History Primer 191: Nepalese Gehendra Documentary | C&Rsenal
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.พ. 2024
- Othais and Mae delve into the story of this classic. Complete with history, function, and live fire demonstration.
C&Rsenal presents its Primer series; covering the firearms of this historic conflict one at a time in honor of the centennial anniversary. Join us every other Tuesday!
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If you have a Gehendra and would like to assist in the survey work, please email:
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Additional reading:
The Nepalese 'De-Rifle': Francotte-Martini-Henry Type
John Walter
What's my Nepalese Rifle?
John Walter
Guns of the Gurkhas
John Walter
The Armourer, Dec 2017: The Rifles of Nepal
John Walter
Nepalese arms manufacture and General Gehendra
Marcus Ray
Ammunition data thanks to DrakeGmbH
/ drakegmbh
Animations by Bruno!
/ @baanimations3689
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There's something about firearms manufactured by nations not known for the industry that immediately makes them more fascinating. The peculiar quirks they come up with, the fancy scripts they mark them with. There's a flavour there you just don't get with the Enfields and Mausers of the world.
2:05 the then-Royal Nepali Army were basically hoarders. Every gun they ever procured sat in that arsenal until the civil war heated up and the Army suddenly wanted multiple truckloads of FN Minimis, M16A2s, and PVS-7s. They sold the antiques, bought light machine guns from the Belgians, and the Americans gave some surplus M16A2s, and a few hundred PVS 7s with PEQs. It was a game changer for the Army Infantry, giving them impunity in fighting the Maoists at night.
However, by the mid 2000s, what's left of the Royal family - well they royally fuскеd up. Wanted the Royal Army to suppress dissidents on the streets. The Royal Army told them to stick it up theirs, forced a ceasefire, and Nepal's a republic since 2008. Hasn't been smooth sailing before or since, but could've ended much worse.
Thanks for the explanation. And getting rid of these things is only ca 20 years after the swedish army sold of the 1896 mausers!
"what's left of the Royal family..."
Yeah, I just read about that... incident... that's some Game of Thrones Red Wedding level drama.
so they basically have step child syndrome. they never got the best or brightest toys from papa so anything they could get their hands on they squirreled away "just in case."
@@colbunkmustnot so much game of thrones and more "drug addiction and the crown prince mother didn't approve his choice of spouse to be due to centuries long grudges against a rival political clan". The Ranas didn't do shit to kill the royal family this time around aside from merely existing (unlike the 18th century) - that was pure unbridled, drug fueled rage.
I think the shooting world can be jolly glad that the Nepalese Roayalty & Army were hoarders because of what they gave us. All that 'history' of British musketry, & in astounding quantity. OK. So a lot of it was, & is, [moth/worm/rat][rust] eaten but.... Wow! Many more people get to own collector pieces at reasonable prices.
My Tuesday morning just got better
I started,thinking “ what could they tell me about a Martini-Henry copy?” Then, I learned. Thanks!
1:13 That is correct. We do demand to know more about historic firearms.
Indeed and for that reason I want to thank all the paying patrons who ensure that I can watch this for free (not because I don't want to support C&Rsenal, but because I can't afford to).
Enjoyed this. In 2006 I was stumping around Nepal during the 'civil war'. On my way to Poon Hill I heard inspirational music & rounding the corner were 2 revolutionaries. Music was coming from a boom box & an ancient single shot rifle was leaning against a large boulder. The revolutionaries were collecting 'fees' for a 'permit ' to be in their 'territory '. I now recognize the rifle as a Gehendra. Enjoy your show.
Can you tell more about this experience? Sounds interesting.
Classic Stalinist fundraising method. Funny thing is, Maoists used to go around hiking trails and even Annapurna reserve park (semi-restricted area, permit required to access) during the civil war to collect "mandatory donations". They even write receipts for such donations.
@@prfwrx2497
Old as war, probably. Heard plenty of similar tales about landsknechts, condotierre, and various Irish, Scottish, and English soldiers of royalist, revolutionary, and mercenary leanings doing exactly that sort of thing during various times of upheaval. I'll bet you anything you could find accounts of this going back to the bronze age if you dug around.
When the government has basically ceased to exist, any two-bit dipshit with a rifle can claim to be a tax collector. And given that Maoism/Bolshevism were both founded on raising unregulated populist support to destabilize regimes (before the inevitable re-establishment of an all-new totalitarian It's-Not-A-Nobility-We-Promise regime that hunted down any form of unregulated arms ownership), it was inevitable that scummy soldiers, warlords, bandits, and deserters from both sides would use political allegiance as a scam shield for outright robbery.
Hell, the Green Russian Socialist states were almost directly founded due to the basic failure of the Bolsheviks to protect their own people from this sort of banditry and constant pillaging by both White and Red-aligned troops. They did fairly well at it, too. (Until the Bolsheviks slaughtered them because they dared to point out they weren't actually being terribly Marxist and didn't want to join an authoritarian state.)
I'm actually not sure if a Chinese equivalent to the Green Russians ever came about during the Chinese Civil War. Huh. Now I'm curious.
7:58 the Ranas (they're basically Nepal's equivalent of the Shogunate, as the Shah royalty was to the Meiji Imperials) had a naming convention that somewhat resembled that of Persians and Mughalis - basically, the first name is one word, the middle names indicate your precise patrilineal heritage, and Rana was the last name indicating you're part of the Rana clan. To make a very long story short, Shumsher Jung Bahadur became a very common middle name in that ruling clan, to the point that in colloquial usage, the name is abbreviated to SJB. For example, retired Chief of Army Staff Gaurav Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana.
Oh yes, there's also two ways to transliterate Jung, same with Shamsher. And Jung is pronounced with a hard J. Bahadur is also a very common middle name (in general, not just the Rana clan), translating to "the Valiant".
Throughout the era of peak European global empires, Nepal was mostly ruled by the Ranas who puppeted the Shah royalty. Ranas were hereditary prime ministers, but the succession isn't primogeniturial (as was with the Shahs). The chair went to the oldest surviving member that wasn't on the clan's shit-list. Sprinkle a bit of group assassinations and untimely natural deaths, and you have a recipe of Rana regents basically cajoling the Shahs into signing away their power into the hands of the Ranas.
A few notable Ranas were crucial in modernizing Nepal (like Kaiser SJB Rana - left behind the first public library of Nepal). However, most people remembered them for repressing political opponents, to include religious persecution. Ranas also ran modern primary and secondary schools that for most of early modern history, were only open to Ranas and a few of their chosen associates. Hence, ensuring that by the time the Shahs managed to return to actual power via a popular revolt after WW2, the Ranas remained prominent in administering the state as one of the few groups of people that had access to Western-style education.
This really butters my tea
Oh my goodness: it is not truly a Martini-Henry, but it fills my day. Setting in my chair looking at my Martini wall thinking I really need a Gehendra to flesh out my collection.
As a collector of 8 Gehendras, including one of the carbines I literally had to pry out of Alex’s hands, I’ve never had two that were exactly alike. For example, the first model Mae shot is fairly rare in that it has a mono-tube barrel, not a lap welded one. The later models uniformly appear to have mono-tube barrels. As Othais mentioned, bore diameter can vary considerably and warrant being slugged prior to loading ammo for it. I’ve found a minimum dimension as tight as .454, which is a wee bit snug for typical 577/450 ammo. The early model flat spring is fairly easily replaced with one of the replacement springs sold by Dixie Gun Works for hammer shotguns. I haven’t found a replacement for the later V springs….yet.
I was lucky enough to acquire a late model that I found to be close to mint once I removed the grease and brick dust it was covered in. I assume it was one of the last ones made and the fit and finish frankly is on par with commercial standards of the time. I was particularly surprised by the well preserved polished bluing, which literally was unmarred in any way. As handmade firearms go, I’m with Othais on this one. The Gehendra is about as good as you can get using the technology and resources available to Nepal at the time. While removal of the IMA/AC purchase from Nepal was very controversial at the time, we are indebted to them for saving these weapons. In 2015 the palace these arms were stored in was completely destroyed by an earthquake. Save for the efforts of Christian Cranmer, all of these historic firearms would have been lost in the rubble.
Do you happen to have images of the rifle around anywhere? I’ve never seen one of these in the shape they were meant to be in.
Thanks for the detail. I'll do a bit more reading on this ...
38:41 Locally produced SMLEs were used as ceremonial arms for the Royal Guard well into the late 20th century - tradition and superstitions dictate the Royal Guard should be fitted out with natively made arms. The firearms enthusiasts in the Royal Family (King Birendra and Crown Prince Dipendra were known gun people) would beg to disagree, with their trove of personal firearms, presumably now displayed at the Nepali Army museum in Kathmandu with little fanfare nor unique specific placards to indicate their provenance. I just know for a fact that G3s with wooden stocks and wooden slim forends, inlaid with ivory, and MP5s with gold-plated safety, trigger, and magazine catches were definitely not some random guy's pieces.
The Nepali Army museum is a goldmine of 19th and 20th century small arms (and a few recoilless artillery pieces and some retired aviation assets). Unfortunately, many pieces are mislabeled after years of regular cleaning and re-setting on shelves by clueless cleaners. Most of the small arms stuff from the late 19th century onward (basically anything practical from the Russo-Japanese war era and onward) looks to be in decent enough condition to actually fire safely, but unfortunately most are kept in a fixed display behind walls of glass pane. It's a bit of a shame IMO. The place could use some much needed historiographic work to square away the disorganized mess that came with time (silly bullcrap like PPS-43 mislabeled as a Swedish K, or an M1 Garand labeled as a "Springfield Rifle". The aviation park is kept in open air with patio roofs, but no chance at an interior tour.
Dipendra and Birendra actually argued over whether the then-Royal Nepali Army should be fitted out with G36Es or M16A2s. The M16 won out. Among many oddball procurement of small arms for the Royal Army were (breathes in) G3SG/1 and MSG90 (both examples 100 or less each), MP5s and Colt 9mm SMGs (few hundreds each), SPAS-12 and Benelli M3 (both given to Nepal Police pretty soon after), and XM177 CAR-15s. This is in addition to Belgian FALs, British L1A1s, Indian 1A1s, .303 SMLEs, 2A1 SMLE in 7.62 NATO, Sterling SMGs, and more Browning Hi-power than I can count. The Republic Army now have M16A4s, M4s, and K2C1 rifles to boot. The Nepal Army Museum collection of small arms is made of all these firearms, plus a few gifts from foreign head of state, some insurgency war booty (Tibetan rebels fleeing China and operating clandestinely in Nepal back in the 70s and 80s), and probably the entire personal collection of Birendra and Dipendra (minus a few items). Still - no G36 or G36E to be found, nor a Glock for that matter. The Glock in question, owned by Dipendra, was among the 4 guns used in the Royal Massacre - and is probably buried in some evidence locker right now. The event is a bit of a nexus for conspiracy theories among the Nepali public, so understandably no one wants to put that on display.
Best I can piece together from various sources and ex-royal guards, King Birendra invited Dhirendra (his brother) back from exile in Britain to restore his titles (Dhirendra was exiled for an affair he had in Britain, apparently on behest of Aishwarya, the Queen Consort being outraged by the scandal). Dipendra by this point developed a habit for various intoxicants - and himself was in a bit of a squabble with his mother (Aishwarya) since he wanted to marry a woman from the Rana clan (you know, the Rana clan that used to puppet the Shah dynasty that's currently the Royal Family). Anyways, Dipendra probably brought up that conversation during that family get-together, him and Aishwarya probably got into a nasty squabble, so Birendra dismissed Dipendra to his quarters (you know, since the occasion was to welcome back the exiled Dhirendra). So Dipendra went back to his room, drank, smoked pot, took amphetamines (and maybe cocaine), grabbed his Glock, MP5, M16A2, and SPAS-12, and basically shot up the entire family present. Most of them perished, including all of the male heir present. The cadet branch (Gyanendra, son of Tribhuvan, brother of Mahendra; Mahendra was Birendra's father) was in Pokhara doing their own thing (parties) and survived the affair. Gyanendra was markedly unpopular at the time - for one thing, the Shahs used him as a puppet when he was 3 years old back when Tribhuvan was exiled by the Ranas during the whole popular uprising against the Rana thing after WW2. This, plus him trying to have the Royal Army shoot protestors during the civil war, led to the deposition of the Royal Family. They're all alive and well, though. The deal was the Royals stepped down, moved out of the official palace and re-home to the other palace in Kathmandu, the Army provides security detail, and they can live large as a private citizen sitting on that whole royal endowment - just don't get any coup-y ideas.
That story deserves a film. Has anyone run it by Christopher Nolan? Seriously, thanks. I had no idea of what had happened.
These are the videos I watch all the way through. Another Browning? I sleep. Hyperbole, I still love JMB (pbuh) but, Exotic Nepalese rifle? I'm here for the whole thing!
Love you guys! Thanks for the fantastic videos!
Loved seeing Mae’s smile appear from the smoke.
This gun seems like a solid 'better than nothing' out of 10.
It's "better than muzzle loader" out of ten at least. Though, not "better than kukri" if you run out of ammo.
The engineer in me does indeed appretiate that design. They took a rather simple design and made it even more simple. They way the trigger and sear ledge interact is about as simple as such an interaction can get. If I was able to hobble that together in my workshop, I would be very proud of the results.
Hey I have one of these! I’ve been to Nepal and it was cheap so it’s on my wall.
Where'd you buy them? How'd you import it back to your home country?
@@prfwrx2497 Oh the temple full of guns was long gone when I was there. I actually bought it on Gunjoker because what IMA imported had sold out. The markings are all painted in with white and it’s definitely not in the condition it came over in. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have taken one back with me. I did get a sweet kukri.
To quote Terry Pratchett, "Simple is not the same as stupid." There is an art to simplifying how something works and still having it work. I believe that's why Othais likes this one so much and I can see why. It is an elegant rifle. Pity about that trigger pull.
Always a good day when the next Primer drops!
Fascinating! A never knew anything about Nepals industrial revolution , their fire arms either.Amazing guys. As usual great Story.❤
While it might not be a fantastic rifle, it's a really interesting glimpse at a nation trying to arm itself with very little. Many countries with bigger economies and more developed industry are buying from foreign suppliers, most of the Americas are just buying Mausers, Greece, even the Ottoman Empire are importing their rifles.
That is a neat piece. I love how the inscriptions look like something Tolkien would use in his stories.
Oh yeaaaah
I never knew about this rifle before this episode, and I think I love it now. The same way Othias loves the Bodeo and Carcano, I love that Nepal adapted a proven design to better fit their industrial capabilities.
Love the C&Rsenal version of Clippy (47:40). That needs to be on the arm of one of next year's t-shirts!
It’s a good morning!
Man, I've wanted one of these forever and now you've gone and driven up the desirability.
Love the video though.
I have no idea what this is, but I feel that will change in an hour.
Love the colors of button down and tee shirts. 😊
I see that Pieper carbine on the wall 👀
Brilliant, I hope C&arsenal cover some of the other weapons from the Nepal cache such as the Nepalese sniders ,Bira Gun, francotte martinis etc 🤔👍
Great Video! I love these lesser known firearms.
I enjoy hearing about old guns, particularly the obscure ones. Thanks for doing what you do.
Sorry about being off topic but I just had to put in a Thank you for hooking me up with Ballistol. What is this stuff? It eats rust off of firearms like nothing else. I recently became involved in restoring some firearms that were improperly stored and we thought that I would have to glass bead and rust blue them. But so far most are cleaning up amazingly well with the use of Ballistol and some 0000 steel wool. I originally purchased the 3 16 oz. cans but just ordered another of those and some of the mixing. They need a "who sent you" question.
German here, Brittas boyfriend. In my country Balistol is known for decades. Was once sold in a typical glass bottle. Arround this was a pice of , Wellpappe ' ( waved cardboard?) to protect the bottle. Between bottle and protecting , Wellpappe ' was a PR paper, which was unwanted/ accidently comical in describing for which unexpected purposes you can use Balistol. Even our gunlaw is restrictive, in 1980s every teenagers, intressted in weapons, knew Balistol and said for reason of the noted paper: You can use Balistol for everything- exept drinking!
And now for something completely different. Love your videos.
Thanks for the video
Glad to see some history on these!
I’ve had a very rough Gahendra and a smoothbore Brunswick on the “to do” rack for a while, definitely going to rewatch the episode while picking away at restoring them!
Such a good looking rifle, there's something about the profile of a martini action that just looks so nice.
Started to used ballistol. Great stuff.
As always fantastic and informative. Love your efforts.
Thank you for the deep-dive! Fascinating!
Thank you for this video.
Another excellent episode! Never even knew about this one, cool history too 👍
Thank you Othias. A fascinating run through of the personalities and progression of its production. I confess I am unconvinced of your concern about the right hand having to move off the trigger to reload the Martini. It has to come off to extract the next round from the punch and insert it anyway. So many ways to open a single shot breech with a lever. I have tried the Martini, Gehandra, Westley Richards (refused a chance with the Francotte) and Comblain and I preferred the Comblain myself. Well done.
Thanks for this episode. Oh, and I'm so glad that Mae didn't get blown-up!
The rattling of the action reminds me of the garbage WIN M 94 made in the 1980's.
Excellent video, once again! Thanks for sharing.
Try the rattling of the poor Colt 1911A1 being used for aircrew 'fam fire' USMC in the early '70s. Keerrhhiiist! I'm surprised it cycled.
Thanks!
Had to dig out my gehendra from the gun safe before watching, just to kinda follow along with othais.
10/10 video keep it up friends!
Thanks for your video 😊
Alright time out that little animation is just too cute
I do love collectable firearms! Dale Jones
aka; THE ELTOPIAN.
Fabulous
Trigger is in an excellent position shooting from the hip.
That relief notch in the action is actually the battle sights. /s
I've long run out of things to say for the regular comment, but please know l, that I greatly appreciate what you do!
Do an episode on Ballistol, it's development, military use, etc.
Thanks
Love it
Thank you for covering this. I'd definitely agree that a version of the Gehendra made to the same standard of the Martini-Henry would be worth testing. Here's hoping someone decides to do that.
Rifles from Nepal, warlord pistols from China. Now I've seen it all, or have I?
Have you seen a man eat his own head?
@@tamlandipper29 ROFL
Chibi Mae and Ophias are absolutely adorable xD
When I bought mine at Atlanta Cutlery there were pallets and pallets of these. There were people there assembling them. The better condition the more they cost. I got a short lever martini for $150 but it'll never be a shooter.
I wish there was a playlist of just the operations animations....id love to get all them animations for my class project.
I have a Martini-Greener rifle that I've sporterized. The striker firing system with the SUPER heavy spring is a major pain in the ass! Personally, I'd much rather have a swinging hammer like in this rifle. It would also make removing and installing the breachblock much easier. I also like the operating lever making a bit of a pistol grip. I'm going to look into getting one of the Gehendra rifles and put a new barrel on it.
It definitely wasn't poison.
oh wow one of the few times I can say I own a firearm featured in a C&Rsenal video lol
First time I'm this early. Best way to start my shift
Very nice for the age beautiful rifle
I’ve seen a couple of these converted to the .410 round ball cartridge as well. Presumably in the 30s along with the SMLE rifles. The barrel was bored out smooth and the rear sight replaced with a simple non adjustable U notch.
That conversion makes sense. In a very scary way.
On the plus side, if manufactured with modern techniques, and the geometry just "massaged", rather than "entirely re-done", an operating system such as this rifle's trigger group would be THE crispest trigger you could ever possibly get, right? Zero take-up and it should break like glass.
The reason to massage the geometry is to reduce the force at which the trigger fires.
I'm not talking "breathe on it and it fires" light, I'm talking like a good 5-6 pound trigger pull force.
Heavy enough to be "safe" by the standards of the layperson (who doesn't know the 4 rules of gun handling, mostly "keep your oily fingers off the trigger until you are ready to fire"), but light enough to still allow extremely precise shooting.
The best part about those modern manufacturing techniques? You can switch to smokeless powder, and this action is still plenty strong to handle that easily (provided the steel is heat treated correctly). It's an intrinsically strong geometry, what lets these Nepalese rifles down is the metallurgy, not the geometry. The inferiority of the metallurgy actually forced the strength of the geometry to compensate, so with a switch to modern alloy steels in both receiver and barrel, and modern rifle barrel forging techniques, you'd have a rifle that is probably strong enough to be feasibly chambered in a Nitro Express round of some fashion. The quick reloading despite being single shot is also an advantage in that role as well, provided you can store a few rounds on the sling itself or directly on the gun such as they do for on-weapon bandoliers for shotgun shells.
Gold & Silver Pawn in Las Vegas (Pawn Stars) had a Bira Gun pass through their hands. Call Rick’s folks and ask. Maybe you can get your hands on it for a future episode…. Yes, they even fired it - pretty cool actually.
the arced stamping is very attractive.
Yooooooo.... Othias pulled a sneak on us.
It may have no right to, but that revolver carbine to your top left has really got my eye. What is that?
Damn it. Now I want to know.
My first thought when I saw the thumbnail was "what happened to the lever!" I wonder if the original Peabody would have been a better rifle for Nepal to build.
Well that's a really intersting concept, and shows how determined they were to produce anything locally.
49:00 I wonder if you're supposed to use the web between your thumb and finger to unload the rifle?
Elves with breach loaders? Mate, can I have two of whatever you'd taken when you said that? that aside, loved it. I've always liked the Wesley-Richards ripping breach action.
Given your praise of domestic made copies etc. a short video on the Tibetan Martinis would be welcome. I may have mentioned this before…….
It would be interesting to have Mark N. open these up and see what he would say about the making of these as hand fitted firearms.
The martini we have at home!
I love the irony that you point at the Gehendra *carbine* and call it elvish while calling the *full length* Martini more dwarvish. If I were under 4' tall and expected to possibly have to fight in low ceilinged mine shafts I would not pick any full length rifle over any carbine.
i do like how the Nepalese were apparently keeping up to date when they finally dropped their wish list on the British
I love the monthly scan and can’t wait for the next shirt campaign. Can’t wait for later firearms. Do you think you will outdo the T-gewehr is terms of size?
@ 37:00 Who are you and what did you do with Mae!??! Mae doesn't wrap her thumb when shooting a rifle!!??! ... just kidding, obviously, you do sometimes. Thanks for the video Mae and Othais and Bruno. Excellent, as always.
The Royal Elf Gorkhas that was what I heard at the end.
Could you imagine if a company could make a nice modern single shot based on the martini action for hunting it could be light strong and easy to carry for still hunting or the hike in especially for deer
After 191 episodes I just got the "primer".
I bought a gahendra parts gun ,from IMA, that was converted into a guard shotgun. Fixed rear sight and smooth bored.
My understanding is that Nepal also received Lee Metfords prior to 1904.
I use Ballistol
don't you just love inhaling burnt powder / the different quality of metals used in making each rifle (martini and gehendra) might cause the weight difference? / always remember windage and elevation / great to watch you 2
There were only 8000 Martinie Henry Mk II rifles and 2700 Mk IV sent to Nepal? I'd gave though they're were a LOT more from the amount of material hauled out of that palace.
I have one of the Martinie Henry Mk II rifles and a Nepalese "Gurkha" Snyder rifle, both from the Nepalese cache.
A rare Himalayan Ghost Gun
or perhaps we should call it a Yeti Gun
Wish i could have afforded any of those found/ lost temple antique guns
So Mae, which single shot, big bore, black powder cartridge rifle would you prefer to take into battle?
Rattles like a garden door, hits like a truck
All you could ask for
I wonder how the Portuguese Guedes with it's square wrist would fair vs. the Gahendra.
Gesundheit!
the martini-henry we have at home.
"We have Martini-Henry at home!"
The Martini-Henry (made) at home:
Mae the gunpowder fairy disappearing in a cloud of blinding smoke
6:35 "abrupt dynastic change" is more diplomatic.
Wouldn't the sling swivel still hang down with a sling attached?
I mean gravity pulls on the sling too, and it's weight would bring the wire in a down position just like the wire itself i would think. Sure if you shorten your sling so much that it pulls it forward, but then you can't use the sling for it's slinging purpose. (nobody in the field adjust the sing between shouldering and firing.)