United Kingdom - Forgotten Weapons

Bren MkI: The Best Light Machine Gun of World War Two

February 24, 2021 Ian McCollum 102

In the years after World War One, the British military wanted a new machine gun, and they wanted it to replace both the Lewis and the Vickers. Through the 1920s the British would tinker with […]

Prototype Jungle Carbine: A No1 MkV Becomes a No5 MkI

February 17, 2021 Ian McCollum 15

When the British began developing a shortened version of the No4 Lee Enfield in 1943 (which would become the No5 MkI “Jungle Carbine”), the development process included work with some rather older rifles. What we […]

Britain’s Experimental Viper No.3 SMG/PDW

February 15, 2021 Ian McCollum 27

A series of very compact submachine guns – possibly better described as personal defense weapons – was made in Britain at the end of World War Two under the name Viper (as an interesting aside, […]

Wait, Go Back! The SMLE MkIII* Wartime Simplification

February 10, 2021 Ian McCollum 20

The British entered World War One with a technically excellent rifle, with lots of bells and whistles. By 1916, the war was taking a previously unimaginable toll on the industrial capacity of the Empire and […]

New Rifles for Old Ammo: The Royal Navy’s Unique SMLE MkI**

January 27, 2021 Ian McCollum 12

When the SMLE was adopted by the British, it was to be the new universal rifle for all branches of service, including the Royal Navy. This suited the Navy just fine; they like the features […]

SMLE MkIII: The Iconic Smelly of World War One

January 20, 2021 Ian McCollum 28

In 1907, the British adopted the final major pattern in the evolution of the Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield. Designated the ShtLE MkIII (Short Lee Enfield) at the time, it would be retroactively renamed Rifle No1 […]

The First SMLE Trials Rifles: Lessons From the Boer War

January 13, 2021 Ian McCollum 41

In the aftermath of the Boer War, the British military needed to address critical issues of practical marksmanship with its troops. The Long Lee rifles it had deployed to South Africa suffered significant problems in […]

Charger-Loading Lee Enfields: The CLLE MkI* and MkII

January 6, 2021 Ian McCollum 9

In our continuing series on the development of the British Lee Enfield rifles, we are looking at the CLLE conversions today. In 1907 the British adopted a new universal short rifle (the SMLE) that used […]

Tarn: A Terrible British WW2 Experimental Pistol

January 4, 2021 Ian McCollum 30

The Tarn was a 9x19mm pistol developed by a Polish ex=pat designer named Z. de Lubicz Bakanowski. It was a simple blowback design, with a quite heavy slide and recoil spring. It was manufactured by […]

Boys Mk I Anti-Tank Rifle at the Range

January 2, 2021 Ian McCollum 26

I have done several previous videos on the Boys antitank rifle, but never actually fired one – until today! We’re out at the range with a MkI Boys and five rounds of its .55 Boys […]