Comments by "rob shirewood" (@robshirewood5060) on "Royal Armouries" channel.

I am amazed that they had such tiny springs in those days, i had no idea
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I do not know if it is well known , but the original concept for the AR-15, was that it was intended for the USAF Air Police (airfield security) and not the Army, who had the M-14, or that the British and some Australian and New Zealand instructors with Malaya and Borneo experience from SAS trained Green Berets at the British Jungle Training School before they deployed to Vietnam. The Brits and Commonwealth trialled the AR-15 before the US Army actually had them. The British and Commonwealth forces never had fouling problems as our cleaning regimes in UK were more frequent, when in service with the US Army they had fouling problems because the trial ammunition powder was cleaner than the powder used in the field (US Government went for cheaper powder and did not issue enough cleaning kits or impress on troops the need to clean them frequently). That was verified to me by a veteran SAS soldier who had served in Malaya and Borneo and elsewhere, now sadly no longer with us. His opinion of SA80 was "not a soldiers weapon, the bloody thing is not instinctive or easy to handle, which the SLR layout was. It is mostly about keeping your line of sight of focus towards the enemy, the SA80 strays from the point, the SLR had everything to hand for the left hand, safety and selector for the right thumb, same for M-16, and you can keep your eyes on the target ahead. I hate the safety, the cocking handle, the fact you cannot use it left handed, the weight, the balance, of the SA80". He also mentioned that if you lost the spring on an SLR you could still cycle it as a bolt action rifle.
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very strange over the "cricket" scene because the German fired two shots to kill the 82nd Airborne Trooper, from a single shot Kar98k, operating the bolt on this rifle as you know would eject a live round, from the miserly 5 round magazine, and he did not operate the bolt for the second shot. Ironically my great uncle who was on the D-Day landings as a Royal Marine Commando said that they would load their Lee Enfields with 10 in the mag, plus 1 up the spout with the rifle on half cock, by pulling the "hammer" back half way locking the bolt, and then quietly pull it all the way back when in contact or enemy approaching, and then fire on order or fire at will when enemy close, without needing to operate the bolt. After that round the normal bolt action sequence would be used. Thus 11 rounds for the Brits as opposed to 5 for the Germans. For a time he also acquired and used a Browning 9mm taken from a dead German, a Colt auto pistol, and when a Don-R, a Despatch Rider for a short time an, M1A1 and Mk 5 Sten on his motorcycle, the M1A1 in a crude rifle bucket made from a US Bazooka rocket pouch mounted on the motorcycle frame. It also had spare rations and the vital British weapon of ww2 dried TMS tablets Tea Milk Sugar, and American coffee, acquired lol.
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Does RA have the1907 BSA Air Rifle that was used to train recruits etc for ww1 and later, an under lever rifle?
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@F1ghteR41 Thanks for that information, yes i take your point.
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@djd8305 Most of their work was reconnaissance and intelligence and to avoid contact and combat with the enemy which would have compromised their safety and role. Especially so in Laos and Cambodia. They did do amazing things, they were the most decorated, and lost a lot of excellent soldiers, but war is dangerous True it was bad war, is there ever a good one, and imho illegal based on a lie, as is the common practice from the USA, but that was the old domino theory doctrine at play.
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My mother knew a Whackrow family in Birmingham, I do not recall the father's name but he had a son whose first initial was C. This is only the second time i have ever heard the name.
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The total Stoner 63 system was a classic amazing even if not all adopted, the fact the SEAL's used components shows its value.
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Do you have the Police versions of the Sterling with the longer barrel, and i believe there was a shorter version, with shorter barrel and cooling jacket??
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The M1A1 was also a favoured weapon by the SAS of 1 and 2 SAS dropped into France before D-Day and during it and later, as i read in Flames from the Forest about the ops of SAS after D-Day.
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Did they all have the "beak" shaped grips or did some have the colt style. I noticed that William Bonney "Billy the Kid" favoured the Colt lightning with the "beak" shaped grips. Why the "beak" shape?
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China v Vietnam Sino Vietnamese war 1979?
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@peterclarke7240 I have been checking weapons for years ever since i was a cadet, and even check toy guns of my nephews and nieces because one of them was a BB shooter, and my sister squeezed the trigger and hit my mother on the bum, before i had a chance to check it. After so many years its automatic and Jonathan follows the safe practice, which is as it should be. Mum was stung and not best pleased lol. She used to tease sis about it "she shot me in the bum, when she was 15, don't let her near any weapons" Sis is now in the Reserves and a crack shot. I check my keys, mobile, money, ID, toilet paper, wet wipes, alcowipe and small container of liquid hand wash too. Makes sense to be sure. ATB
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does the RA have any of the Parker Hale bolt action rifles that they produced in the years before they went out of business?
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Are those rings on the end of the second model No 7, also for a Grenade as used on the Garand system (which was detachable i believe)?
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@JonathanFergusonRoyalArmouries Seems like they were going for an upside down Bren lol, I fired the L1A1 rifle with the L4A4 magazine (privately owned) after my uncle who had served in Northern Ireland and used the L4A4 Bren and also the L1A1 fitted with the L4A4 magazines for recce patrols introduced me to it. I have never seen it done but the said they could block the sear or something to make the L1A1 fire auto with a matchstick?? The idea was to give "the opposition a shock" on a contact.
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What kind of safety does it have? What kind of feed from the magazine and what magazine?
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AES aka A Eickhorn Solingen produced a knife/bayonet with a polymer handle before Glock, which is of slightly different configuration to the currently well known Glock field knife which has a plain blade ( there is also a Glock survival knife with a saw on the opposite edge to the normal cutting edge) Both the AES and the Glock having removable cap/plugs for the hollow handle which was there to fit an adapter for a bayonet. This polymer pistol reminded me of the AES knife and i wondered if the RA has one of the adapters and which rifle or weapons they fitted,, and/or examples of the two knife/bayonets. The AES were green polymer but there was also a green polymer painted black version, both had blued or blackened blades. The Glocks having 4 variants of polymer grips green, black, sand and white. The AES scabbards also differed from the Glock ones, especially the retention methods, but AES scabbards were green and green painted black, whereas the Glock has the 4 coloured sheaths in coloured polymer. Does RA have the full layouts.
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Will you cover the current break down version they have in the current survival packs?
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Richard Wattis the actor was in SOE's weapon design department in ww2 i wonder if he ever worked on this kind of thing. War service interrupted his career as an actor.He served as a second lieutenant in the Small Arms Section of Special Operations Executive at Station VI during the Second World War (James Bond author Ian Fleming worked in the same section).[2]
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i have seen a pic of this labelled as an M45B including the CIA suppressor on pinterest
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i just had a vision of the bomb falling on the floor and going off, with Jonathan disappearing in a cloud of smoke and when the smoke cleared he was still sitting there, a little tattered and blackened but smiling and continuing his lecture without missing a word. Then the cameraman saying "oops i got that one on film".
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