TV: Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey

The History Channel's "Mail Call" proved to be a huge hit, mostly because of the larger-than-life persona of its host, R. Lee Ermey. He delivered all the military trivia featured on the show with the down-to-earth gusto you'd expect of a Marine drill sergeant.

Now there's a new series starring Ermey, appropiately titled "Lock N' Load," which explores the history of various weapons. It's like a leaner, meaner "Mail Call" - take a look:



"Lock N' Load" strips away the more mundane matters (how MREs are made, what soap soldiers use to wash up with) and gets straight to the flashy: explosions, bullets, and high-tech military machines. If you've ever wanted to see a genuine Maxim machine gun unload on a bunch of water balloons in slow motion, this is your show.

Each hour, you get to see the development of a weapon from its primitive roots (like the matchlock handgun) all the way up to its most modern versions (like a GLOCK 18). Every new improvement is compared with what came before, often using high-speed photography to show differences in muzzle velocity and destructive power. The show is a rather visceral reminder that armed conflict has driven numerous technological advances over the centuries.