A history of firearms explores their origins, impact on history and the prominent figures associated with their use.
Paid | iTunes Aired: 11/13/2009

Season 1, Episode 13
In days of old, if your army had to take on a huge stone castles there was only one option: bunker busting siege weapons like the giant crossbow known as the Ballista and the fearsome Trebuchet! These weapons hurled rocks and flaming kegs to cause mayhem and smash through walls. Today the siege tradition continues, with our military using high-explosives to blow the bad guys out of their foxholes. First, Gunny lets loose massive boulders from an ancient trebuchet catapult against an enemy castle. Then he gets his hands on some old-style gunpowder and recreates the big bangs that were used to bring down enemy bunkers, all the time instructed by committed experts who revel in the history of these amazing weapons. Gunny also visits today's bunker busters--military engineers who bust under, over, and into enemy strongholds.

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Paid | iTunes Aired: 11/6/2009

Season 1, Episode 12
When today's warriors go toe-to-toe in combat the weapon they rely on is the machine gun. From the crude machines of the 19th century to the slick weapons of today, Gunny takes us on a journey that looks at the engineering development of this rapid-fire battle winner. Learn how the "potato digger" machine gun got it's name, and why a hand held gun developed in 1965 is still the weapon of choice for the toughest warriors on the planet. Ermey compares the machine guns that stormed the beaches of D-Day--the Bren gun and the B.A.R.--with a classic shooting match. Then, Gunny cuts loose with the Special Forces wonder weapon, the MP-5, as used by the British SAS and American Navy Seals. Not only will you see these weapons in action, but with cutting-edge 3D GFX you will go inside the weapons--to see close up and personal the mechanism, operation and evolution of the machine gun.

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Paid | iTunes Aired: 10/23/2009

Season 1, Episode 11
It is the most personal yet ubiquitous weapon of all time. It has evolved from a crude ballistic pipe to a fifteen-rounds-per-second jet of bullets. It is the rifle--and R. Lee Ermey is taking a second shot at this battlefield boomstick! Gunny gets hands-on with America's most proven and famous firearms--like the M1 Garand, 1853 Enfield and the 1903 Springfield. Plus, advanced 3D graphics take us deep inside the workings of rifles. Gunny also tests which rifles were the greatest through history. Comparing weapons like the American M16 and Soviet AK-47...in a cold war shoot out! You will also meet the experts, engineers and warriors who use these weapons, as Gunny crosses America to show you the engineering evolution that lead to today's rifle.

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Paid | iTunes Aired: 10/9/2009

Season 1, Episode 10
You might never have thought about it, but every gun, rifle and pistol--no matter how well engineered, is useless without well-made, effective ammunition. Go on a journey through history with R. Lee Ermey to see the technology behind the very first round of ammunition. Then hit every important engineering development until Gunny fires the latest and greatest bullet ever designed--the high-explosive, armor piercing .50 calibre round. Just wait till you see this round blow up an entire fuel dump! Ultra-slow motion footage will let you see just how a round of ammunition travels through the air and why ammunition is so destructive when it hits a target. Three-dimensional graphics will also take you inside the technology, as we open up and journey inside the ammunition and the weapons that fire them.

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Premiered: July 26, 2009
Rating: None
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Premise: A history of firearms explores their origins, impact on history and the prominent figures associated with their use.

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