Attachment 100323
Looks like a bubba special, but isn't. Can anybody identify this gun and it's history?
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Attachment 100323
Looks like a bubba special, but isn't. Can anybody identify this gun and it's history?
I believe it to be the Charleton automatic rifle, a classic
@MSL perfectly correct
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Automatic_Rifle
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/lig...tomatic-rifle/
@Max Headroom
NZ attempt to make a 303 machinegun with what have you. Typical #8 wire mentality
looks like it was basically successful.
Good example of a what would be called a steampunk design but it is actually a working firearm
I'm picking more than a few reconstructed wrists after firing that shotty pistol and pistol Nagant! I've never fired a Nagant; but aren't they meant to kick like a stag as a rifle? Let alone a pistol! :D:D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by 300CALMAN
The lever looks kind of ok-ish. Skeletor's double braked AK is wrong on so many levels though.
@kiwi_greg how would the double brake work.... Something to experiment with :wtfsmilie:
I have an original Charlton (the 'stick & string machine gun') in my collection. They are hand-made and fitted but when properly set up are surprisingly nice to shoot on semi-auto. Full-auto is a bit of a hit and miss affair, but the guns were only meant to be used as a semi-auto, full-auto being saved for 'emergency' according to the handbook. Out of the original 1500 there are now only 10 left in the World.Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Headroom
Do you ever shoot it or is it too rare for that?Quote:
Originally Posted by gundoc
Sent from my TA-1024 using Tapatalk
Testfired only after some restoration work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Russian 22.
Did they ever have more than a 10 shot mag?Quote:
Originally Posted by gundoc
Is there any way to tell if its NZ or aussie made, ive heard the the aussie ones were made by electrolux and were a bit less agricultural than the hastings made ones.
All the production Charltons were made in NZ (Hastings) and are very 'agricultural' looking. Electrolux in Aussie only made a very small number of prototypes and are distinguished by having a neat sheet metal shroud over the working parts. The NZ Charltons were meant to have a purpose-built Bren style magazine which were ordered from Aussie but when they arrived they didn't fit without modification. Consequently, the guns were issued with the standard 10 round mags until the modified mags were finished. My gun is fitted with an original modified Aussie made Bren-style mag.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty Henry
I heard the majority of the guns built were destroyed in a warehouse fire, one went up for sale in palmy I think, about a year or two ago. would have been nice to take home!Quote:
Originally Posted by gundoc
Yes, a fire at the Palmerston North racecourse in December 1944 destroyed 22 million Pounds worth of military equipment including all the Charltons (withdrawn from the Home Guard and replaced with Brens by then) except the small handful in reference collections and one with the inventor.
I had the privilege of cleaning the one in the auckland museum along with a whole lot of other stuff back in the 80s with a bunch of guys in imas. I thought it was heavy, unwieldy and would be fired only as a last resort. A friend made a "non firing" replica that had pride of place in his lounge for many years.
You might find this photo of my Charlton of interest.
Attachment 100364
Awesome �� that’s pretty dam rear
Sad, but it does make the few left more interesting than they already were!Quote:
Originally Posted by gundoc
Not a gun for lefties by the look of it. How far does that op rod travel rearwards when fired?
Damn but thats nice shouldnt be in bubbas thread but in a thread on innovative answers to desperate shortages or something like that.
Can anyone give me a run down on the Charlton? Interesting for me, the story goes a guy on the third farm North of here was involved in developing some kind of autotmatic weapon during WW2. My grandparents mentioned hearing a lot of automatic gunfire during the war, but everyone just kept quiet about it. Maybe they used the farm as the test ground for the Charlton? Makes sense, we're only half an hour drive from Hastings. Anyone know if there was any research done on larger automatic weapons? The way I heard the story it sounded more like anti-aircraft guns, but I never heard any details. I haven't thought of this in years! Something went wrong by the way, the guy doing the testing had a limp for the rest of his life. I was told this was caused by a firearm explosion, no way to confirm it now. No one talked about it during the war.
My bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty Henry
Google "Forgotten Weapons Charlton LMG" Good article on it there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben Waimata
There is or was one at the Auckland War Memorial museum. Apperently the new english director has closed the armoury as 'knowones intrested in old firearms"
The distance of the plain rod between the cocking handle and the buffer unit (the normal travel length of a .303 MLE bolt). Definitely not a gun for lefties. As a right-hander I find the ergonomics bloody awful!Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Headroom
What a douche. They even tried to remove the reference to war in the name of the place.Quote:
Originally Posted by Walker
I used to work there till about six years ago. Just couldn't stand the politics and pc crap anymore. Funny thing was at one point I was the only one with a 'c' cat with the rate people were coming and going in the place so had to be on hand any time firearms were moved or handled. A lot of stuff went back to the Army museum.
Is that a close relation of the one who got a job mouthing off for the Police Union?Quote:
Originally Posted by Walker
Attachment 100384
Attachment 100386
Oh the cries of outrage....
The shadow looks like it is about to take a piss on the rifle...and rightly soQuote:
Originally Posted by Max Headroom
That's OK. Everyone knows the blue ones are inert!
Quote:
Originally Posted by jakewire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxSjLllBbQ4&t=638s
Hope that's no Cerakote NZ production... but a great antidote for excessive narzi re-enactors.Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Headroom
Perfect for a gunfight in a phone booth.Quote:
Originally Posted by 300CALMAN
Would not look out of place in a steam punk parade. :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by gundoc
Oh yeah! I have seen my share of those sorts of jobs. They do it to save money and grizzle like hell when you neatly repair it and it only costs them twice as much as it would have to do it properly!Quote:
Originally Posted by Max Headroom
