the bit about the Berthier being converted to a mechanism similar to the Mosin Nagant's make sense, seeing as the Ethiopian Army were supplied by Imperial Russia with large deliveries of rifles during the first Italo-Ethiopian war (something Ian here knows well cause he covered one) so it wouldn't surprise me a gunsmith or two who were intimately familiar with the inner workings of a Mosin took a look at a Berthier and went "I can improve this"
@@leewilkinson6372 Mosin's magazine is not designed to be detachable, it's a single piece with the trigger guard. If you need to access it, there's a cover on the bottom that springs open.
@DawidKov true! But the other 2 examples didn't have detachable magazines either, so I was thinking the mosin example may be an easier conversion. Just thinking about another hypithetical version, not thinking this version was for a mosin magazine.
I would imagine that's how the soldiers would use them in the heat of battle after the first three shots. Seems faster than loading three rounds one at a time in this kind of makeshift system
@@coolsenjoyer Probably, but in a lull loading three rounds isn't too hard. Assuming they reliably fed, these all seem like reasonably functional modifications
@@BananaMonstaaaa It also depends on fighting style, they might have preferred loading three rounds at a time to let them quickly take three shots in succession. Ethiopians generally used unconventional guerrilla style tacts so I suspect they would have valued the ability to deliver a quick burst of fire before repositioning, they weren't in long drawn out engagements.
Most of the Ethiopian rifles looked like wall hangers. Rough life. Left in an open air warehouse for decades. But wow! What a eclectic collection of guns. A little of everything. Must be similar to that old stash in Nepal.
many are wall hangers with a lot of work. some are good with very nice bore [those ones were first to get sold as hand select], and some numrich wouldn't even want to get parts from. i got a lot of carcanos with cracked stocks at discount and got a few that were in great condition. but the g98 mausers they had were all of the category of not even worth it for parts. the m95 steyrs were really good though with a lot of cleaning. mind you this was when they first brought them out for sale in 2020/21 with just a listing with the best rifle they had cleaned up and then how many they had to sell. now they do individual listings for each gun like they should have done from start like any proper seller would do.
I got a Hand Select Kar 98k from Ethiopia a few years ago. She was dirty and the bore was filthy but with a bit of cleaning she works fine. But ya, your mileage may vary
@@hawkticus_history_corner the czech made ethiopian k98s were the best of the lot for sure. some easy to fix cracking in the laminated stocks and cleaning is the most they needed. [i got 2 to try my luck, both were great, one even had some finish left on it lol]
I was a little annoyed that my RTI "Hand Select" Enfield No4 was basically a smoothbore, and could swallow a .314" gauge pin chamber to muzzle. But I fortunately had the tools and experience to rebarrel it with a NOS one from Sarco. Terrifyingly, the original barrel (that I shot a bit) was only hand-tight to the receiver. I'm glad RTI is making these available, particularly guns like the Berdans that don't show up on the US Market, but I think they're a little overpriced for "gunsmith specials". I'm currently restoring two of the Nepal stash guns from IMA to shooting condition, and they're in about the same shape as the Ethiopian stuff.
'Ethiopian Gunsmithing Solutions' sounds like a company that the Elbonians would try to get guns from ngl xD and unlike their other suppliers they'd work!
Unlike some of those “mystery self loading pistols” from warlord era China, these appear more hazardous to those down range of the muzzle as opposed to the user. Those Ethiopian gunsmiths certainly used their ingenuity and skill to focus on the practical versus the fanciful.
To be fair, the Ethiopians were starting with perfectly serviceable rifles manufactured in Europe to European standards. The Chinese warlord pistols were made in some guy's hut using melted down pots and pans cast into shape and a hacksaw. Much like Kyber Pass guns.
@@Swindle1984 Kyber pass smiths … read they would start with a piece of railroad track and hand carve a Lee Enfield receiver. Probably case hardened in some backyard furnace & charcoal. Not sure what they did for barrels and bolts. The .303 Brit was originally a black powder cartridge of relatively lower pressure (CIP 3650 bar) than 7.92S Mauser (CIP 3900 bar) or .30-06 (CIP 4050 bar).
@@RobinTheBot tell that to Liberia and Zimbabwe, one never experienced colonialism and the other "self-liberated" from the "evil europeans"... Wow they are both shitholes to the same extent as most of Africa, seems to be a pattern there, dont you think? Africans hadnt gone past the early middle ages, didnt even manage to sail further than a few miles off the coast and Europe was already exploring the entire world, colonial powers left tons of modern (at that time) infraestructure and technology in Africa yet they destroyed all of it and didnt even bother learning how to use it for their own benefit. Savages will be savages.
Since you mentioned the M.95 Mannlichers converted in a similar fashion to the first one of these, it makes me wonder just how well that internal clip conversion worked. I've heard some exceptionally mixed reports about how well the M.95 conversions worked, some said it worked fine, some said they were finicky, I saw at least one claim that they didn't work at all. These conversions look to be a fair bit more experimental and improvised, but I could see it going either way if they were hand fitted.
Really surprised they kept them mag fed, i'd think the simplicity of just ripping out the spring and stuff then putting in a block of wood to cover the hole to make a single shot would be the most common solution.
Hey guys, this is Ian-D72 from neuraltube channel AJGF7151-C and today we are looking at yet another really weird and crazy AR15.. well what I can only describe as a "primitive hovertank point defense kind of kludge" from the now defunct Burgerland Kingdom nation of Tex-Haus
Royal tiger is definitely my favorite "I've got a little disposable income" place. They REALLY have cool, old mil-surp. It's cool that they make this stuff available to the public as opposed to letting it continue to rot in a basement somewhere
Ian, I wonder if you could benefit from a 3D printer and someone to drive cartridge models? Run into a firearm like this and print off the dummy cartridges.
I purchased an Ethiopian M1 carbine from RTI when the prices were simple crazy and not absurdly crazy like today. When I saw that grime on these rifles I was instantly taken back to the smell of that freshly delivered carbine. It's something like moldy aunt mixed with burnt hot dogs
They most likely got the idea for the side mounted feed lip from the Gew 88/05 conversion which had the exact same but much more professionally done feature on the left side of the receiver below the stock line. This would make sense considering Ethiopia had access to Gew 88s and I would imagine 88/05s as well.
After watching videos of Ethiopian firearms I sometimes wonder if they coined the phrase "Necessity is the mother of invention." Yes Poindexters, I know it was Plato.
Problem is actually getting enough clips to hand out to all the guys. Converting the rifle is one and done, manufacturing clips means you've got to keep producing them for as long as the rifle remains in use.
Even if Ethiopia were to have gone through the expensive effort of building a factory and importing machinery and raw materials, they'd still need to get the clips to the soldiers reliably, which in a country like Ethiopia, and certainly during wartime, would not have been easy. Taking out the clip is one less expense and one massive strain on logistics gone too.
How do you reload those fixed clips? Are they springy enough to be pushed to the side or do you partially insert the bullet end into the chamber, push the cartridge down the "magazine" and then push back?
This channel featres weird Kraut Space Magic rifles, iconic rifles of bygone eras, marvels of gunsmithing and artistry from noblemen of yesteryears... but what I always look forward to the most are guns like these. Be it Chinese warlord guns, Kybher Pass guns or guns modified by some clever Ethiopian gunsmiths, these weird weapons always are so fascinating.
Back in the 80's I did something similar to a friends 22 magnum when the magazine plate fell off and lost the spring and everything. So I got some spring steel off my dad and bodged up plate, spring and brazed it onto the bottom, there was no way his dad was forking out cash for a new magazine even if there was a way of getting one for an old gun. It was pretty hideous I don't mind saying
How would you like to be in the poor Ethiopian quartermaster corps, who had to procure, maintain and supply dozens of different weapons and calibers at the same time?
Ian calling a Berthier a Label has the same energy as accidentally calling your girlfriend your ex's name.
I believe he was referring to the 8mm Lebel cartridge, which the Berthier rifle does use
Sounds like you are speaking from experience lol
@@christopherlangen2565 He has corrections on screen whenever he says Lebel
@@coolsenjoyer I also took it as his meaning the cartridge.
@@KentuckyAk101guy you really REALLY don't want to do that.
the bit about the Berthier being converted to a mechanism similar to the Mosin Nagant's make sense, seeing as the Ethiopian Army were supplied by Imperial Russia with large deliveries of rifles during the first Italo-Ethiopian war (something Ian here knows well cause he covered one) so it wouldn't surprise me a gunsmith or two who were intimately familiar with the inner workings of a Mosin took a look at a Berthier and went "I can improve this"
Mother Necessity....
I'm actually surprised there isn't an example with a mosin magazine.....
What’s curious is there haven’t been any Mosins coming in with the Ethiopian stockpile.
@@leewilkinson6372 Mosin's magazine is not designed to be detachable, it's a single piece with the trigger guard. If you need to access it, there's a cover on the bottom that springs open.
@DawidKov true! But the other 2 examples didn't have detachable magazines either, so I was thinking the mosin example may be an easier conversion. Just thinking about another hypithetical version, not thinking this version was for a mosin magazine.
Being able to no clip must have helped their K/D ratio
Helps to be able to shoot through walls!
@@bentilbury2002 how else do you quick switch a Berthier. OG awp yo
'Damn Ethiopians always phasing through objects and disabling collision
@gusd41 dont forget these are permadeath runs
@@bentilbury2002are you a boy
I was expecting "turned into a single-shot rifle" so the solutions were all really impressive!
I would imagine that's how the soldiers would use them in the heat of battle after the first three shots. Seems faster than loading three rounds one at a time in this kind of makeshift system
@@coolsenjoyer Probably, but in a lull loading three rounds isn't too hard. Assuming they reliably fed, these all seem like reasonably functional modifications
@@BananaMonstaaaa It also depends on fighting style, they might have preferred loading three rounds at a time to let them quickly take three shots in succession. Ethiopians generally used unconventional guerrilla style tacts so I suspect they would have valued the ability to deliver a quick burst of fire before repositioning, they weren't in long drawn out engagements.
These are some ingenious solutions when you think of the limited facilities they'd have in the field to do this sort of modifications
Nothing but the best break rooms for Ian to film in.
I'm curious about the globe on the left - the owners of that room aren't planning a small-scale heist.
@@AshleyPomeroyYou son-of-a-bitch, I'm in!
I wonder how many times the phrase "if that part's in the way, just cut it off" was said while this rifle was being worked on.
Most of the Ethiopian rifles looked like wall hangers. Rough life. Left in an open air warehouse for decades.
But wow! What a eclectic collection of guns. A little of everything. Must be similar to that old stash in Nepal.
"open air warehouse" also called out in the open
many are wall hangers with a lot of work. some are good with very nice bore [those ones were first to get sold as hand select], and some numrich wouldn't even want to get parts from.
i got a lot of carcanos with cracked stocks at discount and got a few that were in great condition. but the g98 mausers they had were all of the category of not even worth it for parts. the m95 steyrs were really good though with a lot of cleaning. mind you this was when they first brought them out for sale in 2020/21 with just a listing with the best rifle they had cleaned up and then how many they had to sell. now they do individual listings for each gun like they should have done from start like any proper seller would do.
I got a Hand Select Kar 98k from Ethiopia a few years ago. She was dirty and the bore was filthy but with a bit of cleaning she works fine.
But ya, your mileage may vary
@@hawkticus_history_corner the czech made ethiopian k98s were the best of the lot for sure. some easy to fix cracking in the laminated stocks and cleaning is the most they needed. [i got 2 to try my luck, both were great, one even had some finish left on it lol]
I was a little annoyed that my RTI "Hand Select" Enfield No4 was basically a smoothbore, and could swallow a .314" gauge pin chamber to muzzle.
But I fortunately had the tools and experience to rebarrel it with a NOS one from Sarco.
Terrifyingly, the original barrel (that I shot a bit) was only hand-tight to the receiver.
I'm glad RTI is making these available, particularly guns like the Berdans that don't show up on the US Market, but I think they're a little overpriced for "gunsmith specials".
I'm currently restoring two of the Nepal stash guns from IMA to shooting condition, and they're in about the same shape as the Ethiopian stuff.
The Mauser berthier hybrid is honestly pretty cool looking.
it looks broken
I hope these are being photographed to headstamp standards for a forthcoming book on Ethiopian rifles
Personally, I'm waiting for Headstamp's "Perforated Barrel Shrouds of Elbonia" volumes I, II, and III. 😊
If there was ever a man I would expect to carry around a pocketful of 8mm label dummies or snapcaps, it would be Ian.
'Ethiopian Gunsmithing Solutions' sounds like a company that the Elbonians would try to get guns from ngl xD and unlike their other suppliers they'd work!
Well of course, where else do you think they sell all the oddball test pieces to after the trials are over?
That was great Ian! Some nice examples of imaginative and resourceful low tech gunsmithing.
Unlike some of those “mystery self loading pistols” from warlord era China, these appear more hazardous to those down range of the muzzle as opposed to the user. Those Ethiopian gunsmiths certainly used their ingenuity and skill to focus on the practical versus the fanciful.
To be fair, the Ethiopians were starting with perfectly serviceable rifles manufactured in Europe to European standards. The Chinese warlord pistols were made in some guy's hut using melted down pots and pans cast into shape and a hacksaw. Much like Kyber Pass guns.
@@Swindle1984 Kyber pass smiths … read they would start with a piece of railroad track and hand carve a Lee Enfield receiver. Probably case hardened in some backyard furnace & charcoal. Not sure what they did for barrels and bolts. The .303 Brit was originally a black powder cartridge of relatively lower pressure (CIP 3650 bar) than 7.92S Mauser (CIP 3900 bar) or .30-06 (CIP 4050 bar).
Ethiopia wasn't a 3rd world country back then. Their military was well equipped, nearly to the standards of some lesser European countries at the time
@@Gameprojordanit breaks my heart to know how much was lost to colonialism. An entire continent's future, stolen...
@@RobinTheBot tell that to Liberia and Zimbabwe, one never experienced colonialism and the other "self-liberated" from the "evil europeans"... Wow they are both shitholes to the same extent as most of Africa, seems to be a pattern there, dont you think? Africans hadnt gone past the early middle ages, didnt even manage to sail further than a few miles off the coast and Europe was already exploring the entire world, colonial powers left tons of modern (at that time) infraestructure and technology in Africa yet they destroyed all of it and didnt even bother learning how to use it for their own benefit. Savages will be savages.
As an obscure observation, as I am desperate to share, Yergacheffe coffee beans, from Ethiopia, are among the best coffee available , imho.
@@NCrdwlf thanks. Great way to describe it!
Really fascinating to watch your content, Ian. I’m learning something new everyday
A historic classic, as imported by the good people of Elbonia.
Fascinating. I'd love to see some similar finds from the Middle East, they have some ingenious DIY gunsmiths there, as well.
Since you mentioned the M.95 Mannlichers converted in a similar fashion to the first one of these, it makes me wonder just how well that internal clip conversion worked. I've heard some exceptionally mixed reports about how well the M.95 conversions worked, some said it worked fine, some said they were finicky, I saw at least one claim that they didn't work at all. These conversions look to be a fair bit more experimental and improvised, but I could see it going either way if they were hand fitted.
Really surprised they kept them mag fed, i'd think the simplicity of just ripping out the spring and stuff then putting in a block of wood to cover the hole to make a single shot would be the most common solution.
Some future Ian will be showing all the crazy mods people were making to AR15s to try to keep them "legal."
Hey guys, this is Ian-D72 from neuraltube channel AJGF7151-C and today we are looking at yet another really weird and crazy AR15.. well what I can only describe as a "primitive hovertank point defense kind of kludge" from the now defunct Burgerland Kingdom nation of Tex-Haus
Over my dead body
That's assuming he isn't donated an artificial body to do a review of
That's actually past Ian per his Carbon-15 video.
AR-15 is not French, so no chance
Royal tiger is definitely my favorite "I've got a little disposable income" place. They REALLY have cool, old mil-surp. It's cool that they make this stuff available to the public as opposed to letting it continue to rot in a basement somewhere
Ian, I wonder if you could benefit from a 3D printer and someone to drive cartridge models? Run into a firearm like this and print off the dummy cartridges.
Clearly the market for those shipments combines firearm enthusiasts and connoisseurs of creative kludging.
thanks for tuning in on another video on forgotten espresso machines we have a rare DeLonghi magnifica here
There's something really cool about worn old rifles like this one, it's pure visual Storytelling
Meanwhile I can't even get my enfield magazine to feed properly in the gun it was designed for
what?
wow youre super lucky!
in 50 years never had an enfield jam if the rims werent locked
have you tried buy a new magazine?
May need to tweak your feed lips a bit
@@ripvanwinkle2002 yeah I have 2 magazines, one repro one original
@renevreeken been trying. I think I just need to work little by little until it's just right
Many a Canadian moose had lived to see another day due to what you described
The Elbonians are now saying , "So that's where our order went?"
Apologies if this is a bad question, but, if they could fabricate cover plates and sheet metal feed lips, why couldn’t they just fabricate clips?
That upper handguard is a nice job.
"Today I'm at Inter Ordinance's break room to show you this weird gun!"
I would love one of those mauser hybrids
I have misspoken and said 'Lebel' instead of Berthier in my videos too. So dont feel bad haha
I purchased an Ethiopian M1 carbine from RTI when the prices were simple crazy and not absurdly crazy like today.
When I saw that grime on these rifles I was instantly taken back to the smell of that freshly delivered carbine. It's something like moldy aunt mixed with burnt hot dogs
TH-cam: "New Forgotten Weapons video about obscure French rifles!"
Me: "Those are the magic words - I'll be right there"
Here I am like an idiot, thinking I'd try making more clips instead of cutting off locking bolts or something.
Cutting the bolt surprised me. How should that seal?
Also, an exposed locking lug? YIKES!
I misread at first Elbonian instead of Ethiopian 😂
Ah perfect example of "African Engineering"
They most likely got the idea for the side mounted feed lip from the Gew 88/05 conversion which had the exact same but much more professionally done feature on the left side of the receiver below the stock line. This would make sense considering Ethiopia had access to Gew 88s and I would imagine 88/05s as well.
I like to think that Ian didn't pull a normal Berthier from IO Inc, he just carries around a reference Berthier with him everywhere he goes
After watching videos of Ethiopian firearms I sometimes wonder if they coined the phrase "Necessity is the mother of invention."
Yes Poindexters, I know it was Plato.
Just don’t google the word “King” in Ethiopian
Thats a cool looking and functioning boltgun you covered today.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Missed opportunity to convert these to sniper rifles. M91/30 comes to mind
Ethiopian or Elbonian?
Potayto potahto
Gotta hand it to the Ethiopians they know how to jimmy rig a gun and make it work.
I love the African ingenuity
We need a Khyber Pass vs Ethiopia showdown at some point.
Y the heck didnt they just make clips!?
I bought a Lee-Enfield #4 Mk1 from that cache. At $400 I couldn't turn it down.
Sacre bleu...Ian does not own three dummy Lebel rounds???
Quelle disastre. 😂
Oh, I am sure he OWNS them ... he just didn't HAVE them.
I do, I just didn't think to bring them to IO with me.
I can't help but think it would've been easier to fabricate their own clips rather than modifying the guns
Problem is actually getting enough clips to hand out to all the guys. Converting the rifle is one and done, manufacturing clips means you've got to keep producing them for as long as the rifle remains in use.
Even if Ethiopia were to have gone through the expensive effort of building a factory and importing machinery and raw materials, they'd still need to get the clips to the soldiers reliably, which in a country like Ethiopia, and certainly during wartime, would not have been easy. Taking out the clip is one less expense and one massive strain on logistics gone too.
Thank you , Ian .
🐺 Loupis Canis .
A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Making those modifications was impressive. The courage of those men using these weapons in combat is humbling.
French guns are the best
😛😛😛😛😛😛❤❤❤❤👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
How do you reload those fixed clips? Are they springy enough to be pushed to the side or do you partially insert the bullet end into the chamber, push the cartridge down the "magazine" and then push back?
🤙🏽
Ethiopian Wauser.
No coversion for belt fed?
"French rifles" I heard the magic words and I ran.😉👍
Love your informative videos!
Bubba was an Ethiopian.
"This is Ethiopia"... LOL
Just shows where there is a will(or need) there is a way.
People's ingenuity, in all of its variations, is always awesome to see.
I hope they'll be listed as gunsmith specials. Id hate to get one and find it modified hoping for an original
Interordinance: Bae come over
Gun Jesus: Can’t i’m reviewing the crogar m91
Interordinance: We have french guns
Gun Jesus:
"Complete wall-hangers." LOL Great episode, thank you.
U really should have had rounds to show how it works
Literally "last call" rifles that you get becuase you could not afford the 5000 USD rifles for sale and you shoot in on New Year and Christmas.
This channel featres weird Kraut Space Magic rifles, iconic rifles of bygone eras, marvels of gunsmithing and artistry from noblemen of yesteryears... but what I always look forward to the most are guns like these. Be it Chinese warlord guns, Kybher Pass guns or guns modified by some clever Ethiopian gunsmiths, these weird weapons always are so fascinating.
I would have a blast looking though all the weird and strange things that come out of that storage.
I wonder if that third one is still able to accept clips - if that stop is flexible enough that should work, I think?
The stuff you really watch Forgotten Weapons for.
TBH even if they'd ended up using them as single shot rifles, it's still better than a spear...
This reminds me of me Jerry rigging everything telling people I’m the son of an engineer
Back in the 80's I did something similar to a friends 22 magnum when the magazine plate fell off and lost the spring and everything. So I got some spring steel off my dad and bodged up plate, spring and brazed it onto the bottom, there was no way his dad was forking out cash for a new magazine even if there was a way of getting one for an old gun.
It was pretty hideous I don't mind saying
Bro was watching a Twitch stream and completely misunderstood “somebody clip that”.
Sorry, all I see is the HK P9S in the background...
Interesting to say the least 😅
How would you like to be in the poor Ethiopian quartermaster corps, who had to procure, maintain and supply dozens of different weapons and calibers at the same time?
We enjoy every video that you put out, thank you Ian !
nice i saw this gun on Hunt Showdown very good
making the best out of scarcity
I enjoy such videos the way I enjoy looking at middle eastern gun trucks and technicals.
I mean, combining the creativity of these designs with Ian's description, I don't think any youtube video could make my day any better
I’m wondering why you don’t refer to those as internal magazines once they’re converted?
🤣 those are all seriously scary looking, definitely wall hangers
How many times are you gonna make this video? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it's just cool that it keeps happening.
Looks like the gun was also used as an impromptu anvil.
I'm surprised that the interruptor and Magazine Fed models didn't go home with Ian.
RTI have some 3 shot m16 berthiers, any explanation on how that exists?
"those are the magic words " cue nerd laugh.😂 Praise saint Ian ,praise Gun Jesus !
They're all super interesting, and all beat to hell. The Ethiopians got every penny out of the purchase of these rifles.
All rifles that made it to production are deadly. Especially the ones that didn't. So deadly they could kill the user.
Never underestimate the innovative solutions one human can come up with when he is intent on killing another .
I love guns like these. I love seeing people use their ingenuity to solve problems like this.
I really love to see stuff like this. It is amazing the ingenuity that can be found in field repairs.
Cool gun. That's a really creative process at work.
Wonderful coffee machine in the background