United Kingdom - Forgotten Weapons

HK51: The SAS’ Full Auto Flashbang Dispenser

October 22, 2021 Ian McCollum 43

The HK51 is not a gun that was ever actually produced by Heckler & Koch. It is instead a variation on the G3/HK91 originally developed by American H&K specialist Bill Fleming. He was contracted by […]

British .303 Browning Mk II* Aircraft Machine Gun

October 19, 2021 Ian McCollum 31

Britain began the process of replacing its Vickers aircraft machine guns with a new Colt/Browning design in 1935, with its adoption of the Colt MG40. This was essentially John Browning’s air cooled M1919 machine gun […]

Vickers “K” – For Aircraft and the SAS/Long Range Desert Group

October 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 32

The Vickers “K” Class gun – also known as the Vickers Gas Operated – was the gun the Vickers company thought would replace the heavy water-cooled Vickers and allow them to remain primary machine gun […]

Colonies Lead the Way: Charger-Loading Lee Enfield MkI India Pattern

September 27, 2021 Ian McCollum 6

While the Indian Army was looked down upon by much of the British military, it saw much more combat service than its European counterpart. The Indian Army was actually faster than the British to recognize […]

Parker-Hale .303-.22 Conversion Kits for the Enfield, Lewis, and Vickers

September 14, 2021 Ian McCollum 24

In July of 1918, the British military formally adopted a Parker-Hale system of adapting .303-caliber arms to .22 rimfire for short range training. The system involved lining standard barrels with .22 caliber blanks that were […]

Vickers Mk IV .50 Caliber Water-Cooled Tank Gun

September 10, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

Development of the .50 caliber Vickers guns began during World War One, but stagnated after 1918, and was not really completed until the early 1930s. At that point, Vickers produced a series of the guns […]

A Rare Navy Stopgap: the CLLE MkI Naval Enfield

September 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

The British Royal Navy tended to accumulate some of the obsolescent patterns of Enfield rifles around the turn of the 19th century, as the Army had higher priority for the new types of rifle. This […]

Odd BSA Prototype Charger Bridge Long Lee

September 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

Today we have a very odd BSA prototype Long Lee rifle. The details of its production are unknown, but it has good provenance; the Charnwood Ordnance collection. What makes the rifle unusual is a unique […]

“Jungle Carbine” – the Lee Enfield No5 MkI Rifle

August 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 7

Today I am concluding our series on the standard-issue Lee Enfield system with the No5 MkI – the “jungle carbine”. Developed in 1943 as a shorter and handier pattenr of rifle than the No4, the […]

Vickers Gun Meticulously Repaired as a Pilot Training Aid

July 28, 2021 Ian McCollum 17

This is a really interesting artifact of the First World War that I found in a collection and wanted to share (since the owner, understandably, wouldn’t part with it!). All the major powers in the […]