Q&A 60: Early Automatic Pistols & More w/ "Fireplace Guy" - Len Antaris
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
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Check out Len's channel "Historic Investments":
/ @historicinvestments2587
Today I am speaking to Len Antaris of Historic Investments, aka "Fireplace Guy". Len has a tremendous collection with an emphasis on unusual and prototype handguns, and he has been very generous in allowing me to film much of it for you over many years. So, I figured we should talk to him about some of the things you might be interested in his take on:
00:00 - Introduction
02:14 - Why are American Collectors so interested in Swiss Firearms?
04:21 - Why were early autoloading pistols so clunky compared to modern pistols?
07:32 - Your house is on fire, and you only have time to save one gun from your collection. Which one, and why?
Salvatore-Dormus: • 1891 Salvator-Dormus: ...
Laumann & Schonberger-Laumann: • Laumann 1891 and Schon...
10:11 - How did you get started collecting firearms and why a particular interest in early semi-auto handguns?
15:38 - Why have modern firearms have lost the finesse and finish of older guns?
18:34 - Top 3 guns to hang on the mantle above the fireplace?
20:33 - Most interesting technological dead end to come out of early self-loading pistol design?
Sosso: • Sosso 1941 Italian Pro...
22:49 - Webley self-loader viable for wide-spread use in WW1?
Webley Model 1913: • Webley 1913 Semiauto P...
25:12 - Were there any serious attempt at stocked revolvers for militaries after the early 1900's?
25:27 - Thoughts on the Trejo Model 1 .22 auto pistol?
Trejo Model 1: • Trejo Model 1 Machine ...
26:30 - Why didn't the Schwarzlose 1898 take off commercially despite it's advanced features and good ergonomics?
Schwarzlose 1898: • Schwarzlose 1898 Semia...
29:21 - How hard is it finding warlord pistols these days?
35:39 - What firearms are you seeking, or wish you could have for your collection?
36:53 - I’m starting to collect World War 2 military sidearms. But, I want to focus on the "not so common" military issue sidearms. What would you consider the top 3 "un-sung pistols" of World War 2?
41:15 - Favorite pistol to shoot / Do you shoot your collectible pistols?
43:26 - Which, if any, of the early semiauto pistols could be a (limited) success if it was brought back as a replica today?
48:18 - Will polymer pistols ever be collectible?
51:25 - Who are some early designers of semi-automatic handguns you think more people should know about?
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Fireplace Guy has a name! Thanks, Len, for giving Ian access to your collection.
So glad we finally got to meet "fireplace guy" and Len is just a treasure to listen to. I hope we get to have him in on some more Q&A's in the future!
What a genuinely awesome guy. If he hasn't done similar content before, he's a natural at it. Well spoken, knowledgeable, interesting, humorous and again, a genuinely nice person.
Fireplace Guy: You know, I'm something of a firearms collector myself
he does looks like willem dafoe
The fact that Len focuses on collecting early semi autos yet can talk about collectible polymer pistols says to me that despite having a focus for his own collection, his knowledge is still well rounded.
I would never had guessed that Willem Dafoe was the "Fireplace Guy"...
he looks more like harvey keitel; the resemblance is actually almost uncanny
He looks like Harvey Keitel & William Sadler spliced together
@@LUKEY_D_FRESH holy crap, youre right
HOLY CRAP! Fireplace guy reveals his secret identity!?
Len is such a gentleman and his taste in firearms is top notch.
"Classic pistols with modern ammunition". I saw a pistol in 9mm Glisenti at my local Cabela's in their Gun Librabry a few months ago. I specifically said, out loud, that it had better go to someone who knows WTH that is because otherwise it's going to Kaboom and hurt someone.
Thank you, Len. Your years of support for this channel has brought all of us much pleasure.
OK this guy is one of the best guests you've had yet! He's engaging and easy to understand, 5*!
"easy to understand"
Sounds like you're doing my boy Max dirty :P
@@kittycatpilot 🤣🤣🤣
Finally! The fire place guy.
Len is so well spoken and insightful! I'm very glad to finally put a face with the fireplace! What an amazing collection...
Finally the big reveal! Had anyone guessed it would be him?
I think I remember reading a comment suggesting the "fireplace guy" might be a dentist or something similar, which isn't too far off.
@@oktayyildirim2911 This guy certainly ticks all the "doctor" boxes for me. He reminds me exactly of my pediatrician and my current doctor.
This might just be the best Q&A in Forgotten weapons history. Loved when the person behind the camera cracked up at the thought of someone wanting to purchase Remington. I lost it too
Dr Antaris reminds me of my Dr. A soft spoken guy that is an avid gun collector. My Doc specializes in full automatic weapons. He's got a room full of every size machine gun . I kid him about the value of his collection and he says he acquired many of these autos many years ago for a fraction of what they are worth now.
What a fun Q&A. It may be a function of my geographic location (northwest Montana) but shooting at a social gathering is still a part of our lifestyle. Thank God. Keep up the good work.
same here in texas. We have a 22 cal range set up and young and old love to hang out and shoot
I have one of those books. It has helped me immensely in planning out and figuring out what Star pistols I want to collect.
Great to finally see and hear the legend himself. Thanks for letting Ian show us some of your awesome collection over the years.
It was a joy hearing mr anteris, cant say ive ever heard him before, but seems a fella that exudes his passions and could talk all day/week about them. Did rather enjoy hearing him talk and surmise a few opinions for us.
This man is a pleasure to listen to. Great interview.
The first generation Glock 17 was only available on the American commercial market for two years before it was replaced by the second generation model, so finding one that isn’t completely clapped out is quite difficult.
For anyone who’s interested, Glock recently released a reproduction of the P80; a first generation Glock 17 as adopted by the Austrian military back in 1982.
Lipsey’s and Brownells are distributing them.
Yup, just shows the collectibility of Gen 1 glock. The Repro is purely a collectible produced to take advantage of the desire to collect the Gen 1 but the limited availability of them.
I found this channel about 2 years ago and I was always wondering "where is he? I don't remember Ian's place having a fireplace."
Very cool guy, great interview thanks for your hard work and thanks to "Fireplace Guy" for participating!
Hats off to the collectors who open their collections so that the wider populace can be exposed to them. These people are preserving history, and that should always be appreciated. It's so easy for historically relevant things to just fade away, unless people care about them and preserve them. Museums simply do not have the funding to do all that is required to preserve these historical things.
So kudos to those who choose to spend their money preserving these historical artifacts.
Classic gun that can be produced economically - Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless.
Not in the same league as a Borchardt or C96, but also not something that would cost $5,000+ to market profitably.
A splendid Q&A! After so many years of Ian's videos on Len's collection, it was fascinating to see the Fireplace Guy in person and hear him talk. Very interesting, very informative, one of the best gun-related Q&As on CZcams. Thank you, gentlemen.
I've wondered about the fireplace and now my questions have been answered. Len is an interesting guy. Glad he took part. Thanks for showing us some of his cool firearms.
Ian, this guy is a gem, so glad to meet the face of an excellent and unusual collection
The man, the myth, the legend. Many thanks, Len.
This might be my favorite Q&A. Mr. Adaris thank you Sir for opening up to us over the years. Its truly a pleasure.
It took over 20 years to agree on where to put the mag in a submachine gun
Refinement takes at ton of time when you don't have a baseline
Edit: sig p210 is the best feeling handgun I've ever held. It's a a toss up between it and the Shadow except for the single stack mag
and the correct answer was behind the trigger!
@@kaiserruhsam no the correct answer is to side of the bolt
@@kaiserruhsam yeah somehow nobody came up with that until Israel was a thing
Agreed.
Sig make some great feeling hand guns.
I have a custom P229 and 226. Tho my favorite pistol to shoot is my Nighthawk Customs Lady Hawk 2.0
@@ivankrylov6270 If you're thinking of the UZI, it was actually again us Czechs who came up with the magazine in the grip first in the Sa. 25 SMG, or rather in one of the Brno factory prototypes even before that, the ZK 476. Look it up, both came about 2 years before the UZI.
Wait, that’s a real fireplace? 🤯 Due to its frequency i had assumed that it was a generic green screen background to obfuscate the filming location lol
I love this channel as much as the next guy but if you think Ian is using green screens regularly I think you're somewhat overestimating his production skills.
Yes, I remember reading comments in older videos from people who swore it was a green screen and called out reasons as to why it wasn't real. I think it's funny they addressed the "fake fireplace" theory.
I've been saying for years now Ian is CGI everything else is real. 😁
Can’t tell you enough how much I enjoyed this! Having a face/name to the fire place guy and getting to hear y’all’s thought made my day
Fireplace Guy! A pleasure to meet you sir.
If a semi-automatic sniper rifle isn't socially acceptable to hang over your fireplace for your guests, I say invite better guests.
Hear hear !
Maybe they are more into LMGs.
Thank you Len!
Edit: and as always, Thank you Ian!
Thank you, Len, for taking us in and sharing some of your collection with us.
"Maybe I should buy the Remington Company" Hey, It worked for Marcellus Hartley didn't it ? LOL
This has got to be my favorite Forgotten Weapons video to date.
Wow. SINGLE BEST Q and A on YT, across any subject matter. Informed, substantive, comfortable flow. Absolute treat. Muchas gracias, Len and Ian!
Len is awesome. Thanks for having him on your channel
Thank you sir for your generosity over the years in allowing access to your collection.
Thank you for allowing use to see your collection through Forgotten weapons.
Very interesting.
What an exceptional guest. Knowledgeable, personable, great presence and effortlessly eloquent. Thank you Len for sharing your thoughts and wisdom and hope Ian can have you back again!
that was fantastic ...please have fireplace guy back again ....informed , informative and witty
The big mystery is no more! Thanks Ian and Len :)
Lovely interview, thanks Fireplace Guy!
I can't wait until my now discontinued Springfield XDe becomes a valuable collectible polymer framed firearm, it's value should skyrocket within the next few thousand years or so!
Keep it out of sunlight !
It was absolutely wonderful listening to two VERY knowledgeable people discuss the finer things. I loved this Q&A! Thanks, Len and Ian.
Thanks Len for sharing your collection with us
Thank you for coming on camera!
I enjoyed the hell out of this q&a.
Be well, do good work, keep in touch.
Hey, good to see love for the Nylon 66! I have always loved mine, even looked into how to make jigs to reassemble the many, many piles of parts out there haha.
Very under appreciated. Even out on the range it usually gets odd looks and called a toy! But I would take it over a 10/22 any day, and it runs just about any .22 LR from sub to supersonic just fine.
as spanish pistol collector, i never knew fireplace guy was him!
I wish Savage and Webley had kept going with their semi-auto pistol designs.
I knew Gun Jesus and Steven King would get along swimmingly.
Glad to finally see the man behind the fireplace legend
Really great that we have awesome people like Fireplace Guy who preserve and show off these interesting old guns (and other artifacts).
I have been watching for almost ten years and I don't think I have ever clicked on a video so fast. I really enjoyed this Q&A, perfect for unwinding on 'my Friday' night. I really almost felt like I was hanging out with you guys and the 'will cause your gun to friggen explode' line had me laughing on my couch alone at home! Thank you!
This was fantastic, I could listen to Len talk about any topic.
Thanks for having let Ian film for so long, Len Antaris :)
that was a great conversation/interview! Thank you Len for sharing your guns with the channel!
I often wondered about that fireplace :-) Very enjoyable and engaging. Thanks to Len for his insights.
I could listen to Len talk for hours, thank you for sharing.
Honestly, I miss the older days of handgun design when people just threw random shit at the wall to see what sticks. They make a lot of things we look as weird or clunky, but even the revolver, or the autoloading pistol were weird and clunky back then.
Meanwhile, nowadays, most of our handgun designs are still just iterations upon the same basic Browning-style short recoil tilting barrel design. There's so little innovation that the 1911, a 100+ year old design, is still a perfectly viable pistol today. And that goes double once you add on a double stack frame and some rails for accessorizing. Can't say that about the flintlock that was standard the same amount of time before 1911 as 1911 is to now.
I don't think any successful firearm was just shit thrown against the wall. All the designs are iterative, and a result of the tools, materials, and chemistry that were available.
I mean I wouldn’t say the 1911 is _viable…_ come on, at least say hi-power
@@farmerboy916 The only major advancement the High Power has over the 1911 is a double stack magazine, which has been backported to the 1911 since Para-Ordnance did it back in the 80's.
I have a custom built Para frame 1911 myself which has 15 round flush fit .45ACP magazines and 18 round extended.
@@gameragodzilla And using 9mm rather than .45acp, which between the two capacity becomes comparable to modern guns, bringing it definitively out of the “early semi auto” category along with all the minor improvements. Can’t count backdated stuff like double stack 1911’s as part of the original design really
@@farmerboy916 I would. Trying to say the 1911 is outdated by dismissing any upgrades to the platform is like me saying the AR-15 is outdated and using a Colt SP1 as an example.
The Para Ordnance P14-45 frame is very much a 1911, as outside of the parts that make it double stack, like the trigger, mag catch, frame, magazine and grips, everything else is off the shelf 1911 parts. The company even started out selling just frames so people could upgrade their existing 1911s to double stack. At that point, the capacity issue goes away. Given modern 9mm guns tend to hover around 17 rounds, 15 rounds of .45ACP isn't that much behind, and that's with a 50% larger permanent wound cavity each, too.
"Do you shoot your collectible firearms?" That's half the fun for me even if might knock the value marginally.
Clunky early auto pistols --- I can relate to the issues the inventors had, being a computer programmer. The pressure is to get the basics working, even if the wrapper is rough. Get the thing to work and onto the market, then you can refine the aesthetics.
Windows 2.0 has entered the chat.
(I was going to use Windows 2000, but thought that would be especially mean.)
@@tarmaque I liked Windows 2000, damn site more reliable than Win 95, Win 98, Win 98SE, Win ME etc, etc.
@@gwtpictgwtpict4214 I've never owned a computer with Windows on it, but I've had to work on a fair number with various flavors of Windows on them. I found Windows 2000 to be the most problematic, although I've never actually seen a computer with Windows 95 on it. (I've been a full-time Linux user now for years, and prior to that ran Macs for decades without trouble. I just don't like the direction Apple is going with their system and software and there's a viable alternative today.)
I, too, found it hard to learn about Spanish firearms. The most info I’ve gotten is from the Spain chapter of “The Fighting Submachine Gun, Machine Pistol, and Shotgun” by Timothy Mullin. While he doesn’t discuss production numbers, there’s both history and-the info I find most useful and interesting-considerations and notes about the USE of such firearms. I love seeing things in museums but the first question to pop into my head since I was kid: I wonder how the things shoots?
Thank you Mr. Antaris for all the great content that we've seen on this channel. Awesome collection! 👍
Seidel and the Volkspistole concepts ending in the HK VP70! YES.
@43:39 I think the Mauser HSC would be a really nice gun to adapt to modern sensibilities. Although I might be biased, as I love the look of it :)
Thank you guys so much for writing down your knowledge and sharing it with the rest of us.
All respects and honor to collectors who opens their doors to Ian. Not only it benefits everyone in weapons community, but also gives recognition to the collector. Before he was just a mystery "fireplace guy". Now we know who to thank. :)
It's understandable why collectors want to remain anonymous, but Leonardo Antaris already is a known person.
Thanks to both of you :) Could've listened to you chatting away for hours
Excellent video! Ian and Len have a really good rapport and a great deal of knowledge between them.
Well that was about as interesting an answer to my question as I could have hoped for. Fascinating Rube Goldbergian Italian goodness!
Finally! Happy to meet you sir, incredible collection and thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Fireplace Guy has been contributing to Ian's videos for some time now, glad we can now put a name to the fireplace.
Was looking forward to this.
Great conversation! 👌
There's a vz. 38 currently up for auction here. I'm definitely going to try my luck. 😁
Regarding reproductions of guns that didn't catch on:
I'm definitely with Ian on that one. The Burgess folding shotgun would be awesome.
Personally, I'd also see a market for a variation of the the LeMat revolver.
Pietta make LeMat repros.
This was so interesting and entertaining thank you Ian and Len!
Well Now I know it’s Len that I owe a beer, for all the firearms he’s allowed Ian access to
Edit: perhaps to my shame, I didn’t expect fireplace guy to be as articulate and self depreciating in front of a camera.
I’d happily listen to a lot more from Mr Antaris!
I don’t think he meant any criticism by saying you didn’t write your book as a passion, I think he meant that not only do you have the opportunity to follow your passion, you are successful enough to actually make a living from it.
When Len said Bergmanns, I want back to a time when Ian brought us Forgotten Bergmanns. Those were the days. ;)
I laughed when Ian said the CZ-38 is the ugliest handgun ever made. I'm looking at mine now and saying it's not ugly so it doesn't feel bad. LOL!!!!
I like Fireplace Guy, great guest. Good to see the Astra be recognized. In the 70s the 600/43 was my introduction....love that pistol.
Seems like a great guy with an awesome Collection
Interesting he brought up unserialized nylon 66s. I have a sears 2t that is unserialized, which means it's 1st year of production, 1967. It's a cheap bolt action 22, but I love it for that little factoid
Len was awesome. Great guest!
Great video, and thank you for sharing your collection with us Len.
Len is a stand up guy. I have done business with him and he has a first class operation.👍
Damn, I missed this one and I'm just getting around to listening to it. Thanks for keeping these up!
The guy who collected French guns because nobody was interested in them and wrote a book about it meets the guy who collected Spanish guns because nobody was interested in them and wrote two books about it.
Ian can still write a book about French pistols and bringing himself on par! 🤠👍
That's an astute observation 🤔
@@natef.5880 😁
This is the best Q&A I've seen in years......at least as those I've seen aligned with my interests.
Wow, who knew Willem Dafoe knew so much about guns !
Len is awesome! Hope to see more of him on forgotten weapons!
I was about to say Gen 1 glocks are collectable, then Ian blurted it out.
Very interesting sitdown!
I did not know the fireplace guy. This was riveting! Thank you !
I don't usually get into the guest questionees but this was pretty good one.
Really enjoyed this, always cool to here from such a knowledgeable person and he seems like a very interesting character.
Feg 29 and Feg 37 are neat guns for unsung WW2 handguns
Concerning the loss of finesse and finish in modern firearms, I would hold up the Beretta 92 as maybe a counter argument. There'e no doubt that modern firearm makers have cost control at the forethought of design and production. But who knew or foresaw so many of us, average citizens, enjoying so much selection and quality today?