The News
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The remains of Ned Kelly, who pioneered modern body armor, have been positively identified. Forensics scientist had reason to believe they were on the right track as the bullet wounds in the bones matched the accounts of his last gunfight with police. DNA was finally matched to a great grandson of Kelly's sister. His skull however seems to be lost. When the prison closed down in 1929 souvenir hunters made off with his skull, and one recently surfaced with E. Kelly scribed on the side, but DNA didn't match and his skull still has yet to be found.
Kelly's body armor staved off any mortal wounds, although it was just boiler plate, as nineteenth century weapons in Australia at the time were low velocity black powder gun with lead bullets. His compadres didn't fare so well, not so much because of the armor, but they were outnumbered and disorganized. Depending on who you speak too, Ned Kelly was an evil outlaw or an Australian version of Robin Hood.
Below is the ABC story on Ned Kelly's remains:
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Depending on who you talk to, the Bren gun is either the best light machine gun of WW2, or it's the best light machine gun of WW2. Adopted and modified by Britain from a Czech design, even the name, Bren, is short for Brno, the city where the gun was designed, and Enfield, of the Royal Small Arms Factory. Brits and the Commonwealth countries liked them so much they used them until after the 1st Gulf War. That says a lot for old world design, it may be heavy and overbuilt, but you can depend on it and you are unlikely to wear it out.
Our favorite guys over at Forgotton Weapons did this very informative video, after which you could probably field strip the gun yourself with your eyes closed. And of course they have to shoot it...