Weapons

Small Arms

Bayonets | Pistols  | Rifles
Submachine Guns

Thompson Submachine Gun
Sten Gun
C1 Submachine Gun

Light Weapons

Light Machine Guns

Lewis Gun
Bren Gun
C2 LMG
C9 LMG

Machine Guns

Colt Machine Gun
Vickers Gun
C5 General Purpose MG
C6 General Purpose MG
M2 .50 calibre

Light Anti-Tank Weapons

Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank
Bazooka
M72 SRAAW (L)
Carl Gustav
Eryx

Mortars

2-inch Mortar
3-inch Mortar
3-inch Stokes Gun
6-inch Newton Mortar
9.45-inch Newton Mortar
C3 81mm Mortar
M19 60mm Mortar

Ordnance

Anti-Tank Guns

106mm Recoilless Rifle
2-pounder Anti-Tank Gun
6-pounder Anti-Tank Gun
17-pounder Anti-Tank Gun
TOW Missile

Guns

18-pounder Gun
25-pounder Gun
60-pounder Howitzer
C1 105mm Howitzer
C3 105mm Howitzer
LG1 C1 105mm Howitzer

Anti-Aircraft Guns

3.7-inch Gun

Grenades

Hand Grenades
No. 69 Grenade
M61 & M67 Grenade
Rifle Grenades
Grenade Launchers
Anti-Tank Grenades
No. 68 Grenade

Ammunition
Small Arms & Light Weapons

.303 Mk VII
5.56mm
7.62mm NATO
Pistol Ammunition
PIAT Ammunition

Ordnance

106mm Ammunition
Armour Piercing
Armour Piercing Composite Rigid
AP Discarding Sabot
High Explosive Anti-Tank
High Explosive, Squash Head

Terminology

Fixed ammunition
Proximity Fuze

Colt Machine Gun

The CEF went to France originally equipped with American made Colt machine guns, issued four per infantry battalion.

This weapon was the first successful gas operated machine gun, with the action driven by an arm hinged beneath the barrel - when firing the weapon close to the ground, this arm would make contact with the earth, hence the nickname in American service of "Potato Digger." Operated from the tripod, however, the weapon operated satisfactorily, though British ammunition was prone to jamming, as it was in the Ross rifle.

The weapon's genesis came in 1889 when John Moses Browning (the son of a gunsmith and prolific designer of small arms) observed the effect of effect of muzzle blast on nearby foliage whilst duck hunting, and rightly assumed that he could use this energy to operate an automatic weapon.

The gun was air-cooled and fired a .30 calibre round. They were phased out in 1916 and 1917 in favour of the Lewis Gun.


Canadian Colt MG crew (Library and Archives Canada photo)


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