FNAB 43: From WW2 Italy to Algerian Independence

[@SamuraiAkechi]

I've been waiting for this smg for So Damn Long. Btw it was also used by various extreme groups during Years of Lead. If I'm not mistaken, the Red Brigades team that captured Aldo Moro had one FNAB and one TZ-45.

[@italianduded1161]

Same here brooo I wanted to see this for the Black Brigades and Other RSI soldiers

[@d.k.5092]

Dito, always wanted to see a proper disassembly of this gun!

[@Jack72607]

If I am not mistaken it was one of the few smgs that didn’t jam during the raid (the assailants even had a more modern m12 but that jammed as well). Aldo Moro was later murdered with a burts a vz-61 skorpion

[@missionslos8856]

@Ben Avery of around 1000 built?

[@clavididk1236]

Also in peaky blinders when Thomas comes to visit Evadne Bardwell looks just like the same gun. I thought he used a ppsh 43 but now I see the resemblance.

[@nullanonsonemmenoiocosascr6676]

What a wonderful gun, shame It was deactivated

[@DobryZiomek27]

what u expected its brussels

[@GameWorld-je8wl]

Yeah, I saw a copy of it at the El Moudjahid museum by the way I suggest visiting it in Algier(Capital of Algerie) where you can find so many interesting weapons from 1830 to the present day.

[@zupperm]

”Eh another stamped sten clone” Vince McMahon getting progressively more excited meme: -Folding Magazine -Closed bolt -Striker fired -Delayed blowback

[@gohunt001-5]

even better on that last part: -LEVER delayed blowback

[@jalpat2272]

@@smorrow its like bringing lambo in demo Derby.

[@launch4]

Considering that it's an expensive submachine gun firing from a closed bolt, it actually sounds like one of the first of the 'third generation' of submachine guns, which are really pistol caliber select fire carbines like the MP5 and Scorpion Evo 3 moreso the cheaply produced pistol caliber machine guns like the Sten and Uzi. Always had a thing for weapons like that.

[@jubuttib]

Or last of the 1st generation? =)

[@jubuttib]

@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine The way I remember Ian's video was 1st gen being mostly typified by being well made, fairly to really expensive, somewhat fancy, possibly also complex submachine guns, as were most of the examples you give. 2nd generation was indeed the "we need to simplify and cheapify these asap". And 3rd gen in Ian's words IIRC was typified by starting to implement common control layouts with the rifles of the period, like MP5 and G3 pair. I might need to watch the video again, but under these premises the Scorpion Evo 3 definitely is a 3rd gen SMG (it handles very much like a cold war or later rifle), and I don't really see a reason why the FNAB 43 couldn't be considered a late example Gen 1. It's far too complex and fancy for a gen 2, and too much of its own thing for a gen 3.

[@VorpalDerringer]

This showed up in Sniper Elite IV and I was surprised by how small it was.

[@me.ne.frego.]

It's a first gen SMG with folding stock and fixed rear sight. A third gen SMG would be something with polymer and accesory rails for example.

[@jubuttib]

@@me.ne.frego. The FNAB 43? Yes, late example of a 1st gen is what I would rate it as. The talk about 3rd gen was for the Scorpion EVO 3.

[@brucemiller8109]

I AM AMAZED AT THE QUALITY MACHINE WORK .... For a late 1943 weapon with Americans coming to your shores its super well made. BTW I LOVE the Beretta 38.

[@george2113]

American military personnel fed the Italian civilians after their battles with the Germans

[@HrothgarHeavenlight]

I mean that was kinda a point that while Beretta's and other italian submachine guns were built very good. It was too good to be fair, that's kinda why Sten is so good while being mediocre gun.

[@george2113]

@@HrothgarHeavenlight calling a Sten crap is excessive praise!

[@dudududu1926]

I imagine they finished thier production run and about to shipped it when American came knocking on their factorys.

[@harryspeakup8452]

This is by far my preferred secondary weapon in Sniper Elite 4. I was most disappointed to find out that it was so rare in real life

[@fenderjazzface999]

Yes! What drew me to the FNAB was that it was so compact compared to the Thompson which I found very distracting to look at when carried on the back

[@Bucketroo]

Oh yes! I was using the Thompson, but I checked the stats on the FNAB and I liked what I saw. It fires slower (let's face it, most guns fire slower than a Thompson! :D ), but seems to pack more of a punch. Since I can't have the FG-42, I'll settle for the FNAB.

[@vadoksam9235]

Ive been watching alot of these videos for some while now. My fav guns are always from ww1 to ww2 by far. This is one of the most beautiful and coolest guns ive seen in my opinion. Expensive, lavish, lots of accessories, perfect Italian gun...

[@oldesertguy9616]

Now that is one that I would love to take to the range. It's nice to see a real quality weapon during a time of "faster/cheaper/simpler" building.

[@danschneider9921]

I remember seeing this in Terry Ganders "Weapons of the Third Reich" 25+ years ago and thought "that looks wierd" (still have the book btw) and never thought I'd get to see a detailed video of one. Why I love this channel

[@scipio10000]

Well there were persistent rumours that the italian state oil company ENI was funding and sending weapons to the Algerians looking forward to friendly relations post independence ... and ENI was run by a former partisan ;-)

[@thedstorm8922]

Well they did got what they wanted

[@geoffsokoll-oh1gq]

Was that Enrico Mattie (something like that) who found large supplies of natural gas in Italy post war, who apparently knew it was there but didn't want the Fascists to know about it. Died mysteriously while searching for oil and gas in Iran, with the Shah convinced that the CIA was responsible?

[@jax3967]

I loved using this thing in Sniper Elite 4, such a fun gun to use!

[@enriquekahn9405]

Ian is like "overcomplicated gun" and I'm just sitting here going "it's an early Italian MP5"

[@daltongarrett7117]

Kinda, but I think the mo5 is roller delayed and this is lever delayed.

[@daltongarrett7117]

Mp5 lol

[@M.M.83-U]

That's so nice. Great Video. Time to update the list of "last ditch" Italian smg, now we have: -To do: Scotti Om42, Armaguerra OG43/44, Isotta Fraschini and Variara -Done: Beretta 38/44, TZ 45 and FNAB 43

[@MarcoMenozziPro]

Armaguerra OG43/44 is nowhere to be found. Maybe a Swiss collector has one.

[@M.M.83-U]

@@MarcoMenozziPro proprio niente? Eppure, almeno del modello 43, sono (quasi) sicuro di aver visto delle foto postbelliche.

[@MarcoMenozziPro]

@@M.M.83-U Sì, ovunque le stesse foto del fantomatico collezionista svizzero.

[@barrylinkiewich9688]

That looks like a well made gun, just watching the catches and locking lever for the magwell screams quality. While I'm sad the French deactivated it I'm even more glad that they didn't just toss it into a shredder.

[@pauldonnelly7949]

quite a masterclass of machining + engineering, only the Italians eh? Interesting the trouble taken to obscure its true origin, a proper job, and a story all of its own. Thanks for yet another interesting vid.

[@DETHMOKIL]

Yeah, I can see the FLN requiring some of those features, especially that 20 round magazine. Very interesting history.

[@Covert_Arrangements]

When I hear an amazing historical firearm or any firearm for that matter has been deactivated it makes me sick. What a neat SMG, with a unique story.

[@rob6850]

Some people have no appreciation for art.

[@shadowtrooper262]

This weapon in Enlisted has pretty good damage and accuracy. I actually equipped most of my pilots with the FNAB-43 because it seemed like a suited gun for pilots on the ground. 🙃

[@razordrive3238]

Wooo! Fellow enlisted player!

[@e3dee0ut]

yep it's pretty good in normandy, its better than mp40 i think

[@ErikAdalbertvanNagel]

you must be a new player, for a long time pilots didn't have parachute so the best idea was disarm your pilots completely :D

[@razordrive3238]

@@ErikAdalbertvanNagel Says you! Back when there were no parachutes, there was also no penalty for bailing out of a plane moving at 300 mph and then immediately landing on a roof. I had a number of occasions where I successfully just flew low enough that when I jumped out I took minor fall damage and could whip out my smg.

[@RMAGEDN740]

I'm here because I saw it in enlisted. Compact package (for the era), folding mag well, built in muzzle break and compensator, and a 40rd mag in 1942 is pretty cool. Instantly one of my fav subs from ww2.

[@Dapstart]

>closed bolt >delayed blowback >strangely expensive for an smg This very much strikes me as some sort of spaghetti-western MP5 equivalent.

[@MrThePsychologist]

italians americans and the french surely know how to make a gun the ingenuity they put in a development of a product is unspeakable

[@Henkka0Bass]

It's nice and gentle to tell us the Algerian history of this gun, as an Algerian subscribe i can only like that thank you sir

[@enricofesta1161]

FNAB was the manufacturer of the gun, but the designer was SOCIETÀ ANONIMA REVELLI MANIFATTURA ARMIGUERRA from Cremona.

[@j.peters1222]

Finally! I was wondering when you would get around to this obscure sub machine gun

[@sirpurrsalot6588]

If its supposed to be a fake German marking its quite bad since it would read Maschinen Pistole instead of Machine. If it would be a captured and remarked gun by the Wehrmacht it would have had a suffix (i) after the type designation for Italian. Most likely it would read MP M43 (i). So who ever try to fake the markings did a poor job.

[@zhongxina5956]

i think the Italian gun dealers that sold these were more just worried about making the place of origin harder to identify rather then actually trying to frame it as being from a specific country, in fact the guns being ambiguois in origin would have the benefit of people investigating it having to check alot of countries rather then just the one they framed it as.

[@user-cm6tj2he4b]

Maschinenpistole is actually one word. Obviously bad research to fake it like this.

[@clarkitothebaddito]

🤌🤌🤌

[@eol6632]

Been waiting for this one, thanks Ian.

[@jwseibert1059]

It's odd how such a well made,labor intensive, expensive SMG was made at this time in Italy. Talk about screwed up priorities. I like the looks and don't like the looks, perhaps a larger magazine would help.

[@Rixoli]

It's worth pointing out Italy was constantly in a state of material shortage. A good sum of Italy's small arms and even aircraft were considered on par or even some of the best concepts barring exceptions (Looking at you Breda 30), the problem was getting the materials to actually MAKE the weapons.

[@franciscofranco5739]

Honestly, by the time the Italian Social Republic was established Mussolini and the remainder of the fascist loyalists already knew how things were going to end. There was a lot of weird things done towards the end of Republic which always made me wonder, “what was the point?”

[@me.ne.frego.]

It's not about priorities. Italians lacked big factories with gigantic presses and those type of things you need to manufacture hundreds of cheap stamped guns per day. Same reason why italian tanks keeped bolted and riveted hulls and turrets, they lacked the technology to make cast and welded armor.

[@DiggingForFacts]

@@me.ne.frego. This is probably where the FNAB-43 comes from. If the prototypes were made in 1942, it simply may have been a case of "Wouldn't have made the cut if not for the fact that the RSI needed anything it could get its hands on and this was all they could produce within reason at Brescia".

[@neutronalchemist3241]

It works like that. In 1942 FNAB contacted the Army, shown the prototype and stated "we can make X samples of this gun per year at this price". The Army tested the gun, the price was acceptable, SMGs were needed, so "OK, start production". Since the price was right, the Army didn't care what the manufacturing technique was.

[@ianbrisland1982]

fascinating gun! love to see these videos and its what I love about guns, the different genius ways in which they work. also nice to see a gun that has been well used with some history. Notice that its not clinically clean and still evidence of old gun powder etc.... Great video Ian. lovely to see!!!

[@robviousobviously5757]

looks like a design exercise, more than a production gun

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Ian . 🐺

[@calvingreene90]

Without knowing better I would have been willing to believe that was a mid war German gun. It looks like it was a nice peacetime build submachine gun. Shame it had to be deactivated.

[@PenumbranWolf]

It always hurts my heart a bit to see a deactivated gun.

[@parrotraiser6541]

Somebody should tell the vandals who deactivate museum pieces by butchering them in that way that any semi- or full-auto weapon can be rendered as harmless as a plumbing fixture by removing one or two springs. Until they're refitted with springs of the correct size and tension, the piece can only be used as a blunt instrument.

[@jaybee9269]

Never change, Ian. Never change.

[@mattorama]

One look at how rough this thing is and I thought this was going to be another Elbonian Army joke.

[@krissteel4074]

Once its open, its a bit more obvious that this would have been a very expensive gun in terms of time to make it and overall complexity- for what it is anyway

[@mattorama]

@@krissteel4074 Yes, but very complicated... for no good reason.

[@AlexandruNicolin]

It took surprisingly long for people to figure out they can make a perfectly fine 9 mm SMG with simple blowback, minimum machining and a few lengths of welded pipe or stampings.

[@WaterMusic34]

Neat design, and interesting that so few were made. I like seeing these unique guns. This is my secondary weapon of choice in Sniper Elite 4 because you can hide around a corner and have a short, compact gun that doesn't poke out and give your position away. lol

[@harryspeakup8452]

indeed. It also hits hard and the low rate of fire makes it extremely economical and controllable with effective single and double-taps

[@NachoBearYeah]

Damn that's what I call a redemption arc for a gun

[@seculartapes]

I always assumed these were sort of late war, last ditch guns for Italy…. There is an impressive amount of machining going on here for a wartime smg.

[@BalkanOutdoorsman]

Very interesting and nice looking piece of weponry. Good job as usualy chief 💪🏻

[@18robsmith]

Very Italian engineering - beautifully executed and superbly intricate, and strange.

[@candidmoe8741]

This is the best show case of lever delayed action.

[@warrenharrison9490]

Definitely an interesting action, though I'd imagine prone to extreme wear if metals were not properly treated.

[@tomasl461]

I see a lot of comments about the deactivation. But consider this; deactivated gun in a collection or gun melted down in a steel mill. That is the reality in large parts of the world.

[@chetmanley220]

Or, and bear with me here, it could be part of a museum collection without being butchered.

[@MiguelWario05]

Today I found out that the FNAB-43 model in Enlisted is this exact same gun haha "Maschine-Pistole P.M. 43" markings and all, thanks Ian

[@jansenart0]

5:25 they did the same thing to my M16 in basic at Ft Leonard Wood. Milled out "auto" on an A1 lower and "BURST" was stamped in.

[@ElibabayevBextiyar]

Finally fnab 43 video

[@ph43drus]

Video started out and I actually said to the room "Oh boy another cheap Italian stamped metal open bolt toob gun." Boy was I wrong.

[@warrenharrison9490]

😂

[@ilocosmetro]

Another great start to the week

[@ubernoob103]

I have waited for this since loving to use it in sniper elite 4.

[@Kaiser_Pineapple]

Italians: "We made this over-engineered SMG in the middle of a world war." The rest of the world: "T00B!"

[@seanmalloy7249]

A significant fraction of the submachine guns that you've presented have straight magazines that are canted with their base forward of the mouth when inserted in the weapon. I have seen that some weapons firing rimmed ammunition have curved magazines to account for the rear of the ammunition being larger than the front, and some weapons firing rimless ammunition having curved magazines to allow for a larger magazine without extending too far below the weapon, and some pistols firing rimmed ammunition have mechanisms in the magazine to rotate the traveler as rounds are expended so that the feed pressure is aligned correctly, but is there a reason for a forward-canted straight magazine other than to get rimmed ammunition to line up properly for the action to feed into the chamber?

[@MxerEdits]

I have been playing enlisted and was interested in this weapon.

[@simonjones6128]

Love all of your posts Ian Mccollem

[@dracheusmomentus2033]

So literally the Italian PPS-43 hybridized with the MAT-49 Moment

[@italianduded1161]

And it looks so COOL

[@SamuraiAkechi]

With Kiraly. MAT came later

[@pb1964]

2 or 3 of them were used in the Red Brigades attack to Aldo Moro... one jammed, as well as a Beretta PM12 and a TZ45 the other/s were in such a bad condition that didn't have any rifling remained... I can't get any picture of the fire selector revealing the actual semi auto rollings...in the full auto position it was "raffica" that literally means "rapid sequence"... I can make an educated guess though, it probably was "singolo" or "colpo singolo" that means single shot

[@bravo_cj]

This thing is even more complicated than the MP5 to some degree

[@jordangreenwade2931]

I first saw this gun in Enlisted it look absolutely beautiful 😍 !!

[@khalihaddi6093]

I’m from Algeria 🇩🇿 and proud and living in the United States 🇺🇸 FLN Had different weapons our favorite is the MAT-49 cool this it on forgotten weapons. Thanks

[@gavinhammond1778]

Even if there isn't a war on, that you're losing, this seems like a complicated design

[@jasonz7788]

great work ian

[@user-js4vh2lw6n]

The fact that such a firearm could be machined at the time this was new without using the modern processes we have today never ceases to amaze me.

[@agentcrm]

The difference between then an now, the number of machines used to create a part. Manual machines are set up to only do one or two cuts. Then the part gets moved to a different machine. With a CNC machine, it would be what ever needs to be done with that size cutter and without moving the part.

[@JethroDyx]

My favorite secondary gun in Sniper Elite 4 ✌🏻

[@jollyollyreed1535]

Same here. It always packs a punch.

[@judgejimbobrowntown3214]

That’s an awsome rolling delay bolt

[@randywatson8347]

Love to see how the bolt assembly works.

[@heatshield]

wow that's beautiful. There must be a working example somewhere.

[@fredazcarate4818]

Awesome 😎 video on the little known Italian sub machine gun.

[@Jugend88139]

Had the opportunity to disassemble one in France but also deactivated unfortunately...very well made for this time of war

[@josegustavopena3844]

A very interesting video. Congrats!

[@tonyking3125]

Dang, that's a neat looking little SMG.

[@rumpstatefiasco]

What a travesty to deactivate this beautiful weapon. I suppose whoever had possession of it wanted it to be in the same configuration as their intellect. May it some day fall into the gifted hands of a worthy gunsmith.

[@antiheldd.3081]

How is that front sight adjustable? With a grinder? :)

[@giuseppe4909]

Always great content.

[@darthhodges]

For reference 400 rounds a minute is SLOWER than Jerry Miculek shoots a double action revolver. His record is 8 rounds in 0.99 seconds which computes to just shy of 500 rounds a minute.

[@mattsigl3211]

Don’t get me wrong the way guns work is cool but I always love the history behind these niche guns

[@ClaudioBenassi]

The bolt system is very interesting.

[@TyTwoFly]

This gun was in Sniper Elite 4 and I was wondering what it was.

[@tylerwilliams6022]

That's the first time I came across this model as well. Quite fitting since it was Sniper Elite Italia.

[@tommasozoli4245]

i would be curious to know if the mat49 folding magazine desing has been influenced by the fnab 43...

[@italianduded1161]

Pls can you do a shooting video of this one? It would be amazing! The Tz 45 has like 1 video and it shows how fast the rate of fire is. I am very curious of this one… I really wish in the future full auto guns will be available in Italy because I would totally save up some money for these guns!

[@Tam0de]

Stupid question since I'm not a gun guy per se but can a deactivated gun get 'reactivated' again? Perhaps by changing or swapping some parts by some genius gunsmith?

[@korbetthein3072]

It depends on what has been done to deactivated, but yes. Last I checked, reactivation is a thriving hobby here in the USA. I've seen guys rebuild guns that were chopped to pieces by welding torches.

[@XtreeM_FaiL]

That folding mag well is as useful as a bayonet on a pistol. Maybe not as useful, but close.

[@warrenharrison9490]

It's only saving grace would be storing it in a bag with a 30-40 round mag ready to go, making for a slender package.

[@XtreeM_FaiL]

@@warrenharrison9490 I was thinking more like carrying it under a raincoat.

[@BananaMan730]

Was just using this in Enlisted

[@Zackt._io]

same lmao

[@SamuraiAkechi]

Sniper Elite 4, best smg out there

[@johnhughes1140]

Yes, the stock isnt great and it would be very expensive and that would be a big disadvantage in those days but, what a beautiful design. Itmust ve a pleasure to shoot

[@RedHuntsman]

It looks like these weapons are secured at a museum, but yet they are still destroyed. What are they afraid of; the gun leaping out of the display case and start shooting at people.

[@hAMAmatsuBoy]

i'm waiting for It! One of the best WW2 italian weapon!

[@dreamingflurry2729]

They can't even fake properly! It's Maschinen-Pistole (so yeah an "N" is missing!) :D (Note: Actual, evil German here, so yeah I know what I am talking about :D ) Still, nice gun, thanks for showing it to us, Ian :)

[@clavididk1236]

"Im here on behalf of the blue sapphire" Thomas Shelby

[@DDrew67]

I got a forgotten weapons tee shirt...at goodwill!

[@wolfmann2023]

Did you pay .99 at the thrift shop?

[@alexanderhikel2350]

I love when they make smg’s with a 20 round box mag , let’s make a gun that shoots really fast but only for two seconds lol

[@harryspeakup8452]

This one doesn't shoot really fast though. It has a deliberately low cyclical rate of fire

[@underthunder529]

Did you even watch the video? Ian states that it can take Beretta 38 magazines. That means 40 rounders.

[@MrTweagle]

Hey Ian - how many countries have you been to since starting Forgotten Weapons? Ps Love your work 😀😃😄😁😆

[@newpeupyoass]

A delaying system AND a closed bolt? Look at money bags over here!

[@cse5975]

That is one overly complex bolt assembly.

[@AKAngelKingAK]

No telling whom did it and supplied it... Not unheard of to do so. Egypt did something similar with a small batch of maadi's strictly as a discreet export, I think to Yugoslavia/Balkins only if I remember correctly. It was during the conflict and done so to be disguised as Romanian. Therefore they had no arsenal markings at all neither on trunnions or elsewhere but had Romanian export selector markings, and a Egyptian produced dong grip.

[@kade_kam_dad]

Love the vlogs. Been a fan since you had 200k subscribers. 💪🏽😁

[@johnmcmillan5114]

my favourite smg from Enlisted

[@mohbou3924]

Wondering about how this weapon got to Algeria, I think first of messaoud zeghar ( a.k.a Rachid casa) a business men , spy , smuggler, weapons dealer ,diplomat, of the FLN he was specifically linked with Italian and American mafia , after the independence he served as algerien diplomat in the US for certain time

[@stefanosiclari]

I must say, Ian's Italian was good on this one. Not correct, but good. I think he could very easily learn the pronunciation if he just took a few quick lessons

[@clarkitothebaddito]

🤌🤌🤌

[@LoboPidaumAuuuuu]

my favorite weapon in Enlisted Game 😁😁

[@riobigby6561]

Great video!

[@222TripleJ]

one of my favorite smg of ww2

[@andreag108]

PM is also italian language (not french), it means Pistola Mitragliatrice (machine gun).

[@BigBex]

*Machine Pistol

[@Fafouille75]

In french pistolet mitrailleurs

[@Zorglub1966]

@@Fafouille75 sans S à la fin 😀

[@Fafouille75]

@@Zorglub1966 😂😂