Quote:
Originally posted by Lynn Eades
By the way do you know the inch was standardised in 1940. Prior to that the U.S. inch was ever so slightly different from the British. (Just thought I'd change the subject)
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I think you might be referring to an issue known as the "Enfield Inch" in which the RSAF Enfield Lock were using a measured Inch to an 1860 Standard which was later superseded. Enfield never acknowledged the error, as they were making Small Arms to their own drawings and own measurements. It was not until the Lithgow Small Arms Factory started to build SMLE's in 1911 that it was found that the "Enfield Inch" actually measured 0.9996in. Enfield continued with their Inch until 1923, when they were forced to change all the dimensions on their drawings, as well as all their Gauging and tooling. When you consider that an SMLE rifle has 178 parts and these are detailed on over 20,000 detailed drawings with tolerances down to a tenth of a thou, you can imagine why Enfield were reluctant to re-issue the drawings. However, Lithgow SAF insisted, as Australia was just commencing production of the Vickers MG and when "Lithgow Speaks-The Empire listens"!
This is a topic all of it's own and not for
THREADJACKER 2000