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Machine Gun 101 on Prime

Mr. Perfect
Thought you guys might like to check this one out.

Machine Gun 101 is now running on Amazon Prime. It stars and features Ian McCollum, who is incredibly knowledgeable and interesting to listen to.

There is a super nice feature mid way through on the Scorpion. Man that lil' sucker has some ingenuity built into it. Overall, the video is very enjoyable (if you love firearms) and it's a fair bet that everyone here would learn at least something from it.

https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Gun-101-Ian-McCollum/dp/B07F9F4ZF7/ref=sr_1_2?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1534198555&sr=1-2&keywords=Machine+guns

If you go to the link, you'll see several other related documentaries that are available. I intend to check out several of them as well.
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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • mrmike08075
    In my gunshop days we had a local customer who collected sub machine guns - mostly from the Korean war era back to the beginnings in the late 1890's

    He specialized in WWI and treaty of Versailles period pieces

    I had the luxury of cleaning and documenting and test firing many of them and we also loaded obsolete ammo for him (8mm nambu for example)

    Interesting guy - recon marine and US marshal and a coroner for the county and for expert examination and testimony for law enforcement and the FBI

    Most of his guns ended up in museums - he would buy them and usually within a year they were donated or loaned or gifted to museums - he willed the collection - through a trust style agreement to a bunch of institutions in his will

    One of his "newest - modern" smg's was a Czech scorpion and I must opine that it was the most difficult to control pieces I ever tested

    Fascinating bolt design - they added weight to the bolt as a method of limiting / controlling the cyclic rate of fire

    I found it easily the most difficult smg to control or fire with any accuracy past 10 yds - it was so light and short and fast - a tool to dump ammo quickly at very close range

    Also difficult in my opinion to operate / learn to master the trigger and fire short controlled bursts of 3-5 rounds - at least I could not master it and never got the nack of controlled fire with it

    That might be a fault in my ability but I did okay with other designs like the Thompson and the grease gun or the nambus or the early Bayard Bergman's that utilized the Luger snail drum

    I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has fired one and know if they had a similar experience or whether it was just a failure of my technique or skill level

    He introduced me to the works of Ian hogg - who he corresponded with

    Mike
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  • Mr. Perfect
    Interesting to hear your experience, Mike. In the documentary Ian's was the opposite.

    I note too that the rate limiter was a moving momentum driven piston located in the pistol grip of the Scorpion. That portion of the design was one of the things I found to be particularly interesting.
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  • Sam06
    I have shot a truckload of SMGs and MGs. Everything from Mini Uzis to 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404

    But the hands down craziest SMG I have shot is either the Owen or the PM 63. The pm63 is a Polish SMG and its a hoot to shoot.

    Coolest I think is the Stechkin(APS) Full auto pistol with a stock on it.
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  • wiplash
    I was curious and did a search for the PM63. I came across this video. See the Oopsie?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIYq6NkZE0
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  • mrmike08075
    It's entirety possible that the example I handled had not been maintained or serviced correctly - or that the ammo I used had the wrong bullet weight in it for optimal performance in the scorpion

    As a side note I always found the nambu smg's to be quite well made and good running guns - if you had a good magazine (late mags seem badly made and the springs seemed to be badly heat treated)

    I agree that many reference works and fictional novels seem impressed with the scorpion - I always wondered if perhaps I handled a bad example or if it was my shooting style that was the problem

    Plus I was a duffer / amateur and self trained - not a noted expert of any sort

    Interesting read / watch.

    Mike
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  • Mr. Perfect
    Mike, it could merely be the measure of performance, as well. Ian was enthralled by the lack of muzzle rise. Having not shot one, I would certainly defer to your experience. Seemingly the 32ACP wouldn't have much just by default in any weapon. The video had a great slo-mo capture of the action cycling and you can see how the rate limiter acts. It's even possible to see the slight "bump up" the momentum driven piston imparts.
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  • mrmike08075
    I do remember being startled by the rate of fire - how quickly the Mag emptied...

    Made a sound like tearing canvas in half - like one long note not individual rounds firing...

    And most of my sub gun experience was with full wood stocked examples that were short in oal but shouldered well and pointed well

    I think only the Owen and the grease gun and the scorpion had skeleton wire metal stocks

    I honestly think there was more weight and metal content in my Czech CZ52 pistol

    I have been told that using a short sling set up was recommended but it had no sling with it

    Mike
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