Mud Test: Swiss StG57/PE57

We're mud testing the most finely manufactured and refined delayed roller blowback battle rifle ever manufactured: the Swiss StG57.
How will it compare to the designed to be mass produced G3, or even the "lowly" Cetme-L? Let's find out...
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[@charlesinglin]

You have to realize that mud is not an issue for the Swiss Army. Swiss battle fields are always carefully manicured and maintained to such a high standard that there is never mud.

[@TheRusty58]

+Charles Inglin You're a funny one! Ah ha ha ha! I would have liked to have you in my yearly refresher courses. And then I would have asked you, are you still in your comment? Since I think you're not just a silly chatterbox, then you only wanted to provoke without knowledge.

[@blazedestin]

"How many more chances will we get to do this?" "None, if Bob sees this video!" brb dying of laughter.

[@carlistasycia]

Some men just want to watch the world covered in mud..

[@JoshuaNicoll]

well there's also a lot of water too

[@foobar201]

Yeah, you need a gravel road to properly run your rifle.

[@stacybrown3714]

I do respect your loyalty to the"mud test", but I watched with a clinched jaw. Thanks to Bob...he must be awesome.

[@foobar201]

Self-healing through Swiss clockwork nanobots, it's the only explanation. How the hell did the extractor/ejector survive this?

[@ABCKorpi]

foobar201 I own a Stgw 57 and I can tell you: that extractor/ejector is damn massive. So no surprise there for me :)

[@TheFranssiBrother]

Nanomachines. The only explanation.

[@NookyAvenger]

As a Swiss I didn't even flinch, StG57 rifles have been used and abused by an army of conscripts. Small anecdote. My mother actually ran over several rifles of my father's squad with her car by accident. She was there to pick him up for weekend permission. I feel for bob though (PE57 aren't that common either in Switzerland)

[@GhostlyTurtle]

Right? I mean look at the guys in this video. Total shit fest of people. /s

[@Frieza287]

Dropping the Luger in mud made me cringe. This made me damn near have a heart attack.

[@FokkerAce1917]

TheSaminator And the Luger didn't even have a problem

[@josefst2677]

Matthew Smith but they arent even rare

[@joe125ful]

But Luger is work 100 perc fine...not like Garand,hardly jamed:)

[@jimmygetsome]

Josef St PE57 can be bought for less than 400 franks and very good ones running for maybe 600 in switzerland. They aren't rare there so just to let you know, you guys dont have to worry about them someday not existing anymore because many people who own these keep them in pristine condition.

[@johnwizeman3894]

I like the mud tests you guys do. Most of others just dump mud on it and say, "Hey it doesn't work, or hey it works." instead of that you guys diagnose the issues and they are occurring.

[@ericswain70]

...it's like dropping one on the Mona Lisa...crazy

[@radmirponomarenko6198]

Sig + mud = k 31

[@52Ford]

I read your comment, started to watch another video, then had to come back to like it.

[@76horsepower]

I would love to see this as well, though I don't think a K31 would do any better than a Mauser. I suspect a G11 or K11, on the other hand, would do better, due to the mid-locking lugs. Perhaps we will find out...

[@Braun30]

Dropped my StG57 in mud in military service, since the Rhine was just steps away I washed it briefly in running water, drained the barrel and went on shooting. Summer of 1979, Chur, Geb Inf RS 212/79

[@VxNemesis]

So basicaly it works normaly for 5 rounds then like a K31 until it auto-heals. I've seen worse, especialy since it hasnt been engeneered at all for Arizona desert mud. When we have mud here it's more like clay, and it is only problematic if it rains since the ground dries very fast in the mountains. And when it rains you can clean your rifle in a puddle. If you are fighting in the mountains the rock is anyways so close that you dont have the luxury of falling in mud. You fall on granit and break your bones, but your rifle still works.

[@unicornwithnohorn]

VxNemesis People = weak, breaks too easily, not powerful enough, inferior to Gun Gun = durable, very powerful, should be the dominant species of this planet

[@akacurmurdar1]

I realize that I'm late by 3 years but I'm calling the police.

[@HRRRRRDRRRRR]

Statue of limitations says they're chargeable for the next 3 generations.

[@theoddball3850]

Thinking about this, it might be an issue of viscosity. The mud, when still wet, is thick and sticky, reducing the speed at which the bolt can move, slowing it down and finally stopping it. Dry dust and debris though, the bolt is still able to brute-force its way through, keeping its velocity since it doesn't all stick together like mud does. That's just my guess though.

[@owainrichards4372]

Watching the casing smash out of the mud was so damn cool

[@ItsBodin]

This honestly did better than i predicted i thought it was going to fail out right on the first round.

[@youdaznova]

If possible get your hands on a swissmade Stg 90. I know they must be really rare diamonds in the states. If its not possible, remember europe especially switzerland is just a visit away! Very cool content guys! Keep up the nice work!

[@spoeny]

Sacred cows indeed... As a Swiss owner of a 300 bucks Stgw 57 I applaud you! All the crying of gun enthusiasts makes me happy :)

[@a.c.m.4548]

My first thought: "*NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*" Second thought: "Hmmmmm" Third thought: "Want it want it want it want it"

[@arisukak]

As much as I enjoy your vids, I'd never let you do a mud test with one of my guns. I really want a video of you guys cleaning the gun after the mess you guys made.

[@Viper0hr]

Man, I would love a reaction video of the owner watching this hahaha. Good on him for letting you use it, even if it did hurt to see.

[@elektro3000]

"Please support us on Patreon. If not, we understand. We WILL come to your house and cover your PE-57 in mud, of course."

was in the swiss army till 2013. Was a good gun.

[@TheRusty58]

Well guys, the Stgw 57 was my army rifle from 1978 -2000 and I think I know it quite well. I had bivouacs in the dirt for weeks in rainy forests with recurring exercises in combat shooting. I tell you, my "girlfriend" never let me down. I still own and shoot my Stgw 57, with its original barrel and it still is very accurate. Regards from Switzerland

[@AutomaticJerk]

Coming back to this after 5 years, and it still hurts to watch.

[@colinmcgrath2392]

"It craps the bed and dies". Oh Karl, you and your fancy technical jargon!

[@123nicefellow123]

Best mud test so far, we realy appreciate the effort. Greetings from Austria!

[@Astroman1990]

Can't wait to see the Swiss propaganda video on this!

[@InrangeTv]

No doubt! We await it anxiously. ~Karl

[@Benny---]

YOU MONSTERS!

[@BigMek456]

Look whos talking!

[@Erikreaver]

What a beautiful, funky rifle. Since you already did the almost all the "common" guns, I'd love to see how the "lowly" and frowned upon SKS performs. If I am not mistaken, Ian has one, if without bayonet, right? I enjoy both seeing the guns in horribly bad enviroments and hearing your conclusions on what happened. For glory of "science"!

[@fab006]

Erik Blackboar probably the same problem as the Vz. 58, but would be interesting to test.

[@ISemiI]

Ian's SKS is a handbuilt North Vietnamese one iirc. Not sure it'd be a good idea to fire it, let alone mud test it.

[@nates9536]

Erik Blackboar I've got an SKS and I can tell you that it would fire 1 round and then probably explode.

[@Erikreaver]

Oh damn. I didn't realise. I only saw it on a picture of his, ehm, gun-wall. Still, I'm sure there's plenty SKS's armound for them to try!

[@elvinmadson]

It hurt us all Carl

[@Spitsz01]

You guys are the funniest, most interesting and most savvy team ever!

[@lukejolley8354]

Haha “mud drying.” In Canada mud doesn’t ever dry, the existence of mud means it’s the wet season and the outdoors stays wet

[@e.c.9468]

It looks like FG42 sights with a modern barrel, a pistol plastic grip and a Schmidt Rubin bolt on the side. This gun is Frankenstein !

[@jameshealy4594]

Why is everyone crying about the gun getting mud on it? I get that it's rare and expensive, but this didn't damage it much if at all, it's a freaking rifle, it's made of steel and harder steel and the tears of people who think it should just hang on walls. Bravo to bob for allowing this and bravo to you guys for doing it.

[@RTJsims]

holy shit you actually did it! (and the owner gave permission) lol, my favorite mud test so far guys. lots of fun

[@BerndFelsche]

Lots of thanks to Bob.

[@DanielSvensson666]

Awesome video guys, I love these "torture tests" of guns.:D

[@drmaudio]

So it seems a forward assist would have been handy here ;)

[@simonsmith9363]

Bob is a very trusting madman to let you two loose on his wonderful and rare rifle ;-)

[@dopefish93]

*read in golums voice "Nooooo! Nooooo! Nooooooo! Filthy humans ruin masters rifle!"

[@user-uc1oy3zk4t]

That rifle is the most beautiful machine there is.

[@Gunner40Five]

Wow........I really enjoy this series of videos,............but I cried a little when you first dumped mud on this work of art.But now we know.Keep up the good work guys.

[@Beavereaver]

You guys are Awesome!

[@bigfutus]

Thanks Bob.

[@victorboucher675]

The force of the gas during the opening assists in blowing the recesses clean so the rollers can fit. I just made that up. Wanted to buy one in 1980 but ...

[@brianpencall4882]

Bob is truly a saint.

[@jonathanhartley7028]

While I agree that bolt velocity is most likely the main reason these rifles performed as well as they did I believe the fact that the chambers and "locking surfaces" of roller delayed guns are really deep in the system compared to other platforms out there contributes a great deal to there relative success as well. I wonder if the fluted chamber helps keep mud out as well, since its main purpose is to use gas to float spent cases off the chamber wall. Great series of videos as always.

[@509Gman]

Jonathan Hartley it wouldn't keep it out of the chamber, but it could give it somewhere to go as the cartridge is inserted.

[@TheBrewer3535]

Love the intro

[@ohredhk]

It harts to see such a beautiful gun to do the mud test.

[@FlyingSnake110]

Great video as always, but seeing that rifle being covered in mud made my soul scream in agony... Can't wait to see more of your stuff!

[@youngn9na92]

Trying not to call you a monster... Your research is necessary, but some of these are just too cool. Proud of the Swiss rifle, makes me want one even more.

[@dimduk]

That was a valid test, battlefields are unforgiving and it's better to find a rifles flaws before the battle begins.

[@pr4runner]

LET'S See the full strip of the mud guns !!1

[@lukedevereaux8766]

“It craps the bed and dies" 😂😂

[@SportbikerNZ]

Had to chuckle at that sneaky mud test intro.

[@Spitsz01]

After that vid yesterday and seeing this... you guys are NUTS! Please don't change!!! LOL

[@RobertoDonatti]

Loved it! Now show us the cleaning part!

[@nils4137]

StG57 + mud = K31 high capacity!

[@SelfRaisingWheat]

Name a more iconic duo. I'll wait.

[@jadou88]

OMG I WOULD LOVE to have seen a cleanup video on that PE57 that would be awesome

[@ulrichkohler205]

Hahaha, brings up lots of memories. We were the last batch in 1991 to get that rifle before the SG 550 / PE 90 Sturmgewehr was introduced to the Swiss military. It used to be called a 'hoe' (Swiss: Charscht) as you can work a field with that thing :-)

[@BurnTheNuance]

"Of course", died a little bit right there. The change in pitch of Karl's voice, xD. Probably the coolest mud test yet....still a little surprised you guys did it! Neat! Beautifully designed, yet "under performed" in comparison to the Cetme. Funny how that works, just shows that you can have tolerances that are "too tight" (maybe?). Good stuff guys, good stuff.

[@turkeyhamman4111]

Wow! A mud delayed blowback system!

[@shonny61]

And that pretty much answers the question, "Why do the test?" Superb video guys.

[@rogerlangleyrl]

Im convinced, more than ever, that the Stgw/PE 57 is THE GREATEST GUN IN THE WORLD

[@harismpalatsoukas2777]

Karl your jacket is amazing

[@NuclearRockstarMD]

You two are meant for each other :D

[@germanredneck4414]

big thanks to the owner

[@barnabywylde2224]

unbelievable, Karl said something kind of positive about forward assist.

[@ILikeTheThingsIDo]

So costs 4 times as much to manufacture and does pretty much what the G3/CETME does. It's a beauty of a rifle and I couldn't believe you did this test with it. Bob is a madman.

[@509Gman]

ILikeTheThingsIDo not pretty much, it did better.

[@wierdalien1]

thgreatandini CETMEL Passed with flying colours

[@forlornfoe352]

No way, you actually did gloop it up - and with a permission! I was so sure this was a joke right until the mud hit the gun. Terrific job as always, guys. Though it truly hurt to watch... Tieto lisää tuskaa

[@hex1c]

Ian and Karl is the best duo on guns! :D

[@stevencox75]

Ian please yell "ThunderBirds are GO!!!!!!!!!! "with that hat on

[@jasonhenson1991]

OBLIGATORY COMMENT TO CALL OUT KARL AND IAN AND INEVITABLY END UP ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE!

[@InrangeTv]

I just died in your arms tonight, it must have been something you said. ~Karl

[@scribejackhammar]

InRangeTV, think you could try the MG42? Kinda want to see how it fares because it uses the same system, and it's a general-purpose machine gun.

[@craighansen7594]

If you guys come up with a really cool "Mud Test" t shirt I'll buy it!

[@wowomatic]

It would be interesting to see a follow up test for the more sensitive rifles and see what field-expedient cleaning would do to their reliability. A splash from the canteen, a little oil or clp in the ejection port, something like that.

[@armsjournal]

This needs a snow test!

[@zackbobby5550]

It actually did way better than I thought it would tbh.

[@bmp72]

the upper slot where all the mud went in, this is where the extractor thingy lives. When the bolt is to the back the extractor follows a track to kick out the round. Maybe the mud made the bolt hang on the extractor ? Next time for test like this, I think it'll be cheaper for you guys to fly here to CH and pick one up for $200 and do the test here :-)

[@Sven-og2qr]

I'd like to see the same test with the replacement of this gun, the SIG 550 (aka PE 90) which I happened to use in military service. I destroyed the iron sights once by accidentally dropping the gun and the gun barrel by dropping it into icy cold water (it shot afterwards, but you hit the target on the right of the one you wanted).

[@jamesbarca7229]

Just as the thought was running through my head, Karl said "This is an instance when a forward assist might actually help". Now if he can only acknowledge that there are times when a forward assist on an AR can be a good thing, like when my rifle iced up and the only way to get it fully into battery (even after racking it a few times) was by hitting the forward assist.

[@tde1964]

During my military service, mine fell into mud. I « cleaned » it by dropping it into a water drum, dried it by shaking it, and sprayed some oil into it to limit rusting... knowing the next say we would have a shooting exercise, I decided that it could wait one day for being fully serviced. When I shot the first bullet, it did smoke a lot (like a smoke grenade actually) and I ended up with my face caked... while my fellow soldiers were laughing their guts off. But after the third shot, everything was back to normal. I hated that gun for many reasons (too heavy, already obsolete, cumbersome, etc.) but I had immense respect for its toughness. To note that I put it into the dishwasher several times to clean it fully to get it inspection-ready. After drying it up, I rubbed it into pistol oil, greased the key parts and that was it! I would not dare to do it with any other rifle, which says a lot about the toughness of this monster.

[@kevinwilson9589]

I nearly cried watching this

[@ProudToBeNoob]

Looking forward to you getting your hands on a Stg90 (SIG 550).

[@Hispanicpanick0]

I do declare the call for an MP5 mud test!

[@thegamingdragon4633]

watching this hurt it hurt so bad

[@SteveSmith-wm4qy]

you should also do more of the sand blow tests

[@DavidStumpGrinder]

gr8 meem

[@Skotch44444]

in addition to mud tests, I'd like to see you guys do mud recovery drills.. it would be satisfying to see once you get them out of action, how quickly you can get them back going with reasonable reliability

[@509Gman]

Daniel Schmidt they do, unless it's clear that remediation will require a full disassembly.

[@Skotch44444]

I haven't seen that... For instance, the M1 and AK videos..They mud it up, knock it out of action, and call it dead... That is completely legitimate, but what I'm wondering is how long would it take, with a field strip and basic equipment (let's say water, ballistol and a rag) to get it back in the fight..

[@Kyks2244]

i actually tensed up when mud was dropping on there

[@pseudonymous1382]

I feel like it should be mentioned that what Karl referred to as a, "winter trigger," was actually designed for launching rifle grenades. The force of launching rifle grenades caused lots of people to end up with broken fingers or other hand injuries, so the Swiss wanted to make sure that wouldn't be a problem with this rifle design.

[@americanfreedom2324]

I can't believe they did it

[@marcjansson1039]

Am I the only one biting my nails while watching this in utter terror?

[@axelriet]

Another fine video, yet (as I commented on another) this gun works on graphite grease. Start with a well-lubricated weapon. Then in case of malfunction 1) remove mag, 2) rotate 45° clockwise around the barrel axis so the ejection chamber looks somewhat towards the ground, 3) yank the charging lever all the way back, and let go, twice, 4) reload. This would likely have recovered after the first malfunction, if it jammed at all while properly lubricated.

[@brass427]

That's unusual - I've seen this done a couple of times and it never hung up like this.

[@bvhnightmare]

watching this in while studying, should not have laughed that loud in the library for the intro.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

I simply must see a k31 mud test

[@richardzippler3330]

You need to do a mud test autopsy to show where that mud got into and what was founded.

[@TheCoyote808]

I know I'm not the only one, but I died a little inside when the mud hit that beautiful rifle. :(