Saturday, July 23, 2011

EM-2 Rifle No.9 Mk1

EM-2 Rifle No.9 Mk1

The EM-2, Also known as Rifle No.9 Mk1 or "Janson rifle", was an experimental 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 in the face of American intransigence. An innovative weapon with the compact bullpup layout and an optical sight, it used one of the early intermediate cartridges (a concept introduced by the Germans with the 7.92x33mm Kurz) as a result of combat experience and German advances in weapons design during World War II.

It used the experimental, intermediate powered, but highly efficient .280 British ("two-eight-oh") round, which was designed to replace the venerable .303 ("three-oh-three") round and Lee-Enfield rifle variants which had served since before the turn of the 20th century. The United States claimed the .280 British round was too weak for use in rifles and machine guns, and instead favored the much more powerful 7.62x51mm round derived from the .300 Savage. As the EM-2 could not be easily adapted to the longer and more powerful round, it faded from use. However, the bullpup layout for a British service rifle was finally adopted some years later in form of the SA80 assault rifle, the EM-2's spiritual successor, which remains in service today.

No9 bullpup rifle
Type Assault rifle
Place of origin United Kingdom
Service history
In service 1951
Used by UK
Canada
Production history
Designer Stefan Kenneth Janson
Designed 1948-1950
Manufacturer RSAF Enfield
Canadian Arsenals Limited
Chambons
BSA
Produced Unknown
Number built 59
Variants 6.25x43mm
7x49mm
7x51mm
7.62x51mm NATO
.30-06
Carbine
HBAR
Winter trigger variant
Specifications
Weight 3.49 kg (7.7 lbs)
Length 889 mm (35 in)
Barrel length 623 mm (24.5 in)

Cartridge 7 mm Mk1Z (7x43mm)
7.62x51mm NATO
6.25x43mm
Action Gas operation
Rate of fire 450 to 600 round/min (7.5 to 10 /s)
Muzzle velocity 771m/s (2,545 ft/s)
Effective range 700 m (770 yd)
Feed system 20 round box magazine
Sights optical

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