British Small Arms DevelopmentThe inter war years

Tony Edwards

HBSAFebruary 2013

1918 1939

21 years

Situation in 1918

Large calibre Vickers gun

Farquhar-Hill SLR

Improved Lewis gun

Improved Infantry cartridge

Anti-tank rifle

Became .5 inch Vickers

Mark I

Scrapped July 1919

Scrapped.Later

replaced by

Vickers GO

Continued throughout 1920/30s

Work restarted in

1930s on Boys Rifle

Developed and/or introduced:

.5 inch Vickers

.55 inch Boys

.303 inch Bren7.92mm BESA15mm BESA.380 Revolver.303 inch No.4 Rifle.303 inch Vickers GO.303 inch Browning20mm Hispano

Development work carried out on:

Improved Pattern ’14 RifleImproved Lewis Gun.661 inch Gun.8 inch ElswickJanacek taper bore.276 inch Pederson

War to end all Wars

No Money

Over 2 million rifles in store (SMLE & P.’14)

No Money

Large numbers of Lewis & Vickers guns to hand

No Money

Constraints:

Large Calibre Vickers Gun

Requirement by Royal Air Force to counter the new breed of strategic heavy bombers.

- Greater armour piercing ability- Larger Incendiary/explosive payload

Also requirement by Army for a new anti-tank rifle.

.600-.500 Anti-Tank RifleDesigned by Godsal at Webley.

.600/.500 .5 inch Vickers

.5 inch Vickers Naval

The Admiralty were the largest user.

The proof requirement was that seven out of ten shots to penetrate 18mm of armour plate at 100 yards at a normal angle of attack and an additional seven out of ten to penetrate 14mm of armour plate at the same distance at 20 degrees angle of attack.

.5 inch Vickers approvals:

Ball Mark IIz May 1925

AP W Mark Iz July 1927

The Stanchion/Boys Rifle- Post WWI interest had waned

- New requirement arose in1934 when SAC asked to investigate a new infantry anti-tank rifle.

- Weight to be maximum 35 lbs but ideally much lighter.

- To defeat 25mm armour at 200 yards, 14mm at 500 yards normal attack.

- Rifle to be ready for test by May 1935.

- Consideration to be given to a taper bore design

- Initial investigation carried out using 13mm German T-Gewehr- New 13mm ammunition ordered, probably from FN or Sweden- German cases also reloaded with British bullets.- .5 inch Stanchion rifle given as cover name.

- First test rifles made by RSAF Enfield, others by Vickers Armstrong Ltd and BSA Ltd.

.600/.500 inch Godsal

.5 inch Stanchion

.5 inch Stanchion

Renamed Boys in December 1935 after Captain Boys

Hythe trials in September 1935 met AP performance

Consideration given to either increase calibre or case capacity to improve AP performance.

Early 1936 - Calibre increased to .55 inch

December 1936 – W Mark I approved- penetration: 7/10 to penetrate 16mm armour plate at 100 yards normal attack.

Why?

.5 inch Vickers could defeat 18mm at 100 yards

Even when W Mark II was approved in 1939 penetration was only increased to 19mm at 100 yards.

.5 inch Stanchion .55 inch Boys

.55 Inch Boys

.55 inch Boys Practice rounds

Improved new infantry rifle

- probably based on Pattern ’14

- possibly using coned chamber system

- AP performance: 15mm armour at 100 yards normal attack, 14mm at 20 degrees.

- Velocity c. 3,000 fps.

.303 Lewis .276 Enfield .450/.303

.303 inch

.276 inch

.25 inch

Rifle, Magazine, Experimental, .276 inchAinley Rifle

1939

Light Machine Gun Trials

BSA Lewis

Beardmore-Farquhar

Vickers Berthier

The Bren Mark I

Gerlich taper/coned barrel trials

First British trials with Gerlich skirted bullets 1932 and continued until 1940

9.3mm/7mm calibre

With 95 grain bullet – 4,880 fpsWith 126 grain bullet – 4,375 fps

9.25/7mm 15/11mm15.2/11.4mm

Janacek

Tapered muzzle attachment.

Used in “Little John” adaptors on 2 Pr., 6 Pr. And 17 Pr.

7.92MM BESA

Copy of Czech ZB53 Model 1937

In service 1939 – c 1955

Total Production 59,332

Fired case found on RSAF range from firing trials of ZB53 in 1937

15mm BESA(ZB60)

15mm BESA(ZB60)

In service 1939 -1945

Weight: 125lbsLength: 80.75”Penetration: 18.5mm 100 yards

12.5mm 1000 yards

RoF: 450 rpmMV: 2,940 fps

Only 3,218 made

Air Service Guns

.303 inch Vickers GO (Class K)

In service 1937 - 1945

.303 inch Browning

In service 1936 - 1945

Total production by BSA and sub-contractors 468,098

20mm Hispano

THE END

.303 inch Incendiary B Mark VII