United Kingdom - Forgotten Weapons

Aly & Kaufman AKB-23: Better Than the SA80 / L85

November 19, 2025 Ian McCollum 47

Penguin Brutality t-shirt available from Varusteleka: https://varusteleka.com/en/products/forgotten-weapons-penguin-brutality-t-shirt The Aly & Kaufman AKB-23 is a set of parts that allows one to use a Brownells BRN-180 upper to create an SA80 / L85 lookalike. It’s a […]

Hotchkiss Model 1886 3-pounder Quick Firing Gun

September 26, 2025 Ian McCollum 15

Small fast boats with torpedos (or other explosives) have always been a threat to large warships. One of the weapons the British Royal Navy adopted to counter that threat was the Hotchkiss Model 1886 “Quick […]

S.R.E.M.: Britain’s Experimental WW2 Bullpup Sniper

September 15, 2025 Ian McCollum 30

Want to know more about the S.R.E.M. and other British bullpup rifles? Check out Jonathan Ferguson’s book on this subject, “Thorneycroft to SA80”: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/bullpup-rifle-book The Sniper Rifle Experimental Model (S.R.E.M.) was designed by the “Czech […]

Webley .22 Target Model Mk IV Revolver

August 29, 2025 Ian McCollum 17

Webley made a variety of .22 rimfire revolvers and revolver conversions for most of its history. Rimfire conversions were used by the military for reduced-cost training, and they were popular on the civilian market for […]

Baker Pattern 1800 Rifle for Napoleonic Wars Sharpshooters

August 11, 2025 Ian McCollum 10

The British military decided to organize their disparate small units of riflemen into a single standardized group in 1800. The 95th Regiment – the British Rifle Corps – was founded and it was equipped with […]

Enjoying Black Powder Episode 11: The Snider-Enfield

May 24, 2025 Ian McCollum 7

Full video with reloading segment and clip solid file available here: https://forgottenweapons.vhx.tv/videos/ep-11-snider-app Black powder military rifles of the 1860s-1880s are a really enjoyable group of guns. A lot of them are relatively reasonably priced, and […]

Unique British Crankfire .58 Morse Manual Machine Gun

April 30, 2025 Ian McCollum 16

This is a really interesting piece with a mostly unknown origin. It was manufactured in the UK (the barrel was deemed Enfield-made by former Royal Armouries curator Herb Woodend) and is chambered for the .58 […]

Q&A: British Small Arms of World War Two

January 24, 2025 Ian McCollum 69

Today’s Q&A is brought to you by the fine folks at Patreon, and by Penguin Brutality: https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguin http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons 01:11 – Was the Vickers .50 any good, and why did the British use 4 different heavy […]

In the Footsteps of 45 Commando: 60 Miles Across the Falklands

December 28, 2024 Ian McCollum 18

Want a patch or t-shirt with our adorably heavily armed rockhopper penguin? Both are available from Varusteleka: https://www.varusteleka.com/en/search?q=penguin I was recently joined my friends Les Winner (Polaris Worldwide Logistics) and Jari Laine (Varusteleka) for an […]

Sten MkII vs Ingram M10/9 (w/ John Keene)

December 11, 2024 Ian McCollum 20

If you had to pick one, would you take a Sten MkII or an Ingram M10/9? This applies specifically to the guns in their original factory configurations; no Lage products allowed! It’s hard to come […]