British Military Rifles
Brunswick Rifle
The Brunswick rifle was a .704 calibre muzzle-loading percussion rifle manufactured for the British Army at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in the early 19th century. The weapon was introduced to replace the Baker rifle and weighed from over 9 and 10 pounds (4.1 and 4.5 kg) without its bayonet attached, depending on the pattern. The weapon was inaccurate and difficult to load but remained in production for about 50 years (1836 to 1885) and was used in both the United Kingdom and assorted colonies and outposts throughout the world.
The Brunswick had a two groove barrel designed to accept a "belted" round ball. There are four basic variants of the British Brunswick Rifle (produced in .654 and .704 calibre, both oval bore rifled and smoothbore). They are the Pattern 1836, the Pattern 1841, the Pattern 1848 and the Pattern 1840 Variant.
Attachment 158026
Enfield Pattern 1861 Enfield Musketoon
The Pattern 1861 Enfield Musketoon was an alteration to the Pattern 1853 Enfield Musketoon. The alteration gave the Pattern 1861 a faster twist, which gave it more accuracy than the longer Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle. In England, it was issued to artillery units, who required a weapon for personal defence. It was imported by the Confederacy and issued to artillery and cavalry units. It was used for its maneuverability.
Attachment 158027
Snider-Enfield Rifles
Attachment 158030
Technical Specifications
Calibre : .557" (14.7 mm)
Cartridge Capacity : single-shot
Operation : single-action
Firing System : center-fire
Breech-loading : trapdoor action
Length : 137.8 cm (54.25")
Barrel Length : 92.7 cm (36.5")
Weight : 4.1 kg (9.13 lb)
Sight : graduated sight
Safety : half-cock hammer
Stock : walnut
In 1866 the Snider-Enfield was produced as a conversion of Enfield Pattern 1853 with a hinged breechblock and barrel designed for a .577 cartridge. Later Sniders were newly manufactured on the same design.
The action was invented by an American, Jacob Snider, and adopted by Britain as a conversion system for the 1853 Enfield. The conversions proved both more accurate than original muzzle-loading Enfields and much faster firing as well. Converted rifles retained the original iron barrel, furniture, locks and cap-style hammers. The rifles were converted in large numbers, or assembled new with surplus pattern 53 iron barrels and hardware. The Mark III rifles were made from all new parts with steel barrels, flat nosed hammers and are the version equipped with a latch locking breech block. The Snider was the subject of substantial imitation, approved and otherwise, including: Nepalese Sniders, the Dutch Sniders, Danish Naval Sniders, and the "unauthorized" adaptations resulting in the French Tabatiere and Russian Krnka rifles.
The Snider-Enfield Infantry rifle was particularly long at over 54 inches (1,400 mm). The breech block housed a diagonally downward sloping firing pin which was struck with a front-action side mounted hammer. The firer cocked the hammer, flipped the block out of the receiver with a breech block lever, and then pulled the block back to extract the spent case. There was no ejector, the case had to be pulled out, or more usually, the rifle rolled onto its back to allow the case to fall out. The Snider saw service throughout the British Empire, until it was gradually phased out of front line service in favour of the Martini-Henry, in the mid-1870s. The design continued in use with colonial troops into the 20th century.
Martini-Henry Rifles
Attachment 158032
Technical Specifications
Calibre : .450-577"
Cartridge Capacity : single-shot
Operation : single-action
Firing System : center-fire
Breech-loading : falling-block action
Length : 121.9 cm (48")
Barrel length : 85.1 cm (33.5")
Weight : 3.9 kg (8.6lb)
Sight : graduated sight
Safety : loading indicator
Stock : walnut
The Martini-Henry rifle was adopted in 1871, featuring a falling-block single-shot breech-loading action, actuated by a lever beneath the wrist of the buttstock. The Martini-Henry evolved as the standard service rifle for almost 20 years, with variants including carbines.
Unlike the Snider it replaced, the Martini-Henry was designed from the ground up as a breech-loading metallic cartridge firearm. This robust weapon uses a falling block, with a self-cocking, lever operated, single-shot action designed by a Swiss, Friedrich von Martini, as modified from the Peabody design. The rifling system was designed by Scotsman, Alexander Henry.
The Mark I was adopted for service in 1871. There were four main variations of the Martini-Henry rifle including the Mark II, III and IV with sub variations of these called patterns. In 1877 a carbine version entered service with five main variations including cavalry and artillery versions. Initially, Martinis used the short chamber Boxer-Henry .45 calibre black powder cartridge made of a thin sheet of brass rolled around a mandrel, which was then soldered to an iron base. Later, the rolled brass case was replaced by a solid brass version which remedied a myriad of problems.
Lee-Metford rifles
The first British repeating rifle incorporated a bolt-action and a box-magazine; this was developed through trials beginning in 1879, and adopted as the Magazine Rifle Mark I in 1888. This rifle is commonly referred to as the Lee-Metford or MLM (Magazine Lee-Metford).
The "Lee" comes from James Paris Lee (1831–1904), a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor who designed an easy-to-operate turnbolt and a high capacity box magazine to work with it. The box magazine, either Lee or Mannlicher designed, proved superior in combat to the Kropatschek-style tube magazine used by the French in their Lebel rifle, or the Krag-Jørgensen rotary magazine used in the first US bolt-action rifle (M1892). The initial Lee magazine was a straight stack, eight-round box, which was superseded by the staggered, ten-round box in later versions, in each case more than were accommodated by Mannlicher box magazine designs. The “Metford” comes from William Ellis Metford (1824–1899), an English engineer who was instrumental in perfecting the .30 calibre jacketed bullet and rifling to accommodate the smaller diameter.
During the development of the Lee-Metford smokeless powder was invented. The French and the Germans were already implementing their second-generation bolt-action rifles, the 8 mm Lebel in 1886 and 7.92 mm Gewehr 88 in 1888 respectively, using smokeless powder to propel smaller diameter bullets. The British followed the trend of using smaller diameter bullets, but the Lee-Metford design process overlapped the invention of smokeless powder, and was not adapted for its use. However, in 1895 the design was modified to work with smokeless powder resulting in the Lee-Enfield.
A contrast between this design and other successful bolt actions of the time such as the Mausers and US Springfield is the rear locking lug. This puts the lug close to the bolt handle, where the pressure is applied by the operator; in essence the force is close to the fulcrum point. Without great explanation, this results in an easier and swifter operation versus the Mauser design, resulting in a greater rate of fire. However, the sacrifice is strength as the fulcrum point has moved away from the force of the explosion, thus making the length of the bolt a lever working against the holding power of the rear lug. This would always be a limiting factor in the ballistics capacity of this design, and in some minds[who?] a critical shortcoming as a weapons system.
Another difference between the Lee and the Mauser designs was the use of "cock-on-closing", which also helped to speed cycling by making the initial opening of the breech very easy. The closing stroke, which is generally more forceful than the opening stroke, cocks the rifle, adding to the ease of use. The Lee design also featured a shorter bolt travel and a 60-degree rotation of the bolt; these attributes also led to faster cycle times.
Over the service life of the design, proponents and opponents would stress rate-of-fire versus ballistics respectively, with the former persevering in the end. The basic Lee design with some tinkering was the basis for most British front-line rifles until after World War II.
Attachment 158035
Enfield Pattern of 1861 Cavalry Carbine
Attachment 158037
Technical Specifications
Calibre : .58" Minie (14.7 mm)
Cartridge Capacity : single-shot, muzzle-loader
Operation : single-action
Firing : percussion
Length : 102.9 cm (40.5")
Barrel : 61 cm (24")
Weight : 3.2 kg (7 lb)
Sight : graduated
Safety : half-cock
Stock : walnut