EM-2 Bullpup Rifle 1951

The EM-2 rifle was a Bullpup design developed for the British Army after the Second World War. The design took in lessons from that war, notably that the majority of action took place at relatively short range - 300-400 yards/metres, so a high powered cartridge was not needed. The EM-2 was originally designed for a 0.280 cartridge which was smaller and lighter than 'full power' cartridges, meaning that an infantryman could carry more rounds and allowed magazines with greater capacity. Unfortunately, for political reasons, the rifle was only briefly adopted, and was superseded by the NATO 7.62mm rifles.
Created using Cinema 4D, music 'Liquid Time', by Aakash Gandi

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Special congratulations on this one Rob, tremendous work.

[@vbbsmyt]

Perhaps, one day, I can look at a real one.....

[@jonathanferguson1211]

@@vbbsmyt Oh you absolutely can. I'm still waiting for a tearful reunion with them myself!

[@RockIslandAuctionCompany]

So much work! Thank you for putting this together.

[@vbbsmyt]

Glad you found it interesting. A lot of work, but I had an almost decent set of drawings. Rob

[@Kav.]

@@vbbsmyt where did you get the drawings? I can only find a non-dimensioned GA online.

[@CaptainGrief66]

Wasn't expecting such a modern gun from you, lovely surprise!

[@vbbsmyt]

Someone from the Royal Armouries told me the bolt was complicated - what a challenge! Next project, however, reverts to 1907. Rob

[@CaptainGrief66]

@@vbbsmyt I hope more people challenge you with things then, awesome work man, can't wait for more!

[@danielbutka8854]

@@vbbsmyt Hmm, I'm going to guess the St. Etienne mle 1907 machine gun

[@MostlyPennyCat]

@@vbbsmyt I wonder how well that complexity would have stood up to warfare and the gorillas (😉) handling them?

[@britishmuzzleloaders]

Fantastic Rob. As always, top shelf stuff!

[@danielbutka8854]

Agreed.

[@Beano0123]

Amazing work. I can only imagine the render time!

[@vbbsmyt]

Huge, especially as I had to redo the dismantle scene about 5 times! Have you seen my other animations on my 'vbbsmyt' channel? Rob

[@51WCDodge]

A picture is worth a thousand words. Your animations are a complete understanding.

[@Paul_Sergeyev]

Oh, Ian is going to love this))) Feinally an animation of that unicorn gun from the master of gun animations! Thank you for your work!

[@welshskies]

Beautifully done, art and information all in one.

[@vbbsmyt]

A complement indeed!. Have you seen my other animations on my 'vbbsmyt' channel? Rob

[@censorduck]

@@vbbsmyt As if someone can only watch one of your animations.

[@phillipharding1538]

Fantastic as usual. I looked after one of these at my old place of work. Such a shame we gave in to the Americans, but I understand why we did, this rifle was a world beater good cartridge capable of penetrating a steel helmet at a thousand yards, a bit fiddly especially the bolt, I had 2 engineers from H&K take the bolt apart and I was praying they could remember how to put it back, it took them a while to figure it out. We had lots of original paper work on it but no manual. As you could imagine it was only fired on special occasions. Cheers phil

[@johncarl5505]

Never understood why it wasn't rechambered if it was revolutionary instead of making a horrible ar 18 ripoff.

[@user-qf8uo4ni7q]

Where did you work Phillip

[@sweatbandandy]

Excellent as always!

[@vbbsmyt]

Thank you, Rob

[@HighCaliberHistoryLLC]

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing it early!

[@vbbsmyt]

Glad you liked it. Rob

[@Ian_Wallace.]

Thank you so much! This is absolutely fascinating!

[@vbbsmyt]

Glad you liked it. Have you seen my other animations on my 'vbbsmyt' channel? Rob

[@Ian_Wallace.]

@@vbbsmyt Yes sir, I have! I actually first encountered your channel while trying to learn more about how the Mitrailleuse guns worked! Your animations are really quite fascinating and inspiring to me as an Engineering student. I wish I could animate my CAD models half as well as you do! Regards, Ian

[@takomerp]

Bless you for doing this, amazing work!

[@vbbsmyt]

Thank you kindly! Rob

[@rubenkerobyan6891]

Nice Animation, Robert, as a person who has encountered many bullpups, and has work in engineering I loved the video and animation, very much appreciated !

[@CFABN267]

Beautiful animation. Great work creating a visual explanation of how the system works. This rifle was so far ahead of its time, from the optic, bullpup design, to the cartridge. Shame it got pushed aside.

[@thomasa5619]

Why did it take me 20 minutes to watch a 6 minute video?

[@vbbsmyt]

What a compliment! Glad you liked it. Have you seen my other animations on my 'vbbsmyt' channel? Rob

[@thomasa5619]

Been subscribed for a year or so, thanks mate

[@JohnDoe-fk6id]

You're not the only one!

[@MASSspec1990]

I don't know how many times I've re-watched this already... As with all the other videos Rob does, there are a lot of 'ahuh' moments of finally understanding how it works.

[@thomasa5619]

“I WAS LOOKING AT THE WRONG PART OF THE SEAR!” *tap tap tap tap*

[@leroy4320]

Man, I just love how this animation shows off the simplicity of this gun. Great work man, color me impressed.

[@chooseyouhandle]

hmmm, this gun could have used some simplifying PS I like the music

[@vbbsmyt]

It is always the case - early designs can be overly complicated. You can see the progression of early maxim gun designs on my 'vbbsmyt' channel.. Rob

[@logoseven3365]

vbbsmyt Could use a comparison to the bull pup model Her Majesty’s forces ended up with. If you’re not too busy.

[@BASSMANN2007]

Hi, I can make such music for you, welcome \m/

[@il2838]

It looks ok, after all politic killed it, not the complications. It's a way more better design than M14.

[@user-ys2eq7mg1k]

Thank you for great animation! It clearly shows why EM-2 was never adopted. Looks like bolt disassembly was nesessary for cleaning, can't imagine doing it in non-ideal field conditions.

[@ptonpc]

The decision was political as far as I remember. These were still prototype weapons and would have been simplified if they has been properly adopted.

[@user-ys2eq7mg1k]

@@ptonpc FAL prototypes was .280, but adopted version is .308. EM-2 bolt disassembly is nightmare for end-user. BTW, is it possible to mismatch locking flaps? I suspect it can lead to lock failure after some time.

[@ptonpc]

@@user-ys2eq7mg1k There are different version of the EM-2 as the designers tried to make it work with the latest favoured caliber. This was always just the prototype, each was one handmade. From what I remember the plan had been to simplify it after a caliber had been chosen.

[@pistonar]

Super cool. I love well done cutaway animations.

[@903strikerunit]

Here's a challenge: Bofors 40mm hopper system..

[@cavscout888]

Oh wow. It really is a contraption inside...

[@vbbsmyt]

Glad you liked it. Have you seen my other animations on my 'vbbsmyt' channel? Rob

[@cavscout888]

@@vbbsmyt Hmmm, are there more unlisted videos? Or just this one? I will check them out!

[@JohnyG29]

It's a gun, what did you expect?

[@cavscout888]

@@JohnyG29 I own many, even many military-types, and this is far worse than any of them. Even an M16 with 3-rd burst parts is simpler.

[@RogueBrit]

The guys of an amazing rifle we never got

[@ukteaboy]

What a fantastic video.👍 I've fired a 7.62 version but never stripped one.

[@vbbsmyt]

Christopher: Thanks, glad you liked it. I have never stripped one either - this damn lockdown! so I worked from drawings and other's videos.

[@GWRProductions-kg9pt]

em-2's calibre was .280 british not 7.62

[@ukteaboy]

@@GWRProductions-kg9pt they were .280 but some were produced in 7.62

[@MASSspec1990]

@@GWRProductions-kg9pt after 7.62x51 was selected, prototype rifles in that round were produced, but the cartridge was too hot and heavy for its role in that platform.

[@p_filippouz]

You are really really good at these! Keep it on, you have talent!

[@MHijikata]

Fantastic job Rob

[@rumit7367]

Can you do it AN 94 Abakan? :D

[@tonyneo6100]

Brilliant as always . Thank you.

[@deltavee2]

And I thoroughly enjoy your choice of music!

[@tiortedrootsky]

It will take a lot of rewatches to make sense of it. Not today.

[@emirhantalhasengul9273]

you are amazing. i'm glad i found your channel to get information about guns and their working principle.

[@ehmoudfahmy2332]

موسيقى هادئة جميلة لا تشتت التركيز على حضور الفيديو وفهمه والوان رائعة توضح اقسام اجزاء السلاح باسلوب هادئ وبطئ يفهم الناظر بدلا من السريع افضل الفيديوهات حتى الان فى شرح الاسلحة وباسلوب جدا متطور وذكى .شكرا لك

[@vbbsmyt]

Thank you. I am glad you appreciate it. Rob

[@MrSRedburn]

A really good animation!

[@MatzeB111]

Your work is so amazing, thank you very much for sharing this with us

[@ethanspaziani1070]

Awesome stuff man

[@user-jb8lx2jq5v]

Great job, Rob! Does feeding a new mag automatically releases the bolt?

[@MASSspec1990]

Yes it does.

[@Trollo_Swaggins]

So essentially, the EM2 is a Bullpup, Flapper locked FG-42

[@smorrow]

...but always fires from the closed bolt. Then again, the select-fire FG that Rick Smith has is always closed-bolt.

[@DickHolman]

Thank you.

[@SitioLumbia]

Nice video as always👍👍 Pls. Try animating ShKas machine gun

[@alaskanbullworm5500]

The gas system is modeled after the Lewis gun/fg42, but it locks like a Walther g43

[@nicholast.6636]

great video, always wondered how the em 2s mag catch and bolt catch worked

[@kaminakhiladi8511]

Very Very good, Nice Work

[@michaeljoyce3153]

Amazing work. I've always wanted to see a 3d section on how it worked. I'm a huge fan of the .280 British cartridge have a bolt action and an ar10 chambered for it. Is there any way you could send me the the cards you used for this? Are they to scale? My brother has a CNC machine and I would like to see If i can make a live firing version in semi auto only.

[@MASSspec1990]

I would love to get a BRN10 and chamber it in .280! I always thought that was a missed opportunity never taken.

[@michaeljoyce3153]

@@MASSspec1990 the .280 Brit is an amazing round and performs beyond the .308 win finding barrels are hard so I got both of mine custom made. Reloading is also what seems like the only way to shoot as brass is very hard to find. Using 30-06 brass fixes that problem. Trim to length run threw sizer die and wha la formed brass. Chamfer and deburr and start going threw your steps. I recommend large rifle primer pockets they tend to give me better groups with cci large rifle primers.

[@Kav.]

Any videos of the .280 rifles shooting? I'm curious what recoil is like in a conventional rifle.

[@michaeljoyce3153]

@@Kav. I do not have any video of mine shooting but recoil is in with 7mm-08 class. There are videos of the .280 shooting. Ian on forgotten weapons I believe has a really good video of the em-2 shooting.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

amazing video!

[@VeryProPlayerYesSir1122]

The trigger mechanism is in front of the bolt. Very unusual indeed.

[@krisguntner4805]

Fascinating.

[@foo-foocuddlypoops5694]

Very nice.

[@vbbsmyt]

Thank you

[@samuellambe1568]

here's a cool idea, like the 100 ton armstrong gun, why not try and ,make a 16 inch battleship turret, great animation as always

[@martinwebb3017]

kzbin.info/door/haymRC0lCdRGlQ000YhpMgvideos

[@bob445566DE]

That cartridge travels a very long way from the magazine to the chamber. I wonder if that is a good idea I can imagine the cartridge tipping up or down easily and not chambering correctly.

[@leekaijit36]

Nice animation. You should do more about modern rifles. But anyway, could you do more about WW1 pistols and bolt-action rifles?

[@Listener970]

Gun mechanism videos are really interesting. This channel provides detailed animation. One thing, is that gun action a delayed blowback or gas? Thanks!

[@vbbsmyt]

Gas piston

[@DaveHines1]

Very nicely done, thanks for sharing

[@vbbsmyt]

Glad you liked it. Have you seen my other animations on my 'vbbsmyt' channel? Rob

[@TRabbit1970]

Fabulous.

[@davewolfy2906]

Absolutely brilliant. Might I suggest a modern revolver cannon, I have wondered how they work.

[@smorrow]

You mean minigun and the like? Each bolt/barrel pair is basically an open-bolt gun, but there's no recoil spring because the motor is doing the moving. The really elegant thing is, the bolt and trunion have no apparent locking system -- kind of like a submachine gun -- because camming the bolt to the forwards position holds it in the forwards position for us. You get locking as a free side effect of gatling. The spinning of the barrel cluster is due to each bolt wanting to pick rounds up from the same spot. Six guns, one feed system.

[@davewolfy2906]

@@smorrow No, a revolver cannon, rather different.

[@smorrow]

@@davewolfy2906 Just looked that up...do you know how they deal with cylinder gap? I've heard of cylinder gap in high-pressure systems before (Steyr ACR and similar), but in that case there's a plastic end cap on the cartridge that plasticises ("melts") and seals the gap. Wonder if it's a Nagant revolver-type thing going on?

[@davewolfy2906]

@@smorrow you got me now, have not heard of that. New stuff to find. Thank you.

[@smorrow]

@@davewolfy2906 well, I bothered to actually google it and it says this on cylinder gap: An obvious problem is the loss of propellant gas through the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. This is usually overcome by fitting each chamber with a sliding sleeve which bridges the gap at the instant of firing, forming a gas-tight seal, or by pressing the cylinder against the rear of the barrel. A further alternative is to make the cylinder shorter than the cartridge, so that the cartridge case extends into the barrel, sealing the gap So yeah, Nagant revolver.

[@metalgoth5370]

i love this chanel, beautifull animations! Ps: what software do you use?

[@vbbsmyt]

Cinema 4D

[@moweewesty279]

I remember you saying that you were interested in firearms from the Late Victorian Era, up to WW1, but it's your channel, not mine.

[@rubenkerobyan6891]

Kids this is why you use hammer systems in guns

[@hendriktonisson2915]

Excellent video!

[@vbbsmyt]

Glad you liked it!

[@2serveand2protect]

Excellent work. The gun's a bit weird, though. It looks over-complicated - "over-engineered", but I guess that's basically what all bullpups are (...then again...I never had one, so wth do I know! :) ... ).

[@user-ed3bv5dx1o]

Мне очень нравится ваша работа. Спасибо!

[@douglaslinton1759]

Ah yes i remember when gun jesus reviewed this

[@Dinoguy555]

I love your stuff! Can you please do a video on the Agar Gun from the United States Civil War?

[@kurtb2522]

Awesome!

[@vbbsmyt]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@gaston01000]

Nice work! Do a Scotti Model X Italian semi-auto rifle the next time. See you later

[@Kav.]

Can you do an animation of the trigger group on its own? (or perhaps somebody can just explain to me since I can't wrap my head around it even after replaying it a million times) I don't understand how does the trigger mechanism when set to semi-automatic not just continuously trip the sear regardless? Is it that the transfer bar being higher up doesn't allow the pink part (very descriptive I know, I can't think of the right word) to be raised up high enough? I can grasp just about everything going on except the most important part lol.

[@vbbsmyt]

The spring on the pink lever is constantly trying to push the black arm forwards, but is held back by the pin on the trigger. When the trigger is pulled the pink lever rotates to lift the sear and allow the bolt to fall and fire the round(1:20 - 1:25). As the bolt recoils, a cutout pushes the pyramid ramps on the black arm down, which pivots on the central single fire/auto fire spindle and lift the forward end of the black arm clear of the trigger pin (1:25). The pink lever then rotates to force the black arm forwards. In doing so, the tip of the pink arm is lowered so that it is now clear of the sear. The black arm is now tilted and the pink lever cannot engage the sear. Trigger is released (1:32) and the spring on the black arm rotates the arm to re-engage the tripper pin. This is shown again 1:34-1:39. The arrow shows the black arm ramp being forced down as the bolt recoils. The black arm pivots on the spindle, the front end lifts clear of the trigger pin, and the pink lever rotates to force the black arm forwards 1:44. When Auto fire is selected, the black arm sits over a groove and the black arm ramps fall clear of the bolt, (2:47) so it is not pushed down/rotated as the bolt recoils, The front end remains engaged with the trigger pin. The pink lever cannot push the black arm forwards so it cannot rotate clear of the sear. Therefore, when the bolt returns to battery, the sear will automatically be released and you get auto fire until the trigger is released. Simple really….

[@Kav.]

@@vbbsmyt that's beautifully simple, I hadnt been paying enough attention to the trigger so I had missed the bar dropping entirely

[@technicalpawankumar9646]

Background music name please tell me

[@vbbsmyt]

Music details in the credits, at end of video.

[@technicalpawankumar9646]

@@vbbsmyt sorry sir I am not founding background music in end please tell me background music name sir ji

[@vbbsmyt]

Hi. Apologies, I forgot to include the music details. It is 'Liquid Time' by Aakash Gandi. Available, free from KZbin music.

[@technicalpawankumar9646]

@@vbbsmyt very very thank you sir ji

[@9m119refleks]

can you make a vid about V1 bomb or the V2 rocket? always wondered how the guidance works

[@nathanr6381]

Why do more firearms not use the magazine bolt release thingy ?

[@TaylorLong-rt3hn]

Are the CAD models available for these anywhere?

[@Al357Magnum]

Why did the designers take the FG-42/Lewis action and remove the rotating bolt? Is machining this new bolt head easier ?

[@felixthecat265]

The bolt locking comes from the Tokarev.. rotating bolts have much more friction and are difficult to get to operate reliably.. The real feature of the EM2 bolt is that the sear engages at the front of the bolt carrier. This gets around the difficulty of connecting the trigger to a sear behind the magazine well, which is how it is mostly done in other bullpups. The downside is that you need to ensure that you cannot have an out of battery ignition if something hits the sear as the bolt closes.. The flaps in the EM2 effectively do this by masking the striker until they open. Also the striker is not tensioned until the bolt carrier is fully home.. It is a remarkable design, carried out by people who really understood what they were doing. I fired the EM2 at Shrivenham in the 80s in the original .280, and it is a very pleasant rifle to fire..

[@BloxxterT]

Hey, what program you use to make this?

[@vbbsmyt]

Cinema 4D

[@BloxxterT]

@@vbbsmyt Thank you.

[@TN_Kuhorizki]

You know the problems on these Rifle was on Cartridged?

[@PeterATomich]

Nice!

[@vbbsmyt]

Thanks!

[@user-fr6wc9zo8p]

Мужчины в душе остаются мальчишками.

[@ehmoudfahmy2332]

great good gold for you the best video in everything

[@user-zy8zs6jt5s]

L85より作動良さそうな?使用弾薬の兼ね合いでつかえなくなったんだっけ

[@blacksmith9451]

Cool

[@alperakyuz9702]

Can you do G11?

[@ender0077]

STG 44

[@Whitefang8128]

For all sad words of tongue and pen.

[@vbbsmyt]

It might have been....

[@abramairsoft9mm257]

Can you do one on a kar98

[@luckboos400]

G11 pls

[@NeoPsychosis-zg2ki]

In comparison, the M14 was the poor excuse

[@captaingameo758]

hello vbbsmyt lm from vietnam

[@akadjazair]

FAMAS

[@10263015ful]

Very complicated bolt very seem like AVS - 36 bolt aka jackhammer Finnish captured in winter war

[@TROY10094]

👍

[@sabre3923]

Korean War 1953

[@waynedaley7048]

👍🥇🏆