Posted on 01/31/2019 5:20:22 AM PST by w1n1
Guns that shoot around corners are more than grist for the mill of an old Bugs Bunny plot in a Saturday morning cartoon. Theyre real, and were first used, with limited success, by the German army in World War II. The weapon in question was the STG44 Krummlauf, a variant of the standard STG44 assault rifle. Why on earth would you want to shoot around a corner? The better question is why on earth wouldnt you? Its a lot safer than standing out in broad daylight where the enemy can take shots at you any old time they like.
German engineers during the war were perhaps the best and most creative in the world. They were literally weeks from producing their own atomic bomb when Berlin finally fell. Rarely a week goes by that some bit of forgotten Nazi genius isn't shown on the History Channel, so it's no surprise they were the first to invent a gun that could shoot around corners.
They started with a standard STG44 assault rifle, and outfitted it with a special barrel attachment that curved either 30 or 45 degrees. How the heck do you aim something like that from a position of safety? The Germans thought of that and installed a periscope sighting device that allowed the weapons operator to at least have a chance of hitting the target. Tests at the time showed that a skilled marksman could put a group of bullets in a 35x35cm square at 100 meters. Read the rest of Krummlauf.
>>They were literally weeks from producing their own atomic bomb when Berlin finally fell.
Complete B.S.
I might trust a 25-30 years older periscope rifle for the same purpose, as I could probably count on it for more than 160-300 rounds, and shoot straight if I’d like.
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/gallipoli/periscope_rifle
The Japs were actually closer than the Krauts to making an A Bomb if you believe the hype.
um.. the answer is so obvious.. you put the entire “gun” part beyond the bend and only curve the stock, then the bullet doesn’t have to curve and wear out the barrel.
They would have been there a lot sooner if some fool suggested they actually let the Jewish professors keep their jobs.
Instead, they let Van Braun build his rockets.
In other words, about average for 'Am Shooting Journal'.
Everything old is new again check it out at the 1:05:50 mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g0yoarAKgE
I have a postcard showing the “Grease Gun” (M3?) with a barrel curved to 90 degrees! It looks like it was designed to shoot from behind palm treesbut I wouldn’t have wanted the “kick” from it.
These are guns designed not to actually to shoot around corners, but to shoot from around a corner, the bullet’s trajectory being the same as from a conventional gun.
They sure wasted a lot of time & resources on crap with very limited usefulness: tanks that were too heavy to cross bridges, over-sized artillery that could barely move at all, jet-powered bombers, rifles with curved barrels, etc...
The curved barrel is a low-pressure channel, and the pistol round doesn't kick that bad in an 8-pound grease gun. And think shooting out from cracked-open tank hatches and vision ports more than from behind palm trees.
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