A 70 year old machine gun is being prepared for public demonstration as the Royal Marines Museum gets ready for its 1940s event running from 23 to 25 September. The 1942 manufactured Vickers Machine Gun was one of thousands produced from 1912, when the gun was first designed, up until the end of the Second World War.

Picture the scene: three museum professionals with years' of experience behind them, looking like smartly-dressed reincarnations of Fred Dibnah, hands on hips wondering why the damned thing wasn't working.

The "damned thing" in question was a VIckers gun we were getting ready for Go Ballistic at the weekend.

We'd done everything right, loaded the ammunition into the belt right, put it together right, we could even load a round into the chamber. Could we get it to feed? Could we hell.

Royal Marines have used dozens of different types of firearms over the years – from black powder muzzle loaders through to fully automatic weapons of today – and that’s not including the many types of Artillery pieces they have used on Sea and Land as well.  The Fort Cumberland Guard help give a flavour of the black powder era with the demonstrations they perform at the Museum from time to time.

If you'd like to see weapons demonstrations, the Royal Marines Museum is running an event on Sunday 14th August 'Go Ballistic' where you can see weapons demonstrations and much more.