The Krummlauf

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to shoot around corners? The Germans thought so during WW2, and thus the Krummlauf was born. First developed in 1943, the Krummlauf is a curved device that could be clamped onto the barrel of a StG 44 (or Mp-44) rifle. The idea was to let soldiers shoot while safely in cover or while inside of tanks. It actually came in four versions -- 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees (for those really hard to shoot places).

There's probably dozens of Looney Tunes cartoons that would demonstrate why a gun with a bent barrel is a bad idea, but some people learn the hard way. The Krummlauf's curved design turned into its fatal flaw. Having the bullets travel around a bend made them prone to shattering and damaging the barrel in the process. Even when designers made modifications, adding vent holes to reduce pressure and recoil, the Krummlauf still took a beating whenever it was fired. A typical unit only lasted for about 100-300 rounds of firing, depending on the angle it took.

(Image source: By Joe Loong (originally posted to Flickr as DSCF3826) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)