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Weapons of Mass Imperfection: 8 Historical Firearms That Proved Less Than Amazing

Maria - June 17, 2016

2. The M50 Reising Machine Gun

Adopted by the Marine Corps during WWII, this submachine gun was intended to complement the Thompson, since the latter model couldn’t be manufactured in sufficient numbers. And despite being cheaper to make and lighter to hold, the Reising wasn’t as efficient as it appeared on paper.

Sadly, it was very ill-equipped for the environment the Marines were generally located in. Sand would jam in the gun, and would then be hard to disassemble and clean.

Parts weren’t interchangeable either, as each was handmade for its individual model, so many soldiers had to clean their weapons at the same time just so they had a working firearm to use at all. In fact, the Marines were so upset with the M50 Reising guns that there is documentation recounting how troops threw their firearms into a river in protest.

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1. The Double-Barreled Cannon

Invented by John Gilleland for the Confederate Army in 1862, the double-barreled cannon could fire two connected cannonballs at the same time – and they only and cost $350.00 to manufacture.

However, instead of flying out of the cannon simultaneously, the two cannonballs were rarely accurate, on either launch time or on impact. In fact, during a test run, the cannon clearly was off of its target, as it only mowed down trees, decimated a chimney and sadly killed a cow.

So, despite Mr. Gilleland’s endorsement of his weapon, the Confederate government considered the cannon a flop, and thereby decided not to adopt it for use in battle. The cannon was never used, and only stands outside of city hall in Athens, Georgia today instead.

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