I'm glad you qualified and persevered with the process because you do a good job explaining not only the weapons but how they were used.

I had no idea any of this existed. Great to see a bit of the firearm culture that does exist in the UK. Almost all of the guns here in the States I've purchased have primarily been out of admiration for their historical value. The shows, the movies, the documentaries, and the books are all fascinating, but there's a special kind of appreciation for history when you can own and operate a piece of it. Everyone should get the chance to experience that side of it. 🇺🇸🇬🇧

Great explanation much better than an explanation I tried to give to an American the way a group in the UK could have Section 5 weapons. He kept telling me I was wrong as the weapons were prohibited so no one could own them.

As a gun owner myself, it also stuns me sometimes when the average Joe does not realise they too can own guns in the UK. I have come across a fair few that firmly believe that owning a gun in the UK is illegal.....then I have to explain why they are wrong - or more to the point that they have been misinformed...

Great video Rich, really well laid out and explained.

Thankyou for this fascinating look into legal machinegun ownership in the UK .As an American we are a little spoiled . Acquiring fully automatic weapons in the states is not very difficult its somewhat time consuming but most of all very expensive, the number of legal registered machineguns in the hands of collectors number well into the hundreds of thousands and this inventory is constantly moving. Thanks Again for this informative post.

There are a lot of KZfaq channels from the U.S. that have a very different perspective on firearms, their availability and their use. Some are intelligent and reasoned. Some, less so. It’s good to see your excellent presentation from a British legal standpoint and in my opinion, your organisation’s healthy relationship with weapons.

I am so glad that there are people like yourselves who go to the trouble of preserving our past. It's so important that you are allowed to carry on with what you do as the history of weapons and war is a vital part of what our children are taught so as hopefully it will never happen again. Also it's so important that these weapons are preserved for all of us to see how they work and the magnificent engineering that went into them. Thank you and all of your team for the opportunity to be able to see these wonderful works of art in full operation. I know as a gun owner of the hoops you have to jump through to be able to have these weapons so you have my full respect for what you and your team do. Keep up the great work. All the best to you and your team. I hope 👍👍👍👍

Absolutely fantastic! Never even knew that your organisation existed! I've not had the pleasure of firing a fully automatic firearm since I left the Service of Her Majesty The Queen in 1998, and never had the experience of a Vickers! Hope that you continue to have the privilege of educating people about this wonderful historic weapon in the condition (Live firing) that it should be in for many years to come!!

I only fired the vickers once as a young cadet many years ago, but have many happy memories of range days with the Bren, both the .303 and 7.62 versions.

Love the Bren. having used the GPMG, it is a weapon I have often thought it would be good to fire. Of the older weapons, I have fired the Thompson and M1 Garand, but I still think the Bren looks the part and was certainly, a very effective weapon. Hats off to the Germans as well for creating the MG34, 42 and many others.

Glad to see you keeping history alive. I'm viewing to see the weapons my father, uncles and grandfather used when they served. I have a picture my father took on Stirling Lines in Libya in the 1940's and my Uncles dog tags that he wore in WW2 with the 51st Highland Division at St Valerie , from which he managed to escape but was taken POW in the desert campaign. Glad to see how difficult it is to own and operate these.

Great video. I didn't know about this association and I'm very pleased to see it exist. This is good content and bound to grow the brand. I'm a UK shooter and firearms owner, and as others have pointed out, it's remarkable how little people know about firearms in this country.

Very interesting, I used the 7.62mm 'Bren' in the TA back in the early 80s, which could only be fired full-auto and only on certain ranges which were cleared for it, one of which was the range at Whitburn, which faced out to sea. Despite the red flags and the sound of gunfire, we regularly had to ceasefire because some numpty with a dog would think it OK to walk calmly across the end of the range. We never got to fire the SMG full auto, I don't think we had any ranges in the area cleared for that nasty little thing - you had to keep them inside your sleeping bag when you slept, and the magazine well was not a nice thing to roll-over onto, the SLR was a much better bet.

Not often I see professionals use guns, but you showcased it perfectly and explained how and why they were prohibited. Great job lads! 👏👏

I find it interesting to compare firearm laws on the UK compared to the US. On one hand, owning guns is much more difficult but in other ways (specifically suppressors) it is much easier.

Great explanation and a very informative video around S5 firearms. Thank you for what you do.

Very informative. Even in countries with very strict gun laws, there are always means for people to have guns. You just have to jump through the right hoops.

Thanks very much! It looks like you are doing an amazing job.

Great educational video and well done for having both preservation and education. A definite on my list of places to visit.

Nice. I remember using the LMG (Bren) in the RAF in the 1980's, I used one dated 1942, it had been recalibered from .303 to 7.62.

The first few moments of this clip were really cool. It was like watching British soldiers in basic training during WWII.

This is one of the most informative and realistic breakdowns on section 5 gun owners, thanks!

Nice, I want to check out one of your events. I've been shooting in England since 1990 👍

Awesome video, and great work that you do.

for film work companies are moving away from real firearms in light of the risk to the person they are pointed at. they are using soft air guns. they look and feel like the real thing. and they can fire on full auto, including assault rifles and sub machine guns. fantastic what you guys are doing

BRAVO AND WELL DONE.

I'll have to find out when you're next at Bisley, that's some amazing fire power. Keep up the good work

I would love to see a video on how you go about sourcing these weapons!

I used to work in munitions and you'd be surprised at the number of employees who had never fired a single round despite turning out millions of the damn things! I had worked there 20 years before I had the opportunity. The most memorable time was a day visit to the Royal Armouries Pattern Room at Nottingham which holds thousands of weapons, historic through to present day. I don't think its open to the general public though.

Very well explained on the firearm laws in the UK. I always assume that in the UK only certain and strict firearms were allowed for the public. I did not know a semi automatic pistol could be classified as a section 5. Overall though, very interesting and thoroughly explained. Good stuff.

An absolutely _brilliant_ explanation about how you can legally demonstrate an arcane yet historically important aspect of 20th century military history. As a former NRA-ILA employee who had to study foreign firearms laws as part of my legislative job, I have always wondered how your group could own these strictly controlled firearms in a nation with very tough gun prohibitions. You provided all of those answers in this fine video. If I ever get back to the UK I will try my best to make it to one of your association's demonstrations. I know you could use the dosh to purchase the vast quantity of .303 consumed by these vintage warhorses!

Spot on and really clear explanation. I am an RFD as well as a personal FAC/SGC holder. It’s fantastic you are educating the public on firearms. We have just got a new shooting club off the ground and hope we can use this to promote the shooting sports and educate people in the safe use of firearms.

brilliant video

Very interesting!

Theres a wonderful song by Noel Coward that fits this video beautifully. "Could you please oblige us with a Bren gun"

Have you seen any of the videos from the Soledar salt mines in Ukraine? They were recently captured by the Russians, it was a used as an arsenal. In part of the footage they opened crates of brand new Vickers machine guns.

Quite cool video 😊

Like everything, you need to have the right paperwork. I've actually fired a Bren gun. Back in the day when the Army Cadets was more fun.

I would love to see a live firing demonstration of these, especially that multi demonstration. When do these occur and where can I buy the tickets?

Great

Vickers MG: Cutting down people in their prime since 1914. I saw one up close at a shotgun range, it was just sitting in the middle of the floor. I assume it was deactivated but you never know.

Great video! Really enjoyed learning about the system in place for firearms. What would be super awesome for a future video to invite Jonathan Ferguson, a weapons expert and Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries for a tour and a live fire test. It would be a fantastic team-up!

It's good to know that security and safety around these things is high, it should be and it needs to be. Thank you for being a part of showing younger generations all their is to know about British History, both of War, and of Firearms, especially the well known Vickers. I have a question I was hoping you could answer; For every 1-Hour of Firing Time on one of these incredibly fascinating machines (Weapons) roughly how many hours do you then spend on cleaning, maintaining, repairing, and replacing parts/making parts for just a single vickers? I can only assume that they require a lot of care and attention to stay in perfect operating condition. I have always wondered how security is ensured when it comes to getting new parts manufactured or repaired or refurbished, because theirs got to be a high level of accountability beyond the normal standards to ensure that only those people who are allowed access to that content retain access to it.

This is an excellent and informative video and benefits all viewers whether they be pro-gun, anti-gun, or just casual viewers. Personally, I'm glad that the UK gun laws are VERY stringent; and that you have to have good reasons, good people and good security to possess such weapons. I do understand that for some vocations that guns are required, but it is also quite a relief to know that we have very stringent checks to ensure that the people who do have guns are licensed, trained, knowledgeable and store their guns safely to protect others from harm. I do also appreciate that UK gun legislation must make the owning and operating of VickersMG much more difficult, but by doing things correctly as you are doing, people do benefit by learning about the history with regards to guns and conflict in a more enriching environment where people actually get to see the guns being used and how they really changed wars and conflicts after their inception. It also helps by knowing that the people in VickerMG who handle the guns know what they are doing and that the guns are safe from people who would steal them and use them for nefarious purposes.

Even though I have never heard of you or seen your events this was an amazing video, and now I feel I should give you guys a look. I am also looking into geting deactivated guns. How easy is it now compared to the early 2000s? As I know with the EU and other organisations it just seems very complicated to understand how to obtain them?

Interesting video. As a French, I don’t know British rules about firearms. What is Section 5 ? Which weapons are concerned ? In France we have 4 categories : A : prohibited weapons (full-auto firing) ; B : weapons subject to authorization (semi-auto firing) ; C : weapons subject to declaration (repeating arms) ; D : other-the-counter weapons (if over 18). What about the UK ?

I'd love to have a firearms certificate! I would love to own a No 4 le en field 303.

Would a Vickers-Berthier LMG be considered Vickers-related?

important question. is owning automatic weapons under "study and preservation" valid?

Where do you source the working machine guns from?

Are they using the original calibre of ammunition as that much cost a fortune to fire or have they been modified to use something cheaper?

Are the brownings .33 & .50 approved aswell? Those fought along with the Vickers. Greetings from 🇳🇱

How do you acquire the various weapons? i imagine they arent easy to come by.

Wonder when you'll be getting an 08/15? Since it was the opposition's WW1 equivalent. By the way, well done on everything you do. One day I hope to visit.

Can you give me an idea what you are paying for bullets currently? Do you load your own? I was looking at getting a SMLE a few years ago but there was only a couple of manufacturers still making bullets and I’m sure it was only FMJ, whereas I need soft points for deer and long range fox so sadly it just wasn’t a viable option. But for any full bore bullets in the U.K. they’re well over a quid a shot now. So what do you guys do? Being an RFD can you source milsurplus? I’d be really interested in your response!

Parks Canada operates a large number of historic weapons demonstration programs and sites. Their historic weapons range from swivel guns of the Portuguese whaling posts in 1400s Newfoundland and Labrador, through fur trade flintlocks, 1800s cartridge muskets, early 20th century "cowboy" rifles and handguns, and yes, WW1 and WW2 military small arms. As a national agency they must respond to workplace health and safety precautions. The non-period but scientifically proven hearing protection for all demonstrators are bright orange expanding foam ear plugs.

Would this kind of license cover firearms design and manufacture as well?

An M53. Why not an MG3 though, considering that those are being retired in favour of the MG5 and have the ability to shoot commonly-available modern ammunition?

i'd pay good money to try out some on the range

cool

Do you always fire blanks? Also, if not where do you source .303? PPU? I'd imagine you'd need to purchase in bulk as .303 has become quite expensive now...annoyingly!

Very interesting. I wish this was allowed in Australia. Aside from being able to own handguns, your laws seem better than ours.

The range at 2:46 looks like century range at bisely

@vickersmg do you all factory 303 ammunition ? No reloads I’m guessing

Where do they come from? Old military supply, manufacturer stocks, foreign collectors, grandma´s attic?

If you have a FAC can you come and handle/shoot genuine weapons with you?

Are the firearm operators wearing hearing protection?

can i ask where is this if its a thing i can visit

Is it at all possible to fire one of your weapons as a member of the public?

Royal armouries leeds?

Give it a few more years and everything will be a section 5 firearm

About as Rare as Rocking Horse Crap! ..Are you allowed to add Foreign Machine Guns to your Collection or is it just British British Firearms you own?

Shouldn't those guys behind the maximums have Ukrainian uniforms 🤔 🤣

MG42 ❤.

Why would you need one?

Interesting video, I've heard of them, but was uncertain how section 5 licenses worked and for what purpose they'd be issued.