A second “brother” printed colored postcard of an artist-drawn war scene taking place in the South African Boer War painted and signed by E. Storm in 1903. This scene seems to be at sunset with the notation of “Drink Maxim Ale” as part of the setting sun.

World War I-era sweetheart or veteran’s lapel pin in the shape of a guidon with the Army machine gun colors of red and blue enamel. Trimmed in brass, the top half of the guidon has the number “1,” and the bottom half of the guidon in blue has “M.G.B.” (1st Machine Gun Battalion). Pin back.

No. 2 Battery Sudan Motor Machine Gun Corps (circa 1935-1945) sun helmet badge. (Arabic name: Kingi Batteria Ottomobilat Madaf a El Makina). Blackened bronze badge of winged wheel with crossed Vickers to the center. Two lugs to the rear. Attached to a diamond-shaped, dark blue, Melton felt baking that was worn on the side of the sun helmet.

First Day coin cover for the Centenary of the First World War from Gibraltar, denoting weaponry—specifically machine guns. The 8-block, 22-pence stamps, canceled on the first day of issue of February 18, 2015, depict a Vickers machine gun in an anti-aircraft pose. The main image on the card is of a Lewis gunner in an anti-aircraft pose. The 50-pence commemorative coin (attached in plastic) shows on the obverse a Lewis gunner firing over sandbags and a Hotchkiss gunner with a belt of machine gun cartridges running edge-to-edge in the center. Prominent to the face of the coin is a line from the poem, “Arms and the Boy” by Wilfred Owen, written in 1917, stating, “Blue with all Malice like a Madman’s Flash.” The coin is a 24-carat gold-plated steel Crown from Jersey. The reverse has an image of Elizabeth II. The coin measures 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Interwar Latvian brass tank or armored car machine gunner’s proficiency badge circa 1919–1926. Crossed Vick-ers on tank that is on a spoked tire. Two-piece screw construction. Screw back. Spinner marked: “Arm. Ekonom. Veikals, Rīgā.”

Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps Machine Gun Section cap, collar and shoulder title. The cap and collar badges are blackened bronze, showing tea leaves with “M” and “G” to each side with a three-part Latin motto below the letters: “Salus Unitas Nostra” (“Our Safety Unit”); and a single banner below that reads, “Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps.” Both the cap and collars have two lugs to the rear. The brass shoulder title simply reads, “M.G.” over “CPRC” (Machine Gun Section Ceylon Planter Rifle Corps). The unit was raised in 1901 as a volunteer (reserve) regiment of the Ceylon Defence Force based in Kandy, and it existed until 1949. The regiment was made up of Europeans that were tea and rubber planters in the hills of Sri Lanka. The regiment deployed personnel to fight in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II.

Very early and very rare World War I era shoulder patch for the 31st “Dixie” Division consisting of a triangle bisected with red and blue denoting a machine gun battalion with two “D”s back-to-back. This patch was very quickly changed to a white disk on which is a red circle within which are two red “D”s back-to-back. The 31st infantry Division was a unit of the Army National Guard originally established in early 1917 as the 10th Division with Alabama, Florida and Georgia national guardsmen. Later that same year, the 10th became the 31st. Trained at Camp Gordon, Georgia, the Division arrived in France in September 1918 and was designated as a replacement Division. The Division returned to the U.S. in July 1919 where the men were mustered out of service. The 31st Division was mobilized in 1940 with National Guard Divisions from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Russian Medallion

A Russian, large, bronze-clad metal table medallion commemorating Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyarev (1880-1949). The obverse has a raised relief image of Degtyarev with the inscription, in Russian, “In Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyarev 1880-1980.” The reverse inscription reads, “Russian Gunsmiths USSR,” with a central image of a DP-28 light machine gun that Degtyarev created and which was the main light machine gun of the Russian army in World War II. The medallion measures 75 mm in diameter and also has the original red plastic box/stand.

WWI Brodie Helmet

U.S. World War I Brodie helmet for a machine gun company of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the American Expeditionary Force Siberia (A.E.F. Siberia). Painted in white winter camouflage with the A.E.F. Siberia insignia painted on the front of an “S” (for Siberia) superimposed upon a standing bear within an artillery shell. On the right side of the helmet is painted “27th” over “MG.” The machine gun companies were issued Browning Model of 1917 water-cooled machine guns and Browning Automatic Rifles (BAR) Model of 1918. Nearly 8,000 men, mostly from the 27th and then the 31st Infantry Regiments, were sent to Russia during World War I after the October Revolution from 1918 to 1920 and suffered severely from the brutal Siberian winter.

They were sent to Russia to help rescue the 40,000 men of the Czechoslovak Legions being held up by Bolshevik forces as they attempted to make their way along the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok and, hopefully, to the Western Front. Additionally, they were sent to protect the large quantities of military supplies and railroad rolling stock that the U.S. had sent to Russia in support of the war effort against Germany before the Bolshevik Revolution. They failed in their mission.

Cap and Collar Badge

South Waziristan Scouts officer’s cap and collar badge circa 1920s. The cap badge has the British king’s crown over crossed Vickers with “South Waziristan Scouts” banner below with four lugs to the rear. The collar badge has the king’s crown over a mountain goat head and two lugs to the rear. South Waziristan is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan. The region was an independent tribal territory from 1893, remaining outside of the British-ruled Empire and Afghanistan. Tribal raiding into British-ruled territory was a constant problem for the British, requiring frequent punitive expeditions between 1860 and 1945. The region became part of Pakistan in 1947.

Sweetheart Pin

A sweetheart pin for the 3rd Machine Gun Company, 1st Canadian Division has red, white and blue enamel on a brass badge, with the king’s crown to the top and a Vickers machine gun on tripod to the center. The top banner reads, “3rd M.G. Co.” and below is “1st Canadian Division.” Pin back.

Swedish Machine Gunner Badge

A Swedish 1950s-era army machine gunner’s silver metal shooting breast badge that has three Swedish crowns to the top with two crossed M45 submachine guns to the center. Pin back.

Ernest Vaux, grandson of the Brewery’s founder, Cuthbert Vaux, was a Major in the Durham Voluntary Artillery when he volunteered for service with the Imperial Yeomanry (a British volunteer cavalry regiment) during the Second Boer War. He was appointed Machine Gun Commander with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the British Army serving in the Imperial Yeomanry, 15th Company of the 5th Battalion, a part of the Northumberland Hussars, from July 1900 to June 1901 in South Africa. He commanded a Maxim machine gun detachment that operated in the Transvall, Orange River and Cape Colony areas of South Africa (though mostly in the Transvall) and took part in over 80 operations there. Major Vaux was “Mentioned in Dispatches” no less than 7 times for his service in South Africa and was awarded the Queens’ South Africa medal with four clasps. In November, 1901 he was awarded the prestigious DSO (Distinguished Service Order).

Upon his safe return to Sunderland the brewery, in late 1901, created a new brand of ale, Maxim Ale, with a very distinguished looking label featuring the Maxim machine gun in recognition of Ernest Vaux’s exploits. The initial recipe for the ale (said to be created by Ernest Vaux himself) was so strong that pub landlords complained that it put their patrons to sleep so the strength was reduced. But in 1938 the brewery increased the strength and renamed the brand Double Maxim.

Founded in 1837 by Cuthbert Vaux, and run by family members for generation, the Vaux brewery was purchased by Wards Brewing Company in 1972. Nevertheless, after over 150 years of brewing history, it closed, along with Wards, in 1999. In 2000, two former directors of Vaux and the head brew master resurrected the brand and established the Double Maxim Beer Company purchasing the rights to both the beer recipes and brand names.

Alas, the historic and renowned North East England brewery name of Vaux, and the iconic image of the Maxim machine gun on a British ale label, are long gone and now exists in name only.

WWII-era Japanese white metal desk inkwell. Japanese soldier in full field gear with Type 11 light machine gun in the prone position. The Japanese flag is hinged and lifts up to reveal two inkwell positions: one for blue ink and one for red ink. Measures approximately 6x3x3 inches.

World War I New Zealand soldier wrist identity bracelet with chain. Bracelet marked “Pte S. Moorcraft, N. Z. M. G. C. 31527 C. E.” (Private S. Moorcraft, New Zealand Machine Gun Corps, 31527, Church of England).

British World War I blackened bronze other ranks cap badge for the Machine Gun Corps Motor Transport driver as worn in Africa in Egypt or Palestine. The one-piece construction of King’s crown over crossed Vickers with a spoked wheel below. Slider to rear.

Pair of sterling silver and enamel earrings set in Lucite of the insignia of the Canadian regiment The Winnipeg Grenadiers MG. The King’s crown surmounts over a central image of a ram’s head encircled by “The Winni-peg Grenadiers MG” over banner with motto “Adsum” (I am present). The Winnipeg Grenadiers were a militia infantry battalion organized as a machine gun battalion on September 4, 1939. The unit was sent to Hong Kong and surrendered to the Japanese on December 25, 1941, after heavy fighting. The unit reformed in January 1942 in Canada and disbanded in the UK in November 1944. Slip-on style with screw back clip for non-pierced ears. Rear marked sterling silver.

Brass and bronze “trench-art”-style miniature of a German World War I Maxim MG 08 machine gun on sled mount with steam condensing hose, water and ammo cans. The gun traverses and elevates on the mount. The front legs can be adjusted from prone position to selected height. The gun and sled mount sits on a stained wood stand with an inscription plate in German that reads “Schwere Mashinen Gewehr 08” (Heavy Machine Gun 08). This highly detailed model was made in 2017 by Oleg Prokopenko and his brother Dmytro Prokopenko in the Ukraine. The gun measures approximately 6 inches long.

Russian silver shooting award pendant. The obverse has a central image of an M1910 Maxim machine gun on a Sokolov wheeled mount and engraved above and below in Russian: “1st prize for machine gun fire.” The reverse is engraved in Russian (Shamordino 2 Base 1919). The pendant measures approximately 1 1/8×1 3/8 inches.

WWI-era U.S. Cavalry machine gun troop expert proficiency with a machine gun felt sleeve patch worn 1918–1919 only. Sewn image of red five-round section of a machine gun belt within a red circle against a yellow backing. The colors of red on yellow denoted machine gun troops in the U.S. Cavalry.

German service insignia of the Stahlhelm branch of the Freikorps. Blue cloth-covered round badge approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Affixed to the center is a gray metal Maxim MG08 machine gun on sled mount. Metal-backed and maker-marked, “Ges. Gesch” (copyrighted). The Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten was one of the many paramilitary organizations that arose after the German defeat of World War I and operated as the armed branch of the national conservative German National People’s Party (DNVP).

Japanese red lacquer wood sake cup with gold rim and kanji with central image of an early Hotchkiss Model 1900 machine gun on tripod. This cup commemorates going to war with Russia (a reference to the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905) with the Imperial Guards Division, 3rd Machine Gun Unit.

World War I-era shoulder patches for the U.S. 101st Machine Gun Battalion of the 26th Infantry Division (also known as the Yankee Division as most of the units were recruited from the New England area). The Division saw extensive combat service in World War I. The patches denote the headquarters and machine gun companies of the 101st machine gun battalion. Made of green felt material on a paper board backing, the information is stitched in white thread. These were made by a company specializing in military and veteran ribbons intended to be a souvenir patch for families and sweethearts, but many were sent overseas and worn in theater (unofficially) by the soldiers.

Imperial Russian World War I-era 84 silver cufflinks with image of a Model 1905 Maxim machine gun on a wheeled Sokolov mount with stability legs. The cufflink is attached to a chain that is linked to a rendering of a 7.62x54R cartridge that serves as the opposite holding side of the shirt cuff.

Polish commemorative badge for the World War II 5CKM Kresowy Machine Gun battalion. The badge was numbered on the rear “705” and was worn by Michal Jablonski. Two-piece construction. Three machine gun bullets on belt in center of wreath with “CKM” to center with number “5” at the bottom of the wreath, which is superimposed on a Monte Casino Cross. Full-size about 42mmx42mm. Screw back. The 5th Machine Gun Battalion was a unit of the 5th Kresowy Infantry Division. (Kresowy means coming from the “Kresy” or the “Frontier” meaning specifically the eastern frontier of Poland.) The unit commemorative badge was authorized by the 2nd Polish Corps Commander order No. 108, paragraph 628 of October 7, 1946. The unit existed from 1943 to 1947 and saw action first in the Middle East and then with the 2nd Polish Corps in Italy. Maker marked to the rear, “F.M. Lorioli, Milano-Roma.”

Swedish military army submachine gun shooting award silver level. Colored medal obverse has raised relief image of Swedish soldier kneeling firing an M40 submachine gun. Reverse has laurel wreath with no inscription to center. Medal is hanging on a blue and red vertical striped ribbon with pin back.

Swiss trench art picture frame consisting of Swiss 7.5mm machine gun cartridges with rims dated 1917-1922. Swiss machine gun regiment shako hat badge affixed to bottom and Swiss cross affixed to top. Cabinet photograph of Swiss officer inside frame.

British George V sterling silver interwar Lewis Gun shooting trophy in the form of a goblet. The front of the goblet is engraved, “44th (H.C.) Divnl. R.A.S.C. (T.A.) Rifle Meeting 1936 Winners Inter-Unit Lewis Gun Competition.” (44th (Home Counties) Divisional Royal Army Service Corps (Territorial Army)). The obverse is engraved with the names of the winning team: Sgt. M.J.A. Campbell, L/Cpl S.E.J. Needham, OR (Other Ranks): W.A.K. Sinden and OR: A.G. Downs. Goblet made by Phillips of Aldershot and is sterling silver hallmarked London 1936 by H. Phillips. Goblet stands 4½ inches high with a cup diameter of 2¼ inches.

World War I era Japanese woodblock print fan. Image is hand colored in vibrant colors of a machine gun unit circa 1915. Measuring approximately 13 inches when opened, it features a Hotchkiss machine gun team firing their weapon. Included in the imagery is a biplane, armored car, national flag and horse-mounted officer. Kanji (Japanese lettering) on the right says, “Kore wa rikugun kikanju tai desu. Isamashiki kikanju.” Approximate translation is: This is our wonderful machine gun unit.

Australian World War I veteran’s pin-back lapel badge of the 4th Machine Gun Battalion. Crossed Vickers machine guns to the top with central image of the formation patch of the 4th Machine Gun Battalion of a yellow circle within a black circle with “4.M.G.B.” below. Maker marked on back, “A W Patrick Rae St Nth Fitzroy V.” 31mm diameter.

Brass shoulder title for a machine gun company of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Corps. (“MG” over “HKVDC”). The HKVDC fought courageously against the Japanese in the weeks prior to the fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941. They had a total fighting strength of 2,200. All ranks in 7 infantry companies, 5 artillery batteries, 5 machine gun companies equipped with Vickers machine guns and an armored car platoon. Two mounting lugs to the rear.

Interwar German veteran’s commemorative 10 /20 liter glass stein. Center image of a machine gunner with Maxim MG 08 on sled mount. On the left side in raised lettering is “4. (M.G.) Komp.” over “19. (Bayr) Inf. Rgt.” (4th Machine Gun Company, 19th Bavarian Infantry Regiment.) To the right in raised lettering is “Weihnachten” over “1933” (Christmas 1933). Pewter lid.

Canadian homefront World War II souvenir silk pillow cover. Image of brown lion holding maple leaf standing atop a Vickers machine gun over “1940” against an all-white satin background. The circle around the lion reads “Machine Gun Training Centre M.D. 4” (Militia District 4–Montreal). Edges in gold and purple thread fringe.

Italian high relief bronze medal of a machine gunner shooting a St. Etienne M1907 machine gun commemorating “Tregnago 1.2.18 1.2.19” (Tregnago is a municipality in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto where this unit originated from). The reverse shows a flying eagle and is marked “Battaglione 907 F. Del 1° Reparto Mitraglieri” (1st Company of the 907th Machine Gun Battalion).

Despite the similar name and subject matter, this new title is completely separate from the 1994 book Misfire: The Story of How America’s Small Arms Have Failed Our Military, by William Hallahan.

With that noted and out of the way, let’s look at the 2019 title by authors Bob Orkand and Lyman Duryea. Col. Duryea and Lt. Col. Orkand are both retired U.S. Army Infantry members, and both served in Vietnam during the early years.

Initially, I found this book somewhat difficult to read due to it jumping around in time too much. The first chapter begins by describing a January 1961 snowstorm in Washington, D.C. This leads into the inaugural ceremonies for President John F. Kennedy. In fact, I actually started reading it and then put it aside for later. Once I got past the first chapter, it generally went better.

Duryea and Orkand describe the trial by fire of the M16 rifle in the early days of the Vietnam War. It may be difficult to imagine now, nearly 60 years later and in service with over 80 nations, but the early versions of the rifle had serious issues.

As the book explains, there was a chain of events that led to many lives lost. This perfect storm of failures could have been avoided if the proper choices had been made.

To sum up, the ArmaLite firm had developed their AR-15 rifle using a specific load that used IMR-4475 (Improved Military Rifle) extruded smokeless powder made by DuPont™. This particular load gave an average velocity of roughly 3,150 fps, enough to penetrate a steel helmet at 300 yards. The Army insisted on a muzzle velocity of 3,250 fps in order to pierce a helmet at 500 yards. (The authors note that the NVA soldiers wore a soft pith helmet, while the Viet Cong seldom wore any headgear at all.) In order to achieve the higher velocity without exceeding the allowable maximum chamber pressure (52,000 psi), the IMR-4475 powder was replaced with a spherical “ball” type powder, WC846. However, while the chamber pressure was not exceeded, the port pressure was. As the bullet moves down the barrel, the pressure behind it begins to decrease as the powder is consumed. This pressure curve is different for each powder. Ball powder WC846 retains more pressure closer to the muzzle, so as the soldier’s bullet passed the gas port (a small hole in the barrel), the gas system was exposed to noticeably greater pressure.

This increase in port pressure caused a dramatic increase in the rate of fire, which in turn led to more parts breakage. Much more importantly, the jump in port pressure led to a surge in Failure to Extract (FTE) malfunctions. With the pressure in the barrel still high, the brass cartridge case was still expanded tightly against the chamber wall. This greatly increased the resistance of the empty case to slide out of the chamber as the extractor claw pulled on the case rim. In addition to the propellant issue, the chambers and barrels were not chrome-plated on the early rifles. In the very humid climate of Vietnam, corrosion soon set in, causing the chamber to become pitted. Perhaps the troops could have prevented such corrosion if they had been made aware of the issue and kept their guns well cleaned. This is the next great failure. The rifles often did not come with a cleaning kit. And, to make matters worse, the soldiers were often told the new wonder-gun did not need cleaning!

The result was huge number of FTEs during firefights, caused by a combination of excess port pressure and pitted and corroded chamber walls, brought on by a lack of training and cleaning kits. Once the rim had torn off the brass case, the only way to get the case out was to push it out with a cleaning rod. And, as noted, there were too few issued. The book refers to documented cases of troops under fire searching for a cleaning rod.

Unfortunately, the powers that be did not wise up to this problem nearly fast enough. The natural tendency of the upper military is to blame the troops on the ground. Duryea and Orkand state: “The first military reaction to poorly functioning weapons is to blame it on inadequate maintenance by the troops. A little bit of professional communication would have revealed that the problem wasn’t with the men. Many commanders looked no further.” And also: “This is a perfect example of senior officers out of touch with the men doing the fighting. The greater the distance from the action, the greater the tendency to discount reports from the field.” This is noted in chapter 5, called, appropriately enough, “CYA—The Name of the Game.”

As I mentioned above, chapter 1 is somewhat tedious to read. Chapter 2 gets into the technical aspects, including a brief mention of studies done in 1929 by the Ballistics Research Laboratory that recommended a smaller diameter round like .25 or .276. Naturally, the Army stayed with a .30-caliber round.

Chapter 3 looks at the early years at ArmaLite and of Eugene Stoner’s work there. It also looks at the Ordnance Department’s stubbornness to consider any outside designs (NIH, or Not Invented Here), and the .223/5.56x45mm round. This aversion to anything new also included the general concept of an assault rifle. The Ordnance Department loved their heavy, semiauto M14, not the light, selective-fire AR-15. Also discussed are Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and his team of “whiz kids,” young and bright, but with little military experience who tended not to listen to experienced military advisors.

Chapter 4, titled, “The Small Arms Systems Test,” looks at the SAWS test that took place between July and November 1965. Included in the test were the M14, M14E2, XM16E1 and the belt-fed M60 MG. The guns were put through a series of trials, with all potential issues noted. There was a list of 29 possible malfunctions! (Not every gun faced all issues. Number 29 is a partial misfeed from a linked belt and only applies to the M60.) This is where the problems faced by the XM16E2 should have been noted and corrected, if not already dealt with.

Chapter 6, “The Troops Deploy,” starts out a bit dry with a long detailed summary of which units went where in Vietnam. If you were there, you will probably enjoy seeing your unit listed. After several pages, it changes direction to discuss propellant characteristics, specifically IMR-4475 and WC846. Both powders were used in the M193 cartridge. Also mentioned is that the brass used in the cartridge case was not sufficiently hard. This caused the soft brass to flow into the tiny pits in the chambers, further adding to the resistance noted in the explanation above. I was not aware of this prior to reading this book.

Chapter 7 is written by Col. Duryea and describes the death of PFC Joseph Reid. Private Reid was the first soldier to die under Duryea’s command, and his death was directly due to an FTE. This is followed by a series of quotes from various sources, giving opposing opinions on the XM16E1. Several quotes are from the Ichord Subcommittee Report that examined the M16’s problems. In response to growing complaints about the rifle’s reliability, the House Armed Services Committee formed a subcommittee headed by Congressman Richard Ichord (D-MO). This report can be found on the web, if interested.

Chapter 8, “Someone Had Blundered,” continues with the Ichord Report and its findings. Some highlights include noting that the decision to use WC846 powder may have been influenced by the manufacturer Olin Mathieson’s “close relationship” with three Army commands involved with ammunition purchase. The report also states that it was “at least unethical” for Maj. Gen. Nelson Lynde, Jr., the commanding general of the Army Weapons Command, to jump straight to Colt immediately after retiring from the Army.

The book quotes a Small Arms Review article, “The M16 in Vietnam.

Just The Facts!” in Vol. 9, No. 5, February 2006 where Christopher Bartocci states: “The principal and most serious cause of the malfunctions of the AR-15/M16 rifle in Vietnam was the failure to chrome-plate the chamber.” However, Duryea and Orkand note elsewhere that clean new rifles would often have FTE issues with WC846 ammo and not with IMR-4475 ammo. Most likely, it was a perfect storm of pitted, non-chromed chambers firing soft brass ammo loaded with WC846.

Chapter 9 is written by Lt. Col. Orkand. It begins with the touchy subject of the role of media in the war. Orkand says: “It wasn’t the press that ‘lost the war’ in Vietnam for the U.S. The war’s outcome, to the contrary, was a self-inflicted wound resulting from decisions made by our nation’s totally befuddled military and civilian leadership.” The several pages of media issues also include President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America” comment, after watching CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite’s report in February 1968. The chapter then reverts back to further discussion of the Ichord Report. Orkand notes the tone of the report, with the words “unethical,” “unbelievable” and “borders on criminal negligence” quoted.

Chapter 10 takes a look at the TFX/F-111 aircraft project, of all things. The authors compare the TFX program to the M16 mess to point out McNamara’s faults. The Tactical Fighter Experimental eventually grew into the USAF F-111 Aardvark swing-wing jet. But it started out as a joint Navy and USAF fighter-bomber program. Both services were looking for new aircraft in the early ‘60s. McNamara ordered both services to work together on a joint design. He also felt the Marines and even the Army could make use of a jack-of-all-trades aircraft. In spite of the official selection board recommending the proposal by Boeing, McNamara ignored their choice and chose the General Dynamics design. The USAF also favoured the Boeing design. The Navy didn’t like either design but tried to develop a suitable variant. In 1968, after years of trying, the Navy cancelled its version.

Chapter 11 is a history lesson that deals with “Vietnamization,” the training of the South Vietnamese to fight on their own. It also looks at Code of Conduct issues and discusses corrupt Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) leadership and its effect on morale. A relevant point the authors make is: “No amount of training and equipment can offset corruption, lack of motivation and self-interest.”

Chapter 12, “Author’s Commentary,” Duryea comments on Colt continuing to test its guns with IMR-4475 ammo, while being well aware that the ammo used in Vietnam was WC846. Worse, the Army was also aware of this. For this, Duryea writes: “Colt and Army decision-makers were thus directly complicit in an unknown number of Americans killed in close combat, one of whom was my first KIA as a company commander.”

In summary, this book covers a lot of ground, not just the M16 woes. It looks at corruption in the ARVN, the role of media, the poor decisions made by LBJ, McNamara and Gen. Westmoreland. At times, I found it changing direction within chapters and to be rather repetitive on the propellant issue. It does cover an important period in U.S. military history through the eyes of two men who were there.

Early-Version M16s—A Perfect Storm of Failures
MISFIRE: The Tragic Failure of the M16 in Vietnam
Author: Bob Orkand and Lyman Duryea
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 978-0-8117-3796-8
Copyright: 2019
Hardcover: 6.24”x0.87”x9.33”, 251 pages, with Color/B&W photos
MSRP: $29.95 (USD)

The Martini-Henry Rifle Collector’s Bible

The legendary Martini-Henry (M-H) rifle served Great Britain and the British Commonwealth in the late 1800s, during some of the bloodiest battles the British Army faced. You may recall it being featured in the classic 1964 movie “Zulu.”

The name refers to the design features it incorporated. It was a combination of the Martini action and a unique rifling pattern invented by Alexander Henry. Introduced in 1871, it was the primary rifle until the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield arms were adopted in 1888. Production ended in 1889, yet it continued to serve in reserve units until the end of WWI in 1918.

The Foreword is written by International Military Antiques, Inc. owner Christian Cranmer. (His son Alex often appears on “Pawn Stars” as an expert on old guns.) Christian describes bringing many tons of surplus guns and equipment from Nepal to the UK and United States in 2003. Soon after, a hardcore M-H collector named Neil Aspinshaw came calling. Aspinshaw, the author of this book, is also the creator and owner of www.martinihenry.org.

Following that is the Prologue: Wednesday, 22^nd January 1879: The last moments of a Redcoat. This is an account of the disastrous Battle of Isandlwana, in modern day Republic of South Africa where the British Army lost over 1,300 men in one afternoon. It is told through the eyes of Private 883 John Kempster. Naturally it is a somewhat fictitious account, as 883 perished along with most of his unit, the 1^st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot. Private Kempster was a real soldier, and author Aspinshaw is proud to be the custodian of his campaign medal. The book is also dedicated to him.

This book features many color photographs of complete rifles, interior close-up photos and old B&W period photos. It also has many old patent and engineering drawings and sketches, as well as several battle scene depiction paintings. This offers a great mix of images. Almost every picture is accompanied with a caption. Going beyond the images, the main body of text covers the M-H’s early development, the rifle trials, weaknesses and improvements and changes throughout its service life.

Besides the technical aspects, the author also describes the M-H in battle. He also tackles the thorny issue of reliability. Due to the bloody defeat at the hands of the Zulu warriors at Isandlwana, the rifle came under close scrutiny. Aspinshaw is of the opinion that the rifle was fine; although early batches of ammunition were problematic.

The author did not simply recycle old war stories in regards to this issue. He spent countless hours studying reports from the era, mainly housed at the British National Archives at Kew Gardens and the Royal Armouries at Leeds. Quoting heavily from these reports, Aspinshaw suggests that the problem lay with the ammo, specifically the “rolled case” 577/450 Mk III Boxer design. The rolled case method of fabricating cases from thin sheets of brass foil created a cartridge with a very unique appearance. Wrinkled best describes it. The brass foil is wrapped around a mandrel, along with other parts for the base. The parts were then soldered together to create a case somewhat like a paper shotgun shell. Incidentally, I did notice one minor error here. The brass foil is 0.003-inch thick, not 0.0003 inch as stated. Three thousandths of an inch thick is flexible but not flimsy. Three ten-thousandths of an inch would be like tissue paper. These rolled cases worked well as long as they were not dented or bent. Unfortunately, this often occurred in combat. Chapter 17, Ammunition for the Martini-Henry: The Boxer Cartridge, and Chapter 18, Boxer Ammunition and the Great Jamming Debate, go into detail regarding this. Aspinshaw feels that six factors affected the jamming issue. These are:

1) Case shape. It was not tapered; instead it was parallel-sided.
2) The case would expand tightly against the chamber wall upon firing.
3) Any sand or dust in the chamber or on the cartridge increased the friction.
4) Denting or damage to the fragile case would make it difficult to load into the chamber.
5) If the paper of the paper-patched bullet became “rucked up” or folded back over itself, it became difficult to load.
6) The internal lacquering of the cases could gum up the chamber.

These issues disappeared with the adoption of modern drawn brass cases.

Other related models of the basic Martini action were tested and used by the British military. These are covered in detail as well. Chapter 12 studies the short-lived Enfield-Martini (E-M). (Notice that in this case the Martini name is second.) This was meant to be an updated model, chambered in a new .402-inch cartridge. However, as cartridge design was progressing at a rapid pace worldwide, Britain did not want to commit to a new caliber only to replace it with a newer smaller diameter round soon after. So, after spending 6 years (from 1881 to 1887) toying with the idea of replacing the M-H with the E-M, the E-M project was cancelled. Amazingly, the E-M rifles already made were converted back to M-H rifles! These are the M-H Mk IV “long-lever” pattern guns, in the original 577/450 round. The .402 barrels were removed from the action, re-bored to .450 inch, then refitted to the action and re-proofed. These will have two sets of proof marks stamped into the underside of the barrel. Chapter 13 covers this nicely.

Chapter 14 looks at the Martini-Metford, while chapter 15 covers the Martini-Enfield. Both of these are chambered in .303 British. The names Metford and Enfield refer to the type of rifling used. Metford rifling worked well with black powder but quickly burned out with early smokeless powder. Enfield-style rifling, so named as it was developed at the Enfield arsenal, lasted much longer with Cordite propellant. Notice the order of the names, the M-E being a .303, and the ill-fated E-M being .402.

Chapters on gun manufacture (neat old factory photos!), ammo (as mentioned above), bayonets and scabbards and care and repair round out the topics. An Appendices section that covers Service and Armoury Marks, Unit Markings and a section on Identification: Gun by Gun help to sort out all the many variations. Oddly enough, it does not have a detailed Index at the end, only a basic chapter list at the front. Not a big deal, but it is nice to have an index.

This book does a splendid job of describing all the numerous variants of rifles and carbines that derived from the original Martini-Henry design. This author highly recommends this book.

The Martini-Henry: For Queen and Empire
Full title: The Martini-Henry: For Queen and Empire—The British Military Martini-Henry, Martini-Metford and Martini-Enfield Rifles and Carbines; the Definitive History of Their Development and Service, 1869–1904
Author: Neil Aspinshaw
ISBN: 978-0-9960731-2-7
Copyright: 2019
Binding: Hardcover color
Size: 8.75x 11.25in
Pages: 256; Colour/B&W photos: Many color and B&W (sepia tone) photos, plus patent drawings, factory drawings and battle scene artworks, etc.
Publisher: Tharston Press, an imprint of International Military Antiques, Inc. (IMA)

Anyone interested in the history, development, selection and use of modern military rifles will find this book to be a very useful reference source. Assault Rifles covers all aspects of the infantry rifle design, from its first inception, to its current state and to future trends.

This book is the collaboration between authors Maxim Popenker and Anthony Williams. Mr. Popenker, a Russia-based author, is the owner of the excellent website, Modern Firearms. Mr. Williams, from the U.K., also has his own site called Military Guns and Ammunition. This site focuses on current and older military ammo up to 57mm artillery-size rounds. Both authors have previously contributed articles to Small Arms Review.

Although the first gun to take the title “assault rifle,” or Sturmgewehr in German, was the StG 44, the authors make mention of a Russian design from the First World War. The Fedorov Avtomat of 1916 was the first to meet the accepted definition of a true assault rifle. Specifically, it must be capable of full-auto fire (usually selective fire), be magazine-fed and fire an “intermediate” power round. The cartridge used was the Japanese 6.5x50SR (semi-rimmed) Arisaka round. This seemingly odd choice of ammo came about due to capturing guns and ammo during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 and buying large amounts from Japan at the start of WWI. While very few Fedorovs were produced (~3000), they did see some action in the Russian Civil War (post-1917 Revolutions).

Assault Rifle is divided into two main sections. “Part I, Introduction,” starts with a look at the history of guns in battle, technical aspects of the various guns, as well as a very thorough study of assault rifle cartridges. The second section is a country-by-country study of the various guns in use, as well as experimental prototypes.

From a personal perspective, I found the first section to be the more interesting part, as it deals with the “nuts and bolts” of the design and development process. Part I details the progressive improvements of recent assault rifles, as well as some little-known, and sometimes unusual, experimental models. Procurement process shenanigans are mentioned as well. The portion on cartridge evolution and the ultimate selection by NATO members is most interesting. The authors detail the large volume of research that goes into designing the “perfect” cartridge.

A fine balance must be drawn between various factors when choosing a service round. Sufficient knockdown power, minimum recoil (in order to allow for controllable full-auto fire), high enough velocity to give a flat trajectory, heavy enough bullets to retain momentum at longer ranges and yet still be light enough to carry a sufficient number, etc., are all valid points to consider.

After much research by Britain, along with additional support from Belgium and Canada (“BBC committee”), the 7x43mm cartridge was submitted for NATO trials in 1950. However, good old-fashioned politics reared its ugly head at this point. The U.S. military decided to keep a .30-caliber bore diameter and simply shorten the venerable .30-06 service round slightly to create what would eventually become the 7.62x51mm NATO. The great flaw in this choice was that it was far too powerful to be fired from the shoulder in full-auto mode, meaning that the gun and ammo combo was outdated even before it was adopted.

Very soon after the adoption of the M14 and its 7.62×51 cartridge, the U.S. was once again looking for a true select-fire, intermediate-round assault rifle. The result was the famous M16 and its .223 Remington (5.56x45mm NATO) round. While the M16/5.56 combination fits the description of an assault rifle, there has been criticism of its lack of knockdown power.

Now, far too many years after the original British studies (from 1945 to 1951) which led to the 7×43 proposal, the U.S. military is testing the 6.8×43 Remington SPC (Special Purpose Cartridge). Although not identical, the 6.8×43 is suspiciously similar to the 7×43 round rejected so long ago. Part I, Chapter 4 covers this controversy in detail.

“Part II: The Weapons” deals with the guns. It is very encyclopedia-like, listing the entries on a country-by-country basis, first giving a rundown on the history and make-up of the country, then a more detailed look at the choice of arms. As Maxim Popenker is Russian, the entry for Russia and the former Soviet Union (USSR) is very thorough. Included are several prototypes entered in the trials that eventually led to the adoption of the AK-47. Several more types that competed in the Abakan (code-named after a city in Russia) trials of 1984 are also profiled, as well as a few others developed since then. One of the most unusual guns is the APS underwater assault rifle. The APS (Avtomat Podvodny Spetsialnyy), or special underwater automatic rifle, was developed for Navy Special Forces divers, and it truly can be fired under water! This unique gun uses a special 5.66x39mm MPS round with a 120mm-long, needle-type bullet. Also briefly mentioned is a newer updated version called the ASM-DT that can be used underwater with its special ammo or on land with standard 5.45×39 ammo. Clever!

It must be noted, this book is 15 years old, so it is missing the most recent designs. There is no mention of the Beretta ARX160, CZ 805 Bren, Fabryka Broni MSBS, HK416 or HK433, or the Kalashnikov Concern AK-12. Aside from that, this title covers the subject nicely. While not a large book, it does contain a lot of information.

Note: Since the publication of Assault Rifle, the two authors have joined forces again to publish two more books titled, Machine Gun: The Development of the Machine Gun from the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day and Sub-Machine Gun: The Development of Sub-Machine Guns and Their Ammunition from World War I to the Present Day. Unfortunately, these latter two books are no longer available from the publisher. Assault Rifle still is available, however.

Title: ASSAULT RIFLE: The Development of the Modern Military Rifle and Its Ammunition
Author: Maxim Popenker and Anthony G. Williams
ISBN: 1861267002 (print) / 978-1861267009 (website)
Copyright: 2004
Binding: Hardcover, with a color dust jacket
Size: 7.75 x 10 inches
Pages: 224; Color/B&W photos include 250 B&W photos
Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd