.303 rifle replacement

[HighlandSniper58]

During its service life from 1888 until 1958, there were several attempts to replace the .303 cartiridge in British service until finally bowing out to the 7.62x51mm NATO round in 1958.

We know that one of these was the 7mm EM2 round of the early 1950s - what calibre was the other main contender, with which rifle and approximately when?

[Derrick Stephenson]

Hi Highland Sniper,
HE obviously doesn't know either!!!!
Derrick

[Bombardier]

By He I suppose you mean me Mr Stephenson :D

And your right I dont know either LOL

[Derrick Stephenson]

Hi He,
If you do know, you're straight in.
Derrick.

[HighlandSniper58]

Come on guys - anyone cracked it yet?

[Drone_pilot]

The EM2

The EM2 is a British gas-operated automatic rifle with a cyclic rate of 450 rounds-per-minute. It takes a .280 inch round from a 20-round box. The muzzle velocity is 772 meters-per-second and it is sighted to 549 meters.

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/j/EM2.jpg

In the late 1940s, Enfield's designers came up with a radical design for a new automatic rifle they called Experimental Model 2, or EM2. It was hoped that the weapon, and its 7mm calibre ammunition, would become the Nato standard, but the US put pressure on Nato to accept its favoured calibre, 7.62mm. The Labour government of Clement Attlee defied the US, resolving to produce the EM2 for British forces anyway. But in October 1951, with the gun not yet in production, Labour was defeated at the polls and the Conservatives, under Winston Churchill, came to power. The Korean war had just begun. Anticipating a new world war between capitalism and communism, Churchill decided Britain must yield to the US. He cancelled the EM2 and backed the licensed production by Enfield of the Belgian 7.62mm FN rifle, which became known as the SLR. It was a harsh blow to Enfield's prestige, and British pride.

[HighlandSniper58]

Yes, this was a planned .303 replacement, but the one I'm looking for was about 30 years previously, post-WW1

[HighlandSniper58]

See http://www.militaryimages.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=161 for the final answer!

[Bombardier]

P-13 in .276/.280 hee hee