The Role of Science & Ballistics in the Development & Innovation of

British Army Long-Arms and Ammunition

By Robert Fleming

Missile Weapons

Advent of Gunpowder

Gunpowder was possibly invented in Tang Dynasty China (9th century), but wasdefinitely in use by the Song Dynasty (11th century). It was brought to Europeduring the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century.

Gunpowder

10% - Sulfur (S) 15% - Charcoal (C7H40) 75% - Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)(Saltpetre)

GunpowderAt a flash point of approximately 427–464 °C (801–867 °F), gunpowder willcombust, as follows: 10 KNO3 + 3 S + 8 C → 2 K2CO3 + 3 K2SO4 + 6 CO2 + 5 N2

Early Firearms

Early Firearms

Top Left: Matchlock, c 1450s-1700 Top Right: Snaplock, 1540s-1640sBottom Left: Wheelock, 1500-1700 Bottom Right: Flintlock, 1610-1850s

Flintlock Mechanism

Paper Cartridges & Loading

Long Land Pattern Musket

Long Land Pattern Musket“Brown Bess”, (1722-1860s)

Length: 62.5” (159 cm)Weight: 10.4 lbs (4.7kg)Calibre: .75” (18mm)

Brown BessLong Land Pattern Musket (1722-1793)Length: 62.5” (159 cm)Weight: 10.4 lbs (4.7kg)Calibre: .75” (18mm)

Short Land Pattern Musket (1740-1797)Length: 58.5” (149 cm)Weight: 10.5 lbs (4.8kg)Calibre: .75” (18mm)

India Pattern Musket (1797-1854)Length: 39” (99 cm)Weight: 9.68 lbs (4.39kg)Calibre: .75” (18mm)

New Land Pattern Musket (1802-54)Length: 39” (99 cm)Weight: 10.06 lbs (4.56kg)Calibre: .75” (18mm)

Cavalry Carbine (1796-1838)Length: 26” (66 cm)Weight: 7.37 lbs (3.34kg)Calibre: .75” (18mm)

Percussion Caps

1842 Pattern Percussion Musket

1842 Pattern Percussion Musket (1842-1851)

Length: 39.05” (99.2 cm)Weight: 10.4 lbs (4.7kg)Calibre: .753” (18.4mm)

Musket Ball Flight Path

Musket Ball Flight Path & Drop

Trajectory

Pitch, Yaw & Roll

Musket Ball Flight Path

Degradation of Flight Stability

Massed Ranks

Skirmish Order or In Cover

Rifling & Gas-Tight Breech Block

Girdled’ ball, Brunswick Rifle

Early British Army Rifles

Baker Rifle (1801-37)Length: 43 ¾” (116.4 cm)Weight: 9 lbs (4.08kg)Calibre: .615” (15.9 mm)

Ferguson Rifle (1776-78)Length: 48” (116.4 cm)Weight: 7.5 lbs (3.5 kg)Calibre: .615” (15.9 mm)

Pattern 1776 Rifle (1776-82)Length: 30.5” (77.5 cm)Weight: 9.9 lbs (4.49 kg)Calibre: .62” (16.1 mm)

Brunswick Rifle (1836-85)Length: 30” (76 cm)Weight: 10 lbs (4.5kg)Calibre: .704” (17.9 mm)

Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield, 1816

Enfield Pattern 1851 Rifled Musket

Enfield Pattern 1851 Minié Rifle (1851)Length: 43 ¾” (116.4 cm)Weight: 9 lbs (4.08kg)Calibre: .615” (15.9 mm)

The Minié ball - .702”

The Minié ball

Musket vs Rifle

Musket vs Rifle

The Enfield .577” SeriesEnfield Pattern 1853 (1853-1866)Length: 55” (140 cm)Weight: 9 lbs 5 oz (4.3kg)Calibre: .577” (14.7 mm)

Enfield Pattern 1856 Cavalry CarbineLength: 43 ¾” (116.4 cm)Weight: 9 lbs (4.08kg)Calibre: .577” (14.7 mm)

Enfield Pattern 1858Length: 49” (120 cm)Weight: 9 lbs 5 oz (4.3kg)Calibre: .577” (14.7 mm)

Enfield Pattern 1860Length: 39.76” (101 cm)Weight: 9 lbs (2.32kg)Calibre: .577” (14.7 mm)

Cavalry CarbineLength: 36 ½” (92.71 cm)Weight: 9 lbs (4.08kg)Calibre: .577” (14.7 mm)

The Snider-Enfield

Snider-Enfield Rifle (1866-73)Length: 49.25” (125 cm)Weight: 8 lbs 9 oz (3.8kg)Calibre: .577” (14.7 mm)

Muzzle-Loading

Breech Loading

Martini-Henry

Martini-Henry Rifle (1871-90)Length: 49” (124.5 cm)Weight: 8.7 lbs (3.827 kg)Calibre: .577/.450 Boxer (11.6 mm)

Breech Loading

Infantry Tactics

Brass Cartridges

Chamber Seal

.303 Lee-Metford

Lee-Metford (1888-1926)Length: 49.5” (125.7cm)Weight: 9.03” (4.1kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

.303 British

Expanding Ammunition “Dum Dum” Rounds

Flattening of a musket ball Hollow Point, 1870

Expanding Ammunition

The Hague Convention of 1899, DeclarationIII, prohibited the use in international warfareof bullets that easily expand or flatten in thebody.

Soft Pointed British .303

Soft-Tipped & Hollow PointLead-Filled

Greenhill Formula

C = 150 (use 180 for muzzle velocities higher than 2,800 ft/s) D = Bullet’s diameter in inchesL = Bullet’s length in inchesSG = Bullet’s specific gravity

(10.9 for lead-core bullets)

In 1879, Alfred Greenhill developed a rule of thumb for calculating the optimal twist rate for lead-core bullets

Miller Twist Rule

M = Bullet mass in ‘grains’S = Gyroscopic Stability FactorD = Bullet diameter in inchesL = Bullet length in calibresT = Twist in Calibres per turn

Miller, in essence, took Greenhill's rule of thumb and expanded it slightly while, at the same time, keeping the formula simple enough to calculate without advanced training in mathematics.

Smokeless Powder (Propellant)

1884 – French chemist Paul Vieille’s ‘Poudre Blanche’ (68.2% insoluble nitrocellulose, 29.8% soluble nitrocellulose gelatinised with ether and 2% paraffin)

1887 – Alfred Nobel’s ‘Ballistite’ (10% camphor, 45% nitroglycerine and 45% collodion)

1889 – Frederick Abel & Sir James Dewar jointly patent ‘Cordite’ - "cord powder" or "the Committee's modification of Ballistite", consisting of 58% nitroglycerin by weight, 37% guncotton and 5% petroleum jelly.

Cordite

.303 RiflesMartini-Enfield (1878-1902)Length: 49.25” (125cm)Weight: 8.9 lbs (3.8 kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Lee-Metford (1888-1926)Length: 49.5” (125.7cm)Weight: 9.03” (4.1kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Magazine Lee-Enfield (‘Long Lee’, 1895-1926)Length: 49” (120 cm)Weight: 9.47 lbs (4.3kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk I (1896-1907)Length: 49.6” (126 cm)Weight: 9.23 lbs (4.19kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III / Mk III* (1907-1957) Length: 44.56 (113.2 cm)Weight: 8.73 lbs (3.96kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Rifle No 4Length: 44.44” (112.9 cm)Weight: 9.06 lbs (4.11kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Modern Rifle ‘Action’

Magazine Fed

Bolt Action

Extractor / Ejector

British Musketry

SMLE Ranging

Extreme Range

Long Range

Medium Range

Short Range

Close Range

Series 1

0 50 400 900 1,700 3,000(Yards)

Ammunition in the World Wars

Ammunition in the World Wars

British US .30-06 French Soviet Union.303 Mk VII Springfield 7.5×54mm 7.62×54mmR

ABCA Armies - the American, British, Canadian, Australian and NewZealand Armies' Programme. Begun in 1947 to capitalise on the close co-operation between the forces during World War II.

NATO StandardisationStandardisation Agreement (STANAG) defines processes, procedures, terms, andconditions for common military or technical procedures or equipment between themember countries of the alliance. Among the hundreds of standardization agreements(current total is just short of 1300) are those for calibres of small arms ammunition.

The Ammunition DebateEnfield EM-2 (1951)Length: 35” (88.9cm)Weight: 7.7lbs (3.49kg)Calibre: 7x43mm

United States Rifle, 7.62 mm, M14 (1959-64)Length: 44.3” (112.5 cm)Weight: 9.2 lbs (4.1kg)Calibre: 7.62x51mm

Belgian Fabrique NationaleFN-FAL (1954-Present)Length: 43” (109cm)Weight: 9.48 lbs (4.3kg)Calibre: 7.62x51mm

L1A1 SLR

L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR) (1954-90)Length: 45” (114.3 cm)Weight: 9.56 lbs (4.337kg)Calibre: 7.62x51mm NATO

SA80 FamilyL85A2 (2002-Present)Length: 30.9” (78.5 cm)Weight: 11.0 lbs (4.98kg) Calibre: 5.56x45mm

L22A2 Carbine (2006-Present)Length: 27.9” (70.9 cm)Weight: 9.7 lbs (4.42kg)Calibre: 5.56x45mm

L86A2 (2002-Present)Length: 35.4” (90cm)Weight: 14.5 lbs (6.58kg)Calibre: 5.56x45mm

Ballistic Effect of Drag, Wind & Drop

Gyroscopic Effect

Range Adjustment

Windage

Return of the 7.62mm

L129A1 SharpshooterLength: 16” (41cm)Weight: 9.8 lbs (4.4kg)Calibre: 7.62x51mm NATO

FN SCAR-HLength: 20.5” (52.1cm) adj.Weight: 7.7lbs (3.49kg)Calibre: 7.62x51mm NATO

or 5.56x45mm NATO

Wounding Analysis

Wounding Analysis

Wounding Analysis

7.62 mm vs 5.56 mm

NATO vs Warsaw Pact

British Ammunition Types

.303 Mk VII .280 7.62x51mm 5.56x45mm

.75” Musket Ball .702”/ .577” .577” Snider .577 / .450 .303 Mk I .303 Mk II Minié ball Boxer (Black Powder) (Cordite)

Thank You

Any questions?

Sniper RiflesScoped Enfield Rifle No 4 (Length: 44.44” (112.9 cm)Weight: 9.06 lbs (4.11kg)Calibre: .303” (7.7mm)

Enfield Enforcer (1970-90)Length: Weight: Calibre:

Accuracy International L96A1 (1982-Present)Length: Weight: Calibre:

Accuracy International AW L118A1Length: Weight: Calibre:

Accuracy International AWSM L115A1 (

Length: Weight: Calibre:

Sniper RiflesAccuracy International AW50F L121A1 Length: Weight: Calibre:

Barrett M82A1 Length: Weight: Calibre:

Ignition