Had one of these in the early 80's. Loved it when it worked, hated it most of the rest of the time. The exposed gas and recoil system did not like being in the dusty desert and after a day in the open would jam regularly until thoroughly cleaned. Eventually, the rough weld on the front lugs cracked and I had a 20+ round full auto runaway until the upper just separated. After my heart started back up, I immediately got rid of the thing. It's a funny memory now.
I have a Bushmaster Bushmaster and mine cracked its front lug in a similar fashion. Ended up having it and the rear sight rewelded, currently in the process of building a new forend to replace the long ago cracked handguard, and polishing up all the various QC failures in mine.
@@rosiehawtrey Took a couple of years before I was able to shoot any semi-auto without worrying about a runaway and having a finger always on the magazine release (which is a very weird position on most guns). Yeah, it was very scary when it happened and I still remember thinking "Keep this thing pointed downrange so nobody else gets hurt!"
For some reason I always thought that Snake's weapon in MGS5 was an ArmaLite-18 custom or an inspired AR-18 rifle, which many are like the SCAR, HK G36 etc
They use FN FNCs for the default rifles of Diamond Dogs, not this Bushmaster rifle. The handguard and the upper part of the receiver is far from similliar, but i understand why you'd think it's similliar just from look at the bottom part of the receiver and the skeleton stock
Mack was a really interesting Guy, he continued designing and making firearms. He was one of the first guys to make a QD Barrel systems for the AR platform, and eventually coupled that with a Changeable Magwell lower. Originally his Company Post-Bushy was "MGI", I bought one of his Uppers around 2004 or 5, and Spoke with Mack on the phone for almost 2 hours...REALLY Great guy to talk to, and He'll be missed, he Passed back in March of this year at age 79.
Cool video! I've got serial number F00915, complete with crappy, black-painted wood buttstock. The stock looks like it came from some random Winchester or Remington, and where the name was on the plastic butt plate was simply milled away.
@@IronClawGaming might seem like junk to you but these had seriouse business in mind and they weren't trying to make them expensive to make..we are spoiled with good finishes and great guns but 20years ago and even today there fine guns.. some guys wory about scratching there guns and looks ..always makes me wonder....lol..I love cool good looking guns but they dnt have to be pretty
Mark, you ought to take this design and engineer out the weak links of it. If you can make this reliable and STILL super cheap to mass produce, I think you might have a winner in the budget rifle category. I can tell you that I personally have been itching for an AR-18 looking rifle, and something like this would satisfy that need very well (if it was well made and reliable).
I have both, the stamp and aluminum ones. The issue I see with them is the the piston "head" is screwed onto the rod. It backs off very slightly and that causes the "click" because the backing out of the piston is just enough to cause a light strike. A little lock tight solves that. Quality control was very lacking. Had to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Anyway thank you for doing this video. I get a lot of "What is that?" At the range
The firing pin is just floating there with no spring. But that doesnt really matter because without a firing pin spring it should be easier for the hammer to strike the pin with enough force to dent the primer easily, but what I think is going on here is that the hammer doesnt really drive the pin to the primer, the hammer just touches the pin and sends it flying towards the primer. I dont own these guns and I cant say for sure but there is no way that the hammer can drop, not fire and also not leave a dent.
@@wrathmachine7609 unless the carrier is a few mm further rearward causing the face of the hammer to hit the lower rear corner of the bolt carrier. Basically making it so the hammer can't reach full vertical and hire the firing pin.
@@justindunlap1235 Pretty sure this carbine has a controlled feed which means that right before the cartrige is seated in the chamber the rim is already under the extractor meaning that if the BCG was a few mm rear wards it would actually fire partially unlocked because the firing pin would still hit the cartridge since its sitting in the bolt.
@@justindunlap1235 with a push feed the cartrige is seated first in the chamber and then when the bolt locks the extractor snaps in the rim recess. So if the BCG was actually rearwards 1-2-3mm it would not fire.
Interesting, that makes sense the pin wouldn’t even go forward with the carrier slightly out of battery. A demonstration of the practical benefits of a short stroke piston design, the same thing happening in an AR180 wouldn’t be an issue as the parts aren’t rigidly connected. My thought was that the gun might be under-gassed. It doesn’t have an adjustable regulator and there are a ton of bearing surfaces with that huge carrier and the friction around the piston/spring clamp. If it dragged enough it might not be going into battery fully on the return stroke.
When you rattled it to demonstrate the noise I thought, "That sounds like the M16A1 I was issued in Basic and the one I had in Germany." We applied electrical tape to reduce the amount of rattle back in the olden days.
@@ianmills9266 I was thinking either that or the bolt carrier is somehow interfering with the hammer, like it's not fully forward so the hammer only strikes the rear edge of the carrier.
@@justindunlap1235 that a common thing with open bolt, and is also one reason for the forward assist in many closed bolt firearms. It's usually due to dirt building up preventing the bolt carrier from sitting properly. In this particular instance I wonder if different return springs along with a new hammer spring would fix the issue? Or it's simply due to the age of the rifle and as such the component parts are not as strong as they were?
This is the blast from the past. In the late 80s I had just turned 18 and my best friend's dad lived out in the country and was a licensed gun dealer. At that time you didn't need a physical shop address, you just needed to fill out the paperwork and keep legit. What a great time! $65 SKS-es', $275 AKS, a pair of hodgepodge built M-1 Garands for $300 a piece..and then this guy. Sadly the Bushmaster was one of the few weapons which I forget what I paid. I didn't keep it long. I think I traded it for a Cobray Mac-11 clone. 🤣 I just remember not being particularly impressed by how it functioned. What a shame those times are gone.
The rifle certainly had possibilities and with refinements, I think it could have been successful. Thanks for all the info you share and doing it without obnoxious music and/or glitzy video effect intros.
Probably because all of those are straight up improvements over AR15. Piston for better reliability, especially with shorter barrels, and suppresors, side charging bc AR charging handle is awkward af and folding stock for ease of transportation :D
@@ancientrenegade9243 And somehow colt doesn't own the patent anymore and AR15 is still pretty much the main gun that uses this system, while most new rifles still use short stroke gas piston. He'll, the sole reason 416 even exists is inadequacy of AR's pseudo Di (it's not Di).
Hellyes! So glad you finally covered the Gwinn monstrosity haha, my buddy has one and he's had very good luck with it's function and reliability, truly a rifle worthy of the Elbonain Coast Guard.
i had a original Gwinn Arms Co. gun, dating to the early 70's. When I got it used in the early 80's, it came with what looked like a Maple stock. It looked so out of place and weird, I spray painted it black. Everybody laughed at me when I first got it. Told me that it was a unreliable lemon that wouldn't work. They had to eat their words. It worked and shot great, for as long as I had it. I couldn't get my reloads to chamber though. As it required 5.56 "Small Base" sizing die, for the reloaded brass to chamber. The "birdcage" flash hider was also faulty. It wasn't made out of the correct hardness of steel. After shooting it a bunch, it swelled up and looked really strange. Took it off and put a GI flash hider, on the barrel. You brought back a lot of old memories Ian.
I was thinking "Man this is a cool piece of firearm history, I might see if I can find one," and then we got to the range segment and I thought "Man I actually don't want one anymore."
@@georgewhitworth9742 Maybe this one isn't in its best condition though. Most 50 year old rifles that function perfectly fine are probably better preserved.
I have seen only one of these and it was a Guinn marked upper. Saw it in a pawn shop many years ago next to 2 Armalite AR 180s. I bought the Armalite btw.
A few years back I met Mack Gwynn Jr. and got to talk with him some of the conversation was about the his father's connection with Bushmaster Firearms Co. He said it was owned by his father then sold to owner of Windom Firearms (new Bushmaster owner) and they are still friendly with business. As known with the MGI Hydra that was / is? available from Windom Firearms. (my spelling might be incorrect) I really liked the Bushmaster great idea that needed to mature with more time. Low cost easy to manufacture technology wise, a few updates for reliability it could have been a major player in firearms.
Really looks like a "craft" production. I remember these from "back in the day" when there were quite a few options on the "assault rifle" market. Lots of good stuff back then.
I’m gonna be “that guy” saying this... but I think it looks awesome. I love the look of the AR-180 and this seems to take the Ergonomics of the AR-180, only with a better internal system.
Joseph Iacuzio 15 minutes ago (edited) I have both, the stamp and aluminum ones. The issue I see with them is the the piston "head" is screwed onto the rod. It backs off very slightly and that causes the "click" because the backing out of the piston is just enough to cause a light strike. A little lock tight solves that. Quality control was very lacking. Had to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Anyway thank you for doing this video. I get a lot of "What is that?" At the range
Had one in 1982. Had to "Mortar" the rifle so many times the tubular rear stock fell off the pivot. Had a welder TIG weld the stock back in place and traded the rifle for an early Spring Inc M1A.
I have one of these; a lower serial and also nickel plated (I think; matte silver but magnetic). Still has the magnetic catch. Runs much better than this one, but is not perfect either. Neat guns. Thanks for the history!
I had always wondered about these things. I'd seen them in the Bushmaster catalog for years, and considered getting one due to the price back in the 80's, and then they just disappeared. Another awesome vid Ian!
That was a tea-spitting moment when he mentioned Bushmaster used to be called 'Quality Products'. Fucking amazing- you couldn't write that into a comedy and have people take it seriously.
I didn't notice a firing pin spring. Check to see if they were not on the original rifles. Failure of the firing pin to have a spring might not be allowing it to be seated back far enough for the hammer to get a full strike to generate enough energy consistently.
Great fun... I remember this rifle, I was pretty young at a range with my Dad. A display of "modern guns" had one of these. Interesting time for the industry.
I like it, I think with a little engineering it could be an awesome inexpensive weapon for the assistance program and I like not having those hot gasses blown back into the bolt like my M16 had.
You could have visited the original bushmaster owner and crew when you were in NH. Dick dyke is always happy to meet new people. Bushmaster was originally in Bangor, 100 miles from Portland, then it moved to windham, 15 miles from Portland. It’s now windham weaponry after the freedom group broke its word and moved production firing the employees. DD reopened the factory and rehired the employees as soon as his non compete clause expired.
About 15:00 you can see the first shot that we get to see from Ian's right side, that the first shell weakly ejected and then followed by an erratic ejection pattern.
Before that I think was the Bushmaster ARM pistol. They sold semi-auto versions of those pistols and I came close to buying one in the 70’s at a Walmart! 🤣 BTW those pistols were shooting 5.56 years before the huge controversy concerning the selling of AR pistols came to light. People tried to say they shouldn’t allow AR pistols because it would ban green tip ammo as being AP ammo used in a pistol, and therefore illegal. But the Bushmaster ARM came out in the 70’s, long before AP for pistols was banned. I believe the first product Bushmaster made was the ARM and then the Assault Rife shown here. And it was us gun owners who started calling those guns assault rifles. It was a common term gun owners used back in the 70’s.
OMG! I owned one of these back in the early 1980s. I bought it new, and had nothing but problems with it. The charging handle fell off when I was shooting it. So much so that I ended up using a short screwdriver to charge the gun. It kept jamming all the time. I also had a Mini 14 at the time, and compared to it, the Bushmaster just completely disappointed me. I sold it to a friend, He took it to a gunsmith for some work, and he said it worked very well for him after that.
I wouldn't have thought it possible to make something look more cheaply made than a Cobray, but here we are... Neat rifle, I'd imagine if someone took the time to tinker with it they could get the reliability issues worked out
I have a fixed and folding version and the reliability is an issue. If production had been continued I suspect the bugs would been worked out in due course and the reliability would have equaled the AR and possibly the Galil and DR 200.
Joseph Iacuzio 15 minutes ago (edited) I have both, the stamp and aluminum ones. The issue I see with them is the the piston "head" is screwed onto the rod. It backs off very slightly and that causes the "click" because the backing out of the piston is just enough to cause a light strike. A little lock tight solves that. Quality control was very lacking. Had to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Anyway thank you for doing this video. I get a lot of "What is that?" At the range
Love how you go into enough detail that a "found" rifle is no longer a mystery as to condition, function and field stripping. As the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and due to my location in Australia, I and many others would appreciate any info you could muster on the current crop of rifles issued to the Chinese PLA. Thank you in advance...
This thing looks like an AR lower someone slapped a piece of workshop steel and wooden mockup furniture on to make a vaguely Galil-esque rifle for a movie prop.
maybe its just me but I love crude. I love when you have a crude thing that works flawlessly. The crude welds and all that dont worry me one bit as long as they work
As a career pothead, I can't help feeling like I've been a little baited here. And oh yeah Receiver Markings are the best part of guns, can't wait to see that! Thx Ian!
20ish years ago I was contemplating putting together a collection of early 223/5.56 military styled semi autos that were not made by Colt. The CAL, FNC, AR180, this Gwinn / Bushmaster, the Gwinn "arm pistol", cast receiver Olympias, etc. These did show up on GB and gunshops occasionallly.. In the shooting of this rifle there are several issues not just one. First is the chamber has issues and needs to be inspected with a borescope. Probably pitted. There is a reason Colt started plating the chambers and eventually the entire bore. At the 14:57 mark of the vid the shooter loads a fresh round and on firing the case barely makes it out of the ejection port. The next round ejects strongly. While I had the borescope in hand I would also check the full length of the bbl and pay close attn to the gas port. Secondly there is the light strike issue. Could be the fresh cartridge is not seating fully creating an out of battery issue or weak hammer spring or ??
It became available when the M-16 was put up for open bid by the an US government department. I think it was available through the Government Printing Office for about $350. That's my understanding about it.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine But the patents don't contain any of the manufacturing data. Patents are just enough detail to get the idea and method of operation across.
The M4/M4A1/M16 TDP (technical data package) started as intellectual property of Colt and was licensed to the US Government. As part of this license, the USG was allowed to 'competitively procure' rifles from FN and provided them the TDP for use in production, but the TDP is still technically Colt property and contains trade secrets that the USG still has a responsibility to protect. In 1997 an audit by the DoD Inspector General found that the US Navy had accidentally leaked the entire Colt TDP for the M4 to about 21 different contractors when they were attempting to procure M4A1 conversion kits (Report #97-165). As a result the TDP is essentially available to anyone who knows where to source it. Source: "The Truth About Mil-Spec", by David Crane for Combat Tactics Magazine (Summer 2008)
@@solwindp78-1 Thanks for the correct information. I dug around for a set of mil spec blue prints and learned it would cost more than I was willing to pay. It would have come from someone that had aquired a set for bidding purposes.
That looks like something that would be fun to "modify" if one is a good machinist with a basement shop, as in rebuild the crudest parts into more smooth and professional components (for example, replace the whole welded bolt carrier block with a single machined piece, adjust the springs and gas system, recreate the front handguard with molded plastic or fiberglass, etc.) But yeah... there is a *reason* manufacturing engineers make the big bucks; taking prototypes and making them manufacturable is a whole skill/talent set in and of itself.
Speaking of Bushmaster. I have been looking for pictures of the chain drive in the Bushmaster auto cannons (and similar other guns). If you ever get a chance, could you do something on this subject- how they work, pros and cons, etc. Thank You!
To be fair, deciding to have your "this gun can both do precise shots, and full auto, using a carriage between those used by the old bolt action rifles and those for pistols" and call it assault rifle. ... is heavy lingo, and not obvious to outsiders.
@@suddenllybah Exactly brother! People that don’t know anything hear the word “assault” and they tie it to being a criminal just for having “a modern sport/tactical rifle”. Damn leftists, they like to twist words.
conceptually very similar feeling to the Sig 550 series rifles. same operating mechanism and spring orientation, more or less a hybrid of Kalashnikov and Stoner concepts.
@@oneshotpete6.591 my 556 obliterated its piston spring in under 1000 rounds....I wanted to love that gun so much, but after such a magnificent parts failure so early on I ended up getting rid of it and going back to my Kalashnikov
I was going to question the whole light-strike/no-strike thing, but I think someone below answered it.....What I will say, is: _God Bless You, Captain Mike -- You made the Caribbean a little safer. RIP_ -- I'm not going to explain that. Look it up.
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Had one of these in the early 80's. Loved it when it worked, hated it most of the rest of the time. The exposed gas and recoil system did not like being in the dusty desert and after a day in the open would jam regularly until thoroughly cleaned. Eventually, the rough weld on the front lugs cracked and I had a 20+ round full auto runaway until the upper just separated. After my heart started back up, I immediately got rid of the thing. It's a funny memory now.
I have a Bushmaster Bushmaster and mine cracked its front lug in a similar fashion. Ended up having it and the rear sight rewelded, currently in the process of building a new forend to replace the long ago cracked handguard, and polishing up all the various QC failures in mine.
@@rosiehawtrey Took a couple of years before I was able to shoot any semi-auto without worrying about a runaway and having a finger always on the magazine release (which is a very weird position on most guns). Yeah, it was very scary when it happened and I still remember thinking "Keep this thing pointed downrange so nobody else gets hurt!"
Ah yes, a weapon perfect for Diamond Dogs
For some reason I always thought that Snake's weapon in MGS5 was an ArmaLite-18 custom or an inspired AR-18 rifle, which many are like the SCAR, HK G36 etc
@@LoneWolf_Cub_Ogami_Itto There's a website where they match the game's weapons to real life.
Actually they used the FN FNC or at least as close as you can get to one without having to pay for likeness rights to FN
They use FN FNCs for the default rifles of Diamond Dogs, not this Bushmaster rifle. The handguard and the upper part of the receiver is far from similliar, but i understand why you'd think it's similliar just from look at the bottom part of the receiver and the skeleton stock
@@DrSabot-A looks more like hybrids of multiple weapon systems from the day
Mack was a really interesting Guy, he continued designing and making firearms. He was one of the first guys to make a QD Barrel systems for the AR platform, and eventually coupled that with a Changeable Magwell lower. Originally his Company Post-Bushy was "MGI", I bought one of his Uppers around 2004 or 5, and Spoke with Mack on the phone for almost 2 hours...REALLY Great guy to talk to, and He'll be missed, he Passed back in March of this year at age 79.
Cool video! I've got serial number F00915, complete with crappy, black-painted wood buttstock. The stock looks like it came from some random Winchester or Remington, and where the name was on the plastic butt plate was simply milled away.
Why did you guys think this gun was a god idea to buy? Its so cheap looking, I think the grease gun might of been higher quality
Awesome...I'm jealous..cool and historically significant
@@IronClawGaming might seem like junk to you but these had seriouse business in mind and they weren't trying to make them expensive to make..we are spoiled with good finishes and great guns but 20years ago and even today there fine guns.. some guys wory about scratching there guns and looks ..always makes me wonder....lol..I love cool good looking guns but they dnt have to be pretty
Mark, you ought to take this design and engineer out the weak links of it. If you can make this reliable and STILL super cheap to mass produce, I think you might have a winner in the budget rifle category.
I can tell you that I personally have been itching for an AR-18 looking rifle, and something like this would satisfy that need very well (if it was well made and reliable).
@@IronClawGaming 30years ago u couldn't afford ar15s they were 1000s of dollars. That's why mini 14 Rugers. Ar180 and this bushmaster exist.
I have both, the stamp and aluminum ones. The issue I see with them is the the piston "head" is screwed onto the rod. It backs off very slightly and that causes the "click" because the backing out of the piston is just enough to cause a light strike. A little lock tight solves that. Quality control was very lacking. Had to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Anyway thank you for doing this video. I get a lot of "What is that?" At the range
The firing pin is just floating there with no spring. But that doesnt really matter because without a firing pin spring it should be easier for the hammer to strike the pin with enough force to dent the primer easily, but what I think is going on here is that the hammer doesnt really drive the pin to the primer, the hammer just touches the pin and sends it flying towards the primer. I dont own these guns and I cant say for sure but there is no way that the hammer can drop, not fire and also not leave a dent.
@@wrathmachine7609 unless the carrier is a few mm further rearward causing the face of the hammer to hit the lower rear corner of the bolt carrier. Basically making it so the hammer can't reach full vertical and hire the firing pin.
@@justindunlap1235 Pretty sure this carbine has a controlled feed which means that right before the cartrige is seated in the chamber the rim is already under the extractor meaning that if the BCG was a few mm rear wards it would actually fire partially unlocked because the firing pin would still hit the cartridge since its sitting in the bolt.
@@justindunlap1235 with a push feed the cartrige is seated first in the chamber and then when the bolt locks the extractor snaps in the rim recess. So if the BCG was actually rearwards 1-2-3mm it would not fire.
Interesting, that makes sense the pin wouldn’t even go forward with the carrier slightly out of battery. A demonstration of the practical benefits of a short stroke piston design, the same thing happening in an AR180 wouldn’t be an issue as the parts aren’t rigidly connected.
My thought was that the gun might be under-gassed. It doesn’t have an adjustable regulator and there are a ton of bearing surfaces with that huge carrier and the friction around the piston/spring clamp. If it dragged enough it might not be going into battery fully on the return stroke.
When you rattled it to demonstrate the noise I thought, "That sounds like the M16A1 I was issued in Basic and the one I had in Germany." We applied electrical tape to reduce the amount of rattle back in the olden days.
What's that rattle?
It's my chainmail sir.
No, that other sound.
Oh, this. An old fellow.
Fun callback to the Evans repeating arms Co. Being the first arms manufacturer in Maine until bushmaster. See Ian... we did learn something.
Lmfao you might have...I knew that years ago...I'm partial to Windham Weaponry myself or Trident Armory in Bangor
Hiram Maxim was from Maine.
@@aaronsanborn4291 ok
That was a weird malfunction that seems to be having. It's still got that badass 70s/80s action movie charm.
Definitely not that common on a closed bolt, perhaps the hammer spring needs to be stronger
@@ianmills9266 I was thinking either that or the bolt carrier is somehow interfering with the hammer, like it's not fully forward so the hammer only strikes the rear edge of the carrier.
@@justindunlap1235 that a common thing with open bolt, and is also one reason for the forward assist in many closed bolt firearms. It's usually due to dirt building up preventing the bolt carrier from sitting properly. In this particular instance I wonder if different return springs along with a new hammer spring would fix the issue? Or it's simply due to the age of the rifle and as such the component parts are not as strong as they were?
The slab side looks and charging handle are exactly my kind of aesthetics.
That "lo-poly early-3D FPS" look.
Oh man you should buy a hi point carbine if you like utilitarian asthetics
@@colewyman7737 implying lololol hi point 10 mm rules
Yeah; it has a weird sort of sexiness to it. 😝
This is the blast from the past. In the late 80s I had just turned 18 and my best friend's dad lived out in the country and was a licensed gun dealer.
At that time you didn't need a physical shop address, you just needed to fill out the paperwork and keep legit. What a great time!
$65 SKS-es', $275 AKS, a pair of hodgepodge built M-1 Garands for $300 a piece..and then this guy.
Sadly the Bushmaster was one of the few weapons which I forget what I paid. I didn't keep it long. I think I traded it for a Cobray Mac-11 clone. 🤣
I just remember not being particularly impressed by how it functioned. What a shame those times are gone.
My uncle was a FFL dealer and did not have a shop. This was into the 2000s.
@@louisgiokas2206 I did not know that. Maybe I was misremembering, or it was different. I live in Florida.
The rifle certainly had possibilities and with refinements, I think it could have been successful.
Thanks for all the info you share and doing it without obnoxious music and/or glitzy video effect intros.
yes you're right, straight to the topic, no stupid channel advertisement (that's done alone by the content itself)...
The most common change to AR15 competitors seems to be...external gas piston, side charging and folding stock
Probably because all of those are straight up improvements over AR15. Piston for better reliability, especially with shorter barrels, and suppresors, side charging bc AR charging handle is awkward af and folding stock for ease of transportation :D
DI gas would be the industry standard if colt hadn't owned the patent. The short strokes were a compromise not an improvement.
@@ancientrenegade9243 And somehow colt doesn't own the patent anymore and AR15 is still pretty much the main gun that uses this system, while most new rifles still use short stroke gas piston. He'll, the sole reason 416 even exists is inadequacy of AR's pseudo Di (it's not Di).
@@ancientrenegade9243 but somehow US military always ask external piston for their new rifle.
@@ancientrenegade9243 short stroke is large improvement over di unreliability. Every new firearms uses them.
The Chieftan has track tension, Ian has receiver markings...
Iain has markings, yes. But it's a rare video that doesn't mention out of battery safeties.
Hellyes! So glad you finally covered the Gwinn monstrosity haha, my buddy has one and he's had very good luck with it's function and reliability, truly a rifle worthy of the Elbonain Coast Guard.
i had a original Gwinn Arms Co. gun, dating to the early 70's. When I got it used in the early 80's, it came with what looked like a Maple stock. It looked so out of place and weird, I spray painted it black.
Everybody laughed at me when I first got it. Told me that it was a unreliable lemon that wouldn't work. They had to eat their words. It worked and shot great, for as long as I had it. I couldn't get my reloads to chamber though. As it required 5.56 "Small Base" sizing die, for the reloaded brass to chamber.
The "birdcage" flash hider was also faulty. It wasn't made out of the correct hardness of steel. After shooting it a bunch, it swelled up and looked really strange. Took it off and put a GI flash hider, on the barrel. You brought back a lot of old memories Ian.
I was thinking "Man this is a cool piece of firearm history, I might see if I can find one," and then we got to the range segment and I thought "Man I actually don't want one anymore."
Probably need a new hammer spring and or firing pin. Its 50years old.
@@justinlance4174Idk, plenty of 50 year old rifles still function perfectly fine...
@@georgewhitworth9742 Maybe this one isn't in its best condition though. Most 50 year old rifles that function perfectly fine are probably better preserved.
I have seen only one of these and it was a Guinn marked upper.
Saw it in a pawn shop many years ago next to 2 Armalite AR 180s. I bought the Armalite btw.
I like the Bushmaster, but would purchase the AR180 as well.
How much was a Bushmaster rifle, in the 1970's?
Was it cheaper than an AR180?
In house, Howa, or Sterling?
That range always reminds me of shooting with my parents in South Africa Ian your videos usually always bring on a sense of nostalgia
I love your channel, and I'm happy to have caught this w/in the last hour. Hope all is well, and you and yours are all happy and healthy.
I remember drooling over Quality Products ads in Shotgun News.
A few years back I met Mack Gwynn Jr. and got to talk with him some of the conversation was about the his father's connection with Bushmaster Firearms Co. He said it was owned by his father then sold to owner of Windom Firearms (new Bushmaster owner) and they are still friendly with business. As known with the MGI Hydra that was / is? available from Windom Firearms. (my spelling might be incorrect)
I really liked the Bushmaster great idea that needed to mature with more time. Low cost easy to manufacture technology wise, a few updates for reliability it could have been a major player in firearms.
Thank you Ian
The Best Buy AR-18.
I've wanted one of these for a while. Now even more people are going to know about them driving the price up.
Don't worry, they'll put them back on the market right after trying to shoot them.
can we all take a second to appreciate the branding strength behind a name "bushmaster"
It's really interesting how often you find Stoner's legacy in several otherwise unassuming products.
A magnet from a fire extinguser hose would be a perfect fit for the missing stock magnet
Thank you , Ian .
🐺
This is INCREDIBLY good looking. I am not joking, it's like the simplest lines and design possible. Beautiful.
Really looks like a "craft" production. I remember these from "back in the day" when there were quite a few options on the "assault rifle" market. Lots of good stuff back then.
I’m gonna be “that guy” saying this... but I think it looks awesome. I love the look of the AR-180 and this seems to take the Ergonomics of the AR-180, only with a better internal system.
Better internal system? Kind of laughable when the internals from the AR-180 have made their way into hundreds of guns, like the G36, SCAR, L85, etc.
Sure if better means lower quality and poor performing.
Doesn't look like it works better to me
Great work Sir thank you
Looks like a combination between Daewoo K-2 and Galil AR.
I agree
I thought it was a strange K1A from the thumbnail for a second.
I was thinking a Mac10 and a Galil love child.
Looks remarkably similar to an R4 or R5 imo
@@WardenWolf My first thought was that it was a MAC M10 conversion using a donated lower, but that must have been the look back then.
Interesting example of how from concept to production of any product and the hiccups in between effect the end result.
8:48 ...hence, for full-auto version, potentially the same issue as for DP-27. With gas piston becoming hotter, the recoil spring loses its strength.
It looks like an AK and AR hooked up in a puddle of Agent Orange and this is the offspring.
I remember Peter Kokalis calling this the Bush League Bushmaster.
Incredibly inconsistent ejection on that rifle.
Joseph Iacuzio
15 minutes ago (edited)
I have both, the stamp and aluminum ones. The issue I see with them is the the piston "head" is screwed onto the rod. It backs off very slightly and that causes the "click" because the backing out of the piston is just enough to cause a light strike. A little lock tight solves that. Quality control was very lacking. Had to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Anyway thank you for doing this video. I get a lot of "What is that?" At the range
I snorted when the casing from the first shot taken with the camera on Ian's right just goes "...ploop."
I noticed that
@@someweirdguyew9757 I had to watch that twice did I just see what I think I saw.
Had one in 1982. Had to "Mortar" the rifle so many times the tubular rear stock fell off the pivot. Had a welder TIG weld the stock back in place and traded the rifle for an early Spring Inc M1A.
This rifle was inspired by Stoner. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was inspired by stoners.
There’s a a whole lot in the 70’s inspired by stoners.
Woah! Excellent!!!
Bill and Ted also inspired stoners...
Most excellent dude
yes we can see this in the title.😑
I have one of these; a lower serial and also nickel plated (I think; matte silver but magnetic). Still has the magnetic catch. Runs much better than this one, but is not perfect either. Neat guns. Thanks for the history!
I had always wondered about these things. I'd seen them in the Bushmaster catalog for years, and considered getting one due to the price back in the 80's, and then they just disappeared. Another awesome vid Ian!
Thanks Ian! At least the new production Bushmaster XM15 rifles were more reliable!
That was a tea-spitting moment when he mentioned Bushmaster used to be called 'Quality Products'. Fucking amazing- you couldn't write that into a comedy and have people take it seriously.
At around the same time, I worked for a computer company called Leading Edge Products. Same kind of deal, except our welds were better. :)
This is to the Galil and Stoner what the Grease Gun was to the Thompson.
At least in terms of appearance at first glance to me.
I personally would rather have the Galil
@@LoneWolf_Cub_Ogami_Itto I think this is meant for people and countries that cant aford a galil.
Not really, the grease gun was better than the Thompson, this is actually an interesting design that was just built badly
ah yes I was thinking the same. it does look like a budget galil
@Train 2noplace very popular gun in Cosa Nostra Mafia in Chicago and NYC during that era till the 90s, easy to use and back then were cheap.
I didn't notice a firing pin spring. Check to see if they were not on the original rifles. Failure of the firing pin to have a spring might not be allowing it to be
seated back far enough for the hammer to get a full strike to generate enough energy consistently.
Great fun... I remember this rifle, I was pretty young at a range with my Dad. A display of "modern guns" had one of these. Interesting time for the industry.
I like it, I think with a little engineering it could be an awesome inexpensive weapon for the assistance program and I like not having those hot gasses blown back into the bolt like my M16 had.
As a Mainer I’m proud of Bushmaster and now Windham weaponry
You could have visited the original bushmaster owner and crew when you were in NH. Dick dyke is always happy to meet new people.
Bushmaster was originally in Bangor, 100 miles from Portland, then it moved to windham, 15 miles from Portland. It’s now windham weaponry after the freedom group broke its word and moved production firing the employees. DD reopened the factory and rehired the employees as soon as his non compete clause expired.
About 15:00 you can see the first shot that we get to see from Ian's right side, that the first shell weakly ejected and then followed by an erratic ejection pattern.
Before that I think was the Bushmaster ARM pistol. They sold semi-auto versions of those pistols and I came close to buying one in the 70’s at a Walmart! 🤣 BTW those pistols were shooting 5.56 years before the huge controversy concerning the selling of AR pistols came to light. People tried to say they shouldn’t allow AR pistols because it would ban green tip ammo as being AP ammo used in a pistol, and therefore illegal. But the Bushmaster ARM came out in the 70’s, long before AP for pistols was banned. I believe the first product Bushmaster made was the ARM and then the Assault Rife shown here. And it was us gun owners who started calling those guns assault rifles. It was a common term gun owners used back in the 70’s.
OMG! I owned one of these back in the early 1980s. I bought it new, and had nothing but problems with it. The charging handle fell off when I was shooting it. So much so that I ended up using a short screwdriver to charge the gun. It kept jamming all the time. I also had a Mini 14 at the time, and compared to it, the Bushmaster just completely disappointed me. I sold it to a friend, He took it to a gunsmith for some work, and he said it worked very well for him after that.
Finally, a good video om the bushmaster, thank you Ian!
Jetzt macht auch das alte Motorrad Nummernschild Sinn
It’s so primitive and basic, it makes a Kalashnikov look well made.
I wouldn't have thought it possible to make something look more cheaply made than a Cobray, but here we are... Neat rifle, I'd imagine if someone took the time to tinker with it they could get the reliability issues worked out
I have a fixed and folding version and the reliability is an issue. If production had been continued I suspect the bugs would been worked out in due course and the reliability would have equaled the AR and possibly the Galil and DR 200.
Joseph Iacuzio
15 minutes ago (edited)
I have both, the stamp and aluminum ones. The issue I see with them is the the piston "head" is screwed onto the rod. It backs off very slightly and that causes the "click" because the backing out of the piston is just enough to cause a light strike. A little lock tight solves that. Quality control was very lacking. Had to do a lot of tweeking to get it right. Anyway thank you for doing this video. I get a lot of "What is that?" At the range
Love how you go into enough detail that a "found" rifle is no longer a mystery as to condition, function and field stripping. As the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and due to my location in Australia, I and many others would appreciate any info you could muster on the current crop of rifles issued to the Chinese PLA. Thank you in advance...
Good luck in land down under, I hope some of your people buried some things.
@Ned Kelly Grindset tell that to Taiwan and Ukraine.
@@DB-yj3qc Vinidex plumbing pipe was a hot sale item here in 1996
I think I like this one, kinda cool to see how some people use the Lego parts.
This thing looks like an AR lower someone slapped a piece of workshop steel and wooden mockup furniture on to make a vaguely Galil-esque rifle for a movie prop.
Looks like something your uncle with the machineshop would put together with a bin of spareparts.
maybe its just me but I love crude. I love when you have a crude thing that works flawlessly. The crude welds and all that dont worry me one bit as long as they work
Man that gun is rattlely. Like even the charging handle is like all wobbly.
Cool evolution of the designs. Thanks for sharing.
God bless all here
The rifle carried by "The Man Who Sold The World".
I had several of them in the 1980s poor man's AR-15. Looked cool worked OK. History ❤
Now that's looks like a FAL, a Galil and a MAC 10 went to a hotel and this came 9 months later
The impression I got was that Bushmaster was synonymous with low quality.
Thank you.
As a career pothead, I can't help feeling like I've been a little baited here.
And oh yeah Receiver Markings are the best part of guns, can't wait to see that! Thx Ian!
20ish years ago I was contemplating putting together a collection of early 223/5.56 military styled semi autos that were not made by Colt. The CAL, FNC, AR180, this Gwinn / Bushmaster, the Gwinn "arm pistol", cast receiver Olympias, etc. These did show up on GB and gunshops occasionallly.. In the shooting of this rifle there are several issues not just one. First is the chamber has issues and needs to be inspected with a borescope. Probably pitted. There is a reason Colt started plating the chambers and eventually the entire bore. At the 14:57 mark of the vid the shooter loads a fresh round and on firing the case barely makes it out of the ejection port. The next round ejects strongly. While I had the borescope in hand I would also check the full length of the bbl and pay close attn to the gas port.
Secondly there is the light strike issue. Could be the fresh cartridge is not seating fully creating an out of battery issue or weak hammer spring or ??
Literally took the words right out of my mouth
Oh nice, a leader T2
Yep
1:36 it would be interesting to have a better understanding of how the AR-15 data package got so widely disseminated.
It became available when the M-16 was put up for open bid by the an US government department. I think it was available through the Government Printing Office for about $350. That's my understanding about it.
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine But the patents don't contain any of the manufacturing data. Patents are just enough detail to get the idea and method of operation across.
The M4/M4A1/M16 TDP (technical data package) started as intellectual property of Colt and was licensed to the US Government. As part of this license, the USG was allowed to 'competitively procure' rifles from FN and provided them the TDP for use in production, but the TDP is still technically Colt property and contains trade secrets that the USG still has a responsibility to protect. In 1997 an audit by the DoD Inspector General found that the US Navy had accidentally leaked the entire Colt TDP for the M4 to about 21 different contractors when they were attempting to procure M4A1 conversion kits (Report #97-165). As a result the TDP is essentially available to anyone who knows where to source it.
Source: "The Truth About Mil-Spec", by David Crane for Combat Tactics Magazine (Summer 2008)
@@solwindp78-1 Thanks for the correct information. I dug around for a set of mil spec blue prints and learned it would cost more than I was willing to pay. It would have come from someone that had aquired a set for bidding purposes.
@@solwindp78-1 I believe the term is "oops."
That looks like something that would be fun to "modify" if one is a good machinist with a basement shop, as in rebuild the crudest parts into more smooth and professional components (for example, replace the whole welded bolt carrier block with a single machined piece, adjust the springs and gas system, recreate the front handguard with molded plastic or fiberglass, etc.) But yeah... there is a *reason* manufacturing engineers make the big bucks; taking prototypes and making them manufacturable is a whole skill/talent set in and of itself.
People have been trying to replace the AR15 for over half a century.
I think that speaks of itself imo
People have been trying to get rid of the brain dead, corrupt, dementia ridden politicians for over half a century…
That thing looks more like something someone made in a machine shop than a firearm made for commercial sale.
I remember seeing these in the Army Navy store when i was 15 or 16. Wanted one SOOO bad but was too young to buy it.
Ian is an excellent shot!
Thanx Ian..I'm old enough now where I remember when guys only wanted Colt AR rifles and they were more rare than hens teeth
Speaking of Bushmaster. I have been looking for pictures of the chain drive in the Bushmaster auto cannons (and similar other guns). If you ever get a chance, could you do something on this subject- how they work, pros and cons, etc. Thank You!
I like that Ian pointed out the misuse of “assault rifle”. I think we can blame the sales department.
To be fair,
deciding to have your "this gun can both do precise shots, and full auto, using a carriage between those used by the old bolt action rifles and those for pistols" and call it assault rifle.
... is heavy lingo, and not obvious to outsiders.
@@suddenllybah Exactly brother! People that don’t know anything hear the word “assault” and they tie it to being a criminal just for having “a modern sport/tactical rifle”. Damn leftists, they like to twist words.
@@hidarlin76
To be fair, a whole chunk of what the military does would be illegal if done outside a warzone.
And aren't particularly nice.
Aww..was gonna call Bubba and ask him what paint he used...🤣😍
I had one these that lived most of the time in the trunk of my car along with a KG9, that would have been in the early 80's crazy.
Got the AK rectangle body with the shot gun grip and a few M16 parts perfect tool
I bid on one of these last year on RIAC. Couldn't find any information on it at the time.
Now that is a *Volksturm* AR18, it just lacks some untreated wood furniture and maybe some cast zink.
Eugene Stoner was a genius
The handguard and internal rails look BAR-ish to me.
clever design. I dig it.
Until you fire it, unfortunately
Needs another dig at the drawing board
This is honestly more like the love child of an AR and a AK.
conceptually very similar feeling to the Sig 550 series rifles. same operating mechanism and spring orientation, more or less a hybrid of Kalashnikov and Stoner concepts.
i thought the same , minus the reliability 😆
@@oneshotpete6.591 my 556 obliterated its piston spring in under 1000 rounds....I wanted to love that gun so much, but after such a magnificent parts failure so early on I ended up getting rid of it and going back to my Kalashnikov
First thought: a Rhodesian tried to make the AR-15
Second thought: obviously an autogun from Warhammer 40,000
Looks like The Valley with those Saguaros in the back, or some part of The Sonoran desert 🏜
wanted one of those back in the day because it looked vaguely like a Galil.. glad night owl never got one in
It seems a obvious error of this project to put the recoil spring to the gas piston. It was a problem of the soviet machine gun DP-27.
My GUNS ILLUSTRATED 1983 says, on page 200, "AK-47 type gas system". 494,95 dollars with folding stock. They had a bullpup pistol version too.
Using a live 5.56mm round for opening the chassis is probably more expensive these days than buying a non-marring punch set!
I was going to question the whole light-strike/no-strike thing, but I think someone below answered it.....What I will say, is: _God Bless You, Captain Mike -- You made the Caribbean a little safer. RIP_ -- I'm not going to explain that. Look it up.
I just did, and none the wiser.