Weapons That Changed the World

It’s the most admired and influential pistol of the 20th Century: the Colt M1911. Created by legendary gun designer, John Moses Browning, the stopping power of its .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) cartridge led the M1911 to be the standard-issue service pistol of the U.S. military for 75 years. 100 years after its introduction, the M1911 is still carried by servicemen today. Yet even a gun as revolutionary as the M1911 semi-auto pistol was triggered by centuries of innovations. Former Army Ranger and Air Force Pararescueman Wil Willis puts this legendary firearm and its ground-breaking predecessors to the test. Wil examines a small arsenal of ground-breaking sidearms, from 17th century-era Wheel locks and Flintlocks, to the first practical revolver, the 1836 Colt Paterson, and on to the first “Colt 45”, the 1873 Single Action Army, aka “The Peacemaker.” We also compare the M1911 to one of its early rivals, the German Luger P08, as well as the pistol that replaced it as the official sidearm for U.S. military forces, the 9mm Beretta, to see how the .45 round gained its worldwide reputation as the ultimate man stopper.

In combat, your rifle is your closest companion. Your life depends on its accuracy, ease of use, and ability to take a beating. Over the past 300 years, the battlefield has seen many great rifles – from the black powder musket, to Bolt Action breech-loaders, to semi-auto wonders like the M1 Garand – “the rifle that won World War II.” We relive the remarkable story of WWII Medal of Honor winner John McKinney, who - with the help of his M1 Garand rifle - single-handedly held off an attack by Japanese forces in the Philippines. Host Wil Willis puts the rifle to test, comparing its semi-auto performance to its Japanese counterpart, the bolt-action Arisaka Type 99. Today, sniper rifles can pinpoint targets more than a mile away with deadly precision. We relive several breathtaking examples of their stunning accuracy, including accounts of Carlos “White Feather” Hathcock in Vietnam, as well as the current world record for a confirmed sniper kill in combat, set by British corporal Craig Harrison in Afghanistan in 2009. Wil then fires a series of sniper rifles, from a 30.06 bolt action, to the MacMillan TAC-50 with its huge 50 caliber round to check their accuracy and power. Finally, Wil puts the world record-holder, the Accuracy International L115A3 – as well as his own sniping skills – to a dramatic, and explosive test. Get into the trenches with an arsenal of historic battle rifles, to find out how the lowly musket evolved into a Weapon That Changed The World!

They are some of the most iconic and recognizable weapons in the world: the Tommy Gun, the Uzi and today’s MP5. The submachine gun was invented to ‘sweep the trenches’ and break the stalemate of World War One. Never before had a single soldier been able to create so much mobile fire power with so little. The submachine gun was a true game changer on and off the battlefields – becoming the favorite new weapon of soldiers, gangsters, terrorists, freedom fighters, lawmen and Hollywood alike. Host Wil Willis explores the evolution of the submachine gun, and puts it greatest examples to the test. He test fires the original Thompson – both the 1928 “drum magazine” and checks its firepower to one of its immediate predecessor, the M1919 Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR. He also sees how WWII’s M1 Thompson with its stick magazine enabled U.S. Army Lt. Robert Waugh take out a series of German-held bunkers in Italy’s Gustav Line in 1944. We also look at several of its WWII-era counterparts, including the German MP-40, Soviet PPsh-41 and the M3”Grease Gun” stamped out by automaker General Motors. With the help of leading experts, Wil also takes on the Israeli Uzi and Micro-Uzi and then Heckler and Koch’s MP5, the leading military submachine gun today. He also tests the newest evolution of the SMG, the HK MP7 PDW or “Personal Defense Weapon.”

It’s the heaviest hitter on the battlefield. With a punch so devastating, it’s been called “The King of Battle!” Artillery has tipped the scales in some of history’s most important battles, and has evolved into today’s fierce monster of war – the M777 Howitzer. Weapons That Changed The World heads to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the U.S. Army’s training ground for fire brigades to see today’s sophisticated artillery systems in action, and tracks how they are direct descendants of the simplest, most ancient cannon. Host Wil Willis assists the 428th Field Artillery Brigade as they launch 155 mm projectiles from the M777, the most widely used artillery piece by U.S. and NATO forces. He then goes for a ride in a M109 Paladin, a massive howitzer that drives itself into battle, and learns the operations behind its one-hundred thousand dollar Excalibur projectile – which comes complete with an on-board electronic guidance system that steers itself using GPS data. We also track the impact made by artillery in some of the world’s most famous battles, from Waterloo to Gettysburg, and fire many of history’s most critical field artillery pieces, including a 17th century-era Swedish Leather Cannon, an 1841 6-pounder and one of the first artillery weapons to solve the problems of recoil, the Driggs 1-pounder which fired 37mm projectiles from naval boats. In a final test, Wil takes the role of a Forward Observer, calling in the strike from a WWII workhorse, the M101 Howitzer, in an attempt to take out a deserving target!

No weapon is more feared, or more misunderstood, than the Assault Rifle. And no assault rifle has proved more successful, or more lethal, than the Soviet AK-47: the single deadliest firearm in the history of the world. The success of this Cold War-era rifle spurred a race among Western rivals to develop a superior counter weapon. Today’s battlefield finds soldiers wielding the explosive responses, from the American M4 carbine, to the German HK 416 - the weapon reportedly used by U.S. Navy Seals to kill Osama Bin Laden. Host Wil Willis traces the history of this revolutionary firearm that balances the need for rapid, effective firepower with the need for portable weaponry. With the help of leading experts, Wil learns how Mikhail Kalashnikov developed the rifle while recovering from wounds suffered in battle while commanding a Russian tank in WWII. Wil demonstrates how the AK’s eight parts can be assembled in seconds, then fired to devastating effect. We also review the AK’s immediate fore-runners, including the German G-43 and the very first modern assault rifle, the Sturm gewehr 44 – the “storming rifle” as named by Adolph Hitler himself. Wil tracks the U.S. military’s response to the AK-47, starting with the M14 rifle, its M16 successor, and the current M4 carbine. With the help of two former Navy Seals, Wil puts these weapons and the HK416 rifle to thorough testing – and ultimately, tests the M4 against the AK itself, in the search for the ultimate combat weapon!

How does one man take on a tank, or turn a building into rubble? Weapons That Changed The World fires the RPG-7, the most notorious and widely-used anti-tank weapon in the world. Rockets have been used in combat for almost a thousand years, but early rocketeers never dreamt that their weapons could be harnessed, carried and fired by a single mobile infantryman. First carried by Soviet troops in 1949, the RPG is known as the AK-47 of rockets. Over the last 60 years, more than nine million have been produced, making RPGs the high-impact weapon of choice for militias, insurgents and guerrillas all over the world. With the help of leading experts, host Wil Willis tracks how the RPG and other “shaped-charge” projectiles developed from the WWII-era Bazooka and its German response, the Panzershreck and Panzerfaust. Wil then travels to Sweden to fire the RPG’s head-of-the-class competition, the AT-4 and Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. He also heads to 29 Palms, California where U.S. Marines train to fire the SMAW, (Shoulder Mounted Assault Weapon) and enters the U.S. Army’s “Stingerdome”, a multi-million dollar simulator where soldiers train to bring down high-flying aerial targets with the Stinger missile.