this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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Forgotten Weapons

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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by FireTower to c/forgottenweapons
 

Owen cleverly fashioned the drum magazine from an automobile crankshaft’s harmonic balancer. He drilled holes into the balancer to hold each individual cartridge, essentially creating a revolving cylinder with individual chambers. The magazine/cylinder held 44 .22 short cartridges.

The prototype lacked a traditional trigger. Instead, Owen added simple a thumb trigger that he made out of spring steel. When cocked, the trigger held the bolt back. Depressing the trigger released the bolt, allowing the weapon to slam-fire.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-very-first-owen-gun-was-fashioned-from-car-parts-b69d231b92b6

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[–] Noite_Etion 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] FluorideMind 2 points 10 months ago

Yep. This is what gave them inspiration.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's neat. This Owen was on display at the Korean War Museum in Seoul, bayonet attached.

[–] FireTower 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bayonets always look funny on SMGs. I think the bayonet is actually longer than the barrel is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

It does look odd. I remember reading an Australian soldier's account of one of the early battles. They described trading fire until they were ordered to fix bayonets. They started charging and he said the North Korean soldiers all threw down their weapons and ran away. From that point on the Australians relied heavily on bayonets as they knew the North Koreans were not too fond of them.