European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse I � Imah portion of Rife 5,006 weapons on Dii Pfay it Denfip of is a Roll lion of 300 mar Lino guns from around tic world. The guns of Enfield Britain s pattern room offers a big menu of Small arms homemade sub machine gun from Northern Ireland. Story and photos by f. King Cruger . Bureau on the outskirts of London Xvi thin a crib Cluster of victorian buildings is housed Iho most comprehensive collection of modern weapons in the world. The weapons approximately 7,000 examples of Smalt arms from every manufacturing country ate closely re Ardd in the Small arms pm Stern room several Large Raomi actually of the British ministry o defense s Royal Small arms factory at enfold lock. The pal turn room s contents cover the entire Field of Small arms and include i pics machine guns pistols aircraft cannons Etc. Although the collection numbers about 7,000 weapons Only iome 5,000 weapons Are on display at any Given Lime. The title pattern room is derived from the ancient system of military arms production whereby a perfectly Correct example of every weapon Model was selected to act As the ultimate reference for subsequent manufacture explained Bert Woodend custodian of the pattern room. These arms which bore official red Wax seals were dubbed scaled patterns. They were of critical importance in the age of hand built guns in that they provided a master against which All other guns Tould be checked to make sure that they were in proper of scaled pattern uns surviving at in Icid today go Back to As Early As 1820. I was nol until the 1920s that the act of physically sealing newly adopted firearms ceased said a Odmund. now the scaled pattern system is not dead As the manufacture of decorative ceremonial weapons is still governed by a Complete series of approved patterns held at Enfield he said. According to Woodend All scaled patterns were originally housed in the Small arms department at the Tower of London. However the Enfield factory assumed responsibility for them following a disastrous fire at the Tower in 1841. Many famous weapons have been manufactured at Enfield Over the years. The first weapon to be officially named after Enfield was the 1b53 Enfield Rifle the first rifled Arm to be issued generally to All British services. The factory s first repealing Rifle the Lee Metford came into production in 188b and subsequently evolved into the Lee Enfield of 1395. The pattern room began acquiring foreign weapons around he turn of the Century with the acquisition of a variety of captured arms from the Boer War. The museum s displays provide a living illustration of the development of modern weapons. Within the collection Are Many gems such As the first British made calling gun 1873. S a hand cranked version of the original Catling gun that had been introduced roughly a decade earlier during the american civil War. Woodend said the collection would t be Complete without the most famous of All Enfield products the Rifle that went to prance in 1914 Wilh the British expeditionary farce. The weapon the Short Magazine Lee Enfield Sale or smelly was designed As it Universal weapon to replace 3 variety of rifles and carbines used in the Boer War. The total production ran to almost eight million and the Sale is without doubt the most efficient Boll action military Rifle Ever made he said. Evolution of that Rifle continued for Many years and the next generation fought with it during world War ii. Another famed Enfield product on display was the Sten machine carbine. That sub machine gun was developed there and named after its co designers Shepherd and Turpin coupled with the first two letters of the factory name. It was adopted Early in world War ii when British fortunes were at a Low ebb because it was a cheap automatic weapon that required the absolute minimum in machine roofing. It was ordered in huge quantities and manufacture had to be contracted out to a Host of Small engineering firms. One Fine display within the pattern room traces stripes drug line june a 19k
