.276 Experimental rifle?

[Steven Broomfield]

In the History of the 11th Hussars (Capt L R Lumley, MP), it is stated (page 10) that in spring 1913, the 11th, together with two infantry battalions, "was selected by the War Office to carry out trials with the experimental .276 rifle. Possibly, had the Great War not intervened, this rifle would have been adopted."

Now it may be that this has been discussed ad infinitum on the Forum (for which, humblest apologies), but can anyone shed any light on this? And which two infantry battalions?

Ta in advance.

[4thGordons]

Steven

This was the Pattern 13 rifle and the experimental .276 round which, rechambered for .303, became the Pattern 14 rifle (produced by Remington [and Remington Eddystone] and Winchester in the US)and later rechambered for the US .30-06" round served as the US .30 caliber rifle Model 1917 (M1917 or "US Enfield")

as for which battalions - no idea.

Chris

[TonyE]

Steve - One of the points that came out of the Esher report into the Boer War was that the Boer 7x57mm cartridge had a flatter trajectory than the .303 Mark II used by the British. Eventually this translated into the development of a new infantry rifle and cartridge between 1910 and 1913. The calibre was to be between .256 and .276 inch and to have a maximum height of trajectory of five feet at 800 yards. This meant that if the sights were set at that range, any man at any in-between range would be hit.

There were over fifty different experimental rounds developed but in 1913 the cartridge had been settled as the .276 inch RL18000C design and about 1,150 rifles were manufactured for troop trials. The rifles went to:

Cavalry: 300 rifles. 100 to one squadron in each of three cavalry regiments, one in South Africa, two at home.

Infantry: 560 rifles, 70 to one company in each of eight infantry battalions, seven at home and one in Egypt.

School of Musketry, Hythe: 75 rifles

School of Musketry, Bloemfontein: 75 rifles.

Unfortunately I do not know which the battalions were without digging deeper into the records.

The rifle was well received but the ammunition was not. It was claimed to have excessive noise and flash, misfires, hard extraction and "caps out".Metal fouling was also severe. The final straw was a rifle that burst at Aldershot when a round was left in a hot chamber.

The troop trial was suspended in late 1913 and further investigation and development started, but the outbreak of war put a stop to any further work.

The rifle is always known as the Pattern 1913, but as it was never officially adopted this is an unofficial designation.

I have attached a picture of the .276 RL18000C round, showing ball, dummy and drill variants. Also attached is a photo of a pair of polished steel dummy rounds in my collection from the .276 inch trials that were made at Woolwich and sent to Enfield for testing in prototype rifles.

The Pattern 1913 troop trials rifle is also shown.

Regards

tonyE

[Steven Broomfield]

Thanks guys. And the Lee Enfield lasted another 40 years!

[4thGordons]

Thanks guys. And the Lee Enfield lasted another 40 years!

....and the rest!

Chris

[centurion]

I've seen a piece written in 1914 that stated that the .276 rifles had a muzzle velocity of 3,000 ft per sec, much greater than the SMLE or the Mauser

[TonyE]

Although the specification for the new round included as flat a trajectory as possible, an absolute velocity was not given. The velocity actually achieved during the trials varied with bullet weight but most were in the range 2,600-2,800 feet per second.

The .276 troop trial cartridge had a 165 grain bullet at about 2,850 fps, which was as fast as was practical without excessive pressure and barrel fouling. In the event that was probably too high anyway. Later in 1917 when some development work was carried with the .276 inch cartridgeout to produce a better armour piercing cartridge, velocities of 3,000 fps were achieved using a 128 grain bullet. This work never came to fruition though because the new .303 inch Mark VIIW AP bulet proved effective.

For comparison, the .303 Mark VII velocity is 2,450 fps, the 7.92mm is 2,600 to 2,900 depending on the bullet type.

Regards

TonyE

[sidibear]

That is impressive ballistics for the 7x57 considering the date. My 7x57 168gr pass the 50 yrd chrono at around 2300fps.

[TonyE]

Paul - the .276 inch Pattern 13 cartridge had considerably more case volume than the 7x57mm.

Picture shows 7x57mm, .276 inch and .303 for comparison.

Regards

TonyE

[sidibear]

@TonyE. Thanks for that. I was under the impression the .276 was just an imperial version of the metric 7x57.

[TonyE]

Whilst .276 IS the Imperial equivalent of 7mm, that is a generic term for a whole range of experimental British 7mm cartridges from 1909 right through to WW2 and beyond. See my pictures in the above post of the steel dummies, which are just two of the many variations from the 1909-1913 trials.

The "anglicised" name for the 7x57mm was normally the .275 Rigby.

Regards

TonyE