In this fifth installment of "The Men and Guns of the Pacific," the ARTV crew heads to Iwo Jima. When U.S. forces sought to capture an advanced airfield where shorter-range American fighters could be based, Iwo Jima was the only island that made sense, and it was only eight square miles long. The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted 36 gruesome days with more than 6,800 Americans paying the ultimate sacrifice. It is also a significant point in Marine Corps history. Now, Americans are only allowed on the island of Iwo Jima one day a year, and ARTV got the chance to be there on that one day. Check out this segmentfrom a recent episode ofAmerican Rifleman TV to learn more about the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Following World War I, official testing performed by the Dept. of Experiment of John D. Pedersen's rapid-fire conversion device for M1903 bolt-action rifles demonstrated inadequacies that could not be overcome.
To break the stalemate on the Western Front of World War I, firearm inventor John D. Pedersen envisioned a device that would turn every bolt-action rifle into a fast-firing, semi-automatic arm. This is the story of the famous "Pedersen Device."