It you don´t know how Private MacKensie are in your unit, I got bad the only news that can be worst Is if you got a Corpral MacKensie or sergeant MacKensie.

I’d imagine his story will run out around March-April 1915 outside loos

Characters like Encino Man and "Captain America" from Gen Kill are not uncommon IRL, unfortunately :P

Reminds me of me in the RN in 1973. Always the last to know.

Joe Turner hurry up !! And wait

That happens often to me. You know, now.

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks.

oldesertguy Arguable the best too witch it is.

keith moore from the same period what rifle is prettier.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, lol.

Haha! Cheers.

I was also in the Cadets at school and we used SMLEs for drill but Mk4s for target shooting.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Just making sure there is the option... :-)

Darrik Marion Pvt Mackenzie would.........

Anyone who did is going to be peeling potatoes!!

wood1155 I can't see arming the ceremonial regiments as being a huge impediment. For the amount the guards uniforms cost, 3 or 400 a rifle wouldn't pay for the coats they have on. I think getting parade quality, uniform rifles would be difficult, unless they have surplus somewhere.

kyndal anne rather a number 4 than the flat nose mark 3

Alistair Shaw I could agree with that. I guess a better statement would be "I wish they would to back to traditional wood and blued rifles, preferably of the iconic Lee-Enfield action". The bullpup drill just looks silly. I'm not a fan of when the US uses m16 variants for drill, but the non bullpup guns will always look nicer in traditional drill. M14 or Garands for the US, Lee-enfields for the Brits, and either short magazine ak's, or preferably sks's for the Russians.

Apparently, keeping the SMLE for drill purposes was considered when the FN was introduced, but the Army senior command was adamant that the Army should fight and drill with the same weapon.

Peter Davy Makes no sense, especially in this day and age, and when armed forces in most countries need to present the best polish and shine for recruiting

When you start looking at some of the old footage, there is a ton of looking around, shifting, and what might appear to the modern eye as complete lack of formality. Surprising really, but the images don't lie...

British soldiers get (quite rightly) less and less time on the square as operational commitments grow. When you see a massed formation there will be soldiers of varying lengths of service and experience on parade. Add to this nerves at the pressure of filming at a major event plus a certain amount of fatigue and mistakes will always happen. A good GSM will do his best to minimise irregularities will gentle encouragement lol.

Persistant, they were..

I do believe it is time for an SMLE bayonet exercise video.

Thank you!

Glad that it has been of service to you! Cheers.

What a very nice compliment! Thank you.

Hi Max. Glad you enjoyed it! Stay cool under that bear!

britishmuzzleloaders tell me about it! Sweat just pours off of you in that thing! Keep up the amazing videos!

As demonstrated, yes.

Why thank you!

Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers.

Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers.

Thanks!

Thank you!

Nice! Glad it helped!

Thanks!

Yesssss! (insert fist pump).....

Thanks Eric!

Cheers Nigel!

Thanks!

Used until 1903

Thank you for the sentiment!

My Pleasure mate

Haha! Thank you!

Thank you!

A reference to Grey's famous statement at the declaration of hostilities between Britain and Germany?

Mike Rock Obviously.

There are many and they are all annoying... Cheers!

Thank you!

Alway try to give a Canadian angle... ;-)

Thanks!

"Get 'im away!"..... love it.

Free world?

Thanks! It really was more of a hint towards a bit of a project that I hope to get to in the future... mud holes would be great though!..

britishmuzzleloaders, I figured as much, but I thought I would offer anyway! Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Markers and guides,... a subtle distinction...

They did indeed go without.... :-)

Happy to hear! MacKenzie turns out for Kit and Drill videos.... Now the Ross twins, they have the Musketry gig....

Thank!

They do but I believe they do it from the Shoulder if I am not mistaken...

They do now due to the shortness of the A2. It was still at the order with C1A1 and C7, although with a bit more flourish.

Well, the Martini is the same length as the Short Rifle... :-)

It looks longer, so Thomas Rifleman would have been POed about losing his specialty even sooner? LOL

Riflemen only get hacked off if you order one to 'slope arms', such a move is for spades and shovels nor rifles. Remember the Rifleman's ode The Rifle, given to Riflemen to kill with and a Guardsman to drill with!

T8Hants i mean thats not wrong for interregimental ribbing but little harsh

My old mate told me that he was part of an entire battalion of Rifle Brigade who walked off a parade ground when ordered three times to slope arms by a Guards W.O.. He called Guardsmen 'drippings' from the rhyming slang dripping and lards - guards. Never mind, Swift and Bold as they say ;-)

You start seeing small elements of embellishment come in the 1920s and things gradually get more so as the decades progressed.

It was National Service in the 1950s that cemented all that bashing and crashing of drill movements. I have seen 1930s film of Guards on parade 'cow kicking'. Loose swivels and pennies in the magazine to increase the noise and crashing the butt onto the ground.

Yup.

Hi Jason. There is no "kilt wearer specific drill".... it's the same as the rest. As for Reverse arms, I didn't include any "ceremonial" stuff, in any of the drill videos, sorry.

Oh thats a shame im trying to perfect it cheers thou

That's funny! Now, at what point were you interested?.... :-)

Interested? When I saw the video posted. Hooked? After the first minute or so.

Cheers!

There might be some deviation to reach out that far... or maybe even farther....

Thanks for watching to the end! I'll find something suitable... :-)

You are welcome.

britishmuzzleloaders - are you making it to the Victorian rifles meet in October mate?

The BMF/IMA Shoot? That's the plan!

I'll let the memsahib know. Thanks!

Eventually, yes.

It's an original.

They are indeed quite tame.... they live in area where hunting is prohibited.

HI there. I think you should revisit your 1914 reference. It is very clear in Section 57 of 1914 Infantry Training. The Command is "Fix- Bayonets"... The only thing that happens on the "Fix" is the Right Marker steps forward three paces. The rotation of the bayonet occurs as it is drawn and not as a separate part of the movement. Likewise, the Unfix is similarly organized. The Left Marker moves in that case, on the "Unfix". Cheers.

Working on a Baker project now..

You'd better be preparing to shoot more of those macerone cartridges. I dig those things. I need a bullet mold for my Pattern Enfield, so I can roll my own cartridges and what not. But that's a long ways away.

Yeah. 123-1. Get your head over like you were flicking a wasp off your bell end ....etcetc

No, it wasn't just you lol 2, 3 lol

I don't have the exact date, but I believe that it was from 1907.... I'll have to get back to you about the fly.

They were there, I had to do it...

Glad you enjoy the Channel. Thank you. The rifle butt is put the ground as it was meant to be.

I just came across it on the inter web.

Happy to see you "got it"... Cheers!

Well when I get around to covering what I can, I’ll include a drill video on it.

Ah well, at least you know now!

It's a fly (fly plaid)... it's explained near the end... The markers were such due the movements... in the fix, the right marker was used as the movement had the men looking to their right anyway with the rifle... with the unfix, they were looking to their left towards the scabbard...

Thank you very much!

I have had it for a while... have you tried google?

O right then mate

Yes, tradition and dress... perhaps a bit of the National character but they are Infantry like the rest.

@@britishmuzzleloaders Makes sense, thank you kindly!

I can make a try at it, yes.

You got it about right.... There are very isolated examples of "proto-stamping" in the Victorian era... very much an individual embellishment it seems... Not at all to be taken as even remotely common... Stamping comes in (often as a cow-kick) in the post Great War era as is seen in the footage from various Troopings in the 1920s... Not following on the "podcast" though....

@@britishmuzzleloaders you are very kind to respond. Sorry I meant video! (I discovered you on the Redcoat podcast! Got myself confused)

Nice!

Oh and I forgot. The word 'arms' should be rendered as 'h-arms'. The 'H' gives a clear note of when the executive order commences. Thus 'Order - H'arms'. Apologies for the pedantry. Ancient memories are reawakened!

I think that the rhythm of a word of command is in proportion to the size of the group it is given to. A Bn on parade requires long, drawn out words of command so that the voice can carry and be understood... A small squad of ten or so, needs only a proportionally quicker word... there is nothing more ridiculous (in my mind) than someone giving commands in the former style to a group of the latter size.... or in this case just one man,... (me)... :-)..... The term used for the first part of the word of command is a "cautionary" word of command. You might be surprised to know that the 1-2,3-1 is not mentioned anywhere in the manuals of the era (not saying it wasn't used, of course)... in the case of the 1914 Exercise, it specifies one beat of quick time between movements... this makes for very fast drill and and a very fast "2,3"..... When you watch old footage, faster photography notwithstanding, drill was done in a workmanlike style with very little pause.... My demonstration at the end in Service Dress, is actually much too slow for the era, but was done that way for demonstration purposes. Fascinating subject, old drill...

Indeed the modern parade practice is for show and in the relevant period it was most often just a routine way of moving a body of men around under command. My experience is probably rooted in the army playing toy soldiers with bored National Servicemen in the 1950s. My father was a Major with a low opinion of the likes of Sergeant Major Brittain and his loud barking ilk.

It has been a rewarding journey learning and understanding the purpose and execution of the Exercises through 19th and into the 20th centuries. If you peruse YT and watch old footage of the Trooping, Queen Victoria's Funeral, the coronations and funerals of the early 20th century, and some Boer War ear newsreels, one can develop and appreciation for the more universal nature of the Exercise.... field and barracks use... there simply wasn't the divide in it's use back then as there is now.... and as the two worlds become closer and closer the farther back you go, it becomes apparent why things were so workmanlike... I take it the "toy soldiers" you speak is not a literal description?

I wouldn't say the fall of "ceremony" but rather the fall of "ceremonial uniforms".... still lots of parading and ceremony after the war.

Sure but its all fake now. What I mean is if you watch modern military drill its all over the top showmanship. I see the Victorian elegance as existing because that was the culture, not because someone wants to stamp their foot really loudly.

Probably not, as the drill etc that I do cover is only due to the inclusion of those rifles on the Channel.... Part of the "complete" picture in a military context (as all the rifles are presented here)

Hamilton, or Calgary?

Argylls , Hamilton and l was a piper for 25 yrs .keep up the good work ..

It had to be one of the two... :-)

The regimental motto was a giveaway Albainn Gubrath ,I believe the Calgary's is "Go Stamps Go".lol....( Onward)

Right,,.... not up on my Argyll mottos evidently... :-) ... apologies.

Of this, I am aware. It's in Part One of the "Kit" series..

Well spotted!

No I haven't... so many are rebuilds from No 4s...

Thanks!

Many, in fact.... :-)

Because the weapon can be brought into action must faster than from the sling... if you are going to need your rifle at any time, then the trail or the port or the on guard are the positions you use... the sling is for circumstances when out of the line and you probably won't need your weapon... or when you need both hands...

Yeah, that makes sense! Thanks for the answer.

The focus of the Channel is Historical Shooting and mainly of Victorian British (and Empire) firearms (some deviation there, of course). The shooting them is presented in a military context and any kit and clothing that appears is to support that presentation and not for the sake of itself... So, is the Air Force out of the question?.... Seeing as how the Air Force used the usual panoply of small arms, I'd say that the presentation of said firearms would be better served in an "Army" or "Infantry" guise. Nothing against the Air Force, just not really fitting with the Channel, that's all.

This style of drill lasted a long time for sure.

You must have been in the ATC at the same time as me. I have forgotten most arms drill from when I was in the Army but still can do all the No4 ones I learned as a cadet. We had (probably improperly) blunted 'pig sticker' bayonets for bayonet drill movements. I still think BD with blancoed white webbing and No4s was the smartest parade dress when prepared properly. Which was an art in itself. I recall one of the officers had been a Fairey Battle gunner in France in 1939/40. I quote from him' a gentleman is one who raises his hat as he kicks his opponent'.

He and the other half million Empire soldiers.. :-)

Are you talking about the fly?.... It is explained at the end.

@@britishmuzzleloaders ah payed with the ladies from hell a few times but never on a parade square

It did... See the post on the Channel FB Page from 05 Oct 2018. I am deciding where to post it again... Thanks.

britishmuzzleloaders your best bet is probably Full30 I’m afraid, this is absolutely ridiculous

@@clayh254 Full30 is not nearly as "friendly" as others, though... very hard to get your toe in the door there.

None with falling rifles, my friend... :-)

A natural evolution from what you see here... Begins with a more "firmer" plant of the foot on the ground,.... this becomes a small stamp which, over time, has become the "knee at right angles" stamp, familiar today..

Bore, bolt, crown and any recent shooting experience. There is so much, depending on what you are looking for.... other than that, I couldn't begin.

Being a candidate for my first rifle, I’m naturally cautious if the rifle is in overall solid condition internally... ideally I’d want the outside to look like new, but I could buy spare parts just in case... EVERY gun owner must have a Lee Enfield in his/her collection...

As much as Fixing them... It's been done in a similar fashion to that since the Enfield Short Rifle... 1850s...

britishmuzzleloaders oh definitely even watching zulu the FIX BAYONETS was fairly similar . Just the holding the rifle by the knees it’s a bit .....ungainly. Or FIX CHIBS as it’s now jokingly called

Still done like that with C7.

They needed a bit of persuasion....

Nice!

A load he may be, but one that doesn't come by it on purpose...

For straight up foot drill, without arms, you can access the 1870 Field Exercise online.. this will give you an idea of what drill was like up until 1896 when arm swinging came in... after that, you can access the 1914 Infantry Training for what drill in the 20th Century was like. For arms drill, well, there is a playlist for all types of arms drill right here on the Channel.

@@britishmuzzleloaders Sweet. Thanks for that, I'll be sure to give it all a watch!

Happy to hear!

That would be wrong in so many ways... :-)