics are coming from an episode of mythbusters that built a version of it and had very interesting results.

The reason I think it failed is due to its size and relative ineffectiveness. It is a great idea but a little late to the game.  If a modern steam powered machine gun were made today i really doubt it would have any effect. with modern body armor and large armored vehicles this weapon would be turned to scrap metal in a matter of seconds.  I do have to hand it to the confederates though it is an ingenious idea but it didn't win them the war.  Thank you again and next week, Pepperbox guns.

Volcanic pistol and rocket ball ammunition

Hello again, in this blog I will be talking to you about the volcanic pistol and its rocket ball ammunition.  the volcanic pistol is a lever action pistol. for all you non gun people this means that one bullet is fired with each pull of the trigger and to chamber your next round and cock the gun you pushed forwards a lever.  This design was great for its era having been invented in the 1860's meaning its only competition was revolvers.  Now don't get me wrong revolvers are great but in single action they could not shoot as fast as the volcanic pistol and in double action the trigger was a very long pull making shooting it accurately more of a challenge. 

Let's talk about the efficiency. I did already mention a little about the gun itself but let's get into the details of the rocket ball ammo.  Many people who are not familiar with the volcanic pistol don't know of rocket ball ammo, it is a bullet where the back half is hollowed out and the powder and primer are in the back of the bullet. When it is fired the bullet leaves the barrel and there is no casing to be extracted.  This to me seems like a good idea there are less things that can go wrong due to no casing but the ballistics of the round suffer.  the Bullets are .31 caliber which is not bad but because the powder needs to fit in the back of the bullet you can't fit as much which lowers the velocity of the bullet which makes it as effective as a .24 ACP round.  Compared to its competition and the in .41 colt it is blown out of the water.


That is the reason I think this gun failed.  The design and idea of the gun itself is great but the lack of power is probably what killed it off, if everyone wanted a gun that could do more damage then it was not sold very much and was discontinued.  If a lever action pistol were made today I still do not believe it would catch on. Modern hand guns can hold more bullets and shoot faster due to self loading semi-automatic actions. Thanks for reading and next time we jump on over to the civil war to talk about a steam powered machine gun.

Welcome to the graveyard of guns

I am Josh Ostrowercha and I will be writing this blog to tell the world about some ideas that DID exist in the world of firearms and military weaponry but failed either because of malfunctions, them being impractical or just not catching on.  These firearms come from all over the world from the years 1858 till 2010 and all are very original in design.  Each of these guns could have changed the industry of fire arms for ever but the fact they never became popular leaves us with only a few remaining versions, or in some cases only designs for these guns.

The things I am going to cover on these designs and ideas are the functionality and efficiency of the weapon for its era, its practicality and price (if possible), and the reason it failed. After that I will give the weapons a rating and my own personal opinion on what I think of the idea and if I think something like this, maybe a more modern version, would work today.

Like I've mentioned before the guns range from mid-1800’s like pepperbox guns, to the civil war and the Winans steam machine gun, WWII and a few Nazi experimental artillery pieces, and even in 2010 with the Armatix smart systems iP1.  I will be writing about eight or nine blogs in total and depending on feedback I might continue past that.  My next blog will be about the volcanic pistol and rocket ball ammunition, an amazing idea from the mid-1800’s to give repeating firearms a practical projectile.  If you have any comments or questions I will do my best to get back to you ASAP. Thanks for reading, keep checking back for updates and remember, if you have an idea for a gun design bouncing around in your head, it probably won’t be as bad as some of these.