Ethiopian Oddities: Strange Smallbore Gewehr 71 Carbine

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Today's Ethiopian Oddity is a Gewehr 1871 carbine - remarkably still with its matching bolt - rechamsbered for a small bore, smokeless powder cartridge. It is a quite interesting example of an Ethiopian armorer's work...
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[@adamparris8353]

I mean, the fact that this re-chambered Mauser 71 still exists and hasn't exploded is quite the testament to the Mauser system.

[@shawnr771]

Just think somebody shot this for awhile when it was changed over. Must not have exploded on them or this would be in the scrap heap. It would probably be better used as a club now.

[@TheRogueWolf]

Every weapon has a story to tell. This one would be telling it to a therapist.

[@tarmaque]

This one's autobiography would be a Tijuana Bible.

[@skrimper]

@@tarmaque googled "Tijuana bible", certainly not what i was expecting 😂

[@ScottKenny1978]

Or maybe a court of law. "Please tell the court where the gunsmith touched you"

[@tarmaque]

@@skrimper Tell me I was wrong though!

[@SuperErikRoss]

this one reads like a novel !!! War and Pieces !!!!

[@nolanasd6092]

I love that one line "If it wasn't terrifyingly dangerous it could be a really cool gun". If that doesn't describe most homemade gunsmithing I don't know what is.

[@jonnysideways4882]

One of the best FW Ian quotes ever 😁😂😂

[@geodkyt]

I have an angle grinder, MIG welder, and a Dremel tool. I are a gunsmith. - 1:17, St. Bubba's Letters to the Armaments

[@neilis2405]

I mean you could always shoot very light loads in it where you fire-form a case first then neck-size it. You can always tailor a load to a weak action you just don't want to trust factory ammo :).

[@oscarjosefsson9300]

I think that is what makes it ten times cooler.

[@knightofastora1324]

There is such a big difference in the chamber pressure of black powder vs smokeless that I wouldn't recommend trying it at all unless you rig it up like Ian said and make peace with the fact that the firearm is likely gonna get damaged or destroyed in the testing process

[@sabre0smile]

The fact that this is still, as much as it can be, matching made me smile. As dangerous as the modification might be, as beat up as it is, someone loved this thing for a very long time

[@owllymannstein7113]

They probably didn't have any other 1871's to mix it up with.

[@warrenpeace0]

That, or nor one was stupid enough to try and match that bolt to another receiver

[@18robsmith]

Someone Ian REALLY doesn't like asks "What calibre is it?" Ian replies "Here's a box of various cartridges I think will work, try them and tell me which does when I get back. I'm off to see some friends in Switzerland"

[@discerningscoundrel3055]

Though it's hard to tell under the age and dirt, the wood for that new stock is absolutely gorgeous, looks like one of the species often referred to as "African Mahogany", ie Khaya, Sapele and so on. They often have a hint of figure on the quarter-grain, rich reddish colour and almost glow when properly finished. It would be interesting to see wood like that on a modern traditional stock, they are quite strong, quite stiff and quite stable, similar density to walnut, so they ought to work alright.

[@jimhumphrey]

You are correct African Sapele works great in a stock. I've used it several times to restock old Spanish mousers over the years. However, I believe that stock looks too much like a proper german stock to be homemade in Africa. My humble opinion.

[@gesamtszenario]

@@jimhumphrey I mean, Germany did have African colonies. It's not completely impossible.

[@jimhumphrey]

@@gesamtszenario true that

[@scipio10000]

What if it was a tinkering exercise by an armourer with too much time on his hands, handloading cartridges to suit the action? Stranger things have happened when it comes to firearms.

[@patrickshaw8595]

Yes it might be safe to fire with say a plain lead .30 cal slug driven by moderate amounts of black powder carefully tamped into the bottom of the bottleneck cartridge and a filler like oatmeal tamped on top with the bullet slightly compressing it all. That was a good thought you had there ! In that case it would make a hell of gift to a friend who only had a spear, bolo or boomarang before. "Here ya' go, buddy - a REAL FIREARM and TEN WHOLE ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION !"

[@randomidiot8142]

I rebarreled a .410 shotgun to 22 TCM. Definitely not letting that ever get a factory load through it. Reduced .22 magnum level loads make the action opening a little stiff. 22 TCM factory would be spontaneous disassembling.

[@Shaddowbanned]

I love the oddities episodes, please keep doing them. They are awesome!

[@tcable86]

Tomorrow's Video: The Strange Smallbore Gewehr-71 Carbine at the range far far away from me.

[@tank647]

I'd like to see that

[@JanTuts]

"Finally we have some good quality Mauser rifles!" - Elbonian Minister of War

[@ImYourIchigo]

You beat me to it

[@davidbrennan660]

Elbonia moves towards small bore.... .

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Finally Elbonia gets smokeless powder.

[@oklahomahank2378]

“Our Socialist brethren have provided us these fine Mauser rifles!”

[@petesheppard1709]

This would make for a really interesting (exciting?) range video: A solid bench, a _looong_ string and an assortment of likely cartridges...

[@thomasmerton1794]

Ian should have a subseries of videos titled "Terrifyingly Dangerous." Those are my favorite videos!

[@aaronlopez3585]

Rather terrifying "workmanship". And I'm sure it was a blast to fire.

[@Tekdruid]

"Blast" being the operative word here...

[@tjj300]

So Ian, are we getting a range day video with this gun tomorrow? BTW, wouldn't it be funny if its chambered for 9mm Luger?

[@geodkyt]

What, as a squeeze bore?!?

[@jic1]

@@geodkyt Depends how good Ian is at eyeballing bore diameters. I know I'd have a hard time seeing a 0.050" difference.

[@smygskytt1712]

@@geodkyt How about 7.63 Mauser then?

[@Tunkkis]

@@jic1 I'd wager he could spot the difference between 9 mm and 7,62 mm.

[@jic1]

@@Tunkkis Like I said, it's harder than you might think.

[@PltOffPPrune]

I love Ian's use of the word 'artisan' at 3:26

[@theapple8625]

Weird guns are the best.

[@johncashwell1024]

And "...matching bolt". It may be that during its hard life the receiver and bolt had been through so much together (and by the looks of them, a hard life from the very beginning) that they have been permanently paired with no other bolt able to fit the receiver.

[@JohnDoe-pv2iu]

I would love to inspect this rifle! From the look of the bolt, I am thinking that it has been modified to handle a rimmed cartridge (the bolt face doesn't appear to be recessed and the extractor looks to be even with the bolt face). Considering the roughly. 30 caliber appearance of the bore, I'm speculating that it may have been converted to .303 British. It's a 'modern' cartridge per se but isn't extremely high pressure. The .303 was also a cartridge Ethiopia had used a lot. I would not fire this weapon from my shoulder but I doubt that it would explode. It has probably been fired a lot and it is still here today. It has sort of 'self-proofed' itself... I had a friend ask me about shooting a 1903 Springfield rifle that he bought. He said that he was hesitant to shoot it because he had heard about early Springfield rifles possibly having a poor heat treatment. I examined the rifle and it was a very early 1903 (Not A3) Springfield and it had a 1942 or 43 dated barrel. I told him that I would test fire it for him but I was relatively certain that it was fine to shoot. I know there have been failures of some of the very early ones but this rifle was evidently shot so much that it had to have the barrel replaced in WW2. That tells me that the heat treatment of this receiver has 'Proofed' itself many, many times! The issue is said to be that the heat treatment was done by estimating the temperature by visual inspection of the color prior to a quench. That was a common practice for the time and many fine weapons including the Mauser family were made the same way. Great Video and a pretty 'Cool' example of what can be done when people need weapons. Ya'll Take Care and be safe, John

[@Bayan1905]

I'm willing to bet that RTI is probably selling this one for a pretty penny. All those dents and markings are just part of the "select grade" experience.

[@justindunlap1235]

plus I'm willing to bet itsthe only one ever produced.

[@lewissmart7915]

I love how they always make sure there is at least an artists impression of a bayonet lug on these old custom rifles.

[@johngagnon1365]

Keep up the great work Ian, your videos always make my day!

[@patricksullivan2261]

I think Ian likes these Frankenstein's Monster guns more than traditional firearms. "I have no idea what is going on with this gun! Let's take a look at it!"

[@1down4upworkshop61]

If you look at the right hand side of the rifle, you can see where the other top guard strap was. There are two holes that corollate to where the left side strap is nailed to

[@Reziac]

Looks like the rest broke off?

[@ham6303]

Best time of the day Watching videos about unknown guns that I'll probably forget about in the next hour 😎

[@johnmorgan1629]

Don't know about hammer marks on the rifle, looks more like the rifle has been used as a hammer.

[@henryturnerjr3857]

I picture an 1870s blacksmith pounding on this with a 3 pound sledgehammer between making horse shoes lol

[@nottology]

As an ethiopian who is a descendant from soldiers in that period to explain for future videos warriors/ soldier’s preferred to shoot at close ranges like 50 yrs or less to make sure u got a clean shot and that it was a kill to conserve ammo cuz good ammo was so precious that it was used a currency a lot of the time so thats why they removed sights as such groups tended to prefer to soften up target with several rounds into a group of enemies then sling their various rifles on their backs to go in for the kill and preceded to go with melee weapons for 3 reasons 1 ease of using them 2 confirming the kill 3 to mutilate ur enemy preferably alive and bring back severed body parts as war trophies ( usually castration ) to brag to their families and communities that they were a really solider and not a “soft heart coward who was sitting around being lazy weak like a woman “

[@olekzajac5948]

- Sooo... It's a rifle, right? * Yes. - Imported rifle. * Correct. - A rifle which would most likely explode when fired. * Yup. - Once again, what company is it fro... * I.O. Inc - Ah yes, Inter Ordnance, right. Who would've guessed.

[@hendriktonisson2915]

Basically a Mauser 71 made to look like a Mauser 98 and rechambered for a smokeless cartridge.

[@jamesharmer9293]

Good to see the vital supplies on the back shelf there ...

[@davidjames2788]

Guns like this are so strange, because you can tell they’ve been worked on by somebody with a decent level of skill, but still a decent level of ignorance. Things like the ornamental “baronet lug”, or “rear sight”. It’s like they didn’t know the purpose of the part that they were making, they just knew that it needed to be there to fit in.

[@Reziac]

Copying without understanding. See that a lot in African workmanship.

[@ketchman8299]

Bubba, "There that'll do it". Ethiopian armorer, "Hold my beer."

[@DualDesertEagle]

I once read in a book that the Gewehr 71 was actually tested with smokeless powder but it was found that the single locking lug on the side would result in a slight shift of point of impact to one side, tho I don't remember if left or right.

[@graysontaylor6673]

Next book topic: Ethiopian Mystery Rifles

[@Tekdruid]

"Soooo... what caliber is that?" "Yes." or: "No we have a rifle at home."

[@skrimper]

The first appropriate use of the "at home" joke

[@tomasl461]

It might have been in the hands of some local village "gunsmith" and then been confiscated by police or game wardens. Because of the scarsity of firearms it was not destroyed but put in to government inventory.

[@Stevarooni]

"Into the Mind of a Madman, today on a very special Forgotten Weapons."

[@homerunman9381]

Another worthy addition to my Wauser collection

[@JenniferinIllinois]

"A visual representation of a bayonet lug" - LOL!!!

[@peterresetz1960]

Worlds first 80% rifle.

[@thepsychobilly88]

I'm not that much of a gun nerd, but I enjoy watching Forgotten Weapons anyway. This, this is the content I love! This is the type of stuff that gives me a hard on as mechanic and tinkerer! Awesome Content!

[@Reijack]

That is a MASSIVE crack just behind the action, I think this thing HAS been fired before, and my hat goes off to the guy who was brave enough to

[@isserfiq]

The next book definitely needs to be; "Bubba Rifles of Africa" - "Making due with what you got", The de-evolution of home gunsmithing throughout history. Projected threshold bonus; Field tests with Karl and Bloke.

[@brasstard7.627]

I wish he had shown if it had rifling or not. Could be just a blank firing training rifle

[@isserfiq]

@@brasstard7.627 It would be interesting to try and figure out when the conversion was made. Like others, I am betting its in 30 carbine as they had a bunch of it.

[@scipio10000]

Again: Headstsmp Publishing must pick up this topic!

[@sharonrigs7999]

This would make the perfect 2 gun match companion to the Khyber Pass .303 Martini 'pistol' from years back

[@lightweight1974]

Those aren't hammer marks, they're armorer adjustment indicators.

[@Hawk1966]

"wall decoration only - Do NOT chamber any cartridge!"

[@danielrobbins5834]

I wonder is if might have been chambered in a black power “rook” type cartridge?

[@mortisCZ]

Human ingenuity is striking but this is a hell of an ork gunsmithing in practice. Sometimes you need to go waaaagh but you don't have much to work with. I love the fact that the bolt still matches the reciever after 150 years. Many generations had to like that gun a lot.

[@coreyduey8714]

These examples are always so interesting.

[@marklandwehr7604]

First make a wax chamber impression to tell what kind of cartridge With plastigage on the.Bolt head firing it like you said with a lanyard tied to an oak tree after you fired it you can tell how much pressure created by what colors are left on The Bold head from the plastic-o-Gage

[@Angrymuscles]

The Dunkin' Doughnuts Arsenal does it again.

[@thehiredgun2443]

Theres a gun store here that has a very very old box of 11mm

[@wilsonlaidlaw]

My guess would be 7.62 x 39 Russian for the cartridge as the .30 calibre cartridge in greatest supply in Ethiopia. I doubt if head spacing was a major priority for the "gunsmith."

[@jic1]

Maybe if it's a relatively recent modification, but I would bet it's chambered in something pre-WWII.

[@rlbadger1698]

Ok I never comment on gun Jesus because it's lost in the 8K of comments but maybe someone might be interested. I have seen something similar in the past in 3rd world. You take a big brass and cut off the neck (what ever you have a lot of for free) and reload with black powder and bird shot or round ball. Then you rechamber and sleeve for your custom load. The thick rifle brass takes all the pressure so an old action is useable. Presto black powder shotgun.

[@ScottKenny1978]

Would make sense if this wasn't a roughly .30cal bore.

[@xXbaker1025Xx]

Considering the top wooden grip, it's almost like they rechambered it for .30 and tried to model it like an M1 Carbine the best they could. It's pretty cursed

[@azkrouzreimertz9784]

That rifle is screaming "PLEASE KILL MEE"

[@joet.s.6283]

I would LOVE to be able to follow this things journey

[@Minong_Manitou_Mishepeshu]

Kinda reminds me of a 1898 Springfield 30-40 krag

[@normtrooper4392]

If guns could talk, I wonder what stories this one could tell

[@theblindsniper9130]

It's not the size of the bore, it's how you use it!..

[@danielbalzer3647]

I would guess that with the rough state it is in somebody has shot this gun extensively, so it must be rather save

[@austinarvanitis8226]

Ian !!! Just got an FEG copy browning hi power. Was able to track it down at an amazing price and honesty don’t know much of the history on why Hungary would want to copy a western pistol during the late Cold War when their neighbor soviet Czechoslovakia, were making the CZ series. Edit: FEG Hi power since it was never licensed to FEG in the first place

[@1991apfel]

Ah that's the rare 8mm Mauser blackpowder cartridge...

[@LD-Orbs]

"A long, hard life"... but it made it to America. Sometimes, we get a happy ending.

[@phoenixrising4573]

Need to get that one over to anvil and let him cast the chamber, see if yall can figure out what it's chambered in. My entire is on .303.

[@jrvgwagner]

It looks like the extractor has been set up for a rimless cartridge, but I'm not sure

[@mortisCZ]

My first guess would be a 7,62x39 or more probably 7,62x54 as those were both very prevalent all around the globe and they're cheap.

[@ScottKenny1978]

@@mortisCZ depends on when this was rechambered. I'm guessing that it was long before x39 was a common cartridge _in Ethiopia,_ so .x54R or .303 would be likely. Remember that Ethiopia was a western aligned country until 1974. If it was rechambered after WW2, I'd expect it to be in .30 Carbine.

[@timbaskett6299]

Haha, my "classification"..... it's a beauty marked wall hanger. Although to be honest, I would like a single shot Mauser pattern carbine similar to this in either (my two favorite Mauser calibers) 6.5x55mm Swedish, or 7x57mm.

[@seanbaker9796]

I would guess 7.62x39. I have found multiple different firearms crudely converted to 7.62x39 out of Ethiopia. My thoughts are that they know it is a lower pressure cartridge and this being a safer bet than some other cartridges for the Hut-style conversion on black powder era, early smokeless or worn out rifles.

[@acomingextinction]

The most frightening part of this is the Comic Sans in the thumbnail.

[@ScottKenny1978]

At least one forum I use has a standing convention of using Comic Sans as the "I'm being sarcastic" font

[@bramster-b9v]

Speaking of slings, that would be a nice touch.

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Ian .

[@andersjjensen]

And the Elbonians were staring at Gun Jesus in utter dismay as he laid down the second commandment: "They shall not re-chamber a black powder gun for smokeless powder cartridges haphazardly". Gunnilations 7.62

[@hermatred572]

Can we start a 'get Ian a long string and bench' fund?

[@pappamike6231]

"Frankly I don't trust much of anything in this particular rifle", but somebody did shoot it at some time. Interesting bravery on their part. Goes to show what a person will risk to defend themselves.

[@geodkyt]

Watching this video, I was thinking, "Well, at least Chinese Mystery Pistols are generally in .32ACP and probably won't turn into a bench bomb... " 😁

[@MrLoobu]

Still enough to send the bolt through your eye with some of the sketchier blow backs though haha. Hipfire for the win.

[@geodkyt]

@@j.robertsergertson4513 LOL

[@effynme]

Thanks Ian!

[@scottfranklin8994]

If only it could talk it could tell fantastic tall tales of its life, just like the old guy down your local pub

[@johnscheib9077]

Sounds like a chamber casting is in order

[@tomtruesdale6901]

That rifle would top my list of "wall hangers" pretty to look at but down right scary at the same time. Would be interesting to see what it was chambered for and the condition of the bore.

[@killyekfael4909]

these videos are the best ads for dunkin!

[@Alighierian]

Ah, yes, the 'It works, or it's no longer your problem'-style of gunsmithing.

[@StarSwarm.]

Ian: I wouldn’t trust the headspace on this! Ethiopia: Head what?

[@richbradley9043]

I'm crazy fascinated by guns from Africa. Love these videos.

[@richardschaffer5588]

Basically parts for anything are hard to find in that neck of the woods so the local craftsmen get very good at improvisation.

[@stevesimpson4935]

The gratuitous hammer marks look to me like the barrel was either loose in the threads or did not fit the threads at all. A little hammer forging would solve that problem.

[@Chilly_Billy]

I can see it now. Royal Tiger will say it's a super secret prototype and price it at a mere $5000.

[@CountSpartula]

My head filled with safety alarms the moment you said the bolt was cut down, which in hindsight shoulda gone off the moment you mentioned hints at this being a smokeless rifle. I mean, the regular Gewehr 71 had problems with the bolt shifting with use causing zero to shift with it which indicates a degree of weakness or lack of stability there to begin with and that was with low pressure black powder. Using the much higher pressure smokeless calibers would make that issue ten times worse. Cutting down the bolt, therefore is uh...whoever bought this, just don't ever consider shooting it.

[@NCrowe]

"we're gonna do some sketchy shit, do da. hope i get away with it, oh the do da day!"

[@nathanjordan1782]

.30 caliber, kludged together, possibly lovingly maintained over decades of use? It’s chambered in .300AAC by a time traveler

[@gergokerekes4550]

that lockingsurface is enugh -someone with an iron plate for a face probably.

[@truemisto]

perhaps it was being used as kind of a gunsmithing training project

[@charaznable2379]

made that 12 ga. armistice conv. mauser look good i passed up

[@terrysanders2817]

Well presented.

[@Ethan-rp5ir]

is it possible it is a movie prop gun? made to look like a Mauser with no rear sight and just for look bayonet lug. change of caliber for blanks so it does not need to hold much pressure. after all, this thing looks a lot like a kar98k. It could be in some low-budget movies or used by actors at the rear.

[@SSgtCalebP]

The Chinese mystery pistol maker has a distant cousin in Ethiopia I see!

[@calvingreene90]

If the 30ish cal cartridge was loaded with black powder it might not have been unsafe when newly modified.

[@jfsinc]

That’s wild. If the gun could only talk. Great piece of history. Thanks 👍

[@ihcfn]

"Incoherent screaming!"

[@jonathanbohm6489]

If I were to guess I’d think 7.62x39mm in that rifle because AKs have been used in the area and quite frankly no other 30 cal cartridges would work and by work I mean not having a explosive make out session with your receiver and bolt

[@marceloantunes998]

Cargo cult rear sight and bayonete mount

[@jorgeluisgomez1464]

Mayyybe in 32 - 20 winchester? Certaimly most fun/cheap cartidge than the 11mm mauser