Mauser WW1 Flyer's Rifle: the Flieger Selbstlader Karabiner 1916
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ต.ค. 2022
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Paul Mauser dedicated much of his life to the development of a practical semiauto military rifle, and did manage to have a design that was used in combat by Germany in World War One. It began with the model 06/08, a short-recoil, flap-locked design made in both rifle and pistol form. The short recoil idea was disliked by the military for a shoulder rifle, and so Mauser redesigned it to be inertially locked with a fixed barrel. This was sold in small numbers as a sporting rifle, and tested by the military a few years before the war. Once war began, Mauser once again submitted the design for use in an infantry configuration, but the system was too delicate for infantry combat. A second pattern was made for use by fliers, and this was accepted and used in service for that brief period between the introduction of military aviation and the adoption of aerial machine guns.
Designated the FSK-16 (FliegerSelbstladeKarabiner 1916), it was used primarily by balloon and Zeppelin crews. With a large magazine and self-loading action, it was much better for use in aircraft than the typical bolt action infantry rifles - and there was no mud to get into the action while airborne.
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Mauser's designs continually impress me for their "jigsaw puzzle" nature when it comes to assembly. This seems to be a common feature to him - something a lot of other designers did not seem to favor. It's not absolute, or totally universal, but from the C96 to this, it seems like there are far fewer pins, screws, &c. than there are just cadres of elegantly designed unique parts that all nest into each other.. Production manufacturing for this kind of "fancy geometry everywhere" is very impressive on its own.
Most people recognize this from BF1. Very cool to actually see and hear about a real one.
This gun was so cool in BF1. And, yes, happy to learn more about.
Yeah, that's the only reason I even recognized it. Favorite medic gun fore shore.
It's also a rifle in Battlefield V!
It is an infantry rifle for Assault class.
@@VertietRyper Bruh, I forgot the assault and medic switched guns
@@VoidySan That, and along with Support's Carbine pistols, they went to Recon in BFV as well.
That complex mechanism and it's action was all thought out in Mauser's mind and drawn on paper. Wow.
Great video on one of my favourite WWI pieces of equipment, Ian.
Two points to consider. When the FSK entered service with the two-seater squadrons, German observers were still using the front seat and pilots the one immediately behind. Given all the struts and riggin, there was nowhere to butt the rifle against the coaming of the cockpit when taking aim. The forward grip serves the same function as today's forward grips, prongs, knobs and dongs. It also keeps the magazine from doing damage to the structure and viceversa. The FSK was kept in service even after the two-seater layout was changed, due to the improved field of fire.
Thanks for sharing. Cheers,
It instantly reminded me of that little knob at the end of MP-40 barrels that allowed soldiers to brace the gun on/against something when firing.
When Manfred Von Richthofen(The Red Baron) first got into aviation, it was as an observer in two-seater aircraft, & he carried this model rifle in his cockpit. In his first air combat, a French two-seater flew alongside & fired on them with a carbine, so he charged his rifle & fired multiple shots into the enemy plane until it went down out of control & crashed, his first aerial victory. He received no credit for it, since it fell behind the French lines, but to a devoted big-game hunter like Von Richthofen, it was a personal achievement that thrilled him to the core. The allure of hunting down the enemy in his own plane was what drove him to become a fighter pilot, & to make his mark on history.
BF1 was awesome 😢
Wait, it's bad now? Just asking, as I haven't played BF1 in long time.
@@paleoph6168 It's still great. The person above probably hasn't played it in a long time
@@vlotex yup I haven’t
It was mid. Completely filled with nothing but hackers after six months like every battlefield game on PC.
@(düzenlendi) Agreed, 5 was a much much better game.
That charging knob is ridiculously cool! I could see it with an AR-style carry handle.
Old style AR-10 handle would look epic ngl
Hopefully whoever buys this lets Othias borrow it.
I love seeing all the different clockwork monstrosities people tried out for auto rifles we finally settled on (mostly) some variation of the simple gas piston, rotating bolt, recoil spiting.
That paint is horrible yes, but not the worst thing ive seen done to a rifle, ive seen some truly heinous things done to a m1941 johnson rifle
Like that one in .338-06 that was painted white?
@@ScottKenny1978 i cant remember if its the same one or not, but someone put a m16esque carry handle on it and painted it white and brown camo
@@megachimp2537 that's an abomination.
The machining work on these old guns is phenomenal.
It's weird how such older guns can feel "better" that way. Maybe it's machining not being miles better as we may think, or maybe it's the guns being old yet still sturdy and tight. I can't ever pin it for sure, but it feels like a cheat code they used back then in my left brain.
It could literally just be the quality standards were higher because much more of a gun was handmade or tailored.
I'm sitting in a machine shop right now after a day of work thinking that the machine work on this rifle is impeccable. However, I can't help but to think... Why? This gun had to cost a fortune to make considering materials, tooling, and some hellacious labor time. The best things are simple and easy to service. Those are the parts people want. The simple things are the things that last longest and are easiest to use. They're cheap and reproducible as well, and on the quick. Startup costs and times are better too. Manufacturing revolves around the individually simple things.
Thats such a clever lock up! I love it!
The machining on it, looks flippin good. Tolerances all tight and exact. Would be a nightmare to keep running reliably I reckon. I can't imagine this gun standing up to one of your trademark mud baths very well. Still interesting to see. Cheers Ian.
I imagine that there were also lot of hand fitting to make a rifle work.
@@2stroke438 didn't he say they tried it out in the trenches 😏
@@jackdarbyshire5888 With or without a plane?
A sealed up, tightly-toleranced gun is usually much better at surviving mud than a firearm with poor tolerances. The classic examples are the AR-15, the AK, the Luger and the 1911. Which of those do you think perform better in a mud test? The answer (by a country mile) is the AR-15 and the Luger. The AK and the 1911 will get mud into the action, or behind the hammer, and then all bets are off. Rattle is bad!
Looser tolerances don't translate into reliability when exposed to adverse conditions, they (at best) provide a place for carbon to build up that isn't going to gum up the action.
Dumping this rifle into mud will probably render it inoperable, but the same would be true of the AK, or nearly any rifle. A very tightly-toleranced rifle will not get mud into the action, and so will be much better at surving the kind of mud bath that you can reasonably expect a rifle to survive (that is to say, not a particularly long one). The reason why automatic rifles fare worse in the trenches (and why they might not want them there) is because trench-rifles don't need to survive a mud-bath and keep on shooting, they need to survive ten thousand mud baths, ten thousand and one water rinses, and then keep on shooting. Particularly complicated guns like this rifle will not handle that kind of experience as well as simpler firearms.
@@2stroke438 Yeah...that was my first thought....little mud on a plane.
man, I'm a mechanical designer and I'm quite impressed by how the old Era weaponry designs were simple yet well made and precise, I'm following this channel not only because my interest in weaponry but due to i learn much from it into my work, thank you Ian you do amazing work y'all
Makes you wonder what the old legends could have done with modern design tech like autocad and computer simulation instead of spending years on development through trial and error.
@@Indylimburg you're right, I'm into solidworks and fusion 360 ya'll, still mistakes happens and sometimes materials doesn't handle stress on long terms, here comes how amazing those engineers who didn't had CAD/CAM consepts, no R&D which we've today but they could do things that could work flawlessly 100 years ya'll..
Hearing the operation of this rifle reminds me of the game of mousetrap. This does this, but then it does that, interacts with this piece here and then that piece rotates to hit the other piece. It's like they went out of their way to be complicated.
The "S" and the "K" on the receiver might refer to "Selbstlader Karabiner".
Thanks again Ian for yet another excellent video on innovations from the past that I definitely wanted to know more about this gun. And those locking lugs look like they probably had some influence on the STG45 and the G3 and everything else that followed.
Very good information Ian.
The knerling on the top cover is really something. Gratuitous excellent machining... :)
Beautiful rifle and mechanism. A pity there is not more of them around.
1:16
In my brain, the phrasing of that sentence makes it sound like he never got what destroyed his eye out of his skull
EQG Enjoyer I approve 👍
If someone can remove paint from a canvas while leaving another painting underneath, in-tact? You'd think they could get the paint off of this rifle and restore the markings on the stock...
I have seen this rifle in books, especially "Small Arms of the World" by W. H. B. Smith/Edward C. Ezell. It has always fascinated me. I really wish it had been developed further after WWI. The action seems quite a good idea.
I hope you finde one to hold one day
The Farquar-Hill was developed into a light machine gun.
It lost out the Vickers-Berthier and ZB26, evolved into the Bren.
The "S" before the serial number likely stood for S-patronen or "Spitzer" meaning that this rifle will accept projectiles with a spitzer point.
Back to basics - these types of videos are my favorite. #1 gun/engineering/ history Channel
Flapper locked sounds like what happened from dirty activities in the 1920s.
During the Great War, the mighty nation of Elbonia _kept_ the bayonet lugs on their standard issue Flieger Karabiners. And used them, with great success, throughout Elbonia's entire air campaign. Our brave pilots would fly close enough to the enemy aero craft with their bayonet equipped Karabiners to attack the enemy pilots in flight. Every single enemy aero machine thusly attacked, was brought down as a confirmed kill. Coincidentally, the number of Elbonia's air victories was the exact same number as our own air losses. Elbonia's air war lasted from 10:42 am on April 9th, 1916, through 1:09 pm on April 9th, 1916.
The wooden addition in front of the magazine would also allow it to be put against the wooden coaming around the cockpits as well as hatches and windows in Zeppelins and if used in observation balloons (Which I think it may have been in as well), rested against the basket edge.
I can remember seeing somewhere else this type of addition being done on other rifles and semi-automatic firearms for the same reason.
Reminds me of The Federov Automat 1916.
Hey Ian thank you for your very intresing work. I really enjoy watching your videos!
As a german i guess Markings SK means it probably stands for "Selbstlade Karabiner". Seems plausible and german like to me...
Best wishes to you! Please never stop producing such nice content! 👍🏻👏🏻
Thank you , Ian .
🐺
Love to see it 8n a two gun match paired with a red 9 broom handle.
Broom is ok but i dont like the balance, P08 would be the right time match, maybe with the longer navy barrel
Cleverly convoluted and excessively complificated(, lots of good mechanics and mechanisms comes out of German minds but this kind of 'umpteen things in concert to create a single note' stuff also being very German is pretty much a trope now...
Great craftsmanship without ever stopping to think if the effort is worth the result...
The markings S and K stand for Selbstlade (self-loading) and Karabine
Really Ian, saying if we'd seen the disassembly of the infantry version there's no need to watch you do this one. You're not understanding your followers too well. Most of us would watch such a procedure numerous times. Never grows old.
Interesting to hear the Mondragon connected to this. A while back, I saw someone selling a Mondragon for nearly 10,000, but that was unfortunately when I was in a position where I couldn't afford it
So you can afford one now?
@@tikalthewhimsicott2736 Not yet, most Mondragon's start between 20 & 30 thousand dollars anyways. Had that 9/10 thousand Mondragon shown up last year when I had money, I would've taken it & ditch the French FR-F2
This rifle looks absolutely amazing. That half grip in front of the magazine looks sweer
One does not always come to the simplest solution first. But very elegant. German overengineering.
Great video Ian, as usual! I'm a big time aviation history buff and of course I knew that for a brief period of time before deflection plates and interrupter gear, they used to take shots at one another with rifles, carbines, pistols and revolvers (there are even some accounts of French airmen throwing bricks at German aircraft, which the Germans found extremely ungentlemanlike, being such sticklers for etiquette as they were!) What I didn't know was the thay had adopted a rifle specifically for that purpose. It never occurred to me to find out what they used and I just assumed it must have been regular infantry weapons or hunting rifles. It just goes to show you never know nearly enough! Thanks for the education. Cheers from Patagonia!
Could the S and K not stand for Selbstadler Karabiner?
what an absolutely lovely rifle, always loved how it looks and functions, every ww1 semi/full auto has its own weird and wonderful manual of arms and its always great to see the different ways people got these guns working , that paint job on the other hand.....
inertial-locking is a weird system :)
Wow! What a remarkable survivor!
I would love to have one of these. This is one of my favorite guns.
4:03 "no bayonet lug on it"
Air-to-air bayonets never got off the ground.
Oh shit I thought these things were lost to time
A couple pf viewers have thought this looks like a Fedorov Avtomat. The inner workings of the two are totally different (for one, the Fedorov is short recoil and has a weird side plate locking system), but one thing struck me: the magazine on both guns is for 25 rounds -- not that wonderful a coincidence -- but if you look at the pressings on the side of the magazine you'll note that they are identical. Both have a pattern consisting of 11 parallel curved lines, of which the three closest to the edge on either side are tied together at the top by a transverse baulk. Now that is too much of a similarity to be purely coincidental. The 8mm Mauser round is 7.32mm longer than the 6.5mm Arisaka of the Fedorov and the attachment is different, but I still wonder...
I think "Being German" involves overdesigning mechanical things for non-obvious purposes, to answer questions nobody is asking.
But in truth, many of these designs work well under various conditions. It's... weird.
Well put, applies to guns and cars.
@@justinbarton247 I'm on my second Audi. I agree.
@@justinbarton247 and legal structures.
Germans prefer the term: uberdimensional.
Have you ever studied german grammar?
From the standpoint of other European languages, it is totally backwards and requires you to build the entire sentence in your head before you start speaking. I always wondered what it does to the mind of a native german speaker.
Beautiful piece. Very unusual action - I think the only other inertially-operated guns I've seen are shotguns? Very coo.
Ian: no need for a bayonet lug.
Russians : if we made rifle for airplane, it would have bayonet lug. Every rifle need bayonet, Ivan will joust plane.
You forgot bricks. One of the most effective weapons in early dog fights was the simple clay brick. Drop it from above. Too early, you damage the propeller; too late, you damage the rudder controls; they start to bank, you damage the wings; right on target, you knock out the pilot and down goes the aircraft.
this is a surprisingly modern looking rifle for 1916, this seems like something you'd expect to see in WW2 rather than WW1
It is so interesting to watch these videos on early self-loading rifles and pistols.
Instinct tells us that technology evolves from mechanically simple to more and more complex as time go by, but here it is the opposite: the early attempts at a self-loading mechanism are all incredibly intricate and complicated.
You realize that the real task of a mechanical engineer is to reduce complexity, rather than increase it.
Of course i recognize this from BF1, i started watching this channel after seeing BF1's trailer yeeeears ago
what a nice wholesome loop
i still wait for reproduction Fedorov Avtomat shooting video
Ian actually helped with BF1’s development!
He is thanked in the credits.
@@c.m.hahnebaum753 i know
i also discowered "The Great War" channel after trailer and they helped with BF1 too
i don't know if C&Rsenal helped with BF1 but they helped the devs of Verdun/Tannenberg/Isonzo
been waiting 6 years for this one
Beautiful, if not pristine rifle. Always a marvel to see a weapon that old so... uncirculated.
Maybe the S stand for selfloading and the K kurz/Karabine ?
I was thinking along the same lines as you with the S an K. But I was thinking the S might have stood for the newer 7.9 mm Spitzer bullet ammunition.
There was a redesign of the 7.9 mm (8 mm Mauser) cartridge in 1898 designated the Patron 88 (Cartridge 88), The Bullet diameter was .318" (8.08 mm). But the new French designed 8 mm Le Belle had started a military rifle ammunition revolution. Because of this, the German military and ammo manufacturers further refined their 8 mm bullet around 1903 and increased the diameter to .323" (8.20 mm) and higher chamber pressure. This became the S Patron. The rifles chambered and barreled for the older cartridge could not use the this new ammunition without devastating results.
Some of them with receivers that could handle the higher pressures, were re-barreled for the new larger diameter ammo and were stamped with an "S" on the barrel. However the new rifles that were chambered for the new 7.92 mm ammo were also stamped on the barrels with an S to show they were chambered for the new 7.92 ammo.
Though the older ammo with the smaller .218" bullet could be fired from the new chambering, the accuracy was terrible. I've seen several German rifles from WWI and WWII that had that "S" and "K" marked somewhere on the barrel. Some like this one with the serial number and others with the "S" stamped on the barrel and the "K" in the model number or somewhere on the receiver if it was a long rifle that was re-barreled to the carbine standard, usually with the SN on the receiver.
So much machining -- this had to be expensive to make.
German Machinist employment preservation.
Can't go to the front, gotta make these overly complicated rifles!
Thank you!!
Fascinated by anything that is over engineered
the S and K probably refer to "selbstlade karabiner" or "self loading carbine"
Reminds me of the AVT!
This would be so fun to shoot… really innovative design, unique and highly over engineered… I immediately spotted the similarity of the mag with the mg-13 but I’ve never seen this rifle…
Such a beautiful gun.
Thats a work of art
Fine looking piece of machinery. Nice looking weapon also , for pre-WW1 . Like it.
wow, what a beauty.
I love to see it again
Now someone needs to buy it and loan it to C&Rsenal so they can do a video on it.
FSK is a Lable in Germany used to mark R - Rated Movies and games. This would mean that you have to be 16 or older to watch how Ian does a great video about a great rifle.
FSK is only used for movies, not for games.
@@jort93z right forgot, that USK and FSK are not the same
... or to buy a semiautomatic antiair Rifle
One military joke more!
I've been saying "all rifles should have magazine guard handles" for years.
3:44 "You're not going to get dirt and shrapnel in your rifle if you're hundreds of feet in the air"
Yeah, tell that to the guys who had to make unscheduled cornfield layovers.
Thank you
Very intersting snapshot from history
This is the firearms equivalent of david Attenborough doing a documentary on Bigfoot. Never thought it would happen
Amazing how complicated were the first firearms of their category. Plenty of small parts and plenty of engineering. And also the quality, fit and finish were also excellent without any modern manufacturing technics like CNC and so on.
So you guys remember that C96 aircraft mount? The one with 10 of them? What if they did something like that, with this gun?
Noice! I hope that gets on the table at some point. I wonder if there was a loading tool to load 5 at the same time and then flip it over.
... but how about this question; how much does it cost to purchase 10 of those rifles, and how much did the plane itself cost? lol
@@normanmccollum6082 All you would need is one plane dude. I don't think the Germans would mind that this one plane loaded up with these rifles costs at much as the Ardennes offensive.
@@TheDragonGamerTV
Just saying, if those rifles are particularly expensive, I dunno, might have almost as much money worth in rifles on that plane as the cost of the plane itself lol One downed plane, potentially twice the supply/money lost, plus a likely-dead pilot. Sure, one can be tried as an experiment, but it just doesn't seem feasible to me.
@@normanmccollum6082 It's mainly a joke my guy. I sure wouldn't want 10 8mm Mauser rounds being fired at me while I'm flying a canvas and wood plane.
This is truly one of the most aesthetically pleasing firearms I've ever seen, both inside and out, especially from the time period. I freaking love that charging handle in particular.
You can just tell that Lee Lemon has real love for this rifle. ❤️
Wow...NEVER heard of this rifle..thanx!!!
I wonder if the paint on this one was intentionally done to hide the military markings? I can see that being done either as a way to save it from being scrapped and put into a civilian's hands(see? no markings, obviously this isn't one of the ones that would be in treaty violation!) or as anti-german sentiment rose during WW2 so that anyone seeing it on the range wouldn't accuse the owner of being a sympathizer. Of course, without a history of the specific gun, this remains pure speculation.
sk on the serial is "selbslader karabiner"
Ian: "Flapper locked and inertia operated"
Me: Ooh, so like a Degtyaryov with a stiff spring between the bolt and carrier like on a Benelli? That's actually really clever, I can see how that would-
Ian opens the top cover
Me: Oh right... Germans...
Love that " Oh right...Germans. " The Undisputed Masters of unnecessarily complex and over built.
@@clothar23 There are also the Swiss rifles...
@@FreeOfFantasy Ya mean the shameless AK copies that are somehow worse than a '47 model despite costing more and looking uglier ? Or something worse ?
@@clothar23 you mean RUBE GOLDBERG? An overly complexed mechanism designed to perform a very simple task!
At least the didn't go full G11 on it yet.
I love the ingenuity of the first semi-auto designs. So cool.
Lovely!
I enjoyed this video
reminds me in optic a little bit to the .M1 carbine with a curved Magazine.
The shape looks a lot like Fedorov Avromat!
Maybe Mauser got a look at fedorov's avtomat?
One of my favorites from bf1
that charging handle is fkn wicked
Wouldnt that wood forward of the mag be perfect for resting the wooded part of the barrel on a padded cockpit inner ring to stop it interfering with the magazine
Ian is in the game's credits as an advisor
The Flieger Selbstadler Karabiner 1916 just by looking at it ie almost totally unsuitable for trench warfare not that easier to produce than the more famous Mauser Mod. 96 of which during the will be re-chambered with the 9 Parabellum. Both were extensively milled with most were numbered to the "chassis" and the pistols were very often hand adapted to the specific gun! The rifle was very expensive and not suitable for mass production. Nevertheless a wonderful rifle, good job as always 👍👍👍
that is a sweet rifle
I can’t help but see a grandfather of the sks
I am "flabbergast" by the "flaberlock" 06 karabiner.
Very exotic weapon. Something you could see on Star Wars.
Don't give the rich nerds ideas, they've already ruined a good amount of the C96s
@@theronraam23 thankfully Disney would be too cheap to do that now. They'd probably 3D print a fake one lol
@@VertietRyper not those rich nerds, the fanboys who would drop the money on a genuine Thompson just to butcher it into a pulse rifle from aliens.
It looks a lot like the Russian Fedorov Avtomat.
Things will change when you look at the inside.
Some of the internals could be compared HEAVILY to a MK19. Really good looking stuff.
Maybe I'm looking on the wrong video "label", but is there already a video regarding the Browning/FN SA-22 22LR rifle? & Nice Mauser video.
This is really a type of delayed blowback mechanism since the breech block does not get any inertia transferred to it but needs the residual pressure in the chamber to propel it rearwards. It's not really inertially operated but inertially unlocked. Controversial?
I'd love to bring back Mauser and JMB to show them how simple self loader rifles are now.
A video on realistic use of bolt action rifles in guerilla warfare in a home front defense scenario would be great.