British semi-automatic

Considering the fact the US, Germany and the Soviet Union managed to field semi-automatic rifles (although only the US were really successful in introducing the rifles), did the British ever considered a semi-automatic rifle design?

 

British didn't need a semi-auto as in trained hands a Lee Enfield "Mad Minute" made the Germans think the British were using machine guns.
mad minute@Everything2.com

THE LEE ENFIELD RIFLE ASSOCIATION

 

Actually, they did. The Farquhar-Hill gas-operated rifle was developed during WW1, approved for service at the end of 1917, and the manufacture of parts for an initial batch of 100,000 authorised in 1918. The war ended before the production line could be established, and the project was promptly cancelled.

It was in .303 calibre and used a 19-round drum magazine.

 

My grandfather told me about his platoon winding up with a company surrendering to them in 1944, apparently the German commander was convinced he faced more men armed with MG's thanks to the speed and accuracy of the British fire.

Mr Williams may correct me on this but as I understood it the British logic was that if you give a soldier a semi-automatic weapon he will take less care over his aim and blaze away at a target wasting ammunition, better to stick to a bolt action rifle which will (in theory) be fired carefully and accurately. Interesting theory with a lot going for it.

 

That is some seriously quick shooting!

 

I remember reading about old school generals being against rapid fire weapons in many armies. And the main reason was thier "concern" that the average soldier would "waste" ammunition. They prefered to rely on accurate aimed or massed shots instead. Especially in the Amerian Civil War.

 

British soldiers where knwown for there quick reloading and firing, I think. Made allot of Germans be sure that they had a mg instead of a good old enfield.

 

Heres a useful tidbit (love that word...) in case anyone didn't know...
That the British army changed from a bolt-action rifle (lee-Enfield) to a semi automatic rifle (SLR) round about the same time that other countries changed form a semi-automatic to a fully automatic?
And (my favourite), the basic design for the Lee-Enfield dated around the 1890's and the weapon was still used by snipers into the 1990's. It must have been good, thats almost a century!

 

The SLEM or SLEM I or II is of Belgian origin and was tested by the United Kingdom in the late 1940s...... Because the british cut see, the days of bolt rifles were over.

 

I've read and seen photographs of British soldiers using the US-made M1 carbine as well.

 

The UK would probably have adopted the US .276 Pedersen semi-auto (it was extensively tested in the UK in the late 1920s, and ammo was even made for it there). However, that was canned when the US decided to buy the Garand in .30-06 instead.

The Lee-Enfield action was different from the Mauser type (also copied for the US Springfield) in that the bolt had rear rather than front locking lugs. This provided a much shorter bolt stroke (at some cost in strength, although it was strong enough), which in conjunction with a 10-round magazine when the Mausers had 5, facilitated a higher rate of fire.

 

On bolts, the only one I have run across that scares me is the Canadian Ross rifle bolt. It just looks really weak with the potential to blow back in your face.

 

Wasn't the Ross a "straight-pull" bolt - meant to speed up reloading? ISTR reading that the action could be incorrectly reassembled, and it would still load a round into the breech but fail to lock the chamber. With, of course, disastrous results when the round was fired. Aside from this, trained soldiers could operate the SMLE bolt and regain their point of aim faster than troops using the straight-pull.

Klive