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The Army's collection of infantry weapons is available for all to see at the Small Arms School Corps (SASC) Collection at the Land Warfare Centre at Warminster.

David Falcke was privileged to join 50 invited guests to see the collection and fire some of the weapons that are held there.

The man responsible for the collection, Major Norman Benson, wants more people to come and see this collection of infantry weapons, from pistols to anti-tank weapons and mortars dating from the 16th century to the present day.

"We have a very good weapons collection," said Norman.

"But not everyone knows about it. What I am trying to do today is let more people know what we have here and how they can come and see it."

"We invited a selection of people who we think would be interested to see it; schools, colleges of further education, cadet forces, local police and service and ex-service organisations that might have an interest. We have also invited local auctioneers who deal in militaria and military historians. It has been an excellent turnout and I hope everyone has enjoyed the day."

His guide for the visit was retired Major John Oldfield, one of the collection trustees, whose enthusiasm and knowledge of the weapons on display was just amazing.

The collection has more than 2,000 items, British and foreign, almost all in perfect working order with many of them available for visitors to handle under expert supervision. Items in the collection include duelling pistols owned by the Emperor Napoleon, Civil War muskets, rifles used in the Zulu Wars, the iconic AK47 and the unique Thompson sub-machine gun so favoured by American gangsters in the 1920s. It also has one of only two Tinker's Mortar, dating from 1688, possibly the earliest form of grenade launcher.

Only 50 were made and the other one is in the Tower of London armouries.

The collection also houses the Travers Library, a fine collection of specialist books and documents on military history with a reference section covering weapons, ammunition and their ancillaries.

Visitors were able to fire and compare the AK47 with the British Army's in service rifle, the SA 80, and then fire the Vickers Machine gun, first introduced in the First World War and still in service in the 1950s and also the Tommy' Gun, using the military straight magazine rather than the gangster clockwork round magazine which is prone to jam.

One of the guests, Peter Shorten from the Wardrobe Museum in The Close, was delighted by the visit.

"It was a great day out, great fun, I wish we could do it more often," he said.

"We have a good representation of weapons in the Wardrobe, but the opportunity to handle and fire them was the real icing on the cake.

"I really enjoyed firing the AK47, it is a cheap and cheerful weapon, but good to shoot. I would recommend this visit to anyone, if you can get there, go and do it."

The SASC Collection is open to the public, but only by appointment, because of the security restrictions at the Land Warfare Centre. They can take parties of up to 30 at a time and the recommended tour length for aficionados is about three hours.

The collection has an excellent audio guide so everything can be viewed at leisure.

Visitors will not be able to fire the weapons, only handle them.

If there are any groups interested, the collection is available for viewing from Tuesday until Thursday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Phone 01985 222487 to arrange for a visit. There will be a small charge.

10:04am Thursday 3rd July 2008

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