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Douglas Bader, for those not familiar with this RAF hero, was probably the most heroic and colourful of all the RAF heroes. A great book was written about him: Reach for the Sky, by Paul Brickhill...

This thread reminds me of the discussion about the Krag that blew up and was attributed to an underpowered load.
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=52780

We said. In the jargon of Cassius Clay/Mohammad Ali this was also known in the boxing ring as "Rope a Dope" -- baiting people into untenable positions.

The problem with "trolling" or "rope a...

Welcome to Milsurps.

You need not worry much about the lack of proofing in the US as nearly all Lee Enfields in the US were shipped via the UK and proofed in Great Britain before arriving on our...

Truly well put Bob. 50% of the current Millennial generation (according to a recent Harvard study) actually believes that the future will not be better than the past, and thus they have has no...

Thanks Darren, many of these terms were foreign to me.
Without giving a lot of thought to this, several words come to mind from the US side:

Cumshaw -- to trade stuff (as in Barter) without the...

This has to be one of the most bizarre, off-the-wall stories I've ever read. There is absolutely no logic underpinning the story -- no comparisons with other weapons (except the M1 Carbine) , no...

Well said Paul. My relatives fought the British in the Revolution (over civil rights), in the War of 1812 over the impressment (enforced slavery) of seamen, the American Civil War (over slavery), ...

Every Lee Enfield purist will chastise me for what I'm going to say here, but I will say it anyway: Do not use RLO -- it will be gummy, attract dirt, and oxide to a dark chocolate brown over several...

OMG No. As a 10 year old Boy Scout we were strictly trained to clear any containers of oily rags for fear of spontaneous combustion. It wasn't an imaginary problem. A recent story cites "The fire at...

Yikes! Isn't this approach rather dangerous. How do you prevent the whole thing from a massive oil fire? One misstep and you've got a ball of flames in your hands. Notice the lack of fire...

Frederick, your insights here are quite deep -- the impact of the war on people's beliefs, their faith in their leaders, and the spin-off movements in the aftermath of the war could fill volumes. Had...

More than likely that diminutive lass (along with the rest of the crew) was a resistance fighter and knew exactly how to wield a weapon. She and the others probably were crack shots and could handle...

The expressions on people's faces of the liberated communities are priceless. Obviously Hitler's occupation was deeply onerous.

I must confess that until I read Pierre Berton's book on Vimy Ridge, I had only the most superficial understanding of the war and how it was conducted, having been much more attuned to the political...

Point well taken -- As Sgt. York proved in 1918 in an attack on a German machine gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing at least 20 German soldiers, and capturing 132 others in October 8, 1918....

Thanks for this lead. Here's any interesting story ( see pics at: Enfield Rifles ) Whitaker Special: Enfield No4T Target Rifle
£495

This is one of the 117 Target Rifles manufactured by (Bert)...

I heartily concur. They called it the Great War and the War to End All Wars for a reason. Every account of living and fighting in the trenches and crossing No Man's Land is heart-wrenching. After...

I'm perplexed. Is there something quoted that is erroneous? His book was quite well researched, and he taught infantry tactics.


I will plead my ignorance here. If the P14 had no advantage in...

I've just finished reading the excellent book "Vimy" (by Pierre Berton) about the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge in 1917.

The author (a war veteran who taught at the Royal Military College)...

Marlin did make barrels for the M1 Carbine -- for National Postal Meter IIRC.

FWIW, Wikipedia has an interesting definition of Assault Rifle. Many would not exactly agree with this definition, but it creates an interesting discussion:

Definition: Assault Rifle

The term...

SentryDuty hits the target dead-on -- the definition is very hard to pin down. For legal purposes, in the US the definition is typically:
Military configuration with detachable magazine, folding...

Amazing and touching story.
There is a comparable story on this side of the pond -- WWII Wildcat fighters being fished out of Lake Michigan;
One is on display in Chicago's O'Hare airport and is...

I'll bet you can shed some light on how the "Pennsylvania" rifle became the "Kentucky" rifle (I'm sure much to the chagrin of Pennsylvanians).