Q&A 56: Travel, Elbonian Snipers, and Contradictions

At some point you’re gunna have to enter a two gun match as an Elbonian infantryman

“Russia has some visa issues and diplomatic issues right now”. Ian, the master of understatement.

The proud nation of Elbonia doesn't need the fancy sniper weapons of the West. Our proud sniper corps has always distinguished itself with honor as one of the most highly decorated units in the World. To see them standing in ranks in their bright orange battle dress uniforms with their gleaming displays of wound badges, shining in the Sun, has inspired the entire nation for over 400 years.

Elbonian snipers account for bullet drop, by mounting the scope under the barrel.

that fact that ian doesn't even know the correct name of "raid: shadow legends" fill's me with hope.

According to the museum database of Sweden's Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren), the museum has two Kalthoff rifles in their inventory (inventory number 3646 (31:16) and 3644 (1334)) . You might be able to visit them and have a look at the rifles if you communicate with them in advance. They have some 30 000 items in their collection, so the rifles are probably not on display. Due to Swedish history, the collection is especially rich on items and weapons from the 17th century.

"Raid shadows legend" I love that he is so disinterested in stupid sponsors that he gets their name slightly wrong. I really appreciate your dedication to keeping this ad free and community based. Thank you ian

I suspect that the significant reduction in weight between the Thompson vs the M3 Grease Gun endeared the M3 to anyone that had to carry one in the field.

Regarding machine guns, I think a unit of price should be "Lago Aliens", as in, affordable machine guns are about 2-3 Lago Aliens.

I think a future t-shirt run needs to include an 'Elbonian Armorers' shirt

Ian's the first ever person who's said the words "I'd like to visit Lithgow".

On the "Which will be replaced first, 9mm or 5.56mm?" question, don't we see the answer already in historical terms? 9mm Parabellum has been around since 1901, when military rifles were generally firing full-power 7-ish millimetre cartridges. Since then, military rifle cartridges first went "intermediate" by shortening but keeping around the same calibre (8mm Short, 7.62x39), and then to "small calibre" rounds like 5.56mm, 5.45mm, 5.8mm and even 4.7mm in the H&K G11. Meanwhile, the 9x19mm cartridge has soldiered on, becoming steadily more popular. Rifle ammunition development has historically been much more dynamic than pistol, presumably because rifles are more important militarily than pistols, as Mr McCollum points out.

Additional to your selection of the M14 isn't it the case that the Elbonians received the "complete" 128 page manual. Their top brass read the first few pages.... only later was it discovered that pages 33-127 were blank, and these pages covered the re-assembly and re-bedding of these guns. Page 128 being the outside back cover, which any fool could see was just a printer's aberration page.

Ian throwing 40mm shade at RAID made my day.

Have a great day

Re Polymer rifle ammo: When I ran Practical Tactical back in the day, I obtained some of the polymer cased ammo that was being reintroduced into the market, around 2006-07 time frame. I think the mfg was Natec. Anyway, I ran it during one of the annual Independent Day Rifle Matches at Rio Salado. It was 114 that day. Most of the day, it ran fine up until the last stage with the concrete 'bunker' to shoot from, then a shoot house. By the time i got into the shoothouse, I got to the second target and it just went click. I did a tap/rack/bang, and same. Locked the slide back, dropped the mag, inserted a fresh mag, and same thing. Looking into the ejection port, I could see the tip of the round trying to enter the chamber, but wasn't. I cleared the gun, walked off the range to a safe area and checked the chamber...the polymer had gotten so hot, the extractor ripped the brass base off the case. I had to wait about 10-15 mins for it to cool enough to pop the plastic case out with a cleaning rod. I gave the ammo away the next day (I hadn't been charged for it). Gave the recipient a "use this for plinking ammo, not for competitions or defense" and was done with it. It was great, right up until it wasn't. :)

“You’ll never see a Raid Shadow Legend ad on here” ha! Ian you’re a badass

48:39 You missed a circle for your Venn diagram: the cowboy shooters. They frequently use single-shot rifles for side matches.

You have to get to the Australian War Memorial Ian. My best mate is a senior curator there and can get you behind the scenes access. It is an amazing museum with a fantastic collection of many extremely rare artefacts ❤

If advance primer ignition was relevant to submachine gun designs like the grease gun or UZI out of battery detonations would be FAR more common. In fixed firing pin guns the firing pin is in physical contact with the primer long before the case is far enough into the chamber to safely detonate it. It's not until something tries to stop movement of the cartridge that the firing pin applies enough force to set it off.