Small Arms
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BRITISH MUSKETRY IN AMERICAÂ I
British troops advance to within musket range at Bunker Hill, as depicted by 19th Century American artist Howard Pyle. The reasons why, in combating the American rebels, the British put so much emphasis on what were (by European standards) seemingly outdated shock tactics are explored in detail in the next chapter. Here it is necessary to examine how the redcoats…
Most Recent
The Twenty-first Century’s Rifle
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, early 2006 The fourteen Marines, ready to dash, waited for the signal. It was a cold February morning on a firing range just inland from North Carolina’s coast. The Marines, members of Second Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, were preparing for a deployment in the Anbar province…
THE RIFLE AS A MILITARYÂ WEAPON
One of the first breech-loading weapons that saw military service was the Ferguson rifle. This was designed by Captain Patrick Ferguson of the 70th Regiment (Surrey Regiment). In March 1776 he took out a patent in London for a flintlock screw-plug breech-loading rifle. Ferguson acknowledged his debt to Chaumette but…
Pistola Automatica Beretta modello 1934
Beretta automatics were amongst the most sought after of war trophies. Although of excellent design, they were really too light to be effective service pistols, but as personal weapons to officers they were highly prized. The little Pistola Automatica Beretta modello 1934 is one of the joys of the pistol…
Firearms in Japan
By the start of the 13th century Japan was already on a descending path from aristocratic-emperor rule to fragmented provincialism under warlord clans, to protracted civil war and anarchy. The Mongols twice tried to invade Japan but were repulsed at Hakata Bay in 1274 and 1281. The Kamakura shogunate ended…
WWI Sniping I
Trench warfare and machine guns characterized World War I and stagnant positional warfare allowed sniping to flourish. This allowed for the periscope rifle, a modernization of the American Civil War concept, to flourish. Australian Ion Idriess fought in Gallipoli as well as in the Middle East and this gave him…
WWI Sniping II
Sergeant Jack Winston, Canadian 19th Battalion, witnessed his lieutenant stalk and capture a German sniper: Our lieutenant was looking hard across No Man’s Land through the trench periscope, and I wondered what was keeping him so long looking at a spot I thought we all knew by heart. He stood…