Welcome to our new series, TFBTV Weekly where we use comments from you guys to help show what you want to see! In this episode we discuss reproduction firearms and demonstrate the difference between cock on close vs. open. We hope you enjoy.

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Transcript …

– Hey guys, it’s Alex C. with TFBTV.

Welcome to a new series we’re starting called TFBTV Weekly where we’re basically going to keep you guys up to date on firearms news and also answer any viewer questions or realistically show anything you guys want to see.

For example, if you wanted to see how a general purpose machine gun works, or if you wanted to understand how a Mauser 98 works or something like that, this is where we do that.

We’re going to rely on you guys, however, to ask questions in the comment field below.

We’ll respond to, realistically, as many as we can, or whichever one gets the most likes.

That’s really what this is gonna be all about.

While I’m not qualified to answer every firearms related question you guys have, I’m sure that we at least have one staff member at TFB who can help, so it might be cool to see some fresh faces here as well.

Anyways, the topic of this week, first of all, is going to address firearm reproductions.

Most videos I do, you guys– Well, you guys realistically know that I really like old firearms.

I prefer them to new firearms.

Most people say, “Well, they should reproduce that,” especially when it comes to unique things like a broom-handle Mauser.

There’s a lot of reasons companies can’t do this.

If you look at pictures of the old factory where they were making broom-handles, it took a legitimate factory full of people and 100+ employees focusing on this to make it.

It would cost a lot of money for a company that was small to introduce a pistol that has no chance at all of selling to law enforcement or the military.

It wouldn’t sell that well.

The economics aren’t there, and if a small shop did tool up, like relatively recently, a company tooled up to make.45 ACP Lugers, it’d be really expensive just like the modern FG42’s by SMG Guns in Decatur, Texas.

They’re very expensive because it’s a small shop producing a limited amount.

Realistically, there’s not that many people interested.

I know you guys might be because you’re die-hard firearms enthusiasts for the most part, but your average hunter and what-not’s not going to buy a broom-handle Mauser because they’re impractical relative to today’s pistols.

When a company does do it, they generally cost a lot like the SMG Guns’s FG42’s are $5.000.

People complain about the hight price.

That’s a small shop with, maybe, a dozen employees working really hard to bring this to market.

It’s a very complex gun to make, and a real one cost about $300,000 in an auction house.

So, what it seems like is people want an accurate reproduction of a gun that’s not going to sell a lot, and they want it for free? I would like that too, but that’s just unfortunatly not the way the situation works.

Anyways, that’s that.

That’s basically why they don’t reproduce old firearms that are obsolete, is it’s not cost effective, and they’d be expensive, and probably wouldn’t be profitable.

Anyways, the next section we’re gonna take a look at some bolt-action rifles, and I’m going to show you the difference between a cock-on open and a cock-on closed design because I’ve actually had a lot of people ask, “What’s the difference?” If you’re not really into old military bolt actions, or if you’re just familiar with hunting rifles, you probably only have messed with cock-on open.

So, let’s have a look.

What we have here is a Ugoslovian Mauser.

This is a 24/47, basically a Mauser 98.

The 98 action is copied, or elements of the 98 action are copied in pretty much every bolt-action rifle in production today, and it is cock-on open.

This right here is the cocking piece.

As I rotate the bullet, you’ll notice this canning surface allows for good positive extraction and draws the cocking piece to the rear.

which allows you to cycle the bolt.

Now, when you lock it back down, the cocking piece stays closed because it’s already cocked.

It’s basically held to the rear when then bolt handle is up, and you’re not fighting any sort of spring tension when you go to cock it.

There you go.

There’s a basic cock-on open system.

Cock-on open, in theory, allows for better leverage when cocking the bolt.

That’s what people say.

So that’s there.

I guess there’s a reason it’s on every hunting rifle today is a cock-on open design.

That is basically the foundation of a cock-on open rifle.

Now, let’s have a look at a cock-on close rifle.

Here, we’ve got a 1917 dated short-magazine Lee Enfield.

Lee Enfield’s definitely going to be, probably, the most prominent cock-on closed design you’ll encounter next to maybe the Swedish 96 Mauser.

Now, the way this works is when you open the bolt, you’ll notice the cocking piece doesn’t quite jump all the way back.

It jumps a little bit, but not all the way.

When I lower the bolt– Sorry, when I close the bolt, it’s not cocked.

It’s because you have to draw it all the way to the rear, and you can hear the cocking piece actually clicking over the sear.

There’s resistance when you go to close it, and that’s because the sear is holding the cocking piece to the rear.

It isn’t until you fire it that you’ll have to cycle it again.

Now, one thing to note about cock-on closed design is there’s a lot of spring pressure holding the cocking piece to the rear, so when you open the bolt, it’ll fly to the rear.

Not with quite enough force to seriously injure you, but it probably could bruise your face a little bit.

In theory, the advantage of a cock-on closing system is– Well first, it’s simpler to produce.

Second of all, it’s going to be faster.

I personally can shoot a cock-on open rifle quickly.

If you watch my MAS 36 run and gun, or the Enfield– Sorry, the Mauser vs. Mosin challenge we did, to me, it doesn’t seem to really matter that much.

Why I can cycle a Lee Enfield faster is realistically the placement of the bolt.

I can place my thumb and forefinger on the bolt handle and my middle finger on the trigger, and it’s easy to get back onto the trigger after you cycle it.

I’ve always thought that the short bolt throw coupled with the bolt/handle position is what makes the Enfield fast.

While cock-on closed does help a little bit, I think that– Well, personally I think that the strong point of cock-on closed being, or the Enfield being faster, isn’t necessarily as a result of it being cock-on closed.

But that’s just me.

That’s just my experiences.

Anyways, let’s go back to the table.

All right guys, so that was the first episode of TFBTV Weekly.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Little bit kind of a softball episode.

I don’t really have much to talk about because you guys haven’t proposed any questions, obviously being how it’s the first episode.

That said, if there’s something you’d like explained or you’d like me to show, it could be anything, like I said, how a bolt action rifle works up to how does a Sturmgewehr work, I can definitely show that on camera.

You guys just have to let us know, and we will absolutely do that for you guys.

Just make sure to please subscribe to the program, and we’ll get the episodes rolling out.

Anyways, I’m Alex C. with TFBTV.

Also like to thank Grizzly Target and Ventura Munitions for making these videos possible.

See you next time, guys.