There are different groups of people who will buy guns, and hunters, sport shooters and collectors all have different needs and expectations for their gun storage needs, as well as other specifications for the guns they want to buy.
A gun designed for competition, such as those used at the Olympic Games, is very different to the shotguns and rifles used for hunters, and both of those requirements are different from the decommissioned guns that become collector’s items.
Much like how the medium is the message, the purpose of a gun can often be seen in its design, and nowhere is this more evident than in the bizarre and ambitious failure of the Krummlauf, a curved barrel designed to shoot around corners in the final days of the Second World War.
Why was it made, why did it not work, and has the concept ever been attempted again?
Breaking Barrels And The Laws Of Physics
Practically every gun ever made has a straight barrel for a reason; as it is subject to the incredibly intense forces of explosions and metal bullets firing out the chamber, it needs to be as strong and robust as possible to take the forces and retain a consistent launch direction.
As well as this, the barrel often shapes the ballistics and motion of the bullet through the rifling grooves on the bore, allowing for greater stabilisation whilst in flight.
Given that a straight barrel is so important to the function of a gun that it is practically a foundational requirement, it may seem unusual that a weapons manufacturer would even attempt to make a curved barrel gun.
The ultimate answer is that it was an innovative gamble at the end of one of the biggest wars in history by an army that was all too aware that they were losing.
The Krummlauf (curved barrel) was a variation of the Sturmgewehr 44, the world’s first assault rifle with a German name that translates to the now-ubiquitous term for the primary weapon of armed police and military infantry.
The Krummlauf started development at the same time as the StG 44 was released in 1943, barely two years before the end of the Second World War.
The concept was based on the periscope rifle, a First World War adaptation of the standard military rifle of the year and developed by multiple soldiers largely in parallel with each other.
The idea was that in armed combat, if a soldier was aiming down the sights of their weapon, they were exposed to another soldier aiming, so putting a gun on a periscope allowed for someone to aim a gun without exposing themselves.
A similar concept was later explored with the CornerShot, a close-quarters add-on that turns a service pistol into an adjustable rifle to shoot down corners, but neither system actually used a curved barrel. There is a good reason for this
The aim of the Krummlauf was to protect the sports of a tank not otherwise covered or shoot around corners for infantry.
In both cases, the design simply did not work. The barrel caused the bullet to shatter, reducing accuracy and creating a miniature shotgun spread, and these extreme forces led to a laughably short lifespan for the barrels.
The 45-degree version of the gun lasted just 160 rounds, which theoretically meant that it could break after just five or six reloads depending on magazine, and could shatter in less than half an hour.
Ultimately, the end of the war ended the production of the Krummlauf, although the Soviet Union attempted to adapt the system for use with their PPSh-41 rifles to little avail.