Q&A 41: Rebuilding Elbonia, and Lots of British Rifles

"Hi Guys, thanks for tuning into another video on, Elbonian Weapons, I am Supreme Leader General McCollum."

Thanks to the terrain of Elbonia, you don't need to maneuver your ZB-53 since the enemy would get stuck in our glorious mud.

I served in the Elbonian armed forces. I got a service ribbon for firing that massive 8 mm cartridge. I am service disabled for terminal flinching.

I like how Ian talks about Elbonia, exactly how he would any other country

I don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a Forgotten Weapons video as quickly as I have for Elbonia part 2

"You might be able to engineer a solution to turn it into the zb. 53A6. All you'd have to do is reengineer the barrel. And the bipod. And the trigger. And the grips." Theseus' Heavy Machine Gun.

I've just realised Ian has a certificate of nobility from sealand in the background. That's fantastic.

Love how his whiskey says Forgotten Weapons’ secret weapon

Like most academics, I suddenly found myself teaching online. I adopted the FW Q&A format with my students. Folks, it's harder than it looks. Maybe I need a smoking jacket. Anyway, I love the Q & A posts. Keep up the good work.

when do we get a book on Elbonian firearms history?

"Principality of Sealand - Registration Deed of Individual Noble Title" Not sure which I enjoy more - the actual Q&A or the memetic potential of this channel.

You can tell Ian's interest lie squarely in the quirky since he has a Principality of Sealand enoblement document framed on his shelf ^^. In his name.

I think what the fellow at 0:31:33 meant was what would you prefer, an STG or a Coldwar Battle Rifle(as in a Rifle in 7.62 long Like A G3), I think he was wondering weather the lighter STG cartridge would offset the 'modern' designs and reliability of a Cold War BR when competing in 2 Gun.

The whole why aren't guns better prepared for trials question can be summed up best by just looking at the M1 Carbine development or the AWM rifle

Elbonia is an awesome idea and I would love if you kept doing it for different eras/major wars.

I think the Elbonia question should have been phrased “The traitor has been found out and executed, and now Elbonia has hired you to fix their military”

Ian puts alot of time and research into his patron's questions and it really shows in these q&as. Im glad he puts these on YouTube for free.

13:32 I was expecting the MAS-38 chambered in an obtainable caliber.

Last time i was this early, the Elbonians was doing fine as a colony

A lot of German gear (not just small arms) is very 'engineeringy'. It displays outward signs of being designed by clever people and built to a high standard using lots of 'nice' techniques and good materials. Of course, this is only sometimes accurate. Sometimes it all comes together and German stuff is genuinely as good as it looks. Other times, the clever people either started from the wrong premise or were forced to meet a badly-thought-out requirement and the result is occasionally 'beautiful rubbish', but more often it's over-expensive and over-complicated for the job it does. The classic example is the German WWII 50mm mortar. It's beautiful, built like a microscope with a full artillery-grade sight and probably cost about as much as a microscope to make, all of which is exactly what you DON'T want in a 50mm mortar that spends all it's life being a) carried around the countryside by some poor sod and b) lobbing smoke bombs...