Worst firearm in the world. Worst weapon in history Top most terrible weapons in the world

Weapons are different: they shoot well and badly!

1. Colt rifle with a rotating drum.

These rifles are a nice boost to the firepower of the Old West. Since the 1830s, they have shown significant shortcomings. For example, after each shot, hot gas burned the shooter's hand, and because of the special design of the rifle, gases leaked in the front cylinder, and this negatively affected the speed of the bullet.

2. The Liberator.

This pistol was created from sheet metal for the resistance movement during World War II. Since most of the opponents were armed with semi-automatic pistols or machine guns, this pistol could only be fired once in the field, and reloading it was a very troublesome business (easier to throw it away!).

3. Gyrojet.

In front of you is the Gyrojet, a hand-held rocket launcher that was created in the 1960s. It fired 13 mm rockets, differing from most firearms in that the speed of the fired rocket increased after it was fired from the barrel. But its main problem is the lack of firepower in close combat.

4. Boys Anti-tank Rifle.

At the beginning of World War II, this early anti-tank weapon began to be used, which looked like a 5-shot rifle, weighing 16 kg and firing armor-piercing rounds at a distance of 300 meters. Its power was not enough to cope with the armor of German tanks, which is why it sank into oblivion.

5. Nock Volley Gun.

This pistol appeared in 1780. It used 7 bullets of 50 caliber, which were fired at the same time. Its deadly recoil could break any shooter's shoulder.

6. Cochran revolver.

This interesting revolver stands out for its horizontally rotating barrel. Its significant drawback is that if handled incorrectly, it could shoot at the shooter himself.

7. Nambu (94 Shiki Kenju).

During World War II, this pistol was considered a very powerful weapon, although it was very bulky and inconvenient to use. It was also considered more dangerous to the one who used it, as it could shoot at him.

8. Pepper Box revolver.

In the pre-colt period, this revolver was often used. Its disadvantages are the huge weight due to the many trunks, the terrifying inaccuracy, the possibility of an explosion and a shot from all the trunks at once.

9. Grossflammenwerfer.

This is a German flamethrower from World War I. To operate it, a team of 2 people was needed, which were usually used as convicts due to the high flammability of the weapon itself.

10. Shosha.

This French machine gun was so bad (dirt and dust penetrated into all its slots that made shooting difficult) that the soldiers abandoned it in favor of a simple rifle.

The creators of modern small arms are doing their best to make life easier for a soldier. Excessive "abstruseness" of the design only leads to difficulties in operation, which is unacceptable in real combat operations. But to this seemingly simple thought, the weapon idea did not come immediately. For the last hundred years, designers have been creating weapons so strange that soldiers often simply refuse to use them. Here, for example, are several real-life models of personal small arms that are considered the worst in the whole world.

Stengun MK II

Country: UK

Entered service: 1940

Type: submachine gun

Range: 70 meters

Shop: 32 rounds

The UK needed small arms but lacked the resources and time to produce them. The result was the Sten gun MK II: it was easy to assemble and the manufacturing cost was minimal. The submachine gun often misfired; in addition, due to assembly defects, the bullets could generally lose their destructive power at the end.

bazooka

Country: USA

Entered service: 1942

Type: anti-tank weapon

Range: about 152 meters

Shop: 1 rocket

The bazooka was inconvenient to use and created problems both for the shooter himself and for the soldiers around him. However, based on these weapons, more advanced models subsequently appeared.

Revolver

Country: USA

Commissioned: 1856

Type: pistol

Shop: 9 rounds

The revolver could shoot buckshot - which, in principle, was a great idea for a personal weapon. Designed as a cavalry weapon at the end of the Civil War, the LeMat had 9 pistol rounds in the drum and one loaded with buckshot in an additional barrel. The soldier had to switch the movable striker manually to select the type of cartridge. In theory, everything worked well, in practice it turned out that the firing pin sticks in 3 out of 5 cases, leaving the owner of the revolver unarmed.

Krummlauf

Country: Nazi Germany

Entered service: 1945

Type: assault rifle

Range: 15 meters

Shop: 30 rounds

A cannon with a twisted barrel might work in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but it's unlikely to work in real life. The Krummlauf was designed for shooting around corners. The operator chose the target using a special periscope. By the time the weapon was put into production, its incredibly high cost was found out and the project was frozen.

Shosha machine gun

Country: France

Commissioned: 1915

Type: machine gun

Range: 5,000 meters

Shop: 20 rounds

At the height of the First World War, the Chauchet machine gun entered service with the French army - the embodiment of what a functional killing machine should definitely not be. The machine guns were made so carelessly that the operator was injured due to the incredibly strong recoil. The trigger mechanism constantly jammed, but even if everything went fine, then 20 barrels were clearly not enough to support the advancing soldiers with fire.

Gyrojet

Country: USA

Entered service: 1965

Type: pistol

Range: 300 meters

Shop: 6 rounds

The Gyrojet pistol is considered almost the most creative representatives of the species. Rocket ammunition was used as projectiles: the pistol was inaccurate and often exploded right in the hands of a soldier.

Mars

Country: UK

Martin Dougherty's The Worst Weapons in the World, a well-known contemporary military writer, chronicles a long history of over-ambitious but unsuccessful weapons.

Starting from a revolver-brass knuckles-dagger to rocket-propelled ammunition. Introducing the TOP 8 most unfortunate weapons in the world.

Submachine gun STEN MK II

Unfortunately, the mechanism of the STEN MK II pistol often did not work. In addition, there have been reports of pistol bullets bouncing off targets.

‘At the time Britain was being invaded and a lot of weapons were needed, STEN was quick and easy to assemble and it was much better than nothing,’ writes Daugherty in the book.

• Country: UK
• Entered service: 1940
• Type: Submachine gun
• Firing range: 70 meters
• Capacity: 32 rounds

bazooka

One of the striking problems of the bazooka is the massive flash that it created when fired, the flash exposed the position of the shooters and gave them dust, debris and flames. Later versions of the bazooka included a rear armored shield.

‘The best thing about the bazooka was that it became the basis for the best weapons that came later,’ writes Dougherty.

• Country: USA
• Entered service: 1942
• Type: unguided anti-tank weapon
• Shooting range: about 150 meters
• Capacity: Single rocket launcher / 1.5 kg explosive

Revolver Le Ma

Was another great fight idea but suffered from poor execution. Designed as a cavalry weapon at the end of the American Civil War, the LeMa revolver has a 9-round drum and one round in the lower barrel.

The shooter must switch the movable striker to select the projectile to fire. It was a great idea in theory, but in practice the weapon turned out to be very poorly designed and practically unsuitable for combat.

• Country: USA
• Commissioned: 1856
• Type: Pistol
• Shot range: 50 meters
• Capacity: 9 rounds

Curved weapon

Curved weapons look like a good idea if physicists, taking it from old American cartoons, could translate it into real life.

This weapon was supposed to fire from cover, with a curved barrel - 30 and 45 degrees, and have a periscope mounted on a fairly standard assault rifle.

After wasting time and money on the design, it was decided that this rifle would be expensive and unfortunate to produce in large numbers.

• Country: Nazi Germany
• Entered service: 1945
• Type: firearm
• Firing range: 2 km
• Capacity: 30 rounds

Shosha machine gun

In 1915, at the height of the First World War, the French Chauchat light machine gun showed by example what a machine gun should not be.

The weapon was poorly made to the point that it fired very hard. The trigger mechanism often clogged, and even when it worked perfectly, 20 rounds per minute was not enough for a fight.

• Country: France
• Commissioned: 1915
• Type: Support weapon
• Firing range: about 1 km
• Capacity: 20 rounds

Gyrojet (rocket pistol)

The Gyrojet pistol was one of the most creative ideas in modern firearms history.

Gyrojet pistols used rocket propulsion to fire ammunition. However, the weapon was horribly inaccurate and was therefore discontinued.

• Country: USA
• Entered service: 1965
• Type: Pistol
• Firing range: 55 meters
• Capacity: 6 rounds

Pistol Mars

In the early 20th century, inventors tried to create a self-loading pistol. Eventually, the Colt M1911 will become the standard, but before that, many mistakes were made, such as the Mars pistol.

The Mars was very difficult to operate and would throw used cartridges directly into the faces of the gunners.

‘About 80 were made, after which Mars was quite rightly discontinued,’ writes Dougherty.

• Country: UK
• Commissioned: 1900
• Type: Pistol
• Firing range: 40 m
• Capacity: 6 rounds

Revolver-knuckles-dagger Apache

Perhaps not a single weapon on this list will surpass the promises and inefficiency of the Apache revolver. This revolver had to combine effective ingredients - a knife, brass knuckles, and a small-caliber revolver into a neat folding contraption.

The brass knuckles component works well enough, but the knife is thin and flimsy. A revolver, practically without a muzzle, which is why it is weak and inaccurate. In addition, due to a careless hook, the shooter could take unnecessary shots.

• Country: USA
• Commissioned: 1880
• Type: For personal protection

Range: Melee

1. Cochran system revolver

One of the rarest revolvers. Its feature was the presence of a drum for cartridges, which rotated in a horizontal plane. Whenever a shot was fired, the spare round was pointed at the shooter. This was very risky, since in the event of wear of the metal parts of the revolver and the uncontrolled spread of hot gas after the combustion of gunpowder in the spent cartridge case, the cartridge directed at the shooter could “work”.

2. Nambu pistol (94 Shiki Kenju)

Source: radical.ru

Project of a Japanese pistol from World War II. Considered one of the worst automatic pistols. It was distinguished by low firing power, was heavy and inconvenient to use. Often gave misfires. The unfinished design of the pistol made it possible to fire even before the breech of the weapon was locked. An accidental touch of the trigger also led to a spontaneous shot. In general, as they said then, this gun was more dangerous for its owner than for his enemy.

3. Allen & Thurber (multi-barrel revolver)

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com

This type of firearm was popular before the advent of Colt revolvers. It was too heavy due to the large number of trunks. In addition, due to the fact that the shooting was carried out in bursts, all the barrels periodically fired, and all the bullets went to the target at once! As a rule, in such cases, the revolver failed, and the shooter received serious injuries to the wrist. And they sometimes exploded in the hands and were inaccurate when fired.

4. Grossflammenwerfer

Source: wikimedia.org

Heavy German flamethrower from World War II. It was a simple cylindrical tank with a compressed gas cylinder and hand-carrying brackets, connected to a hose with an arcuate outlet pipe. Its great weight required the presence of a calculation of at least two soldiers. Due to the enormous risk that this “liquid bomb” posed for its servants, as a rule, convicted felons or captured Wehrmacht deserters were assigned to the combat crew. In addition, the soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, considering flamethrowers to be exclusively barbaric weapons, did not take German flamethrowers prisoner.