Part 1 or a two part series on the French 1867 conversion, usually called the Tabatière, Tabby or "that French Snider knock-off". In this episode we take a look at how similar the 1867 action is to the Snider and what prior breechloading systems might have influenced it. As a bonus we look at the...

You've probably heard all the stories about negligent discharges with open bolt SMG's such as STEN's, Sterlings etc. But what is it about the systems that causes this risk, and what impact does this have with operating them? Why is it backwards compared to normal, closed bolt operation rifles suc...

Lots of questions from Patrons!

War were declared with Prussia, a heavy defeat at Sedan, Metz falls and the national arsenal is serverely depleated. Such is the dire situation for the governement of the national defence proping up France at the beginning of the 1870/71 war. General mobilisation is in force but with what can the...

The 9mm Sterling Mk.4 L2A3 SMG has quite unique magazines. People are generally aware that the follower is made from rollers, but there's some other cleverness going on in there too, including massive improvements from the STEN magazine.

0:00 Introduction to Sten and Sterling Magazines
3:46 Sten...

Waffen Emmental is a newly founded gunshop in deepest Emmental and one of the co-founders, already a good friend of the channel, very kindly took time out to talk to The Chap about the trials and tribulations, red tape and bureaucracy that come with opening a gun dealership in Switzerland

Less known than the Martini-Henry but just as active around the globe at the time was the single shot Gras rifle in all its varients. It was chambered for the 11x59R cartridge, one of the many 11mm-ish cartridges of the era and quite close to the 45-70. In 1878 the French navy adopt a Kopatschek ...

A chat with Mike about the two main sets of web equipemnt fo the 20th century.

Mike and Rob discuss some of the main points with regards to the British Army coming out of the Boer War...

As usual, Mike, Les and Jari shot the SRA Etelä-Häme Hätila 2023 match. Mike and Jari were going for a kinda Finnish Wolverines (aka Red Dawn) type setup with 7.62x39 AK's and Varusteleka M91 ChiCom chest rigs, whereas Les went with a Steyr AUG in .223 Remington / 5.56. 7 awesome stages with The ...

Bloke thinks that the .22 rimfire Ciener type chamber insert conversion systems for .223 Remington AR-15 rifles are cool. Previous results with them have been mixed however. Since he has not only a dedicated V-22 upper but also a variety of twist rates (but no 1:7, sorry), he wanted to see what t...

#1: The AK is copied from the Sturmgewehr

#2: Mattel made M16s

#3: Chinese jackets in Korea stopped .30 Carbine rounds

0:00 Introduction and discussion on the Lynx Brutality match in Slovenia
0:28 Debunking and comparison of firearm myths: AK vs Sturmgewehr
3:11 The history and development of ...

Following on from the presentation of France's first rifled musket, this vid focuses on the musketry training that conscripts underwent on a yearly basis. See how trigger control was trained, and also, how do you aim at targets at 400m and 600m if your only means of aiming is a fixe 200m notch?

Once the regular army had upgraded to the charger loaded SMLE Mk.1 and Mk.3, how did the part-time Yeomanry (the Territorials, forerunner of the modern Territorial Army) get a cost-effective upgrade? The simple answer is that earlier patterns of Long Lee Metfords and Lee Enfields were given an up...

While the British rapidly adopt a rifled musket for their infantry relatively quickly, it is a different story for most continental european militaries, notably France, who's massive conscript armies cannot be easily and economically equipped and effectively trained in marksmanship to make it wor...

The US prejudice against the FN FAL (including the inch pattern L1A1 SLR) is that they'll inevitably choke. However, Bloke's legit BSA L1A1 ran like a champ at Finnish Brutality 2023, with only one very minor hiccup at loading on the last rifle stage. Interestingly, the same hiccup that Ian's (Fo...

Everyone talks about sand cuts, and they're supposedly magic. Let's look at the most commonly-known sets of them, on a 7.62mm L1A1 SLR (British inch FN FAL) after being exposed to Finnish moon dust at Finnish Brutality 2023, and a 9mm L2A3 Sterling Mk.4 SMG after having had about 150 rounds throu...

Toni of Ensio Firearms made this unique rifle as his final project at gunsmithing school. It's a scratch-built, one-off 7.62x39 AR-15 type rifle with a 4 lug bolt, annular piston like a Vz.52, and it takes AK47 magazines that just slide in and out of the magazine housing like butter.

Ziga of Polenar Tactical wanted a go on Bloke's British L1A1 SLR (an inch-pattern FN FAL in 7.62 NATO / .308 Win). So we had to oblige!

It turns out that designing a rifle from scratch is hard. Very hard. Which is why most manufacturers don't bother and just make variations on well-established designs like the AR-15, AK, FN FAL or similar.

Ensio Firearms of Finland decided to break the mold and design their own .308 Win / .223 R...

Allyness saves lives!

Bloke takes his 7.62 NATO BSA L1A1 SLR and Browning Hi-Power Mk.1 to @varusteleka 's Finnish Brutality 2023, LARPing in Breacher category in full late-70's-early-80's British Army style, even down to the dodgy facial hair. How did this out of shape office monkey get on wi...

Chappie shows his Mk.2 version of making 18mm Milbank-Amsler rimfire ammunition.

Gone is the French cosplay after entering the gatrix, it's time to get down to business with modern kit, gear and guns. The tactical gear is all Varusteleka and the general clothing is Decathlon for everyday trail running and hiking. I'm competing on a budget but hopefully I'll end up a little hi...

Chappie demonstrates a really easy way to make M1866 Chassepot needlefire rifle cartridges.