The Suppressed Luger used for covert operations, with firearms and weapons expert Jonathan Ferguson
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2022
- Instantly recognisable to weaponry enthusiasts, the Luger is a mainstay of war movies and video games alike. This suppressed example is an extremely rare variant, as it was designed for covert operations by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. Join Jonathan Ferguson as he investigates how British-trained agents in Europe would have used such a clandestine weapon.
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If the question is "Are SOE at it again?", the answer is always "yes"
Yos
Every nation has suppressors on their firearms but only the SOE puts suppressors on quirky firearms.
Followed (at the time) by the question: who told you?
@@BHuang92 Using a domestically produced silencer is also quirky.
“Did SOE get into the cocaine and Dremel closet again?”
Hi Jonathan, we had a confiscated one in the "lost, found and confiscated room" of the Police House where I grew up. I can remember playing cowboys and Indians with it in the garden before it went to the deva forge in Chester for destruction. Definately a luger and silencer. Many years later I purchased a Parker Hale moderator for my rifle. I had to wait for an addendum to my fac. It came, Interestingly, with an oiled paper instruction sheet and a nice, blued, rod to aid reassembly of the internal baffles. All the best.
That's really interesting David, thank you! Strong implication that, like the Welrod and other covert weapons, these were somewhat mass-produced and intended for air-dropping to partisans. Hopefully we will find some archival evidence on this project.
They beat me to the rod idea
@@jonathanferguson1211 I hope the information turns up. I'm sure your theory is meritorious. A lot of my childhood was spent playing with a broad range of confiscated or handed in weapons. An elderly gentleman from Mickle Trafford having a fully functional lewis and ammunition. It lived on the table in our dining room until collection. Mum was not happy. It was collected by van and went to the forge as well. Happy days.
@@davidtowler8219 as an american, this pains me
@@jmjedi923 which part John, or is it just the state of our firearms law?
When repeatedly screwing self tapping screws in plastic (as part of a strip, repair, rebuild requirement) I was taught to turn anti-clock wise untill you heard the "click" which meant you had picked up the original thread cut previously. If you just started at any point, you risked ripping out the hole it due course, because of a finite amount of plastic to form a thread.
And my point is? Subsequently now with any thread, plastic or not, I always start by rotating counter-clock wise to pick up the original thread.
This is by far one of the best comments I have seen on assembly. I always, no matter what material or purpose, rotate counter clockwise till I know I have hit the threads and then SLOWLY thread in to assure proper connection. I have seen so many threads not totally buggered: but knicked at the top section of their threads and it always infuriates me as it’s so easy to properly align.
My guess for the usage of this gun, on top of the 2 theories you mentionned is that :
- Either they wanted specifically a 7.65mm suppressed gun
- They wanted to provide it to people that are used to the Luger: german resistance or german that fled to Great Britain but wanted to keep fighting.
I feel like the caliber was specifically what they were testing considering the Welrod was in .32 Auto, which is also 7.65mm. They could possibly reuse some of the same manufacturing while getting a more powerful gun out of it.
Do smaller bullets make less noise?
@@russelledwards001yes less powder
They'd probably just train up the refugees on SoE gear, in fact I believe there's many such cases.
My money is on operatives undercover who might plausibly have a Luger as a side arm openly worn, then the much easier to conceal suppressor stashed until its needed.
An unknown agent stopped with a Lugar would be more able to deny their threat than if they had a Webly
I agree with your orientation of the baffles. The other way around and there would be no space between the plate and the first baffle.
There is nothing to suggest that there could not have been some felt washers used inside the baffles, or even rubber wipes.
I’ve always wondered whether it would be possible to suppress a toggle action. Now I know
Yes, but it makes them even more ammo sensitive/picky than they already are.
You can, but it requires a really tight grip over the toggle joint.
@@Calligraphybooster "THAT COMMENT IS JUST BAD!" /s
The witty tone in which Mr.Ferguson said "I'd be disappointed" shows beyond any doubt that he knows who's watching these videos. Excellent content.
This reminds me of a photo I saw of a couple of Royal Marines training in England during WWII…. But the interesting bit was that one of them was holding a Luger with a drum mag.
It seems that at least some Special Operations personnel were a bit fond of the German tech.
Any opportunity for definitelynotsus comments :)
@@madisntit6547 what?
@@tommeakin1732 what?
Great photo of a Luger with the snail magazine
My original thought was "if I was in the field with no chance of allied resupply, I'd certainly want to be able to use the enemies' magazines and ammo..."
Except, surely this is thrown out the window by using the 7.65 variant, and not the 9...? Very confusing! _Baffling,_ even!
From some of the writings of SOE agents/operatives here in Norway, SOE had a place in London where guys could "shop around" for guns and kit they wanted to take on ops. Switchblades, brass knuckles, pistols of every make and caliber as preferred was available alongside stuff up to and including amphetamines and cocaine.
Jonathan is basically doing educational gun asmr at this point. Very soothing.
There's no such thing as ASMR. It's nothing more than a clickbait buzzword with no credible evidence to back it up.
Im glad youve made channel pls do more vids
If I had to guess, it was a prototype for what would be an actual in use device. If there was a relatively available way to get waffenstamped lugers, I would certainly believe that for a niche "assassination tool" as this, a properly marked one would be preferential. This might also be more likely due to the lack of a true front sight and good condition.
If the apocalypse ever happens I'm heading to Royal Armouries. Even though I live in America.
Always loved the Luger and I love seeing them with suppressors too. Also that's a cool wrist watch you got there Jonathan!
Besides the obvious, the supressed Luger, Jonathan's also caught my attention deeply, as the video is only one year old. A retro gun paired with a retro watch 😂😂😂😂
Has a very "Wolfenstein-ish" look, I love it!
My guess is that the unique Luger mechanism just proved to work more reliably than conventional design semi autos with a moderator. Often these things are simply discovered by experimentation. No computer programs to simulate things in those days. Moderators do strange things to semi autos and often throw the cycle timing out. When I had my Browning Buckmark .22 carbine barrel shortened to 12 inches (legally and re-proofed I hasten to add!) and fitted a suppressor, it took me at least a hundred hours of gun-smithing to get it to function 100 per cent perfectly again. For an SOE agent, their life depended on 100 per cent reliability. Maybe the Luger with its toggle action and high precision close tolerance machining was not so badly effected as other designs especially, do not forget, when firing the quieter and less recoiling 7.65.
Being a fixed Barrel design it does lend itself to being suppressed.
In the 70's / 80's I handled & disassembled dozens of Parker Hale factory fresh suppressors all were cup down/cuts up from new
I don't know about the added weight of the silencer, but I've got a 9mm Luger that runs modern subsonic ammo just fine.
I saw a couple of these at the Combined Military Services Museum in Maldon, Essex, really cool looking weapon.
When it comes to SOE and their choice of guns, I would also add in that the non-standard guns and calibers were available and unlikely to be requisitioned or bought by someone else before SOE could lay their hands on them. Explains the eclectic mix of everything from .25 ACP vest pistols to Mk 1 Sten guns I've seen described as "agent weapons"
Wondering why another brass bead front sight post wasn't brazed onto the thread protector cap. It seems like an obvious and quick fix that would add considerably to the full function of the pistol in its carry state.
My guess would be the low chance of alignment with the rear sight without some sort of additional locking piece - male threads typically have at least 4 starts and no real way of choosing at which position the female thread will bite, so it would take a lot of trial and error screwing and unscrewing to get it aligned. This is typically solved on suppressors with an additional position-lock feature, but this would add unnecessary cost and complexity to a thread protector 👍
And no one wants Jonathan disappointed at them, such a British wording and right up there with a strongly worded letter and the "tut" :)
That weapon is also available to the player in "Shadow of the Tomb Raider'. The silencer isn't removable though.
I assumed it was a conceit for the game. Although not that surprised. As "there always is a prototype." Or the SOE having ideas.
There's many many earlier games featuring this weapon, suppressor and all. Some early game even had it removable too though for no real reason. Taking it off didn't add anything except now enemies detected you when you fired lol. No One Lives Forever, hitman, Wolfenstein, and many many more had this like 20 years ago, 22 for NOLF.
@@NateTheScot no doubt. But an appearance in a game doesn't make it a real weapon. That said; plenty of examlles of Gold plated weapons.
It was more relevant to me, since I'm on a play-through of SotTR.
@@NateTheScot I think the silenced Luger may have cropped up in the original Playstation "Medal of Honour" game too and possibly "Hidden and Dangerous" (although not H&D2, I just checked the manual) . NOLF2 is the only game I can recall with a Sterling in it, riffing off the sub-eating Tanker bit in "Spy Who Loved Me" . A game in need of another sequel in my view.
Perhaps for use in a third party country e.g. Portugal or Switzerland. Being non British it allows for plausible deniability.
Really enjoyed watching this and seeing a contemporary of the welrod.
Would it be possible to see an interesting artillery piece or cannon sometime?
We've definitely got plans to expand WitW to our artillery collection. Watch this space.
SOE may have developed these just to see how well they worked. Since there is no slide on the P08 it is easy to to put threads on its barrel. Inventories of P08 were unlikely to be used in the field by regular troops.
that would also explain why two of the pistols had been refinished. they could have been tested so much that the blueing was fading just from general use.
This isn't a p08, they were all in 9mm, this is a 7.65 gun
More SOE and secret sneaky stuff please!
Well, if you’re under cover as a German officer I can see not wanting to carry a 1911 around. Though, not being a P08 in 9mm seems a bit odd for that as a theory, one would think they’d want ready access to ammunition which, at that point, was 9mm.
It was pretty common for them to use captured or commercial german guns in the SOE and SAS, for instance in the balkans they tended to use a lot of MP40s then they could rely on both ammo drops from Wellington bombers or whatever they captured from the enemy, as well as the partisans using a lot of german captured stuff.
@@Ukraineaissance2014 the odd part is the caliber, perhaps OG Luger ammo was readily available on the non-military markets/areas in Germany or elsewhere?
@@c1ph3rpunk yeah I think it was extremely common, wikipedia have a good article about this if you search for the cartridge (if the article hasnt changed for the worse in the year or so since I last saw it)
Actually German officers did carry 1911’s in 45 caliber.
They got them from Norway where they were manufactured under license as the Konigsberg 1914 for the Norwegian Army. Several thousand carry WW2 Nazi proof and acceptance marks as a result.
They would actually be more common than a 7.65mm Luger in a German officers hands.
@@c1ph3rpunk 7.65 was the original Luger caliber. The German military wanted a bigger bullet and 9mm was as large as it could go while still using the same magazine. Switzerland did use the 7.65mm caliber militarily from 1902 and actually manufactured Lugers until after WW2 (the very last commercial Lugers were manufactured on the Swiss tooling).
It is one of the most iconic and best looking gun ever
Fascinating analysis. I did want to ask why such weapon existed, and apparently there is no documented evidence to why, however your argument to the Webley being so readily available to me makes the argument for it being used as part of a disguise seem the most plausible.
I was going to say that I had the 007 suppressed Luger toy as a child, but thinking about it now it was a Walther P38 that had the suppressor, I also had a 007 Luger at the same time. Also had a metal toy Luger cap gun with a working elbow action. Loved that thing. Seems toy guns aren't really a thing with kids anymore sadly.
Lovely gun, have you ever had the chance to test it to see how much of a reduction in noise it gives?
I thought 007 had a ppk
I think a lot of kids now buy laser guns as toys but there have been cases of police being called to kids with toys guns by adults which probably makes parents nervous of allowing kids toy guns at all.
@@cyberleaderandy1 Aye I suppose so. Pity though as there were some great toys ones. I had loads of fun with mine at the time.
They doing airsoft and make believe wars now lol
15 years ago chinese made toy guns would fall apart in a matter of weeks, so maybe everyone just got tired of them and more serious replicas or airsofts were still too expensive to hand over to kids... that being said when i got a pistol crossbow with a bb tube magazine as a gift when i was 13, the bb mechanism was broken from the get go anyway... not to mention the chinese airsoft ak which lasted about 200 shots... i think there havent been any good budget options for fun kids guns for quite some time where i live
I was hoping for Jonathan to do a James Bond style intro with the Luger, really hope to see something like that in the future
That'd be a bit too kitsch though
Possibly chosen for calibre? Maybe testing different calibres with suppressors to find the most effective? We certainly did like larger calibre handguns in the UK, maybe they were trying a small calibre.
A small calibre typically uses less gas to fire its projectile and therefore might allow a smaller silencer for a given level of noise reduction.
@@derekp2674 I believe 7.65 Luger operates at a very similar pressure to 9mm, so I can't imagine it would be any quieter
@@ApurtureSci I'm sure that is true but the volume of propellant gas to silence will be lower by the square of the ratio of the bore diameters.
Now I really want to see a vid on the suppressed Webley.
The royal armories took Jonathan’s presenting room for a day and never gave it back, now he’s banished to the rifle stores for eternity😔
Another option was that these were a viability study they had some lying around and decided to see if the conversation was possible before moving to converting the limited number of captured 9 mm model for use by assets in Europe
11:30 the delivery of this line was too good. I laughed until one of my ribs started hurting.
I assume you mean the PIAT.
Interesting
I have a suspicion that Parker Hale already had stocks of the suppressor pre war intended for sale to sportsmen using rifles in the .30 calibre-ish range. The choice of a 7.65 Lugers being decided by the off the shelf availability of that calibre of suppressor at a time when steel to produce new ones was in short supply. What has often surprised me is that there was never a Martini action converted to fire .455 Webley with a suppressor fitted. It being a fairly common surplus and sporting arm in Britain and the Commonwealth.
I think that the exposed barrel makes it easier to thread vs machining a new barrel or trying to make internal threads work. Next thought after that is why not use the P38, unless they were wedded to 7.65mm for some reason, or couldn't get a suppressed P38 to work reliably?
Luger also benefits from having ammo, magazines and parts available in the field which isn't the case for the Allied pistols.
My favourite anecdote about the British trying to assassinate Hitler is how the eventually came to the conclusion that the war would be over faster if he stayed alive
My first time seeing your channel. I’m a HOOSIER American. Your style of commentary and explanation of the Suppressed Luger, was admirable. I’d go for the Suppressed, as it seems cooler and more rare/unique.
I’D BUY A USED CAR FROM THAT MAN😂. Just subscribed. Dave (I own a pristine pre WW II Mauser 320 Officers Dress pistol-its simple and unique)
It might be more to resistance fighters, namely French I'd imagine. On one hand, there's probably a lot of Lugers floating around which means a lot of proper ammunition for them. So, wanting to give a saboteur a decent bit of kit, a silenced Luger might be a good idea if you think about it. if you shoot a German or French collaborator, you can pilfer the ammunition. Think of it like a fancy Liberator pistol but instead of ditching the gun for something better, you just keep feeding yourself ammunition.
The German issue Lugers are 9mm, so no ammunition compatibility.
The Lugar uses 9mm, which was both plentiful and was found in a lot of pistols less quirky than Lugers.
I don’t know about the resistance movements in other countries, but the Norwegian resistance was fond of conducting its assassinations of collaborators and informants by simply shooting them at close range in the middle of the street in broad daylight during rush hour. So a weapon like this could have been useful, although it doesn’t explain why they did not go for the Luger variant that resistance fighters could actually find ammo for.
@@j.murphy4884 This model is a commercial Luger in 7.65mm (.30 cal) Parabellum. 9mm (.355 cal) Parabellum was probably too powerful to suppress effectively.
Not with this luger but the sten gun was widely used by the resistance because it shot 9mm
That is a very cool weapon indeed🤤😎
post ww1 commercial 7.65 lugers were sold in america on the commercial market in the 1920s with threaded barrels and suppressors for the shooter market as a novelty shooter , So it's likely they originated there rather than being some soe modification which is unlikely,its probably been associated with the soe due to them examining an already existing commercial available piece.
My God. There are a lot of very highly valued lugers out there. I can't even begin to put a price on this one?
To get the plate back in, stack the baffles with the plate on the top and gently place the suppressor tube over the stack and carefully turn it over to put your knurled ring on.
In modern suppressors the “bottom” of the cup faces towards the “bottom” of the suppressor which is the end where it attaches to the gun.
Fascinating item. The baffles are very much like those in the ubiquitous Parker-Hale MM1 .22" suppressor. Could the choice of the Luger be because with subsonic rounds the toggle might be more likely to not unlock far enough to generate a stoppage but merely rechamber the empty case and then be cycled manually? With four on hand some experimentation is called for. High speed camera required!
It would be an excellent weapon for resistance fighters. If the only available weapons were ones you could procure from an occupying force, you need their ammunition and replacement parts. The suppressor makes it perfect for "Liberating" enemy weapons.
This is interesting and did not know that SOE created and issued a moderated Luger. Its a bit strange though issuing a Luger to overseas agents operating in Europe. If caught carrying it, it would have meant certain and maybe instant death. In that context a disassembled Welrod would have made more sense and given the agent some opportunity to talk there way out of any awkward situation, check point etc.
I couldn't read the books but they did have some cool pictures we go to library look at old guns stuff in the books.
Si vis pacem, para bellum. Obviously intended for use in Finland.
Hey Jonathan what days are you on site in the museum? Just went there yesterday. I always go atleast twice a year and I would love to meet you and talk about history 😅
One additional, possible, explanation is the "plausible deniability" route. Less important in WWII where pretty clear lines were already drawn than day in the early days of the Vietnam conflict where covert operations were being carried out illegally. With the wide popularity of the Luger as a commercial, civilian and M&P pistol prior to WW1 and in the inter war period perhaps a weapon for operating in Neutral countries (Portugal for example who adopted the 7.65mm Luger for the Navy in 1908 or Switzerland who adopted it in 1900) where it might be necessary to conceal an Agent's true allegiance or even deny them completely.
Use a dowl to put it back together or stack them on top of each other on the table then slide the tube over the top
Yes, I was just being lazy really :)
bangin!
or not :)
@@derekp2674 ahahahha not with the suppressor on there!
Now I want a silenced Luger. Thanks a lot. :(
I heard in the sixteenth century there were some matchlock muskets with revolver cylinders made in Germany. That sounds like an interesting story, does the Armory have any of those?
I wonder if it was an assassination weapon but more used to make it look like a german had "done" it, I don't know what forensics were like back then but if someone saw someone dressed as a german, firing a german wepon, well you see my point hopefully.
Great video. Do you guys have a copy of the armatix ip1? Would like to hear your take on that model and the concept.
We don't - I watched its launch and Ian's recent video with interest but as far as I know no-one in the UK seriously looked at it.
I am somewhat baffled by this gun.
Okay, okay, I will see myself out.
RE ASSEMBLY
if you want to get the Plate and Stack back in the suppressors tube, I would guess its easier to stack all the parts up on the table, then slide the tube down over the stack and screw it "down" onto the end cap?
Use a smooth rod to guide the little piece back in place!
I hope Johnathan reads these- I wanted to know of good weapons for a semi-postapoc that'd be best for a 1-armed fighter to use; guns with good recoil, perhaps decent stopping power, maybe easily slotted into the other "arm" to allow for the user to operate the buttons and releases as they reload.
The chap who taught me to shoot way back in the 1970s had a metal right forearm, his original issue one having been left in Italy after a spot of bother. He had a long barrelled 'artillery' Luger that he had previously taken from an Italian officer, exactly how he carried out that transaction was not explained, and he would fire it out to 100 yards. I am sure it was a 9MM, I cannot remember how he loaded and cocked the thing, but I do remember seeing him hit 6' 'man' tagets.
@@harryfaber That sounds like something I was thinking of- semiautomatic, decent caliber and a stock of some kind. Was thinking my character has some sort of sling on his left arm which he puts the gun into so he can put a magazine in.
Easiest place to put a pistol is it's holster. Make a few cutouts for control access, sorted.
Jonathan, do you know the reference number(s) of the National Archives documents that mention the weapon? Thanks db
The reduced power hand loads doesn't strike me as a draw back, more like a strength for intended purpose. Covert purpose in this case.
To be clear, not saying it was done. Not saying it didn't happen. Rather, saying in this form, the insufficient power to cycle the action it has relevant strengths and may have been deliberately intended. When you're talking subsonic, the action can still be quite loud. Loud enough to reveal your position.
Action doesn't cycle, don't need to police your brass, you don't need to worry about being detected other than at very close range. A few of these, a couple of professional sneaks, you go could go a long way. A very long way.
In theory. No idea if it was or wasn't done. Has more than a few strengths, advantages though.
The Webley Auto, had the barrel separated from the frame, as I recall, which would have made a suppressor a better fit, than on a 1911.
I wonder if they contracted with Parker Hale to supply suppressors and the only ones they could get were in 7.65 calibre.
An excellent notion. Some searching in 1930s catalogues required.
The Luger seems a rather curious mount for a suppressor since there is no way to mechanically lock the toggle mechanism. Moreover, the choice of cartridge makes little sense for a suppressed weapon to be used for covert ops since the .22LR would be much quieter, and the American High Standard would have been a much better choice. This is a curious weapon, one whose reason for manufacture seems quite obscure if not absurd.
A gun for the Practical Jokes and Dirty Tricks Department.
Speaking of museum pieces - is that a classic Casio Data Bank watch? I owned a couple when they first came out. Yours looks subtly different from what they make now, I think the edges on yours are more rounded.
I would suspect that it was a weapon developed for a purpose that might have never been put into action.
As Count Dracula may have said however,
"Can you keep a secret? So can I."
I am sorry did you imply you have access to a hi standard 45acp or are you talking about the 22lr . I have heard a great deal of the 45acp hi standard has it actually 10 shot magazine's or are they mixing up their calibres. Any information would be wonderful did the royal Armoury save any of the 45s ?.
Don't know if this holds water but I seem to remember somebody talking about suppressed pistols being issued to raiding parties to deal with guard dogs. Sounds more like 30AU than the SOE though.
You see, thats where the trouble began. That smile. that damned smile.
The reason for the Luger in 7.65 may be somewhat more prosaic as agents and resistance operatives may well have found it easier to acquire the 7.65 ammunition on the continent/occupied territories than British or American calibers.
By the 30s, the 9mm IS the caliber used by the Germans so it would make sense to use it but as we all know, 9mm is hard to actually suppress because of how fast it is.
@@Excalibur01 7.65 Para is at least as fast as 9mm, wouldn't surprise me if it's actually louder!
My theory is that the Luger was chosen because it was already a presence in Germany and occupied Europe, meaning spare parts could be more easily acquired for it, and agents/resistance fighters with existing Luger skills (handling and maintenance) could easily apply that muscle memory to the suppressed model. Would've been better if they had acquired the 9mm model to convert instead, for both power and ammunition compatibility reasons, but hey, if all you've got is a bunch of commercial 7.65 Lugers, you might do worse.
I once made a screw-on muzzle thread protector from a Ruger 10/22 front sight and indexed the barrel threads so that the front sight blade aligned properly with the rear sight when installed. Even if the threads were to wear over time, causing sight misalignment, this could be corrected with thin shims. I see no reason why this approach would not have worked on the P08. If the pistol was intended for clandestine use, this would have made more sense as a disguise than a simple front end cap sans sight blade.
When I was at school I had a High Standard 22 with silencer. As per the OSS style. Think it was original WW2 surplus. Used to rabbit shoot with it. Great fun.
Integrally suppressed Luger would give maximum style points. A sort of Luxim 9 for the dystopian dieselpunk future.
What if it was actually for covert operations in Switzerland during WW2?
As far as I know, not a single combatant, Allied or other, used 7.65x21mm in WWII in any quantity. It's a Swiss calibre. Which means that it would be nigh on impossible to find ammunition for it on the Continent during the war. Now, if it had been 7.65mm Browning a.k.a .32ACP or 9mm Short a.k.a. .380ACB, that would have been different and readily available, as these were standard police calibres (both subsonic, by the way). Or indeed 9x19, the standard military sidearm calibre. I can't see any point to making this in such an unusual calibre.
My favorite pistol of the WW2 era is the Luger
Guess it’s the toggle lock, with the added bonus it could blend in if needed.
Are those anschutz 19xx series target rifles on the rack in the background?
Nice silencer.
Baffling the gases. Those gases are like "whoa, wtf?" They can't believe it
I'm sure I saw a mark Felton vid recently that said in op foxly the two assassins were to be equipped with a pair of these each to deal with the guards at the guard posts at hitlers mountain retreat...
It's like Who's that Pokémon but for weapons.
Seems pretty modern as far as today's pistol suppressors work. Like, this is the first time I can remember a WW I or WW II era suppressor for pistols that don't use rubber wipes or wire. Really cool!
Honestly the original Maxim suppressors were very impressive for the time, sadly the 1934 NFA laws killed off REAL further development and many existing examples of the various suppressor models, some were on par with relatively modern designs, minus advancements in low cost metal alloys... Such a shame, But Headstamp Publishing should have a book about that pretty soon if you're interested, It'd be a good time to buy Jonathan's book published by them as well if you haven't already 😉 👍
1909 Maxim silencer patent. 🤯 It always amazes that how long it took for militaries to really figure out the many benefits of having sound/flash suppression. Maxim was far ahead of his time I guess.
Well, one of the issues are workplace safety regulations. On pretty much any selfloading rifle installing a surpressor means higher amounts of cancerous gases in your face.
The raised hoods of the ports should be faced forward, this is becouse they are designed to create rotation of the gasses to increase turbulence inside the suppressor.
I'm surprised they didn't suppress Mouser C96s. They had plenty of those.
I would be curious if it this silenced Parabellum Luger is, or, has been fired with the dB, penn, etc., being measured. I would be interested in how effectively quiet it is, with the snap of the primer and mechanical actions, and the sort, getting measured.
Now I need to research where the name Luger comes from given that it is a ParaBellum P08.
I clearly don't know enough.
I wonder if this was a weapon for the British Auxiliaries in 1940? This might account for it being a luger model purchased before the war
If you have a decently Gifted quartermaster, it's best not to let them on their own for too long. It's a little projects like this that keep their hands busy, so they don't get up to shenanigans on their own falls down
.30 cal luger seems like a weird choice when the 9mm was prolific in the area of operations and that it would be more effective in subsonic form.
Perhaps the idea would be that it might be handy for resistance etc as the ammtuition ought to be accessible from captured stock ( or was 7.65 not common in the Wehrmacht)?
As far as I can find they didn't use 7.65 in ww2 at all
@@callumkingunderwood But it would have been available in Switzerland...