The SA80 is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. The prototypes were created in 1976, with production of the A1 variant starting in 1985 and ending in 1994. The A2 variant came to be as the result of a significant upgrade in the early 2000s by Heckler & Koch and remains in service as of 2023. The A3 variant was first issued in 2018 with several new improvements.
The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of the British Armed Forces from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957.
The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Martini–Henry variants were used throughout the British Empire for 47 years. It combined the dropping-block action first developed by Henry O. Peabody and improved by the Swiss designer Friedrich von Martini, combined with the polygonal rifling designed by Scotsman Alexander Henry.
The EM-2, also known as Rifle, No.9, Mk.1 or Janson rifle, was a British assault rifle. It was briefly adopted by British forces in 1951, but the decision was overturned very shortly thereafter by Winston Churchill's incoming government in an effort to secure NATO standardisation of small arms and ammunition. It was an innovative weapon with the compact bullpup layout, built-in carrying handle and an optical sight.
Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) were munitions factories run by the UK government during and after the Second World War. The three main types of factories were engineering, filling and explosives, and these were dispersed across the country for security reasons. ROFs were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply and later the Ministry of Defence until privatisation in 1987.
Enfield Lock is an area in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. It is approximately located east of the Hertford Road between Turkey Street and the Holmesdale Tunnel overpass, and extends to the River Lee Navigation, including the Enfield Island Village. The locality gains its name from the lock on the River Lee Navigation. Today's Enfield Lock was rebuilt in 1922. The area forms part of the Lee Valley Park and the Enfield Lock Conservation Area. On its eastern boundary Enfield Lock has marshland formerly used as a testing site between the Royal Small Arms Factory and the Gunpowder Mills, beyond this is the village of Sewardstone and the Epping forest boundary. To the south is Brimsdown, the north Waltham Cross and to the west Bullsmoor and Freezywater. Enfield Lock forms part of the London boundary.
The L21A1 RARDEN is a British 30 mm autocannon used as a combat vehicle weapon. The Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) and the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF), were part of the Ministry of Defence, at the time.
The M1917 Enfield, the "American Enfield", formally named "United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917" is an American modification and production of the .303-inch Pattern 1914 Enfield (P14) rifle, which was developed and manufactured during the period 1917–1918. Numerically, it was the main rifle used by the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I. The Danish Sirius Dog Sled Patrol on Greenland still use the M1917, which performs reliably in Arctic conditions, as their service weapon.
The Pattern 1913 Enfield (P'13) was an experimental rifle developed by the Royal Small Arms Factory for the British Army as a result of its combat experience in the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902. The weapon was to serve as a replacement for the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield (SMLE). An advanced chamber design allowed for a high-velocity .276 Enfield rimless round, which was more powerful than the service-issued .303 British cartridge. Introduction of the P'13 was rendered impractical by the outbreak of the First World War.
The origins of the modern British military rifle are within its predecessor the Brown Bess musket. While a musket was largely inaccurate over 100 yards (91 m), due to a lack of rifling and a generous tolerance to allow for muzzle-loading, it was cheap to produce and could be loaded quickly. The use of volley or mass firing by troops meant that the rate of fire took precedence over accuracy.
Enfield Island Village is a modern property development in Enfield Lock, in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. Before April 1994, Enfield Island Village formed part of the Epping Forest district of Essex, but it was transferred to the borough of Enfield in Greater London when the housing development was created.
Martini–Enfield rifles were, by and large, conversions of the Zulu War era .577/450 Martini–Henry, rechambering the rifle for use with the newly introduced .303 British cartridge. Whilst most Martini–Enfields were converted rifles, a number were newly manufactured as well.
The London Small Arms Company Ltd was a British Arms Manufacturer from 1866 to 1935.
The Rifle Factory Ishapore is an Indian state-owned arms manufacturing unit located at Ichhapur in the state of West Bengal.
The Rifle 7.62mm 2A/2A1 is a 7.62×51mm NATO calibre bolt-action rifle adopted as a reserve arm by the Indian Armed Forces in 1963. The rifle is a variant of the Lee–Enfield rifle. The design of the rifle – initially the Rifle 7.62mm 2A – began at the Rifle Factory Ishapore of the Ordnance Factories Board in India, soon after the Sino-Indian War of 1962.
Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Nottingham opened in 1936 in The Meadows, Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was one of a number of Royal Ordnance Factories created in the build up to World War II. During the war the site employed up to four thousand workers. The factory was closed in 2001.
The Charlton automatic rifle was a fully automatic conversion of the Lee–Enfield rifle, designed by New Zealander Philip Charlton in 1941 to act as a substitute for the Bren and Lewis gun light machine guns which were in severely short supply at the time.
Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories which manufactured explosives, ammunition, small arms including the Lee–Enfield rifle, guns and military vehicles such as tanks. It owned some 16 factories; and employed about 19,000 staff.
ROF Maltby was a Royal Ordnance Factory rifle manufacturing plant near Maltby, South Yorkshire which manufactured weapons such as the Lee–Enfield rifle and Sten submachine gun. During World War II, ROF Maltby manufactured over 737,000 weapons. Rifles manufactured at Maltby were marked either with and M, RM or ROF(M) to distinguish them from rifles made at other ROF plants.
Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds, first opened as a munitions factory in December 1915 and opened as an ROF in January 1936, was one of a number of Royal Ordnance Factories created at the start of the Second World War.
