WW1 Machine guns and Rifles

Very good, thanks for posting.
Mr. Maxim used to demonstrate his product by firing at a tree until it fell down. Not a small one either.
Barrels must have been totally knackered but I don't suppose they were too worried about accuracy.

Fiendish things.
 
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Oh, gosh! Don't get me started. I have been collecting WW1 British weapons and gear since I was twelve. I still think about the semi-auto Lewis gun I missed buying in 1995 for $800 USD.
 
Fired a few rounds through with a 'Vickers' back in 1974 on Dartmoor- quite an experience.
I was just about to leave for the Falklands for a year (well before the war) and the Falkland Island Defence Force were using them at the time - we had to be familiar with them
Ed
 
I enjoyed the programme too, but thought it was a pity their "expert" wasn't handier with a bolt action rifle, especially the SMLE.

It also puzzles me that BBC presenters (and sometimes those from other channels!) are permitted to shoot firearms whose use is prohibited to other members of the public. As far as I know, if I possessed a S5 firearm, I couldn't pass it to another person to shoot under my supervision without falling foul of the law. Does anyone know what legislation might cover this exemption?
 
OK, but we're not talking S1 here, but S5.

Unsurprisingly, I've never been offered a Vickers gun as an "estate rifle" or been given the chance to "rock-up" and shoot one at an NRA open day.
 
How many of you in the UK own Enfields, No.1 or No.4, Pattern 14 or Pattern 17 (.30-06), Springfield 1903, GeW98, 1896 Swede, etc?
Are there any extra restrictions on them, or do they just use up one of your license allotment?

I may have to set up a Photobucket account or something so I can take some photos of Vickers and Maxim, and other MG and LMGs of the era, locally owned and operated.

As to cutting down trees, look at some before and after photos of Meuse Argonne or Belleau Wood. I had an uncle who fought there and his photos are astounding - the scale of destruction from small arms fire.
 
Crossed wires, I've retracted my comments

Sorry for my rather brief -and probably curt- post.

I should rather have thanked you for the information you helpfully provided re. S1 rifles, which I'm sure would have been of interest to members on here with more practical and less polemical intentions.

:oops:
 
How many of you in the UK own Enfields, No.1 or No.4, Pattern 14 or Pattern 17 (.30-06), Springfield 1903, GeW98, 1896 Swede, etc?
Are there any extra restrictions on them, or do they just use up one of your license allotment?

I may have to set up a Photobucket account or something so I can take some photos of Vickers and Maxim, and other MG and LMGs of the era, locally owned and operated.

As to cutting down trees, look at some before and after photos of Meuse Argonne or Belleau Wood. I had an uncle who fought there and his photos are astounding - the scale of destruction from small arms fire.

Hi Southern,
Re rifles, nothing different re restrictions there, just a "slot" on your certificate.
Re anything else..it's no-no even if it's been converted to semi-auto. You can however buy a maxim or vickers deactivated. I think you would need a very understanding wife though:).

A great uncle of mine lost both legs below the knee (the only bit of luck he had) to machine gun fire.
The family legend is that he was saved by a German soldier who wrapped the great uncles putees around his legs to stem the bleeding.

ps.. I have a letter he received from the King, welcoming him home after he was repatriated. Seems the King did that for a while at least. It's quite impressive,Buckingham Palace headed paper and all. It lay around in an old family tea chest along with other letters and pictures until I got it framed.
 
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The most-used rifle by the American Expeditionary Forces was the Pattern 17 Enfield. U.S. arms makers had been making the P-14 in .303 for the British Army, and supplying them, and ammunition, not secretly as they hoped.

When the US entered the war, the rifles were switched over to the .30-06, as the P-17.

Lots of 1903 Springfields were also used, along with the Colt 1911 autopistol, S&W revolvers in .38 Special and .45 ACP using half-moon clips.
 
Going back a few years I had a P14 in .303, lovely rifle, made by Winchester I think. I didn't reload and used to buy Prvi ammo. Then I found out the ammo was loaded for machine guns and was advised not to use it in my P14.
Also had a S & W "victory" revolver converted to .22, nice accurate pistol in s/a mode but dreadful d/a.
My last pistol was a Colt series 80 gold cup.
Happy days.
 
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