Looks Like a Howdah Pistol
I’ve written before about how the Nazis managed to turn a flare pistol into an anti-armor weapon during WWII. I thought you might be interested to hear that they did the same thing with a double barreled version issued as standard equipment to the Kriegsmarine.
Called the Kriegsmarine Signal und Leucht Doppel, it was nothing more than a signaling device until the Nazis came up with some HE rounds. Sort of like 20mm grenades that were propelled by a mini-rocket.
Looks totally badass, but I can’t find any accounts of anyone who actually tried to use one in combat.
December 31st, 2009 at 5:36 pm
sounds a bit like the Gyrojet, the rocket-firing handgun. a pal of mine saw one fired at a gun show years ago, said it was really neat. details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet
December 31st, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I love “neohistorical” guns like that: ones that look like far older weapons reimagined in a later time. If money was no object, I’d own a Thompson/Center Contender just because it looks like a neo-pirate pistol.
December 31st, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Yeah, but by the time they came into issue, they weren’t powerful enough to tackle tanks with… and the effective range was in the “Nearer My God To Thee” bracket.
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:05 pm
May well come in handy for the “Second American Revolution”
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 am
kinda like the explosives stuffed in a sock and stuck to a tank with axle grease like in private ryan.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 am
if your close enough to use it you have bigger problems at hand
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:42 am
According to “enzyklopädie deutscher Waffen 1939-45″ (yeps I can read german) that is a 2,7 cm doppelschuss pistole, Sternsiognalpistole Walter Model Sld.
it fired a 26,66 mm light/illumination round.
A HE round was developed, but it was mainly used for the 2,7 cm Kampfpistole and the 2,7 cm Stummpistole. iI cound also use a Wurfkörber 361 grenade with a larger shell-
The standard 26 mm He shell contained 70 gram of explosives, not a lot, and it was not that efficient.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:33 am
Steampunk OICW? Attached to a Gew 98, with advanced trigger group engineering for select fire!
Jawohl!
Brought to you by the better minds at Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktien-Gesellschaft!
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:55 am
“The standard 26 mm He shell contained 70 gram of explosives, not a lot, and it was not that efficient.”
Hmmm. That is pretty close to the weight of PETN the Panty Bomber had sewn into his briefs.
January 3rd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
also, the 26 mm he Grenade had an effective range of about 90 meters.
So, it had too little increased range compared to handgrenades, (the germans had a dedicated rifle grenade launcher that offered better performance) and too little penetration for AT combat
But..it looks mighty cool, and it was good for it’s intended purpose, signalling and illumination.