The WORST Gun Magazine Position for Combat

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In the case of the P90's top mounted mags, they completely voided the aiming issue by overengineering how the mags work. The mag is parallel to the length of the gun. The reciever rotates the cartriges as they enter the reciever. Watch videos on how the P90 works. It's total genius!

The thing that kept the Australian Owen gun in service through the Vietnam War was it never jammed due to dirt blockages. The top-loading design meant any debris would fall out, something that was vitally important in the muddy conditions of the Vietnamese jungles.

The only magazine that does its job best is the P90. Not only its centered ontop but its fairly transparent, so you can see the ammo count in your 50-round magazines.

You forgot something really important with top-fed magazines. The Bren gun had two men assigned to it: the number 1 who shot it, and the number 2 who reloaded it, as well as carried spare barrels and tools to fix it. Top-fed magazines are much easier for the assistant gunner to change out since it’s not obstructed by the gunners arms. This is true for both stationary and mobile shooting positions, which is what the design heavily lends itself to. In a pinch it is also possible to reload without an assistant on the move with one hand with the proper use of a sling. Any perceived disadvantage can be overcome with the right military doctrine.

7:31 “Remember, switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading” - Gaz

7:14 I love how the one guy that ran into the MG line of fire didn't die

It's not just the P90 that's top-feeding, there's also the calico series of smgs, FN p50 & the AR conversions

“I was saving the planet from an Axis of Darkness, while you were back home opening National Parks! Yes!” Winston Churchill

You forgot to mention the most important reason why so many light machine guns were fed from top mounted magazines: So the gunner can keep his aim while an assistant gunner reloads the gun for him. Lewis, DP-27/DPM, Type 96/Type 99 and Bren gun being prime examples. But there were even variants of belt fed machine guns getting top feed drums (MG-15 and MG-34 double drum for Aircraft and Anti Aircraft mounts for example) for faster reloading when every second counts. Edit: Just added a few more examples to diversify.

The G11 not only had caseless ammunition and some crazy mechanics to delay recoil (along with other stuff), it mounted three magazines on the front of the barrel, and the central one was in use.

@4:10 bro got that stormtrooper sighting for his MP-40... 😂

Keep in mind, submachine guns and Light Machine Guns were relatively NEW weapons back then.

I like how they tried literally every magazine angle in WW2 😂

fun fact about the MP18, teh reason it has a weird drum mag or snail mag is the request of field storm troopers who asked for the SMG to use the snail mags which were used with modified lugars, the mag was more than plentiful at the time. Though as for why there is quite a bit of side mag fire arms a little before WW2 is simply put the idea was that WW2 was gonna be another trench warfare or soldiers in constant prone positions.

Some SMGs were designed to be gripped by the mage, the MP-40 actually was supposed to be used by gripping the mag. Also some mags needed the user to hold the mag in the firearm especially after being worn out.

7:34 mans really emoted before ending the fight

The dp28 is an interesting machine gun, it has a top mounted magazine, but it doesn't ubstruck your vision, surprised it wasn't mentioned

Just a small miss speak at 6:44, "1914" was said but it's "1941" for those just listening to the video.

The would-be victim of the Bren gun at 5:47 went from “Oh no! Don’t shoot me!” to “Uh, you need a hand there, bud?” when the user smacked his gun in frustration, lol!