A look at some interesting items from the TAB Reference collection. Lots of great photos and some pretty rare manuals. Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here - https://armourersbench.com/ If you enjoy our work please consider supporting us via Patreon, TAB is a viewer s...

I recently had the pleasure of being able to take a stroll around the Vehicle Conservation Centre at the Tank Museum at Bovington. In this walkaround video we'll take a look at some of the museum's hidden treasures! Find out more about the @thetankmuseum at https://tankmuseum.org/ Be sure to ch...

Ukrainian company Black Storm have developed a series of kits to allow AK pattern rifles to be converted into bullpups without tools and without physically adapting the base rifle. These bullpup kit AKs have now been seen in use with Ukrainian soldiers.

Be sure to check out our accompanying arti...

Last year I had the pleasure of giving a talk at the Cody Firearms Museum’s Arsenals of History Symposium. I’ve been working with my friend Jonathan Ferguson of the Royal Armouries on a research paper looking at British use of the AR-15 platform. My focus for the project has been the user experie...

There have been a considerable number of sightings of the MP-443 pistols in Ukraine over the past two months, unsurprising as it is the Russian armed forces issue sidearm. In this video we look at the pistol's history, design and use in Ukraine. Thanks to Cold War Collectables for letting us film...

As the proliferation of 5.56x45mm rifles in Ukraine continues the latest rifle to begin to be seen in use is the Heckler & Koch HK416. Small numbers of the rifle have been seen in use with Ukrainian special operations forces so far.

Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video h...

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of travelling to @thetankmuseum to film some segments for the new documentary on the Rhineland Campaign - 'Rhineland 45'. Not all of the segments I filmed discussing weapons could be included in the finished documentary - I filmed quite a few - so I'm please...

In this episode Matt put some rounds through a British Bren Mk1 (Modified). Introduced in 1938, just in time for the outbreak of the Second World War. Britain entered the war with over 30,000 Brens but most of these were lost during the evacuation from Dunkirk in May 1940. Production needed to be...

A couple of weeks ago I had the honour of taking part in a shoot at Bisley to commemorate the disbandment of the British Army’s Machine Gun Corps. For the first time in 20 years a company's worth of Vickers Guns (16 in total) were fired demonstrating their capabilities. Not only did the day illus...

We previously looked at Ukrainian company Black Storm's bullpup conversion kit. Black Storm have also developed a kit to adapt the GP-25 into a stand alone grenade launcher. Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here - https://armourersbench.com/2023/03/05/black-storm-defen...

At the beginning of May 2023, Russian media shared a flurry of videos from salt mines near Soledar. The videos showcased a captured weapons storage depot said to be inside part of the mine complex which was recently captured by Russian private military contractor unit Wagner. In this video we'll ...

Ukrainian troops are in the UK training as part of an agreement with the British government. The UK has procured an interesting assortment of AK pattern rifles for the Ukrainian personnel to train with. In this video we look at what rifles are in use and some of the challenges of procuring them. ...

In this episode Vic takes a look at an Israeli Galil ARM and tells us about the time he met its inventor, Yisrael Galili. This episode also features a section from one of the original media demonstrations of the Galil when it was first unveiled back in the early 70s. Check out Vic's accompanying ...

During the Cold War the British Army on the Rhine was deployed in West German. In anticipation of a conflict with the Soviet Union detailed recognition guides were written for British troops to identify and familiarise themselves with enemy weapons and equipment. A substantial series of these wer...

At We Have Ways Festival 2022 I ran into friends from the Dunkirk 1940 Museum and they were displaying an interesting piece - a British 4lb Incendiary Bomb which had reportedly been dropped on Dresden in February 1945. Check out the museum's channel @Dunkirk-nu2oi and their website they have lo...

If you're familiar with the film Siege of Jadotville you will remember a scene in which the Irish company’s sniper takes on a long range shot... with a Bren. The sniper exchanges his scoped Rifle No.4(T) for a Bren and single loads a round with the magazine removed. We teamed up with our friend R...

We're proud to present our very first bayonet-centric episode. Vic takes us into the Surplus Zone and examines a bayonet for a Sudanese contract AR-10. While a rather rare bayonet this example has some interesting features. Check out the accompanying blog for this video here, which includes furth...

This weekend I visited the Hack Green nuclear bunker in Cheshire, UK. They have a bi-annual Cold War history event called Soviet Threat where reenactors and collectors are invited down to display their kit. I had the pleasure of meeting to some really interesting people and seeing some cool vehic...

At SHOT Show 2023 we got our first look at the Individual Weapon System, chambered in .264 Lightweight Intermediate Caliber Cartridge (LICC) - a round developed from .264 USA. Developed by FN America in response to a requirement from the Irregular Warfare Technology Support Directorate the new ri...

In this episode our friend Jack Dutschke, of Cartridge Gram, takes a look at some en bloc clips. Jack is an Australian cartridge collector, historian and author and we're very excited to have some videos from him looking at small arms ammunition. In his first video with TAB Jack takes a look at e...

On 11 May the UK confirmed the transfer of Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine. The evidence of their first use against a target in Luhansk has now emerged. In this video we take a look at Storm Shadow's capabilities and the evidence of its first operational use in Ukraine. Be sure to check o...

Pistol calibre carbines have been all the rage for a while but this Winchester Model 1905 chambered in .45 ACP and feeding from Colt 1911 magazines is an interesting early example of rechambering a commercial carbine in a pistol calibre. Part of the Cody Firearms Museum's collection not a great d...

In April a Ukrainian unit shared an intriguing video of a small mortar that fired 40mm grenades. Be sure to check out our accompanying article for this video here - http://armourersbench.com/2023/05/28/40mm-grenade-mortar/ If you enjoy our work please consider supporting us via Patreon, TAB is a ...

A look at the German SMArt 155, a Sensor Fuzed Munition, currently in use in Ukraine. It releases a pair of fire-and-forget top-attack submunitions. The submunitions use a ballute and parachute to slow their descent and allow the onboard infrared sensor and millimeter wave radar to locate its tar...