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QAqueerarmorer.bsky.social

Hi there, and welcome to #FridayFucksorSucks, a weekly game with simple rules - guns fuck, or they suck. This week, we have a genuinely weird middle child of history, the CEAM Modele 1950B. Chambered in .30 Carbine, it is a development point between the STG-44 and the CETME Model C/H&K G3.

The profile view makes it abundantly clear that there is a lot of the upcoming CETME's lines built into the look. Specifically, this is the genesis of the "slap" charging handle.
The gun disassembles to similar pieces as a G3.
CEAM would be disbanded shortly after this and the pieces of what they were reformed into CETME, however the primary developer would quit during this process and start his own company - Heckler and Koch.
A round of .30 Carbine next to a round of 5.7 to illustrate the size differential. They're about the same size but the case is straightwalled and a little taller on the .30 Carbine.
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QAqueerarmorer.bsky.social

Hi there, and welcome to #FridayFucksorSucks, a weekly game with simple rules - guns fuck, or they suck. This week, the TKB-022PM, a Russian prototype rifle platform. Developed in 1959 and field tested, it had a radical design but it was unbalanced, difficult to field strip, and stayed a prototype.

The later prototypes were converted to using a more modern looking polymer, which while looking strange allowed the guns to at least seem to make some sense with a modern eye.
The original prototypes used Bakelite, essentially an early not-wood-plastic-conversion-caustic-chemical process that were both well known for being incredibly hearty and capable while also generating horrible diseases among those who manufactured it.
The reloading process was novel and almost Kel-Tec like with it's ingenuity and complex thinking. See, the magazine being that far back means you don't have that much surface for the mechanism to catch, so there's a telescoping bolt where the bolt surface extends on arms, grabs, the next round, and as the arms close they eject the last shell which is just, like, chilling out on a tray below the action during this phase? It's legitimately a "huh .. yeah, sure that works, WHY NOT JUST SPIT IT OUT" kind of operation but using this mechanism DID allow for downward ejection in a tiny package in 1959, so take it as you will.
The gun was built both in 7.62x39 AND a new round, .220 Russian, which was designed alongside it. .220 Russian was a sort of kind of attempt to make 5.56 out of Soviet supplies, it took a 7.62 cartridge and necked the bullet down to a .22 in an attempt to make something deer-hunter sized. The gun didn't leave prototyping but the round made it's way into several other hunting platforms of the time.
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QAqueerarmorer.bsky.social

Hi there and welcome to #FridayFucksorSucks, a weekly game with simple rules: guns fuck, or they suck. This week: the Interdynamics MKS, a Swiss carbine in 5.56 using proprietary magazines that fit the pistol grip. Prototypes past stress testing but failed field testing due to difficulty shooting.

The rifle variant, from the left side, with the folding stock extended and in it's full profile with a white background. You'll notice the magazines 25 rounds in order to function while staying straight. Also note that the rifle variant is the variant with the 18" barrel. Image source: wikimedia
The carbine variant with a shorter 14 inch barrel and the stock folded. Image source: militaryimages.net
The function of the rifle being demonstrated. The recoil was described as moderate, higher than an AR15 and awkward to shoot, as despite using a piston gas system it was very lightweight and due to its design the pistol grip was awkward with the 5.56 round fitting inside of it. Image Source: Outdoor Magazine
Disassembled you can see the real genius of the gun is essentially mixing AR and AK systems. The rotating bolt piston gas system and piston are all AK staples, as is the handling interface, while the chambering, magazine, and muzzle device are all AR. Image Source: Guns and Ammo, December 1981
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QAqueerarmorer.bsky.social

Hi there, and welcome to #FridayFucksorSucks! It's a weekly game with simple rules: guns fuck, or they suck. This week, we have the Portuguese AR10. Designed by Armalite but with the rights sold to a Dutch manufacturer, and a run of 5000 examples were adopted by Portuguese Paratroopers. Vote below!

The original, Portugese contract AR10's look almost like an AR10 in a movie where they specifically want to avoid what our eyes know the AR10 looks like by smashing in new, weird looking details. The waffle magazine, short polymer handguard with an additional metal handguard, and a very beefy grip and stock. Photo Credit: Wikimedia
The AR-10 used polymer furniture for the wood and shorter part of the handguard, giving it a wood-like vibe in some lights but becoming clearly "fake wood" when a bright light was applied to it as here. Photo Source: Modern Firearms.net
The charging handle is essentially the same trigger shape turned upside down and attached to the bolt carrier. Pulling back on it was arguably more natural, however the opening at the top for the handle meant there was a top-down hole for dirt to fall into and cause problems. Photo Credit: Guns magazine
With an optic mount and cheek riser added to "modernize" it is somewhat more capable, but also the gun highlights the flaws with this early-adopter platform as while these are interesting the fact that they have unique (read: wildly different) hardware means they are locked out of a lot of the upgrade paths made available for other AR10's and can best be thought of as their own thing. Photo Credit: u/herrjanneman on Reddit.
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QAqueerarmorer.bsky.social

Hi there, and welcome to #FridayFucksorSucks, a weekly game with simple rules. This week, it's the TU-2SH "Fire Hedgehog." An experimental ground attack modification for the TU-2, it replaced bombs with 88 PPSH submachine guns each loaded with 71 round drums. It had ~4 seconds of fire. Vote below!

The bomb bay doors open, viewed from down the barrel's perspective. The idea was that frequently ad hoc defensive positions are set up fast and loose and concepts like overhead cover is frequently too difficult to set up rapidly, especially if the position is intended to be moved.
The reloading process took one crewman a hundred hours. Each of the 88 drums has to be removed, individually, each of the 88 drums has to be loaded with 71 rounds of 7.62 Tokarev, and each drum has to be reinserted with the corresponding gun as the drums are not interchangeable with each other.
The Tupolev TU-2 was, itself, not necessarily the most advanced fighter. The PE-8 had four engines and better build quality, and the best bombers the Soviet Union had access to were all lend-lease models. However, the whole point of this project was using the parts that Soviets had extra production access and surpluses to.
The plane was loaded with 88 of these, normal submachine guns that the Soviet Union had assumed were going to be more important than they actually were while huge parts of the Soviet countryside had some limited uses for these they were decidedly not as ubiquitously needed. Surpluses of both the guns and the ammo were some of the few military surpluses the Russians could count.
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QAqueerarmorer.bsky.social

Hello, and welcome to #FridayFucksorSucks, a weekly game with simple rules: we vote on whether guns fuck, or if they suck. This week, it's the T31 Bullpup, one of the last designs John Garand put together while working with Springfield Armory. It's a prototype bullpup in 7.62 NATO. Vote below!

The prototype looks mildly unfinished, although all the components of the M1 Garand are present. In addition it also has a removable magazine.
Set next to an M1 Garand you can see the size savings.
Being handled by early engineers.
All of the prototypes are in museums.
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