According to the Daily Mail the SAS are looking at switching from the 5.56x45mm NATO round to a 7.62mm round. They seem unimpressed that their US counterparts have access to 7.62mm FN SCAR-H rifles and they are stuck with the M4-like 5.56mm Colt Canada/Diemaco C8 [Read More…]
Nepal’s Bira gun is a fascinating steampunk-esque hand-cranked machine gun that is notable for being developed and manufactured at a time when true machine guns were being adopted around the world. It is also notable for being the first (or one of the first) [Read More…]
After my post on UK-legal blackpowder pistol conversions Dave emailed us with more information about UK-legal pistols. Technically speaking, pistols are apparently legal in the UK as long as they have a barrel longer than 12″ and a total length longer than [Read More…]
As I am sure most of you know, back in the late 90s the UK banned all centerfire and rimfire pistol ownership (defined as any firearms under 24″ of length or with a barrel under 12″, excluding muzzle loaders). What I was not aware of is that they allowed [Read More…]
After 40 years of service with British Armed Forces, the Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol will be replaced by the Glock 17 Gen4. The BBC reports … The Ministry of Defence has signed a £9m contract to provide the Armed Forces with more than 25,000 new side-arms and [Read More…]
Modern Mechanix published an article in the 1930s about British soldiers learning marksmanship skill by shooting at animated scenes. The scenes were motorized so the shooter had to track a target. I am not sure what exactly they were shooting, but those guns resemble [Read More…]
Nick was exploring Chatsworth House, a palatial house in Derbyshire, England, when he noticed an interesting sculpture tucked away in a corner that looked out of place among the grand oil paintings, murals and tapestries. The sculpture is of a Bren Light Machine Gun [Read More…]
A reader emailed us a photo he saw in a trade union magazine. The British police officers in the photo are helping guard a Rapier missile installationing during the Olympic games. They are carrying the updated version of the L85A2 with the new rail system, Trijicon ACOG [Read More…]
The bulky device mounted underneath a shotgun in a photo I posted earlier this week was correctly identified by swilliams and Lionel as the Thales GLOW (Green Light Optical Warner), a picatinny mounted laser dazzler. Thales says … GLOW is a gun-mounted laser [Read More…]
Both the United Kingdom and New Zealand are adopting the 7.62mm version of the FN MINIMI machine gun. The NZ Defense Force is procuring (PDF link) the 7.62mm model, along with ACOG scopes, micro red dots and ground mounts to replace their 5.56mm model. The UK Ministry [Read More…]
Peat was used by the Vikings to make swords and cannon balls by the American revolutionaries. Today it is used by the Scots to make Whisky, the Irish to heat their homes and the Fins to make electricity. It is well know that peat is an excellent preserver of ancient [Read More…]
Jesse emailed in these photos taken by his brother at the Tower of London. I have never seen photos of these guns before. My favorite is the revolver. It is sad that some of these guns were confiscated by the police from enthusiasts. [ Many thanks to Jesse and his [Read More…]
Gear Scout reports that the British Army have purchased 1 million Magpul EMAGs. The EMAG (Export Magazine) is slightly different from the PMAG in order to better accommodate a wider variety of firearms which take STANAG magazines. Gear Scout also mention that the EMAG [Read More…]
Photos of the L129A1 deployed in Afghanistan. Defense Review has more photos of the rifle at SHOT Show. [ Many thanks to Brent for emailing me the photos. ]
I have no idea what hoofing means, but it is apparently what the British Army’s new AR-10 style L129A1 is, as described by Commando Sergeant Baz Evans in a UK Ministry of Defense Press Release (via. Kit Up blog ) … “I have fired over 1,000 rounds on [Read More…]
Joe Huffman, SaysUncle and Tam all weigh in on what an amazing series of shots was achieved by the record breaking British sniper.
During a firefight in Afghanistan in 2007, British soldier Pte Cole’s SA80 rifle was hit three times by 7.62x39mm bullets! It continued to function and he continued to return fire, despite the fact that the scope, bodywork and pistol grip was ripped off the gun. [Read More…]
Simon, aka. Simon_the_Brit, was an Armorer in the British Army. He sent me photos of the M16 he was issued with during the British Army jungle training in Malaysia, which he participated in sometime between 1984 and 1986. I was surprised to learn that at the time, just [Read More…]
Hugh West was arrested after he tried to sell a zip gun to a passing motorist in the UK. The Daily Mail reports (emphasis mine … West, 41, showed the flabbergasted driver the weapon and even demonstrated how it could be put together and be fired. ‘The driver [Read More…]
The British troops are also calling for a switch to something better than the 5.56x45mm NATO. The Telegraph reports … A survey of more than 50 servicemen who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan concluded that the 5.56mm calibre rounds used by British soldiers [Read More…]
This Glock 17 pistol, with thumb safety, was designed by Glock for use by the British Army. It was on display at DSEi ’09. This is not the first Glock designed with a manual safety. Glock has previously designed a Glock 17 for the Tasmanian Police force that [Read More…]
After waiting three days on a roof top with his spotter, Corporal Christopher Reynolds fired on a Taliban drug lord. The 1,500 meter shot is the longest recorded kill in Afghanistan. But Cpl Reynolds, of Dalgety Bay, in Fife, together with his spotter Lance Corporal [Read More…]
The UK have adopted the Benelli M4 shotgun, dubbed the L128A1, as their new combat shotgun. The photo below was taken at a combat display held last week. Click to expand. Private Colin Shead, A Company, 3 MERCIAN, displays the new Combat Shotgun, brought into service [Read More…]
You get truffle sniffing dogs, deer sniffing dogs and drug sniffing dogs, it only makes sense that we would end up with a tactical magazine sniffing dog. Perfect to find those lost magazines and brass 😉 This photo was taken two weeks ago. © Crown Copyright/MOD 2009 [Read More…]
SAI (Special Interest Arms), who have been previously mentioned on the blog, have developed a replica Gardner Gun. Click to expand From Wikipedia: The Gardner gun was an early type of machine gun. It had one or two barrels, was fed from a vertical magazine or hopper and [Read More…]
The Royal Navy HMS Cumberland (Type 22 frigate) took on a pirate dhow on the high seas. No prize for guessing who won that fight! The Times has the story Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the [Read More…]
From BBC News: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the posters were not suitable to be seen by children. It added that the use of a glamorous actress, gun images and aspirational text “could glamorize violence”. Typical Hollywood trigger [Read More…]
30mm rounds from an A-10 land close to British troops in Afghanistan. That cannon sure makes a cool sound, I can see how the whole “Show of Force” thing would work. The sound would be enough to make me run. I would not like to be on its receiving end! The [Read More…]
British troops “desperately” need 400 of the jumbo 0.5in calibre heavy machine guns – the weapon most acutely missed. The Army has also run out of the 7.62mm GPMG and Minimis. Supply has collapsed partly because of a dispute with the manufacturers, [Read More…]
From the Metro: A pantomime troupe has been ordered to keep its toy weapons under lock and key – because of health and safety rules. The amateur dramatics society imagined its plastic cutlasses, wooden swords and gun that fires a ‘Bang’ flag were [Read More…]
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