United Kingdom - Forgotten Weapons

British Money-Walker 1868 Trials Rifle

May 1, 2021 Ian McCollum 5

Patented in 1868 by Colonel G.H. Money and Mr. M. Walker, this rifle was one of the 10 finalists in the British breechloading rifle trials of 1868. It is a simple falling block system with […]

Book Review: The Green Meanie L96A1 by Steve Houghton

April 27, 2021 Ian McCollum 8

Following up on his 2018 “The British Sniper: A Century of Evolution”, Steve Houghton has now released a followup book on the L96A1 in particular: “The Green Meanie”. This rifles was a paradigm shift for […]

.303 Lewis Gun at the Range

April 25, 2021 Ian McCollum 13

I really enjoy the Lewis Gun, and it’s been a long time since I had a chance to put some rounds through one. This particular example is a Savage-made gun marked USN, and I think […]

Sterling SMG at the Range

April 3, 2021 Ian McCollum 33

The L2A3 Sterling submachine gun was a staple of British and small arms after World War Two, until the L85 rifle was adopted. Designed by George Patchett during the war and produced by Sterling, it […]

Manton’s Waterproof Flintlock

March 25, 2021 Ian McCollum 20

How does one keep a flintlock action reliable in wet, riany weather? Well, let’s have a look at a flintlock shotgun designed specifically to be waterproof! This is a Joseph Manton shotgun from about 1815. […]

Maxim-Silverman .455 Caliber Behemoth of a Pistol

March 20, 2021 Ian McCollum 28

Hiram Maxim’s hired shop supervisor was a man named Louis Silverman. He was a skilled engineer, who was treated rather poorly by Maxim, and whose contributions were systematically understated. One of the most interesting projects […]

L4: The Bren in 7.62mm NATO

March 10, 2021 Ian McCollum 35

When the British military transitioned form the .303 British cartridge to 7.62mm NATO in the 1950s, it replaced the Enfield rifles with the new L1A1 SLR (the FAL) but retained the Bren gun as a […]

Wartime Changes: The Bren MkI Modified and Bren MkII

March 3, 2021 Ian McCollum 18

The British lost some 90% of their stock of Bren light machine guns in the disastrous Dunkirk evacuation, and in the following months rushed to rearm. Part of this program was a two-tiered simplification of […]

Sneak Peek at Thorneycroft to SA80 with the Author, Jonathan Ferguson

February 28, 2021 Ian McCollum 10

Jonathan Ferguson, author of our newest Headstamp Publishing book “Thorneycroft to SA80: British Bullpup Firearms 1901-2020”, has just gotten his advance author’s copy of the book! Let’s join him to take a look through its […]

Very Rare and Mostly Pointless: the Bren Fixed Line Sight

February 25, 2021 Ian McCollum 19

The very early production MkI Bren light machine guns were made with two dovetail brackets on the left side of the receiver. The rear one was for the standard rear sight, and the front one […]