Can you explain a "Krummlauf" to me?

[KarlGauss]

I came across a reference to a so-called Krummlauf today. Here’s a picture. Is this contraception designed to fire around an obstacle, or is it designed to look around (like a periscope)? If it truly does fire around obstacles, is the idea that barrel guides the bullets along a curved trajectory until they exit it? Wouldn’t that put a huge strain on a fairly limited part of the barrel almost guaranteeing metal fatigue, poor accuracy, or jams?

Thanks in advance!

[ElvisL1ves]

Sez here:

The Krummlauf was a bent barrel designed for the Sturmgewehr 44 {automatic rifle}, which was used by the Nazis in World War II. It allowed for looking and firing around corners with its 30° barrel and a periscope-style sight.

and here

One unusual addition to the design was the Krummlauf, a bent barrel with a periscope sighting device attached for shooting around corners from a safe position. It was produced in several variants, an “I”-version for infantry use, a “P” version for use in tanks (to cover the dead areas in the close range around the tank, to defend against assaulting infantry), versions with 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° bends, a version for the StG44 and one for the MG 42. Only the 30° “I” version for the StG44 was produced in any numbers.

Doesn’t look like it was intended to be aimed as such at all. Just point it around the corner and spray lead.

[Mops]

From the related page Sturmgewehre (link from the page in the OP was defective)

Ein weiteres Zusatzgerät war der Krummerlauf. Damit konnte man um 30°, um 45°, ja sogar um 90° um die Ecke schießen. Gezielt wurde mit einem Prismenvorsatz. Die Lebensdauer eines solchen Zusatzlaufes war natürlich sehr begrenzt, sie betrug für das 30°-Modell knapp 300 Schuß, bei dem 45°-Zusatz aber nur 160 - demgegenüber lag die Lebensdauer des normalen Laufes bei 10.000 Schuß.

My translation from the German - I am not knowledgeable about gun terminology

Another extension was the Krummerlauf. With that one could shoot around the corner at an angle of 30°, 45°, even 90°. The weapon was aimed wit a prismatic attachment. Of course the operating life of such an extension barrel was very limited; it was barely 300 shots for the 30° model, only 160 shots for the 45° attachment - for comparison, the operating life of the normal barrel was 10,000 shots.

BTW Krummlauf or Krummerlauf translates as “bent barrel”.

[Captain_Carrot]

@KarlGauss

Is this contraception designed to fire around an obstacle

(emphasis mine)
Well, that’s a novel approach to the problem…

[KarlGauss]

@Captain Carrot

(emphasis mine)
Well, that’s a novel approach to the problem…

:o Yikes! What’s on my mind?

Thanks for the very, very helpful answers. Much obliged!