[ Vickers-Pedersen .276 Model PB Rifle ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on Forgotten Weapons.com.
I'm here today with Alex from TheFirearmBlog,
who went out and found himself a Pedersen rifle.
This is specifically a PB, one of the very first rifles of this type made by the Vickers Company.
And we went looking for a clip, and we managed to find him an en bloc clip for it.
And we've got some wax-lubricated .276 ammo,
and we're actually going to do some shooting with this sucker.
- I very much look forward to it, Ian. - There are not a whole lot of people who own these rifles,
and a very small subset of those people who are willing to actually shoot them.
- Absolutely, I really am looking forward to today's test. - You and me both, Alex.
Alright, let's get to it. - Let's do it.
So there are a couple of different versions of Pedersen rifles.
This one is actually one of the more scarce varieties, this is a PB.
This was the first variant of the rifle that the Vickers-Pedersen Company made for John Pedersen.
The very first one developed at all was the T1 version,
which was the ... US Army experimental version.
... Like 1928, 1930, when it looked like the American Army was going to adopt this rifle,
Pedersen went over to England to start working
on a contract with the Vickers Company to manufacture the guns.
Unfortunately, ironically, it was his absence which largely contributed
to the rifle ultimately losing out in the American service trials.
But most of the guns that exist today are actually Vickers-built guns.
So we kind of have Vickers to thank for it not being an army gun,
and we also have Vickers to thank for the ones that still exist today.
At any rate, the PB is also a bit interesting in that it uses a non-reversible clip.
So kind of like the clip on a Steyr-Mannlicher straight-pull,
you can only put it in right side up.
... After about 12 or 15 or 20 of these PB models were made,
Pedersen switched it up, made a few changes, and came out with the PA version.
Now the PA actually takes a reversible clip.
What's a little bit weird is that in the American market most of the rifles out there are PAs,
they run serial numbers like 17 to about 240 or 260.
There's only a little more than a dozen of the PBs.
However, most of the clips that are available on the market are PB clips.
So we're really fortunate today that Alex managed to pick up a PB rifle,
and we also have a PB clip for it.
So, I'm obviously very excited to get to actually shooting this.
... The .276 Pedersen cartridge, ...
it had the potential, it could have been the first adopted intermediate cartridge.
It fired a 125 grain bullet at just about 2,700 feet per second.
And from what I am seeing here today,
it has a significantly nicer recoil impulse than the .30-06.
So let's go ahead and give it a try.
So shooting impressions: this thing is fantastic.
I love shooting the M1, I find the M1 a very comfortable gun to shoot.
This is better than an M1: this is smoother, it's lighter, it's just as pointable
I have a few quibbles with the sights. The front sight, being a Pedersen thing,
has this very unusual hollow squared-out section underneath the front sight.
It's kind of weird, you get used to it, but it's weird.
The rear sight is an aperture, which is very nice.
However, the outside perimeter of the aperture is fairly small, and it tends to dissolve away.
So you kind of have to get used to treating it like a ghost ring.
I think with some practice, if you shot one of these a lot, that would be no big deal.
When it's your first time up, and you just shoulder it and take a look,
the rear sight looks kind of awfully small and hazy, and a little bit unpleasant.
Not confidence inspiring.
The one other thing that I noticed, actually you saw me check the action after like my second shot,
the trigger reset on this rifle is a bit odd.
You have to let the trigger go all the way forward.
And in fact what had happened was I got a dead trigger, because I didn't fully release the trigger.
And ... racking the action solved it.
But the solution on later shots was to make sure that I had my finger completely off the trigger,
and let it go all the way forward, and then it would reset.
Whether that's a characteristic of the Pedersen in general,
or this particular example, I don't know.
When I've had a chance to shoot half a dozen more of these, I'll let you know.
If I don't die of old age first.
The clip ejected decently,
I think with a brand new rifle that would have been a little bit more energetic,
just because it's an 85 year old magazine spring in here.
But I'm really impressed, it ran flawlessly.
One of the original complaints, and one that people particularly hold against this rifle today,
is that it required lubricated ammunition.
The reason for that is it's simply a delayed blowback gun.
There is no recoil action on the barrel, the barrel doesn't move,
there's no gas piston, there are no locking lugs.
It's just the angles of these components of the toggle lock
are precisely machined at just the right slight angles
that the bolt can't open from pressure in the chamber
until the bullet's gone, and the pressure has started to drop.
But in order to make that work, Pedersen had to actually lubricate the ammo.
Now instead of doing something goofy like most countries did,
like an oiler pad, or a brush, or something on the ammunition,
he came up with a very clever and very effective hard-wax coating
to put on the ammunition straight out of the factory.
And in fact there's .276 on the market that is both lubricated and non-lubricated.
And handling the lubricated stuff is interesting,
because it feels almost like a paper Dixie cup that has a wax coating on it.
So far not just my five rounds here, but all the shooting we've done today,
the ammo has worked flawlessly.
It seems if anything that wax coating, it's not sticky, it doesn't attract dirt,
it may actually serve to help preserve the ammunition, and waterproof it.
Can't prove that, but I suspect that may be part of what's going on here.
We're shooting 1929 ammunition and we haven't had a single dud, a single hang fire,
any problems at all with the ammunition yet.
Interestingly, ... that lubricant, it's a hard wax until you fire it.
And once it's in the pressure of a firing chamber it actually liquefies,
which is what allows it to easily eject the case,
but then it kind of stays a little bit liquid on the brass on the ground.
And if you go pick up one of those cases, it's significantly hotter
than you would expect for an equivalent type of fired brass.
That liquid wax gets on your hand, and it kind of hurts a lot.
So an interesting little side effect of the hard-wax coating.
- Alright guys, now it's my turn to give it a go, I've been looking forward to this all day.
- Once I take the safety off.
- Hit that one.
Ye hah!
I'm out of targets.
I love this thing, this is a freaking awesome rifle!
Alright, so one of the complaints that came up with the Pedersen rifle,
and we don't know if this is realistic or not,
is that this toggle popping up would actually hit a soldier's campaign hat or Brody helmet.
So I don't have one of those hats, but I do have a ball cap
that sticks about as far forward as a campaign hat.
So I think I can make this hit my hat, let's find out.
Yeah, that could hit your hat!
That said, I don't think that was a very significant issue for the gun.
You really have to crawl forward on the gun to do that,
it might happen to soldiers inadvertently a couple of times.
But frankly, once you get used to handling the gun, that's going to be a non-issue.
Looking at this today, I think really the biggest reason
it would have deserved to be beaten by the M1 would simply be cost.
It is definitely a more expensive rifle to make.
The M1 is not a simple or cheap rifle, but the Pedersen is more complex.
Probably a cost factor of 10% or 20% more to manufacture these.
As far as the handling, and the weight, the shootability,
... the first 5 rounds I put through this thing and I was hitting targets on the berm
without any real trouble, it's a fantastic rifle.
I really wish there were more of them, or that this was mine,
unfortunately I have to give it back to the guy who owns it.
So, thanks to Alex for letting us bring this out and shoot it.
Alex from TheFirearmBlog, they also have some video on this that ... you ought to check out.