Oerlikon Mk2 1941

The 20mm Oerlikon is a Swiss designed auto cannon used for high angle close range anti-aircraft fire, with an effective rang of 1,000 to 1,200 yards (915 - 1100m). The breech is not locked at the time of discharge and the round is fired a fraction of an inch before it is fully home in the chamber, the neck of the case swelling to form a gas seal. Muzzle velocity 2,725 ft/sec (830m/s) with a rate of fire 465 to 480 rounds per minute. The 20mm rounds are loaded into magazines holding 60 rounds. The last 2 rounds loaded are usually practice rounds so that if there is insufficient time to remove the muzzle cap the non-explosive rounds can blast through the cap. All cartridges are lightly coated with mineral grease when loading to assist the spent cartridge extraction.
The Mark II gun was made in Britain and in the USA principally for naval use. This animation shows the British Mark II. Models made in the USA are marked Mark II U.S.N or Mark IV U.S.N. There is no difference between these Marks and all three are interchangeable.
The animation was made using Cinema 4D and the music is ‘Song of Mirrors’ by Unicorn Heads. Source material: BR 274/41, OP911 and OP909 and author’s photographs.
If you enjoyed this animation please check out the Vbbsmyt channel on KZbin for other military-related animations, and consider sponsoring me through www.patreon.com/vbbsmyt.

[@adamdubin1276]

Fun fact: the solid practice shot is the first cartridge in the magazine in case the muzzle cover is either stuck on the gun through ice, negligence or some other reason. The practice shot removes the obstruction so that the shell that comes after it doesn't detonate in the barrel.

[@mikelagaffe]

absolutely correct, but those are the first 2 shots, just to be positively sure its not obstructed. you really dont want an HE round blowing up right in your face...

[@MrMarinus18]

That reminds me of the reason 20mm was so common. The reason is actually a legal one. There was (and still is) a ban on exploding bullets and the cut-off point between a "bullet" and a "shell" is 20mm. So 20mm is the smallest caliber you're allowed to add a bursting charge.

[@cmendla]

My Dad enlisted in the Coast Guard during WWII. He was a Radio Operator and 20mm gunner. He would have loved this. He related a story that during gunnery practice, they had a misfire. IIRC, the drill was for the gunner's mate to remove the barrel and dunk it in a bucket of water kept there for that type of emergency. The idea was to prevent the round from cooking off in the barrel. The gunner's mate removed the barrel but missed the bucket twice. The patrol frigates were small ships and not the most stable vessel in rough weather. Dad's gun was just outside the bridge. The mate heaved the barrel over the side and into the ocean. I'm not sure what the repercussions were but the guys, including my dad, were glad to see it gone.

[@logoseven3365]

Never would have guessed how complicated this one was. Great job!

[@hansgruber3397]

In Relation to comparable weapons it was relativly simple. That was the main reason for it's sucsess (sorry for my english)

[@logoseven3365]

@@hansgruber3397 Your English is fine! I never realized how many interlocks and safeties there were. Really neat weapon.

[@popinmo]

my favorite part is the fact its blowback i love unqiue ways people deal with the bolt recoil

[@thermionicemission6355]

@@popinmo Yep, and now Sig has come out with their MG-338, which copies the General Dynamics concept, which in turn was inspired by Advanced Primer Ignition. In these modern machine gun iterations, the whole assembly is locked back a bit and when the trigger is pulled, the assembly slides forward and right before it hits the end of travel, the gun fires, the recoil mitigation effect is identical to this gun then, just that it is the whole assembly rather than mostly the bolt.

[@sebbes333]

This designer: "When in doubt, use more springs!" ..."And if that doesn't work?" ..."Use *MORE* springs!!"

[@smorrow]

Can you imagine a world without springs?

[@sebbes333]

@@smorrow First, are we taking about exactly springs (coiled metal wire), or ALL "springy things" in general? Eg. Would a leaf spring exist? Would rubber exist? Can compressed air in a pneumatic piston be considered as such a spring?

[@smorrow]

@@sebbes333 It's just a reference. 'a world without springs' on KZbin.

[@sebbes333]

@@smorrow It is still an interesting concept, we would have almost NOTHING today, especially if "everything springy" would be removed, we would be back to like early gathering technologies.

[@kornaros96]

KSP school of thought

[@d.cypher2920]

This is AWESOME! *Please* never think we don't appreciate your efforts. Love your stuff! ☀️😎☀️🇺🇸

[@MatzeB111]

Thank you very much for the elaboration of this famous weapon, I am thrilled every time something new comes along.

[@Aminuts2009]

This was my dads station on USS Amsterdam CL - 101. He said you couldn't hit the side of a barn with one but they just sprayed it in the general direction and hoped. Good to see the operations and how they are put together.

[@Isaac-ho8gh]

Not surprised, they're basically big open-bolt submachine guns and their 20mm round is pretty shit since it had to be underpowered for the Orelikon's blowback bolt lol

[@CosmasBauer]

Wonderful animation. Very very interesting! Thank you!

[@capthawkeye8010]

This cannon doesn't seem like a big deal now-but in the 1930s absolutely everyone was struggling to come up with a decent 20mm autocannon that was both light weight and reliable. The Germans originally had the Becker 20mm-a gun which met the design goal of being very light but compromised on everything by using a cartridge with a low muzzle velocity. That said, the original Oerlikon design was based on that gun now with a more powerful 110mm cartridge and the Oerlikon version was so successful that the Germans retroactively copied the Swiss' version back as the MG/FF. The other competitor was the 25mm gun Hotchkiss came up with-but that gun was very heavy and fired from a static mount only. The Americans came up with an equivalent gun-the 1.1in/75 which was actually 28mm although it lived in the same realm as the Oerlikon-but it was notoriously troublesome and complicated. Twenty-eight millimeters was also something of an awkward caliber-the idea was to make a good one-stop-shop gun that could fight all kinds of aircraft but in practice you ended up with a gun that was too light to shoot down many bombers and too heavy to be used in most mounts. The Oerlikon is still in production to this day-along with the M2 Browning that should give one an idea of just how successful it's been in its category.

[@dogsbd]

Thanks for helping me better understand the weapon my father used in the US Navy during WWII.

[@yelectric1893]

Thank you for teaching us. It’s so complicated and intricate, beautiful

[@somerandofilipino6957]

What do you mean? Its operating systems seems incredibly simple if you ask me.

[@yelectric1893]

@@somerandofilipino6957 the magazine release and floating trigger is kind of ridiculous. This is no uru smg even though it’s like a giant smg

[@somerandofilipino6957]

@@yelectric1893 Yeah you're right. And its Uru, actually

[@yelectric1893]

@@somerandofilipino6957 oops. Have you seen the bofors animation? It is not as straightforward as this one.

[@adh615]

Thank you very much for this, I've been trying to understand the mechanism of the oerlikon for ages now, this is a giant relief for me

[@tonyneo6100]

BRILLIANT . I have studied this gun , but this gives it a completely new light , thank you .

[@ernst_junger]

Absolutely wonderful! Tons more detail than you could ever see even with a real model. I hope you could do a video on one of the German torpedoes from the second world war

[@Wurstbrot5555]

Nice to see a lot of new Videos. Some written explanations about what is happening and why would be great, I do not understand every detail. Great work! PS. It's gotten better with the explanations, thanks.

[@bretwalton6535]

I found this video fascinating as my father manned one of these during WWII. He was in the Naval Armed Guard, a part of the U.S. Navy. He served on Liberty ships going across the North Atlantic. When I was a kid about 12yrs old we came across one on a museum ship in NY City. He was overjoyed and told me all he could remember. On the inside of the gun shield stenciled in black was "Lead Dammit Lead". In reference to the gun sight. It has 3 rings. Each ring represents the target's estimated air speed in increments of 100. The first round in the magazine was a blank. That was there to blow out any obstruction such as a forgotten cleaning rag. Every fifth round was a tracer and the rest a mixture of AP and HE rounds. At the base of the pedestal the gun was mounted on was a 3' diameter ring that the operator stood on. About 6-8" above the ground. He was strapped on so as not to fall off. It allowed him to pivot quickly to address targets. Also you didn't wear a shirt while manning the gun or it would need replaced. Spent shells that hit the operator would burn holes in it. My father had many burn scars on his chest from his tour of duty.

[@seanmccann8368]

Thanks for sharing this information, always good to hear from the people who used the weapon or equipment (or their close family).

[@patnolen8072]

Fascinating - when I studied the 20mm Oerlikon, I didn't know it could fire blanks. Also interesting to know the gunners were strapped to the gun with a harness.

[@51WCDodge]

Thank you again for a clear animation. Makes understanding so much easier

[@Stukageschwader]

Awesome!! very fine production!! Congrats!!!

[@arcron3]

Fantastic! Love to see the mechanics and design!

[@lorincbody4695]

This inertia+big spring delayed blowback system is wild. I would have thought that any sane weapon above pistol cartridges needs some kind of locked breech.

[@smorrow]

not 'sane' though

[@Conserpov]

The downside of blowback is very low rate of fire. Advanced ignition makes it lighter but less reliable and ammo-fussy. So locked breech is the only way to make a light, reliable, non-fussy and fast gun

[@louie55ish]

I used to be a loader on one of these back in the 90s before they were replaced by the Gambo 20mm. The reason the RN still used them them was the ammount of ammo still available for it. I remember greasing the individual rounds before charging the mag, a real pain. At one point we had to go through fifteen mags to use up the last rounds when the gun stopped working. There was nothing wrong, no jam, no misfire, the gun simply stopped firing; strange!

[@user-ys2eq7mg1k]

Fascinating! Always thought it had somewhat simpler design.

[@2serveand2protect]

Very well done - big thanks!

[@chibani-]

Such genius features... Great job at modelizing that.

[@kratosr.t.3377]

PERFECTION!

[@SVAyouTube]

Very perfect job 👍 Thanks a lot

[@wjskyout]

Brilliant! Can't understand why you have a downthumb on this. It would be awesome to see an animation of the Hughes M242 25mm chain gun. That is a interesting mechanism. Thanks for posting this

[@sabeda1647]

bloody brilliant as usual!

[@Listener970]

Absolutely amazing, both the mechanism and your animation. Keep on making. Turned on all notification from your channel.

[@uomodonore245]

Thumbs up for Swiss engineering.

[@user-zx5pg2dx6x]

You are a real engineer and technocrat

[@MastakAK]

Thanks for your hard work! I always wondered what was inside the mechanical monsters!

[@desert_jin6281]

Nice, I'll need to watch it again to understand it all though :)

[@user-dg4tl4bw6v]

Looks like great recoil control mechanism.

[@holton345]

Excellent rendering. Thanks for posting.

[@quertize]

That return spring looks nasty.

[@a.t6066]

Well it is a straight blowback 20mm. I would hope the springs would be beefy

[@Zorglub1966]

Great job! Thank you very much, and best wishes.

[@johnbeauvais3159]

So a quick story, my grandfather was a Gunners Mate on an attack cargo ship in the pacific in charge of these guns and he said at the end of the war of course they disassembled and cleaned these guns but when it came time to put the barrels back in they just twisted them hand tight since they weren’t planning on firing them anymore. Of course they have a flag officer visit and they want to do an inspection and weapons demonstration. They start firing and bang bang bang plop splash the barrels unthreaded and launched off the side of the ship he said they sent like 4 new gun barrels down to the bottom that way and of course got chewed out for it

[@cfeco1716]

BOY...I SURE could have used this when I had one of these, it was the Japanese HO-5 auto-cannon out of a WW2 Zero fighter...Also the one shown in Red Jacket Firearms TV show. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out the trigger-sear mechanism....Now it make sense! Probably just as well, like they said in the TV show!

Damn, you are good. Thanks.

[@demos113]

Always with the good stuff. :-)

[@MIKE_WOLF_GR]

Thank you so much my friend for your amazing video. My father served on navy he was a gunner on o erlikon boforce and 5inch guns your video is exactly with the description of my father's. Thank you again keep up the excellent work. IF you can please create a video with twin naval - AA guns 5inch like BB USSMissouri's secondary armament

[@ddraig1957]

Looks surprisingly simple in operation.

[@JohnCBobcat]

This is super cool. I really, really enjoy this stuff. And I'll prattle on and on (with rewinding as necessary) to anyone who will listen, as I put 2+2 together while watching.

[@Ettoredipugnar]

Thanks for posting . Very good video !

[@kimchipig]

Robert, thank you so much! You are a master!

[@eddieescobar4722]

Now this is what I'm talking bout cannons..💣💯💪🔥

[@Melanth89]

TIL these things are an open bolt, straight blowback... autocannon. That is both fascinating and horrifying all at once.

[@nanab256]

Good job

[@sdgardner1954]

Great Job animating this!

[@Salmon_Rush_Die]

your animations are glorious. subbed.

[@yvc9]

These are mesmerizing

[@Desmaad]

It amazes me that this cannon is simple blowback. Normally you'd expect a weapon of this calibre to have a locking or delay mechanism.

[@bottomshot4546]

explore the history and you'll find 20mm design started with blowback operation and advanced primer ignition.

[@MetamorphicWonders]

Absolutely Brilliant. Thankyou so much. Must have taken hours!!!! can i throw another at you ..... WW2 Browning 50 cal M2 HB on an M63 tripod. !!

[@oldschoolfoil2365]

Great animation work have become a subscriber

[@fepasarussa8642]

Oerlikon then: normal 20mm AA Oerlikon today: haha 35mm go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[@junglehunteryautja5490]

Awesome. Idea, german 20,37, 50mm flak and hotchkiss 25mm AA gun

[@daveharringbone8512]

Beautiful

[@williammcdorman6426]

Very nice, am surprised they didn't put a ratch handle on the charging mechanism.

[@oficialdeguerra3888]

I want one of these to protect myself from traffickers here in Brazil

[@happypotato4694]

Great vid man! What software do you use to design the weapons? I tries using blender for my technic projects but it doesn't help me "reproduce" complex or even basic mechanical systems. Shit gets overlaid and i can't make anything move like it should.

[@vbbsmyt]

Details in the notes for the video - Cinema 4D

[@happypotato4694]

@@vbbsmyt thank you! Sry for not reading the entire description.

[@user-bf5tm2zj8y]

Wow! Thank you very much. It's so interesting and educational! Can you please show the German mg108 cannon in one of the following videos?

[@Ganglo-Saxon]

I wonder, does it get harder to move as the shell bag fills up ?

[@overboss9599]

Probably. Though certainly not as difficult to move as it would be if you had to wade through a pile of 20mm casings.

[@Ganglo-Saxon]

@@overboss9599 yeah that does make sense now that you mention it

[@DreadX10]

No, the bag is directly below the centre of the gun (and close to both pivot-points) and it gaining weight doesn't matter much. Every couple of magazines of 60 rounds each, you need to change the barrel. This is also the time to put a empty ammunition-container underneath the bag and dump out the empty cartridges via an opening at the bottom. In other words, you empty the bag before its weight or (more likely) bulk becomes a problem.

[@SuperMarkbrewer]

Thank you absolutely fascinating 😀 and I didn't think it would be my mistake 😅

[@allenpetrick6411]

Bring Back the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon MK5 would benefit in the Gulf and you couldn't say an MRAP wouldn't look sexy in a CROWs mount in belt feed mode.

[@danielgeorge5239]

wow nice work. Did you design these cad models yourself? How on earth did you find old accurate blueprints?

[@vbbsmyt]

This animation was generated from manual’s available on the web, including the Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA) web site. This has 2 manuals on the Oerlikon OP 911 and OP 909, and I have used the drawings and instructions for the animation. So accuracy is a relative term.

[@Polkem1]

@@vbbsmytamazing, I want to find those manuals now 😊 I found the files and there’s so many! How long did it take you to model it?.?

[@mootpointjones8488]

Superb!

[@CostaCola]

YEEESSSS!!!! YEEESSSS!!!! THE OERLIKON!!

[@CaptainGrief66]

A seemingly simple and unassuming weapon system, but being swiss it's a fine-tuned mess of levers and springs, the fire control group especially is something mind boggling, must've taken a while to sort out, this think is a cuckoo clock for using Advanced Primer Ignition, which should supposedly allow for a simpler mechanism

[@mscisawwodecki3220]

There's been enough comments on the animations themselves, so I'm not going to repeat them, but I'd like to ask you one question. Have you, perhaps, considered uploading in two versions, one as they've been and the other, for the faint of ears, with some mild background theme, like workshop sounds or even some forest sounds, or perhaps some piece from the era (and operating sounds as well, obviously)? Edited: I wrote the above before watching the animation, and the music is very pleasant :)

[@tatotaytoman5934]

literally big open bolt submachine gun

[@MM22966]

Jesus, it ripping off a burst like that made me jump.

[@moistnugget4019]

So its a bunch of springs

[@DreadX10]

and levers.....

[@yutkijsamnong3202]

Need to greased the shell before load into the magazine I remembered.

[@vbbsmyt]

Correct, a light coating of mineral grease has to be applied to each cartridge when loading (but NOT oil)

[@DreadX10]

@@vbbsmyt I don't remember it to be 'light', that layer of grease we put on there. ;-)

[@KeithHearnPlus]

So it's a simple blowback-operated mechanism, firing from an open bolt. Basically, a Sten on steroids.

[@juanpablorossicabrales9176]

Longest day Ouistreham...

[@odanewilson]

I need 100 boxes of those to buy ok

[@jellymen2112]

Wery good!

[@jokowidiawati2751]

*si vis pacem para bellum* Siapapun yg menghendaki damai, maka bersiap lah untuk mabar!

[@koalathebeast995]

You got a ZU23-2 or KPV video?

[@zlodeyshe]

шикарно, особенно обрыв гильзы с раздутием

[@ericbouchard7547]

Is there enough material available to animate a 1.1"/75? I've always been curious about how the thing actually functioned. In regards to your already-completed works, top-notch stuff.

[@leonardotavaresdardenne9955]

"I've always been curious about how the thing actually functioned" Well, it didn't :p

[@maximus7932]

Nice animation man, can i request you to make m2 browning animation

[@muchammadjamil8688]

what software do you use to animate that mechanism?

[@vbbsmyt]

Please read the notes to the video.

[@mohammadrezaaghmand293]

What is the name of this software?

[@raditya5663]

6:19 the case left behind?

[@odanewilson]

I need 4 boxes of those to buy ok

[@user-kz4rf8td3m]

I want to #request for creating a animation about Thompson M1921 Submachine gun

[@rovman007]

I am looking for the dimensions of this gun for the Victory model ship scale 1:50, beautiful animation

[@moltke1870]

Very interesting channel mr vbbsmyt. Do you have plan implement planes machine guns and cannons in this channel?

[@vbbsmyt]

There are 3 aircraft related animations in this playlist: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fqjKlpWJpat0pqs

[@vfbrs2382]

Wait, is that a big AF blowback smg ?

[@josephsurma8682]

How does the ejector hold the spent cartridge as it is pulled out?

[@vbbsmyt]

It doesn't. Unlike many other guns, the breech is not locked to the barrel or receiver when the cartridge is fired, it is in fact still moving forward at the time the cartridge is fired. When the cartridge is ignited, the gas pressure forces the shell out the front of the barrel and at the same time forces the shell cartridge to the rear. The cartridge pushes against the breech assembly, which is much heavier that the shell, and resisted by the strong recoil springs.This initial kick drives the breech backwards on its recoil motion, but when the cartridge case hits the ejector (part of the magazine clam assembly) it is knocked down out of the gun.

[@samleviathanzilla1718]

hey do the uss iowa 16 /50 caliber mark 7 gun

[@flipflopsguy8868]

I'M DETERMINED TO LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT MECHANICAL DESIGN THAT WILL ENABLE ME TO DESIGN THE EASIEST, CHEAPEST, "OTHER DEVICE" FOR THE FUTURE !

[@vbbsmyt]

Please don't shout

[@flipflopsguy8868]

WHAT DID NEIL SEDAKA SING, 🎶PO, ET, RY, IN MOTION🎶

[@flipflopsguy8868]

WHO THE HELL IS Johnny Tillotson ?

[@fwsteyn3312]

I've been asking on basically all of your videos: could you please make the models available? I would love to 3d print a 1/4 scale model of this!

[@vbbsmyt]

I have tried printing in 3D. It doesn't work, probably due to the way I build my models. The oerlikon gun has 1562 objects combined into subcomponents using boolean and combination functions. Converting them into STL files is difficult, and I have better use of my time, and having expended several hundred hours researching, building and rendering my models - why should I just give them away?

[@fwsteyn3312]

@@vbbsmyt Yeah nah fair enough. I would honest to god be willing to pay for them, as I am sure there are others as well. But if you say the modelling is not really done for exporting, then so be it. You have excellent models though. May I ask which resources you use as reference?

[@stephenbritton9297]

The first two rounds were "dummy"/"practice"/solid shot for a safety reason... in case of a clogged barrel, gun no go BOOM with live round! Its funny when it happens to Elmer Fudd, not so much in real life!

[@gaston01000]

make one of the Scotti Model x

[@Кондаков_В]

Are you planning a video with a Hotchkiss 25 mm anti-aircraft gun?

[@vbbsmyt]

I might if I can find a good set of drawings. Any suggestions?

[@Кондаков_В]

@@vbbsmyt Thanks for the answer. Hotchkiss symbol 30s, similar to Oerlikon later. It was an interest in your plans for the future.

[@joewipper7689]

Cool