Enfield EM2
The EM-2 was spawned from the realization after World War II that the bolt action rifle was no longer the pinnacle of rifle technology. The call went forth to design a new automatic rifle as the Americans and Germans had done before them. The design fell to a Polish native who had fled to England during the war, Stefan Janson. The design made use of the then untested bullpup design, it was designed to fire the 280 caliber round developed by Fabrique Nationale during this period from a 20 round box magazine. The rifle was fitted with a optic sight which did not magnify the target but merely allowing the shooter to aim quicker than with iron sights. The sight is designed into a carrying handle to help protect it from damage in the field. The magazine used was designed to allow the use of stripper clips to reload the magazine quicker than capable by hand. The weapon is capable of semiautomatic firing and full automatic bursts, the weapon is accurate out to ranges at 800 yards. Ironically had it not been for the re-election of Churchill to Prime Minister the 280 cartridge and then EM-2 may have been retained in service past 1951. Churchill began steps to standardize within the European Community and United States by adopting the 7.62 NATO round in the form of the FN-FAL.
Picture from Giovanni Tendas
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