From Bolt Action Lee to LMG: The Charlton Automatic Rifle
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2019
- / forgottenweapons
Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg...
The Charlton automatic rifle is one of very, very few examples of a conversion from bolt action to self-loading rifle actually working reasonably well. Typically this sort of project founders in expense and unreliability. Charlton, however, was able to take his vision for providing the New Zealand Home Guard with a new weapon made form obsolete surplus and bring it fully to fruition, with 1500 guns made. They were never fired in anger, but allowed New Zealand to put all of its Bren guns into the field while retaining Charlton as emergency weapons in case of Japanese invasion. Sadly, virtually all were destroyed in a warehouse fire after the war, leaving them extremely rare today.
Many thanks to the Royal Armouries for allowing me to film and disassemble this very scarce automatic rifle! The NFC collection there - perhaps the best military small arms collection in Western Europe - is available by appointment to researchers:
royalarmouries.org/research/n...
You can browse the various Armouries collections online here:
royalarmouries.org/collection/
For the whole detailed story on Charlton manufacture, and to download a copy of the manual, check my web site article here:
www.forgottenweapons.com/ligh...
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
PO Box 87647
Tucson, AZ 85754
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Now THAT is what should have been mounted into the Bob Semple Tank!
What have you done?? You've doomed us all, you fool!!
Hes done it. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm damn glad he did.
still would of been a god awful tank with no use
@@M50A1 The Bob semple tank was the best tractor in all of ww2
@@grahamlopez6202 That meme died last month. Let it rest
visually it looks like someone stretched a jpeg of a thompson horizontally
*d o I l o o k l i k e I k n o w w h a t a j p e g i s?*
Someone measured once cut twice and had to use the ole' gun stretcher. Works everytime
@@heathea9678 FETCH ME THE GUN STRETCHER- Robert Baratheon
If that foregrip with finger-grooves was missing, you wouldn't be making such a vague connection to a completely unrelated weapons platform.
EVERYONE thinks that EVERY gun with a vertical fore grip looks like a "Thompson". Ironically, Many (most?) military Thompson SMGs (therefore most, overall?) lack this feature.
Howell Automatic Rifle 2 : Light machinegun Boogaloo
This needs to be put on a t-shirt, or at least on a poster
*Light machinegun Didgeridoo
The perfect rifle to go with the glorious BOB SEMPLE
Nailed it.
You forgot electric between machine gun and boogaloo
Adding that vertical “pistol grip” is what actually made it full semi automatic...
No, adding the high capacity assault clipazine made it full semi auto
@@RT42069 No, the magazine only allows it to fire .30 caliber clips a second.
Ahh CNN. Gotta love them.
This is the gun lawmakers are scared of
@@TheBananamonger lawbreaking gun law makers hate this one simple trick!
Those Kiwi bubbas are something else altogether. The stock does scream bubba, but to make a conversion kit to turn a bolt action into a full auto is a whole other level.
what tf is a bubba
@@tommywright2487
meme term originally used to describe someone from the southern United States, Appalachia, or otherwise someone who would be referred to as a "redneck" who would take to modifying firearms, legally or illegally, and with a combination of official attachments, common household items, and homemade parts.
"bubba" has nowadays further changed to refer to anyone who shoddily modifies a firearm, the term "Ali-bubba" is a good example of this referring to people in Arabic countries that modify or create equally second-rate firearms compared to the average "redneck" bubba.
all of these conversions seem equally scary firing as being fired upon by them
@@anthonydesisto2328 Ah, it chooches like frig.
@@anthonydesisto2328 and your rhinoceros leather flak jacket
ruclips.net/video/QrHCn69rppg/видео.html
I'm literally from NZ and even looking at the flag in the thumbnail I thought that this gun was Australian because I didn't know we had made any interesting firearms
Kiwi too mate just stumbled on this vid from Ian , didn't realize we made one too
Number 8 wire kiwi ingenuity lol
Hello possum brother do you also dress yours up to raise money for schools ?
Australian? AUSTRALIAN? Kiwi as, bro. Check your copy of Skennerton's "Lee Enfield Story" - it is one of the interesting conversions applied to Lee's design. The fire that destroyed most of the Charlton conversions was in a building at the showgrounds in Palmerston North.
Chur the fkn boys
The silhouette of this thing looks like a childs drawing of a machine gun
This is the gun I'd use of my main method of travel was a hot air balloon
Ha ha ha ha!
If you ask me it even looks a little bit like a Chauchat
@@grahamlopez6202 don’t forget the steam powered rockets on the side for ballon to ballon combat.
The thumbnail made me think "Zealandshnikov"
"Kiwi-shnikov" sounds better I reckon lol
@@TheTerminatorCarrot Both brilliant and spot on ;)
We're from New Zealand yes, but I don't hear many people say "I'm New Zealander", most of us just say "Kiwi'.
ChauKiwiShnikov.
@@grubbybum3614 chur.
The companion article is interesting. Struggling to get the guns made, parts were outsourced all over New Zealand; some of the gas pistons were made by the machine shop class at the Hastings Boy’s High School!
lol..thats the town I was born in..never went to that college though..
The level of panic in this country at the time should be a more recognised part of history. And how quickly things changed from 1938 to 1940. If we did i think we would have a bigger more capable nzdf
Now that’s what I call a community effort
Lol my granddad went there.. he was born in 1931 so could have been involved but probably too young
"From my cold dead steampunky hands"
Dieselpunk actually.
Who made up this steampunk garbage bullshit?
Southern Catfishing Douchey hipsters living in a Victorian Renaissance festival who ride Pennyfarthings and express their creativity by pumping steam into random objects.
Now, for some reason, steampunk is anything with copper, brass, bronze, or silver, wood furniture, cooling fins, or exposed reciprocating parts, often having no relation to steam.
@@carll.freemanjr.9867 Goths with engineering skills, been a thing since at least The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
@@carll.freemanjr.9867 Literally a guy at a publishing company describing a single-digit number of authors who wrote stories set in 'what if the world's tech base topped out at steam and clockwork and it's society consequently didn't change all that much from victorian times... but technological development kept going anyway?' type worlds. ... Guy literally referred to them as "those steam punks" and it stuck. Follow that up with similar stories appearing in a few media with more pictures and the aesthetic becoming moderately popular, and there you are. Steampunk. (in terms of story writing and world building, it actually Does have some significant elements in common with Cyberpunk, which helped the name stick, though it has a lot of differences too. Pretty much every other 'punk' genre of fiction (but not music) derives from one of those two).
"The most coolest and steam-punky guns of WW2"
Me: that would make a cool Star Wars gun.
Or on Firefly
“Lee Enfields now banned as this video is evidence that auto convention is possible” 😂😂😂
I mean... most guns are easily converted to automatic if you have the right tools. >__>
@@planescaped yes i need to get my full auto musket
@@kameradin8964 ruclips.net/video/rCuVMx5h1x0/видео.html
Literally all an AK needs is a shim in the trigger mechanism.
@@kameradin8964 I mean, if you really want a full auto musket there where multi barreled prototypes. If you want no gun powder, there is also a full auto ballista...
This is quite a testament of just how strong was the metallurgy and how well designed were the original service rifles dating from 1889 to 1903 (IIRC dates) that they could withstand the rigors of being converted to automatic fire.
Gotta respect the Victorian/Edwardian overbuilding, those things won't just give up the ghost even after you Frankenstein it into a machine gun.
My father was an engineer in the slip stick era. Rule of thumb for designing a pressure vessel. 1) Calculate wall thickmess 2) Add a safety margin 3) add 1 and 2 together 4) Double it.
@@colbeausabre8842 It is not just the pressure of the cartridge, but the ability of al of the bits and pieces of the action to take the wear and tear of that operation. I may have missed it, but I do not recall Ian saying anything about the the extractor or ejector which are also stressed by such operation.
@@loquat4440 it lasted 10,000 rds so that tells you how durable they were .
@@colbeausabre8842 what is the slip stick era?
Designed and built by my great uncle. Nice video, have shared to the family who are currently gaining possession of one.
This^^^
Were they successful?
Me at the beginning of the story: wow what an amazing gun I’ll probably never get to see
Me at the middle: wow! Maybe I will see one someday! 1500 is more than a lot of the guns on this channel.
Me at the end: silently crying about the warehouse
Bloodreign137 last time I checked there was one in the C category room at gun city Christchurch here in new zealand
Damon Hunter I’ll have to figure out a trip to New Zealand it sounds like! Thank you for the information on that sir
Visit the UK royal armouries Leeds,
we might not like private gun ownership, but we understand the importance of museums and history😉
I felt that
Private collector in kapiti coast has one
One should never underestimate what can result from hacking things up in a shed. It is the British way. Nice to see our Antipodean cousins also understand the Power of The Shed.
Don't worry about it mate. Piece piss.
>Antipodean
Dunno what that means, but how dare you!
Good word I reckon .
Antipodean
/anˌtipəˈdēən/
adjective
1.
relating to Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere).
"Antipodean wines"
love my Yellowtail and Enfields.
Two Blokes In A Shed, LLC: Truly a powerhouse in weapon innovation.
@Stephen Carran Accuracy International is an excellent example of The Power of the Shed.
Of course, with eccentricity being one of the essential factors, ninety nine times out of a hundred what issues from the Shed will be an ingenious solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place, like an amphibious bacon slicer, or a toilet with anti-lock brakes.
But then there's that one time out of a hundred, when what emerges is a world record breaking speed boat, or a Wellington bomber, or a Lotus Elise, or a bouncing bomb.
Make no mistake about it gentlemen, Sheds rock.
Like 4 of these still exist, and one of them is going to get crushed because the NZ government are incompetent. There is this one in the UK. There is one in the Army Museum in Waiouru, one in the NZ Police armoury in Trentham, and one in a private collection. The rest were destroyed when the storage unit they were in, burned down, in Palmerston North. The Australian model Charlton is slightly different to this and used Bren magazines.
EDIT - Luckily the Charlton in question has been saved by a collector in the North Island.
There is also (or was at one point) one in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
yo where did you hear of the government planning on destroying one
I have handled the one in the NZ police armory and was surprised at how heavy it was.
@@Tyrone1111 Because it is a semi auto and they are now illegal to own here in New Zealand, so along with a whole lot of other historic firearms going to be crushed.
@@zoiders Sure!!! besides most Police in this country know very little about firearms except that they can shoot people so must be destroyed. We are no longer a country of hunters and most Police come form the bigger cities and have little to no exposure to firearms except what training they get in the Police service which is minimal.
The weapon was made in 1941 and the video is 19:41. coincidence? I THINK NOT!!
The video is 19:40
@@lukum55 no its not its 19:41
@@firstname5418 Were you dropped on your head as a baby or are you just trolling?
Sneaky jesus
Thats the Chapter and Verse from the Book of Browning. Praised be the Ammo can of Antioch.
To me it’s like someone hybridized the Howell, Chauchat, and Thompson and cut open the receiver
And using the Kalashnikov's stock
Double the fire rate of a Chauchat though!
In you know the trick of replacing the mag quickly.
That faceguard looks perfectly engineered to shatter an orbital socket under recoil.
Doubt it. Considerable mass has been added, the sights raised. it's not a cheek weld weapon anymore. With a cheek weld you couldn't see the sights, let alone the target.
"they'd have to do a good heat treat job on this [...] but that's not a technically difficult thing to do"
Springfield Armory: "Yeah, you fahkin' try it there chief"
"Hold my beer" -Charles Ross 1903
Thompson: boy that Howell was an excellent lay. hopefully she took her pill.
9 months later...
Howell : you monster you abondoned and my kids and now the charlrons are all dead screw you
Shot his load too early.
- gurgling, sounds of horror, beyond human comprehension -
" FaaTTHHeerrRRrr "
Warzone Pacific brought me here.. thanks for the history lesson on this wonderful weapon 👌🏽
Judging by previous Q&A's, this has to one of Ian's favorite Forgotten Weapons.
This is the NZ-41 from Vanguard.
Ah yes Project Kiwinator: New Zealand most powerful weapon, right after Semple tank.
A bold statement when referencing the most formidable tool of inestimable destruction the world has ever seen.
Never mock the ANZACS, they will find you...
We use what we got and we use it well.
The Semple Tank is the sole reasons aliens are scared to mess with us
I had no idea that a bolt to semi conversion had ever been successful. Wow!
The Howell shoots fairly well also. See the video of firing if you haven't.
This is a bolt to full auto conversion.
I didn't either, but I did know for a fact that if one had, it would have to be an ANZAC conversion of a British rifle.
Ian thank you for referencing companion pieces to your website. Makes for a more fascinating and in depth dive.
I'm willing to bet that if you stick the nose of a bullet into that cam retention flap and run the bolt, it would pop that cover off. (12:45)
Kiwis are a clever mob with things like that ;)
I concur.
Statue bro ?
Agreed, as a Canadian we had similar work-arounds to sort our gear. We have two “big brothers” America and the Brits so we had heaps of envy and so created a can-do attitude to make up for our inferior gear, (which was often hand me downs for both of those countries).
Stephen Carran, Don't forget the Jet Boat.
@@john-paulsilke893
That’s actually a really good way of describing the relationships between us three. Though nobody likes those French-Canadians because they’re, well, French.
Honestly it's the coolest rifle that exists.
So I start playing Vanguard Beta & this video is suddenly suggested 😂😂
It's a shame they mirrored the model for no reason though.
@@YellowDogWithCone ITs for the player to see the cool aesthetic of the gun, if it werent mirrored, we wouldn't see much
Chauchat+AK-47+Bren=this masterpiece.
I'm from New Zealand and wasn't aware that this existed. Just looking at what was done at the time it is amazing to see what could be done with so little. Taking into consideration that there was rationing of anything considered to be essential to the war effort and they managed to engineer this effective simple weapon that was reliable only using leftover obsolete weapons. Just amazing and as we say here "good old kiwi ingenuity". Thank you for another great video on these forgotten weapons.
A beautiful gun. Imagine the Japanese if they would've encountered those. "The locals fear nothing. Just look at what they dare to shoot with! We have lost; lets go home!"
that was pretty funny
DICE/EA: Write that down, write that down!!
What is it in the 19 and 20th century DNA of Kiwis and Aussies ? Need a gun, need a combine harvester, need mechanical shears, need a better lawn mower, need a decent cloths line, need a torpedo, need refrigeration, need stump jump plough, need an aeroplane, yeh no worries mate, I'll go down the shed and see what I can build, just keep the missus off me back for a day or two.😂
That is pretty accurate. Not having the ability to just get something imported quickly or at all means that making it yourself is the only option.
Somebody in Wellington was given the task of making a better dentists drill, so they cam e up with the high speed air drill that you probably cursed at during your last visit.
@Paul Milford
"Fascist left " ? 🤣😂 do you realise how stupid that statement is.? 🤣
So whats " happening now " ? Please enlighten us all.
What a load of shit.
@@davidwatson8118 - empirically, the literacy rate has gone from 98+% to 65% and the average IQ is dropping 3 - 4% per decade. This is caused by modern teaching "Theories" being implemented.
@@spacecadet35 or because society places less interest in intelligence so less kids really give a fuck about school
or you're pulling figures out of your ass
Would LOVE to see a video of this at the range!
Ian: Vertical pistol grip is an essential element here.
California would like to know your location.
I would love to find a full set of machinist prints for this design.
What an amazing coincidence. I just happen to have a 1918 SHTLE MK III* right here to compare to. Funny what happens when you didn't feel like putting things all the way back after a range trip.
Ian, what the f*ck, it just isn't fair how cool you are.
Cringe!
@@jayytee8062 cringe what?
@@HeavyMetalMonkey
Your comment suck hole!
Jayy Tee oh no it’s cringe cause he likes Ian? So what?
@@jayytee8062 why? Because I'm jealous of all the awesome things Ian shows us on his channel?
I am a WWII Historian by hobby and have studied every facet of this war and still learn tones I don't know after 20 + years, but have only read about this conversion, I just want to thank you so much for showing us these weapons most of us would never have the opportunity to view other wise. You do great work sir thanks again.
11:50 Someone sacrifice their beloved Lee Enfield, we need to see one of these in action! For Science!
Once again you've brought an amazing piece of history back. Kudos. Enjoyed this fully.
FrankEnfield. Am I the only one who thinks the pistol grip looks like a sawn-off stool leg?
Just bought up a few extra stools from the local pub.
"Why am I sitting 6 inches lower?"
"Rationing mate"
u nailed it bro
Bit of a late answer, but I've read stories that that was exactly the case with the prototypes
Thanks a lot on this gun's information. I have been looking for more info on this absoulte monstrocity of a weapon for a while. I love this channel.
Another fascinating video. Thanks for doing so much research and taking the trouble to create this video channel.
I just realized that the selector lever on the Charlton is actually a modification of the original rifle's rear volley sight arm. Now that's recycling!
This thing looks amazing, it's right in between being Dieselpunk and Steampunk and it just is awesome
I served in the New Zealand 🇳🇿 Army so this was a real treat
I’m a kiwi and iv been waiting 5 long years for this video, bloody awesome, so stocked, cheers
17:40 “thats a subject for a separate video” *4 years later* The separate video
They have these in the new call of duty lol
This is amazing and I love all the unique quirks of this rifle
Another interesting gun conversion I never would heard of without you gun.
A truly remarkable weapon from a fascinating period of history. I've been waiting and hoping to see this on the channel ever since I heard you mention it on In-Range Q&A with Karl (I was fascinated by the idea of a bolt-action conversion that *wasn't* hot garbage). It's always great to see these parts of history we never would from places we might not be able to travel to!
And hopefully one day we may see someone fire one, too! Probably only a copycat one, but still.
Reminds me a bit too much of the Chauchat...
Shorty Shorty im triggered just by that word
the chuchet on gattlefeild 1 was so powerful it was so easy to control
whitehall GAMING and VLOGGING its a game not real life
In real life, it was quite faulty in muddy conditions due to its open magazine and complicated/long recoil mechanism
BF1 is a run-and-gun, rambo-esque, needlessly frustrating ahistorical pile of beautifully rendered garbage. That game had the perfect chance to introduce massive numbers of people to the tension, the great tactical differences, and need for real cooperation between teammates to provide cover for one another's slow weapon action. Verdun >> BF1 by far, if you value earnest attempts at historical accuracy - and done remarkably well, without BF1s giant corporate budget.
@@neilhillis9858 That is like saying complaining about historical authenticity in a Tarantino film.
As for the video, great to see this gun being showcased, absolutely love these semi and full auto conversions.
I have anticipated this video for quite sometime, thank you.
I need one now! I love all the lee enfields and this has got to be something that is truly spectacular!
"If you have a 20 round Lee-Enfield mag, those will work just fine"
*A solid minute of fiddling with the magazine later*
"There we go. Locked in place."
Seems legit.
Non-Kiwi hasn't been taught the trick by local RSM.
Leave it to Kiwis to make probably the most interesting steam punk style but functional gun I at least have seen. When you are in the middle of the ocean, it lends to your ingenuity.
I find this channel is, without doubt, one of, if not the most watchable, of the armaments channels! No yelling and blustering just very knowledgeable demonstrations by a person who’s done thorough research!
I would love to hear this one fire. Thank you Ian.
For anyone who is interested, this is the NZ-41 from call of duty vanguard. it's also classified as a " assault rifle"! lol
WWII featured this long before Vanguard as a DLC weapon lol
Very cool but also a spectacular mud test failure in waiting
Probably not a big problem in Australia. Your more likely to get a Koala stuck in the magazine.
@@voiceofraisin3778 It's a problem in New Zealand. We live in a jungle charitably allowing us to plonk cities down. The fields are more likely to be reclaimed swamp land than cleared bush.
Here in New Zealand, we call the round disk cooling fins and spacer , washers. We still make them here in memory of these very Kiwi, guns.
The Aussies and Kiwis showed some brilliant ingenuity when times called for it.
Thanks for sharing.
As a New Zealander Maurice was probably pronounced ‘Morris’.
Yeah it is. My uncle's name is Maurice, and we all called him Uncle Morris. RIP uncle.
Hi Ian, thanks for the video, fascinating weapon. I wonder if one day, you might do a video on the metallurgy of weapons manufacture. Especially over the last century with the advent of automatic weapons.
Great video Ian, thanks for giving us the opportunity to see it, cheers
I'm fan of your channel Born and live in New Zealand served in the nz army and Have never heard of this rifle Thank you So much for this very interesting lesson Keep up the good work
Guns like these are some of my favorites as they are so weird and you always wonder why they hell they would go so far to convert a bolt action instead of building an automatic.
I have been hoping for years that you would get your hands on one of these! Kiwis will make anything work if they have to.
Thank you ian I've only found a couple pictures I've been wanting to see a video of one for years
One of my favourite weapons of all time. Amazing idea!
This gun is in vanguard but known as the NZ-1
NZ-41
I’ve been waiting for you to do this one. Cheers!
I love it when you're in Leeds, I've visited the Royal Armories a few times, my home town is near there, it's an awesome museum
That's a kiwilashnikov.
Kiwilashupnikov
"Brett, we need LMGs! Should we start setting up lines to make a Bren or CZ?"
"Well we could do that or I have this fever dream I've been cobbling into reality in my shed!"
I've never been near a gun but the ingenuity of how they work always amazes me
I really appreciate the option of a comprehensive text complementing the video and would like to see more of that.
I want a the original video back up where Ian fights putting the mag back in for 11 minutes
Just like the Howell rifle I absolutely love how steampunk this thing looks and from what Ian said this crazy doohickey actually worked really well.
nothing like a little patriotism and a hair up your ass to inspire you to create something this crazy that actually worked
I really love these first semi/full- auto guns from way back when! It's so interesting and AMAZING how people from 100 years ago kind of saw what the future for small arms were and they made whatever they could! I love your channel Ian (AKA Gun Jesus)
This is a really cool rifle, i'm impressed they managed to convert old surplus so successfully
I'm really curious how they managed the trigger mechanism works for select fire. Also i really want to see a mud test......
I second that
And Sand!
Big pieces moving at velocity, I think it might clear itself.
It's just a dropping sear in the SMLE, right? Should make full auto simple.
The trick is the out-of-battery sear setup.
Been some cool weapons come from Australia and New Zealand
Just about anything mechanical out of Kiwi-land is pretty amazing. Motorcycles for instance: Britten V1000 or Burt Munroe’s Indian Bonneville bike.
Gotta love seeing our little ol' country pop up :D
Most impressive is the bioweapons program. Drop Bears, Carnivorous Kangaroos, etc.
@@Keifsanderson don't forget the emus
@@iatsd if NZ is involved in conflict you can guarantee the Aussies would more than likely be there as well
I love the stuff I learn in these videos so thanks for making my day Just that much better
these conversions are always so cool
It's midnight here in New Zealand
2 hours behind ya here in tasmania
No relevant but okay. *sips drink and moves along not caring.
It's not midnight here in Scotland
Hi , midnight
steve d yes it is 😂
I've never said this about a firearm before but...it looks in pain
A brilliant piece of improvisation and use of a long obsolete dust devil rifles! Oh if I were only mechanically inclined!
This is the kind of thing that got me subscribing to this channel.
Valiant video Ian! Bloody well like this in Call Of Duty WWII
Lol this is where I first saw it.
It’s the Chauchashnikov...ski...wi...
This has got to be the culmination of the converted bolt-actions, I assume. Interesting to see the concept develop into a serviceable rifle. Thanks for the video.
Quite an incredible feat to be successful in such an enormous conversion.
It's guns like these that make me want to be an armorer. Some of these forgotten firearms deserve a comeback and or a updated remake. The more I watch these videos the more determined I am to becoming a armor
KIWI INGENUITY
Seriously though I live here and I didn't even know we'd designed some utter monster of a thing like this