Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the YHM R45 Multi-Host Suppressor . This week we are looking at the Welrod. It has an interesting story, a more recent blip of attention, and the possibility of a new reproduction model coming to the market!

Ironically, such films were probably responsible for saving lives in the 1980s, by leading gang-bangers to believe they didn’t actually need to aim during a drive-by shooting—if you could spray and pray from the hip, like the movies, surely it was good enough?

In the spring of 1980, the quiet elegance of Prince’s Gate in London (U.K.) was shattered by the sharp crack of gunfire. For six tense days, the Iranian Embassy had been under siege by six armed men. Inside, twenty-six hostages waited in fear. Outside, the world watched and waiting in the shadows were the men of the Special Air Service.

Keen TFBers might remember James Reeves putting a Stevens 320 12-gauge through a 500-round burndown (if not, see here ). Over the past three years, I’ve been putting a Stevens 320 through my own evaluation, but not by firing off a few hundred rounds in one go. I bought a 20-gauge, field-length version of this made-in-China pump-action and have been hunting with it for a variety of game.

RSBC, the Czech private investment group, has acquired what they describe as a ‘strategic stake’ in Verney-Carron, the oldest and last-standing private manufacturer of small arms in France. A press release from RSCB explains that “the transaction, carried out in partnership with French distributor Rivolier, includes the tactical weapons brand Lebel, which supplies armed forces and security units.” The release goes on to note that “this strategic move marks RSBC’s entry into the French defence market and complements its existing European investments in STEYR ARMS (Austria) and AREX (Slovenia)”, this expands RSBC Defence’s portfolio considerably.