One hundred years of issue machine & sub-machine guns, from .450 Gatling & Nordenfelt to today’s 5.56mm Minimi. SAF Lithgow production of the Vickers, Bren & F1 rates special mention as does the 9mm Austen & Owen machine carbines made in Victoria & New South Wales during World War 2.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Colonial issues -- The emerging nation -- Production commences at Lithgow -- Wartime contingencies-- the foreign guns -- Australia's machine carbines -- Post-war development -- The Vietnam experience -- A modern outlook -- Markings & proofs.