The noise was terrific! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uHBUBrYmgo" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uHBUBrYmgo

That's a good point.

I'll ask my Brit buddy who's into this stuff.

I wished I could have met the man. He lived 90 minutes south of me and I would have gladly driven down as often as possible to spend time and chat with him...

OK, chapter & verse.

Pretty much what I expected.

"Such are owned by museums, companies, associations that provide informative services or film company support, not as individuals".

Yes in this case mainly military museums and I believe the School of Infantry at Warminster in Wiltshire provided a quantity. 

Another (better) film of the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIdbsFlFNaM" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIdbsFlFNaM

Early in the video, I see a number of spectators standing forward of the firing line.  Surprised that is allowed at Bisley. 

Range staff Geoff!

There are a number of lanes you have to keep clear between firers before you can move forward, to be honest I forget exactly what the rule and I think on military ranges here it's an angle of 200 MiL or it used to be. 

As I type this the range area around Bisley is currently on fire which started on Monday; Saturday's competition has been cancelled and this years F class Imperial meeting looks in doubt.

Sure hope they get that fire under control! And hope it gets nowhere close to those old wood buildings on the Range!  I’ve often wanted to go and see the Canada club house….but never had the opportunity. 

My last stay in Canada House kept me busy reading the graffiti on the wooden clad rooms; they all followed a pattern of name, year & score in the Queens final!

They also serve one of the best breakfasts on camp. 

In the video (close up of the breech & fed side at 0:59, something is "leaking" out of the receiver.Is that condensation is some form or excess lube?

It almost looks Japanese!

Because each Vickers had only a certain amount of ammunition I think they dispensed with the water cans and tubes to vent the steam back into the cans.

That's an assumption on my part gleamed from a conversation I half heard! 

"Fire one round or a thousand, you still gotta clean `em".

Thats what my SGM used to always say to us with a big grin on his face

I saw the water as well and thought it might be a leaking water jacket.

You certainly don't want to be on the wrong end of those!

Thanks for sharing the video.

I first came across John Sukey on the old "Gun & Knife" forum along with MJ; I was pretty new to the internet back then and was surprised to find so many people from across the pond with an interest in Enfield's.

John came to the UK some years ago for a reenactment display to do with Victorian artillery which as an ex gunner was close to my heart; we often discussed things like the "Screw Gun" made famous by Kipling in one of his poems.  

Honkytonk wrote: I watched a show yesterday on the demise of the Red Baron in WW1. Interesting. in this show, it was suggested he may have been was shot down from the ground by an Australian soldier and I think it was with a Lewis Gun. I'm not sure if it was an old show and they have since proven or disproved this theory, but it was an interesting watch!

I watched that show and found it intriguing, the way forensics was used to determine the Barons death on 100+ years old indecent reports, how the low entry and high exit of the lethal shot could have only come from a ground based shot.

But will that change the history or the story telling, most likely not.

A machine gun isn't supposed to be "rifle Accurate", there's no point in putting 5 or 6 rounds through the same hole!

Cone of fire was the term, I believe.

Also the Lewis was a light machine gun, the Vickers a heavy, so there's more differences there.

The only bad thing I ever heard about them was the mechanical complexity internally "42 moving parts, 42 ways to jam"!

Pretty much.

It was the first "real gun" I ever fired! My grandfather took me to the range where I loaded drums all morning (regimental Powder monkey ) & got to shoot it in the afternoon, very ,very closely supervised!

I was returned home all beat up, filthy & grinning from ear to ear. My grandmother supposedly didn't speak to him for a whole week!

She tried to "scrub that stupid grin from my face" with stiff brushes & carbolic soap I was lobster red but still grinning!

You definitely didn't want to let that "Clock Spring" get away from you, to the point it was permanently sealed tensioned & only removed as a complete sub assembly!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_gun" rel="nofollow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_gun

As to the Lewis gun, our opinion: Good gun as a light automatic. Bad machine gun. Tried to use it for too much sustained fire when first introduced (as it was considered like-for-like with the Vickers) and this reputation affected it for many years after. When realised in the later part of the war that it was used at a section level, it was ideal, if too heavy for an 'assault' weapon.