EM-2 rifle facts for kids

The EM-2 was a special type of British assault rifle. It was also called the Rifle, No.9, Mk.1 or the Janson rifle. This rifle was briefly chosen by the British military in 1951. However, the new government led by Winston Churchill quickly changed this decision. They wanted to make sure that all NATO countries used the same weapons and bullets.

The EM-2 was a very new and smart design. It had a compact bullpup shape, which means the magazine and firing parts are behind the trigger. This made the rifle shorter overall. It also had a handle built into the top and a special optical sight.

This rifle was made to fire a new kind of bullet called an "intermediate cartridge". This bullet, the .280 British, was designed after World War II. It was meant to replace older bullets like the .303 British, which had been around since the late 1800s. The EM-2 was supposed to take the place of older Lee-Enfield rifles and various submachineguns.

When NATO was formed, the United States thought the .280 British bullet was not strong enough. They preferred a much more powerful bullet, the 7.62×51mm NATO. Years later, the British military did adopt a bullpup rifle called the SA80. This rifle is still used today.

Developing the EM-2 Rifle

New Weapons After World War II

After World War II, the British Army used older weapons like the Lee-Enfield rifle. These weapons fired the .303 British bullet. This bullet had some problems with modern gun designs. For example, its "rimmed" shape made it harder to load into magazines.

The Army had wanted to replace the .303 bullet many times before. But big events like World War I kept delaying these plans. After the Dunkirk evacuation in WWII, the idea of new weapons became even more important.

Right after the war, a factory called Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield, started making new gun designs. These designs used German bullets. A Polish designer named Roman Korsak worked on a new machine gun called the EM-1. Another designer, Jeziorański, worked on an infantry rifle called the EM-2. This EM-2 used a German bullet from the StG 44 rifle.

Designing a Better Bullet

In 1945, the Army created a group called the Small Arms Calibre Panel (SACP). Their job was to create a new standard bullet for future weapons. They thought they had about ten years before another big war might happen. This gave them plenty of time to test different options.

During WWII, soldiers learned that a smaller, "intermediate" sized bullet would be better. This type of bullet would let a rifle fire automatically (like a machine gun). The Army also wanted the new bullet to be very accurate. They wanted it to perform like the old .303 bullet at long distances.

After many tests, they chose a bullet that was about 7mm wide and 2.5cm long. It weighed about 8.4 grams.

Once the SACP shared its findings, the original EM weapon designs changed. In 1947, they asked for new weapons that would use this new bullet. Stefan Kenneth Janson designed a new rifle, which was also called the EM-2. This new EM-2 was actually more like the original EM-1.

An EM-2 rifle being fired.

Both the EM-1 and EM-2 were "bullpup" style weapons. This means the magazine and firing parts are located behind the trigger. This design makes the gun shorter overall. For example, the EM-2 was about 24cm shorter than the US M14. But it still had a longer barrel!

Both EM-1 and EM-2 rifles used 20-round magazines. They also had a special optical sight because regular sights were hard to add. They had a carrying handle on top and could fire in both semi-automatic and fully automatic modes. The .280 (7mm) bullet was accurate up to about 730 meters.

The EM-1 and EM-2 looked similar from the outside. But they were very different inside. The EM-1 was made from steel plates and was heavier. The EM-2 had a special gas-powered system. In the end, the EM-2 was chosen as the better design. On April 25, 1951, it became the British Army's new rifle. It was officially called the Rifle, Automatic, Calibre .280, Number 9.

Like other British rifles, the EM-2 was designed to be very accurate. This was important because the British Army always focused on good marksmanship.

NATO Standardization Efforts

When NATO was formed in 1949, everyone wanted member countries to use the same weapons and bullets. This would make it easier for armies to work together. The United States suggested its own designs for NATO. They used a 7.62×51mm NATO bullet in their T25 and T44 prototype rifles.

Things became difficult in 1951 during a test at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. The US said the British .280 bullet was not powerful enough. The British said the US bullet was too powerful for a rifle to fire automatically. A Belgian rifle, the .280 FN FAL, was also tested.

Many long talks followed. The issue was finally settled when Canada said it would use the British .280 bullet, but only if the US did too. It was clear the US would not agree. Winston Churchill believed that having a NATO standard was more important than the EM-2's qualities. So, he changed the decision made by the previous government.

During this time, some EM-2 prototypes were made to fire different bullets. Some were made for the 7×49mm bullet, and others for the 7.62×51mm NATO. One EM-2 was even changed to fire the US .30-06 bullet.

It was hard to change the EM-2 to use the powerful 7.62×51mm NATO bullet. So, the British decided to use a version of the FN FAL rifle instead. The FAL was designed by Dieudonné Saive. It was easier to adapt the FAL to handle the more powerful, longer bullet.

As a result, the FAL became heavier and longer. Churchill hoped that if Britain and other NATO countries adopted the FN FAL, the US Army would too. However, the US chose their own T44 rifle, which became the M14.

Over time, the British idea about "intermediate" bullets proved to be right. The 7.62×51mm bullet was indeed too powerful for rifles to fire easily in automatic mode. Smaller bullets were needed for that. After fighting in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, the US adopted the AR-15 rifle, which became the M16. The M16 used a smaller 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate bullet. It replaced the M14, which had only been adopted a decade earlier.

Years later, NATO also agreed to use a smaller bullet for automatic fire and lighter weapons. They eventually chose the 5.56×45mm. Before this, the British Army did more research on intermediate bullets.

Pictured left to right are the SA80-A2, XL 60 and EM-2.

Around 1970, two of the original .280 EM-2 rifles were changed to fire an experimental 6.25×43mm bullet. But the EM-2's return was short-lived. The 6.25mm bullet was replaced by an even smaller 4.85mm bullet. This led to a completely new rifle, the L64/65, which later became the 5.56mm SA80. The SA80 is currently used by the British Army. Even though the SA80 looks similar to the EM-2 because of its bullpup design, it works differently inside.

See also

• KAL1 General Purpose Infantry Rifle, a similar Australian idea for jungle fighting.
• SLEM-1
• L64/65
• Model 45A
• Sieg rifle
• List of assault rifles