Seeing more and more visual evidence of shotgun use against drones. Here's a member of the 53rd Mechanised Brigade firing a 12ga 870-pattern shotgun at a Mavic-type drone.

Source:

#UkraineRussiaWar #SALW #Ukraine
I'll emphasise that engaging a generic quadcopter drone is still pretty difficult even with a skilled shooter and the right choke and cartridge type. But it is the one kinetic method that can be put into action right now.

THREAD: SMArt 155

While identifying use of SMArt 155 in videos is often difficult due to resolution, camera angle and framing one clear indication of their use in #Ukraine are the jettisoned parachutes and ballutes which arrest the submunitions flight. 1/ SMArt 155 is one of two 155mm munitions (the other being BONUS) that contain a pair of submunitions capable of scanning the target area and firing down on targets. Below is a cutaway of the round with the two submunitions inside. 2/

🧵FN FALs in Ukraine!

Yesterday I shared a video looking at the use of FN FALs in #Ukraine. Both fixed stock 50.00s and folding stock 50.61s have been seen in theatre. 1/ The PARA FALs began to appear in October with photos of crates of them shared. These are 50.61s which have a folding stock but full length barrel. Their exact origin is unclear but there's some interesting theories and leads I'm still investigating. Belgium is 1 likely source. 2/

🚨THREAD🧵

The UK-led OP Interflex is training 20,000 Ukrainian troops in 2023, just over 10k last year. They are providing basic infantry training, for this they need rifles.

The latest of these are Bulgarian Arsenal AR-M9Fs in 5.56x45mm. Here's why that's interesting... 1/ January saw the first photos of Ukrainian troops with these Bulgarian AKs shared by UK, Australian & Canadian defence departments. They join a plethora of 7.62x39mm AK pattern rifles procured last year.
More on that here: armourersbench.com/2022/07/25/uk-… 2/

🧵This is Russia's 'silent' mortar.

Well, it's not really silent, it's rated at around 135dbs. A Russian operator in the field describes it as "not louder than a clap of hands”.

I've looked at them here: armourersbench.com/tag/2b25-morta… It uses the spigot mortar principle (a bit like the PIAT, but the spigot is fixed so its more like the Blacker Bombard) coupled with the captive piston principle where the gases are retained in the bomb tail. 2/

Remember the MT-12 mounted on the MT-LB? Now thanks to Ukraine's @U24_gov_ua we have some footage of an older 100mm T-12 AT gun mounted on another MT-LB. This one appears not to have any protection for the gun crew.

Video here:
#Ukraine #ATWeapons While this version doesn't have the armour shield of earlier version, it does have the rear support struts at the back of the vehicle. (IIRC one example of these improvised vehicles hasn't had them). The T-12 and M-12 share the same ammunition.

OK, this morning FN Herstal set the hype train rolling and announced they are introducing a new machine gun next month. Let's take a look at the teaser...
#NewFNMG Oooh look, triangles. This looks like the a forend raised up for a long uninterrupted top Picatinny rail.

Thread:
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Imjin River. During which the UK’s 29th Brigade engaged several division of Chinese troops. The brigade held on for several days, enduring bombardment, Chinese human wave assaults and night attacks. Eventually the Brigade was forced to withdraw but the Glosters were cut off. They fought until their ammunition was gone. Many were captured and only 40 escaped.

Hello there!
I've recently had an unexpected influx of new followers (thank you very much!) I thought I'd do a bit of an introduction as the Historical Firearms account is a little faceless with just the logo!
Bear with me, I'm British & I find this stuff a bit awkward! My name is Matthew Moss, I'm a small arms historian. I specialise in the history of the development & use of firearms & other weapons. I have a degree in history and a Masters in military history. I've been writing about small arms history now for about a decade.

THREAD: Shall we talk WW1 tank weapons?

The British Mk I Heavy came in two variants Male & Female.

The Male's primary armament was a pair of forward facing QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss mounted in sponsons. The ~4ft long barrels proved a little ungainly.

#history #tanks #WW1 1/ While the MkI Male also had some Hotchkiss Mk1* machine guns.

It was the Female MkI which packed 4 .303 vickers guns in her sponsons.

As the war went on a Hermaphrodite tank with one sponson with a 6pdr & one with machine guns was also introduced.

#history #tanks #WW1 2/