"Peaky Blinders": If you like old British revolvers ...
A recommendation if you've got Netflix and like nicely done period shows with largely period-correct weaponry:
"Peaky Blinders" is a historical gangster drama set in Birmingham starting in 1919 and extending into the 1920's. Local gangsters, Communists, IRA, and Sam Neill as a tough Chief Inspector trying to sort them out. It's a few years old, started in 2013, but not well-known here, I've found.
Not a lot of gun play so far, but all firearms I've seen are the correct style of revolvers, Webleys, some older ones, a Luger and 1911, plus some interesting heavier weaponry.
Top-notch show. Cillian Murphy never fails to impress. Interesting weaponry, too!
Whenever I see period pieces of any era, I'm astounded at the care and effort that goes into the authenticity. I recently heard an interview with a British historian who freelances as an advisor to various media productions-- Poldark was one she'd worked on-- and was intrigued by the thoroughness of topics that were addressed. It's not just the obvious stuff, like clothing and furniture, but includes manners of speech and such. The BBC is currently doing a series on the Gunpowder Plot, and one of the historians even went so far as to show the actors how a Catholic would have prayed in those days.
The father of our late friend CYRANO was attached to a British unit in WWI and carried the Lewis. Even though his Lewis gunners called themselves "Seven minutemen" because that's how long they lived once the shooting started, he was proud of his weapon and said it always worked perfectly.
Yea, I found this series in my first month of subscription to netflix. Ended up binge watching all episodes and seasons end to end within a few weeks. Some of the story line logic drops off towards the end but still nicely done! The old British revolvers are featured predominately with several of the main characters.
I watched the whole series too. Another good Brit series is
Ripper Street and a Canadian one, Murdoc. They are all good
at using period firearms. Was desperate to find something to
watch when my favorite Justified ended. Nothing much on
Network TV to watch other than Local news.
The L-E rifle looks like it has a 2A1 magazine in it! Or could be just an oddity of the particular photo.
That's 2A or 2A1 magazine for sure. The buttstock looks too straight and it looks like it has a Zamak buttplate. Original SMLEs of that era had brass buttplates. It's either from a No.4 or another Indian piece.
I'll have to check that out. Since it appears to have been shown on PBS, it's likely pretty "civilized" compared to "Peaky Blinders", right?
But the Imfdb database shows it does occasionally have old British revolvers, too ...
What you see is a MK IV .38 numbered in the separate commercial .38 series.
The .455 may be a MK IV, too, but in the service MK series. It may be a MK V, as the difference was just a slightly thicker cylinder on the MK V, to make it safer with smokeless powder.
Last edited by Texas Star; 01-01-2018 at 04:06 PM.
What does Peaky Blinder mean? Has to be UK slang for something...
Peakys were brimmed hats. The Peaky Blinders would hide razor blades in the brims of their hats and use them to blind their opponents by head butting them or whipping off the hats into their eyes.
The Thompson’s carried by the Italians in Season four appear to be 1928A1s (as per compensator)...would be incorrect as it would be 1925.
I can forgive that, compared to "History" Channel shows in the past few months showing US soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge armed with flintlocks and WW1 German troops toting US M1 carbines...
I don't let weaponry get me too upset in historical dramas. It's expensive to do a good show, and mostly only gun nuts like us will get the difference between a Thompson with a compensator and one without. It's when they start using percussion rifles for Brown Besses that get me riled up.
Peakys were brimmed hats. The Peaky Blinders would hide razor blades in the brims of their hats and use them to blind their opponents by head butting them or whipping off the hats into their eyes.
I wonder is Ian Fleming got the idea for some of his villain’s weapons from that. The was “Odd Job” and his steel frisbee hat, then the woman with her switchblade shoes.
I wonder is Ian Fleming got the idea for some of his villain’s weapons from that. The was “Odd Job” and his steel frisbee hat, then the woman with her switchblade shoes.
The KGB officer with the dangerous shoes was named Rosa Kleb, I believe.
The Thompson’s carried by the Italians in Season four appear to be 1928A1s (as per compensator)...would be incorrect as it would be 1925.
That doesn't bother me in the least. Being filmed in England they may not have access to certain specific guns and not everyone cares about some of that stuff. Even as gun guys not everyone knows everything about each firearm and what and when things came out. I know Thompson but I have no idea about their compensators nor do I really care.
Thanks for the heads up, Absalom! This will get into our rotation right away, now that we've finished "The Keepers," an extraordinary seven-episode documentary about the cold-case murder of a young Catholic nun in Baltimore in 1969.
Like marshwheeling, I too have been put off by the name "Peaky Blinders," as it sounded like some sort of silly British comedy (not that there's anything wrong with that!). Now, though, I can't wait for this one!
By the way, not to thread drift, but if you like British shows, check out "The Detectorists" on Netflix. It's very funny, charming, clean, and full of the humor that the Brits do so well.
Peakys were brimmed hats. The Peaky Blinders would hide razor blades in the brims of their hats and use them to blind their opponents by head butting them or whipping off the hats into their eyes.
Is it just me, or is it really dumb to name your gang after your surprise attack move? I mean who wouldn't be expecting it?
I think it has to do more with the fact that the people of Birmingham put that name on them, because of what they do with thier hats, and finally they adopted it.
"Peaky Blinders": If you like old British revolvers ...
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