Oh, this explains the almost vertical pistol grip:) Matsuo settles this once again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL6vMvIJ ... re=related

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"When you can balance a tack hammer on your head, you can head off your foes with a balanced attack"
Wes Studi, Mystery Men

What about the forward-venting Blank Firing models of the M1A1 that re-enactors use?
Wouldn't they work, for effects purposes?

Obviously you'd need metal shrouds or something to stop them from melting and any electronics for the counters would need to be shielded from the heat.

Then of course there's the legal issues behind ownership......

Question:

When the guy in the video runs out of ammo, why does he rack the bolt open BEFORE removing the magazine?
As I understand it, that's a fail on yer weapons test...

Good spot Woody. Unless it's something to do with it firing from an open bolt? I've only ever used closed-bolt stuff...

Personally, I can't see the reason.

Regardless of the bolt style, opening the bolt runs the risk of it slipping and stripping a second round into the chambered one and resulting in an ND. You always remove the mag first, I thought.

Aye, doesn't make much sense as far as I can tell... Possibly just bad drills.

Thinking about it, how does that work? Magazine in, empty chamber, bolt is in the rear. On squeezing the trigger, bolt is released and moves forward, picks up a round, chambers it, fires it, gas system pushes bolt back and ejects casing. Repeat.

When it stops firing, he clearly still has the trigger squeezed for a good second after it stops, making me think the magazine was empty (okay, so he could have had a stoppage too). So either way at this point he's stopped firing with the bolt forward. So did the bolt fire the last round, return to the rear and eject the last casing thanks to the gas from the last round, come forward, not pick up a round then release the firing pin onto nothing?

In that case, pulling the bolt back before removing the magazine still makes no sense, as the bolt may just have failed to pick up a fresh round, leading to a potential ND if it slipped or the catch failed...

Okay, so may have answered my own question here.

P.S. - Terrible trigger snatching, though. ;P

With most open-bolt mechanisms, the sear is basically a latch directly linked to the trigger. Pull it and the bolt goes off, firing away. Release and the bolt is held open.

So yes, when the last round is fired, the bolt ejects the casing, slides forward and closes on nothing.
The exact same thing happens with a misfeed or a misfire, so opening the bolt before removing the mag is asking for trouble.

Actually, I don't see the problem.

Assuming you are in a gun battle, when the last round fires the bolt closes. At this point, with the trigger held, nothing is happening. Do you know if it fired the last round or if you have a malfunction? Unless you've been able to count rounds on full auto, I would think you wouldn't know.

The instructions I've had for the last 10 years (on an MP-5) is you immediately open the bolt to determine if its a malfunction or an empty magazine. If its a malfunction, it should strip out the malfunctioning round, and immediately re-chamber another round.

If its an empty magazine, it should lock the bolt open. Then you eject the magazine and insert a new one.

Far different if you are attempting to make the weapon safe and ensure there is no round in the chamber. In that case, ALWAYS remove the source of ammunition first (the magazine) and then lock the bolt to the rear. On the MP-5 you can lock the bolt open with no magazine in the chamber.

Admittedly, I don't know the mechanics of the MAC-11 used for this construction, so I don't know if you can manually lock the bolt open. But just a thought on why he manipulated the bolt instead of the magazine first.

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Mark
"Memento mori"
"Guess she don't like the cornbread either."

I'm not seeing what you guys are referring to. It looks like the bolt is just falling forward on an empty chamber, to me MAC and other small SMGs have always been real no-frills design, so things like empty magazine catches don't seem to be integral features.

I agree with Thumper though. But, I'm taught in a different school that trains how we fight, the most we do is attempt to put the weapon on safe, cant the rifle to see the ejection port (you'll either see whats wrong, or an open chamber and an empty mag) and then from there it'll be either one of 4 stoppages or a malfunction of the weapon all together. And you are to do this even on the range, in fact during our 10 round rapid fires, failure to do your immediate actions properly will result in you not getting to shoot the rounds you have left as an alibi.

For shooting at home, yeah, put on safe, remove your magazine, etc.

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"The worth and value of a man is in his heart and his will; there lies his real honor. Valor is the strength, not of legs and arms, but of heart and soul..." -Michel de Montaigne

Difference in training, I guess.
Doing that in the range drills we're taught will get you a fail and you have to re-sit your weapons training..... and/or get a right bollocking off some very pissed off Range Conducting Officers.

I think Thumper illustrated the point - Is it out of ammo, or has there been a misfire?

There are various design differences between models - Some will lock the working parts back when empty. Many will not (for simplicity's sake).
With open bolt mechanisms in general, you won't know and messing with misfires can be dangerous, especially with high rate of fire weapons. Imagine if it went off and emptied half a magazine in an uncontrolled fashion.

Granted, combat drills are very different from range drills. You don't have time to piss about with the NSPs etc - Yank teh misfeed out and get on with killing people.... But this guy was on a range. By the standards of what we're taught, it was risking an ND.

relodaing drills
safety change lever
check firing mechanism
if to rear magazine empty
replace with full
ease springs
carry on firing

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I'm the one they warned you about

Unless you're doing a "tactical" mid-magazine reload, why would you NOT pull the bolt back? I realize it's an open bolt gun, but the biggest reason to pull it back is to make sure the weapon is unloaded and relatively "safe." Second, to see if there is a malfunction like a light primer strike. Open bolt guns are pretty rare over here. Most of us shoot closed bolt semi-autos.

Weapon fires from open bolt.
Firing mechanism DOES NOT lock back when magazine empty.

Remove magazine first. THEN open the bolt.
He probably knows he's out of ammo anyway, which is even more reason to remove the magazine.

Sweet!! That looks like the one. Thanks!! Trying to find a decent side profile view of it and see how it fits inside 'shrouds'. So far, no luck.

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Tom