Deep Lore on Machine Guns: Q&A with John Keene
Forgotten Weapons
•
1h 17m
Today I'm speaking with retired Master Sergeant John Keene, the NFA export for Morphy's. John is a machine gun collector himself, and between this and his work with Morphy's he has exceptional experience and expertise. So we have a slate of questions for him from Patrons:
0:00 - Introduction
0:29 - What’s the best way to sell a transferrable SMG?
5:00 - German small arms engineers used by the US after WW2?
10:44 - Could the T24 (American MG42) have worked?
14:09 - Are there any machine guns underpriced or overpriced right now?
18:30 - What new machine guns would become popular if the NFA registry was reopened?
21:18 - Was open bolt ever a bad thing on a crew-served gun?
24:14 - Best first machine gun?
27:31 - Converting Colt Balloon Guns into other models - acceptable?
35:06 - If you bought a Thompson in 1932, what was required to keep it legal until today?
42:27 - Why was the MG42 considered such a good machine gun?
48:48 - How effective was the M1919A6 as a squad automatic?
53:00 - Most important improvement in machine guns by today?
55:29 - Are variable rates of fire actually practical?
1:00:51 - What is the current direction of machine gun collecting?
1:06:20 - Impact of Knob Creek ending, and will there be a replacement?
1:11:50 - Examples of feed systems that hinder a gun?
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Argentine Brass Maxim: A Machine Gun ...
The Maxim Gun was the first successful true machine gun, and it became extremely popular worldwide. Maxim sent his first two working models to Enfield for testing in 1887, and by 1889 he had what he termed the "World Standard" model. No two contracts were quite identical, as the gun was constantl...
-
Colt 1903 in US Military Service (and...
The Colt Model 1903, aka Pocket Hammerless, aka Model M, was a massively successful design for Colt on the commercial market. It was chambered for the .32ACP cartridge, with a .380 model introduced in 1908. During World War Two, the US government took an interest in the pistol. A total of 17,330 ...
-
Hotchkiss Portative: Clunky But Durable
The Portative was an attempt by the Hotchkiss company to make a light machine gun companion to their heavy model (which had found significant commercial success). The Portative used the same feed strips, albeit loaded upside down, and the same gas piston operation, but a very different locking sy...
