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Praga I: A Blow-Forward Bullpup Semi-Auto-Selectable Vickers Gun (Ad-free)
🕑 Added 2025-01-15 12:00:02 +0000 UTCThe Praga I was the first machine gun design from noted Czech arms designed Vaclav Holek. Three examples were made for Czech military testing in 1922, but they were not acceptable. Instead, this design served as the first stepping stone to the eventual development of the ZB-26, perhaps the best of the interwar light machine guns.
Mechanically, the Praga I is largely based on the Vickers/Maxim system except with a locking wedge instead of a toggle joint. It also uses a forward-moving gas trap sort of action instead of recoil operation like the Maxim/Vickers. The fire control mechanism is essentially a Vickers lock, just built into the receiver of the gun instead of in a moving bolt or lock. It is a truly fascinating system!
Many thanks to the VHU - the Czech Military History Institute - for giving me access to this fantastic prototype to film for you. The Army Museum Žižkov is a part of the Institute, and they have a 3-story museum full of cool exhibits open to the public in Prague.If you have a chance to visit, it's definitely worth the time! You can find all of their details (including their aviation and armor museums) here:
https://www.vhu.cz/en/english-summary/
Comments
Squid556
Very impressive lock work in the back room
Glenn Miller
I got a chuckle when the third hand appeared in the video. I'm so accustomed to you disassembling guns solo, that it was a great "Wait... What?" moment.
Daniel Standridge
One can only imagine the cost of manufacture in todays dollars.
Pyro Neurosis
Fun to watch and learn about, but if there were ~any~ casings that manage to slip the feed, that gun would be out of commission for a week it feels like.
Ryan C.S.
Does the trigger and firing mechanism have more parts than the rest of the machine gun combined? That's a whole lot of bits squeezed into that "backroom".
Risto Alanko
Great "old school" mechanisms, intricate steel parts. And those "doors", one with the feed block... Full production would need a big factory full of milling and shaping machines.
Plan9fromkansas
And just like that, Ian created a brand new cartridge. 8mm Maxim. What most people don’t know is that 8mm Maxim was created in collaboration with Otto Bock for hunting Elbonian moose.
WayneWiiki
Really interested in what the recoil impulse must feel like.
Guido Schriewer
that shroud certainly looks very very cool. dito its shortness. I don't think so short did the design any good but looks badass. DANG that is EASY to maintain! lift the housing and access to everything? how nice is that! last thing that would be needed is a cutaway for training. nicely explained (like a tom and jerry mousetrap blueprint).
z c
Very well done on the presentation of the feed system! Blow forward systems are always fun to see and learn about
