The Deadly Weapons That Changed History | With Jonathan Ferguson
539,048
Published 2023-06-09
In the first episode of the series, History Hit presenters Louee Dessent and Luke Tomes head to the firing range in Leeds to test their accuracy with three British weapons: the arquebus, Brown Bess musket and Lee Enfield rifle (SMLE).
Next up, it's a deep dive into the history of the Martini-Henry rifle and its precursors. This weapon was used by the British Army when the British Empire was at its height, famously featuring in the Boer War and Zulu Wars.
Dan Snow then joins Jonathan to fire the Vickers machine gun - a weapon which proved so deadly during the trench warfare of the early 20th century.
Finally, we head to the American Old West, to shoot some of the weapons made famous by outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James. Louee and Luke go head-to-head with Jonathan in a test of marksmanship, firing the Colt SAA, the Colt Navy 1861, Winchester rifle 1873 and sawn-off shotgun.
#historyhit #firearms #weapons
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:03 16th century arquebus
00:10:34 Brown Bess musket
00:18:04 Lee Enfield (SMLE)
00:26:36 Martini-Henry
00:50:50 Lee Enfield (gel block test)
00:55:18 Vickers machine gun
01:03:11 Wild West weapons
01:09:05 Colt revolvers
01:18:49 Winchester rifle
01:26:43 Shotguns
All Comments (21)
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Night at the Museum would be a very different experience in the Armouries
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Jonathan is YouTube's Quartermaster and I'm here for it.
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Our lord and saviour Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries in Leeds is back and this time with a banger!
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Can we just have an entire channel of Jonathan and the boys firing stuff? Reckon 4 or 5 series might show half the stuff in the armoury? 😃
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I love the way Jonathan keeps total control of the room whilst sounding so laid back and relaxed. Though I did beat him to "finger off the trigger!"
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Jonathan Ferguson totally needs a cameo in John Wick 5. I'm sure we can find an excuse for a chase scene through the museum.
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I'm a simple man. I see Jonathan Ferguson, I hit like.
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An important detail about the battle of Pavia: the French gendarmes were occupied by other enemies in melee while they were getting shot in their flank and back.
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This Jonathan guy that I'm discovering today has a really great personality.
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Hey look it’s Johnathan Ferguson, keeper of firearms and artilleries at the royal armories in the UK, which hosts thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history.
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„The Colt Single Action Army. The greatest handgun ever made. Six shots, more than enough to kill anything that moves.“ -Revolver Ocelot
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My dad owns an Australian No.4 Lee Enfield, and as someone who weights 120lbs soaking wet I can say the .303 really kicks your shoulder if your not used to it. My arm was sore for hours afterwards, and I only put 20 rounds through it. I have to say I’ve never had issues with my M1 Garand .30-06, it’s a comparable cartridge but I think the weight of the Garand helps with the cartridge more than the Lee Enfield
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Maxims have been seen in fighting in Ukraine, updated with red dot sights and magnified optics. That's a firearm designed in the 1890s with the same cartridge from even earlier, taking active part in fighting after the development of the thermonuclear bombs.
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Jonathan looking like a badass in the thumbnail.
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1:08:30 my family were Spanish settlers during the “Wild West” in my families journals and stories passed down it was normal for children to have a gun of their own, as young as 7 years old. It was a hard life and you had to grow up and grow strong and get smart REAL FAST to stay alive. Native American raids were a very real thing and of course scalping, also murder and theft/rape was just as big of a threat in those times. My great great great grandmother talks about in her diary meeting a man who survived a Indian raid and was scalped, he was shot and passed out, natives raided and scalped them and he woke up and walked a whole day to the nearest homestead who tended to his wounds and saved his life.
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This is the collab none of us expected but all of us now want to continue ❤
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I love when Jonathan tells them something dangerous can happen he's so chill about it... "it could potentially blow up.. maybe"
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Muskets and Muzzle loaders were damn scary. Those wound channels are unlike anything I’ve seen with few exceptions.
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Jonathan is YouTube's Quartermaster and I'm here for it.. Appreciate the compilation. I enjoy anything with Jonathan Ferguson in it!.
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My dad had a 1907 SMLE, my brother and I would do the mad minute in the back yard when we were kids. I still have it. It still freaks me out to hear someone say they have never handled a firearm before. Different times.
