Rieder Automatic Rifle
The Rieder Automatic Rifle was a conversion of the Lee-Enfield. It was designed by South African Henry J. Rieder.
Technical Specifications
WEAPON TYPE: Automatic rifle
CALIBER: .303 British
LENGTH: 44.5in (1130mm)
BARREL LENGTH: 25.2in (640mm)
WEIGHT EMPTY: 11lb (8oz, 5.2kg)
FEED SYSTEM: 10 or 30 rounds
CYCLIC RATE: 250rpm
History
The Rieder rifle was designed by Cape Town resident Mr. Henry J. Rieder, who worked mainly with televisions and radios but experimented with firearms when the war broke out. From 1940 - 1941, Rieder converted 18 SMLE rifles into automatic rifles. These were first brought to the attention of the British Ordnance Board by Dr. Van der Bijl, the South African Director General of War Supplies, recommended them as a means of converting existing Lee-Enfield rifles in the possession of the British Army into light machine guns.
Rieder sent three of his automatic rifles over to the UK for assessment. They performed well but certain issues prevented them from seeing service, such as constant overheating after every 100 rounds. Rieder was presented with the original SMLE rifle that the design evolved from with the serial number M45374 in 1944. This rifle is now housed at the Military Museum at Cape Town.
Design
The Rieder rifle was simply a SMLE No.1 Mk.III rifle with a fully-automatic conversion. The gas bled from a port which was positioned about 8 inches from the muzzle and the gas tube ran along the right side of the body. It can be removed at any time with ease, thus converting the rifle back to a bolt-action system. The gas tube added about 2.5lb to the weight of the weapon and was about 12 inches long. It could be modified to allow single-shots like a semi-automatic rifle.
A wooden pistol grip was fastened to the rear end of the rifle, and a forward grip was screwed underneath the fore-end. Both vertical and horizontal foregrips were made for the Rieder rifle. Modified Bren gun magazines were used as the main source of ammunition, although 10-round SMLE magazines could be used. The Rieder rifle fired at about 250 rounds per minute and could fire about 100 rounds continuously before overheating. Converting an SMLE into a Rieder rifle cost about £2 in total.
Source: Rieder automatic rifle | Gun Wiki | Fandom
Huot Automatic Rifle
The Huot automatic rifle was a Canadian automatic rifle designed by Joseph Alphonse Huot in 1916 and produced by the Dominion Rifle Factory in prototype form only. The weapon was intended for a light machine gun role and was intended to be adopted; the end of the war ultimately prevented this.
Technical Specifications
WEAPON TYPE: Automatic rifle
CALIBER: .303 British
ACTION: Gas operation
LENGTH: 47 inches (120 centimetres)
BARREL LENGTH: 25 inches (64 centimetres)
WEIGHT: 19 pounds (8.6 kilograms)
WEIGHT EMPTY: 13 pounds (5.9 kilograms)
FEED SYSTEM: 25-round detachable drum magazine
CYCLIC RATE: 475 rpm
History
During the mid-1910s, the Canadian Army was in short supply of machine guns, but a large supply of surplus rifles as the Ross rifle had recently been withdrawn from service. An inventor from Quebec, Joseph Huot, decided to take the Ross and modify it as such; his first prototype shared numerous parts with the Ross Mark III and subsequently filed patents for the design, and would approach the government to license produce the design.
A polished version of the weapon was manufactured by the Dominion Rifle Factory which was subsequently submitted for various tests. Numerous tests of the rifle were conducted, leading to further tests and eventually culminating in Minister of Militia Sydney Mewburn recommending that the rifle be adopted by the British Army; to achieve this, Huot and a number of officers sailed to the United Kingdom to submit the rifle to RSAF Enfield, and thus began an extensive test of the weapon.
Design
The Huot in essence is a heavily modified Ross rifle. It featured a gas piston off to the left side of the weapon, a buffer system to cushion recoil adapted into the bolt and a modified stock used to accommodate a steel barrel shroud which appears to have been inspired by what was on the Lewis.
Comparison with a Lewis Gun
The weapons fed from 25-round detachable drum magazines; to reload the drum, a special 25-round stripper clip was used. The weapons were also shipped in a heavy leather carrying case. The weapon was mostly made of sheet metal. The price to rebuild a Ross Mark III into a Huot rifle was said to be CA$50 (CA$769 in 2020 dollars).
Source: Huot automatic rifle | Gun Wiki | Fandom
Burton Model 1917
The Burton Model 1917, also known as the Winchester-Burton, was an American automatic rifle that was designed by Frank Burton. It is sometimes cited as an early precursor of the assault rifle concept.
Technical Specifications
WEAPON TYPE: Automatic rifle
CALIBER: .345 WSL
ACTION: Blowback, open bolt
LENGTH: 5.5 inches (116 centimetres)
WEIGHT: 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms)
FEED SYSTEM: 20-round detachable box magazine
CYCLIC RATE: 800rpm
History
The Burton automatic rifle was designed by a Winchester engineer, Frank Burton, during World War I. It was conceived as an anti-air rifle for use by aircraft observers, although the development of synchronized machine guns for aircraft rendered observer’s rifles obsolete. It was built as a prototype only and was never put into production.
Design
The Model 1917 was a blowback-operated, open bolt automatic rifle that fed from two canted 20-round magazines. These magazines were inserted into the top of the receiver at 60° angles, and the gun was capable of only feeding from one magazine at a time. The magazine in reserve was inserted partially when the magazine in use was fully inserted, this was for easier handling in the cockpit for the observer. A bayonet lug was fitted to the ‘ground’ barrel.
