MG-34: The Universal Machine Gun Concept
1,981,919
Published 2017-10-07
Mechanically, the MG34 is a recoil operated gun using a rotating bolt for locking. It is chambered for 8mm Mauser, and feeds from 50-round belt segments with a clever and unique quick-change barrel mechanism. The early versions were fitted with adjustable rate reducers in the grips allowing firing from 400 to 900 rounds per minute, and also had an option for a top cover which would fit a 75-round double drum magazine. Both of these features were rather quickly discarded, however,r in the interest of more efficient production. However, the gun fulfilled its universal role remarkably well.
The MG34 was considered a state secret when first developed, and despite entering production in 1936 it would not be formally adopted until 1939 - by which time 50,000 or so had already been manufactured. It would comprise about 47% of the machine guns in German service when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland, but would be fully standardized by March of 1941. It was replaced by the MG42 later in the war, as that weapon was both faster and cheaper to produce and also required substantially less of the high-grade steel alloys that Germany had limited supplies of. However, it would continue to be produced through the war, particularly for vehicle mounts.
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All Comments (21)
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Can we talk about how great of a speaker Ian is? He has to talk for almost 30 minutes with minimal cuts in the whole video, but he's able to talk about all the historical aspects of the gun without messing up or stuttering, all the while looking at the camera. That's a big part of why I love these videos, he makes them interesting to and enjoyable to watch because he's a great presenter.
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As a USMC armorer, the fact that a 1930s machinegun allows you to detach the top cover by means of ab easy spring loaded pin, while the M249 forces you to remove the entire pin and then realign a bunch of bs to put it back into place, really grinds my gears.
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As a mechanical engineer, it blows my mind how people developed this level of equipment without calculators or CAD. VERY smart people, and VERY impressive machine design for being 80 years old
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Ian- "if you would like to own an MG34" lol who on this channel wouldn't.
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1999-2000 I was in the Croatian military. Even then, there were several MG 34 in our armament with eagles and swastikas. We also had even more MG 42 . Top machine guns with so much firing power. Not that we didn't have modern machine guns. But these German ones were so good and powerful
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James D Julia never fails to deliver bankruptcy inducing firearms
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Hot damn! You could conquer half of Europe with that puppy!
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The machining on this is insane if you consider how many of them were built. Especially with manual lathes, milling machines and shapers. My hat goes off for the machinists around the world!
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Hey, it's Ian McKenobi here from Forgotten Blasters, with the DLT 19 heavy repeating blaster
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"This thing could run circles around the BAR" Wise words from Ian
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The most beautiful MG ever build. And as an former Army armourer, metal worker and engineer, I love the design. What a beauty!
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This gun comes with 3 barrels, 6 drums, and 3 drum carriers!! Oh to be wealthy!
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20:22 Ian invented a new Star Wars blaster pistol
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I have one (fully de-mil'd unfortunately) that my dad bought a long time ago. The thing that always impresses me about it, is the quality of the machining. It looks like the kind of work you'd expect to see on a high priced civilian firearm, not a military weapon.
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This gun makes me wetter than the Volga River
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I was set up with the MG-3 when I served with the Norwegian army, it has an awesome firepower, it’s made to keep heads down which it does well considering its 1300 rpm so my riflemen can move without taking fire. My platoon of 34 men had three MG-3’s and one M2 every machine gunner carried a MP-5 as a “side” arm. The riflemen were issued G3’s and a Glock 17. I carried 4 G-3 magazines on my vest to keep the two other guys in the MG crew with extra ammo since they both carried 600 rounds for me, I also had 600 rounds with me. It was heavy AF! 15 kg or so of ammo I guess.
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The MG 34 was also used by the "Krad Schützen". K stood for Kraft (power) and Rad means in this context (cycle). They were motorcyclist who oftentimes counted as infantry and surprized the enemies, who didn't expect the fast bikers. The MG34 was commonly mounted on the bike. Another weapon they used was the Kar 98 which was used if they had to walk instead of driving.
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It would take a loooong time for anyone to make a machine gun quite like this. Part of that was most countries hadn't established machine gun doctrine like the Germans had. The other part was that the Germans are really good at gun design...
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For me as an engineer, the machinery of this is simply outstanding! considering its made nearly 80 years ago! A beautiful piece of engineering! Also, Ian is an amazing speaker! keep on great work, we love your videos!
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I'm losing my mind at the precision of the machining on this thing! The Germans were, as they are to this day, absolute masters of The Black Arts of shaping steel to perfection!
