Farquhar-Hill

Farquhar-Hill Automatic Rifle
The Farquhar-Hill rifle is a British rifle
taking a .303 inch round from a 20-round drum.
Operation is automatic with a cyclic rate of 700 rpm.
It has a muzzle velocity of 732 m/s and is sighted to 1372m.

FARQUHAR-HILL RIFLE

In 1908 a Major M. G. Farquhar produced an automatic rifle which he had invented in conjunction with Mr. Hill. There was at that time some military interest in automatic rifles and
the weapon was tested by the Automatic Rifle Committee which the British Army had set
up for the express purpose of investigating weapons of this type.

The Farquhar-Hill, although well made by the Beardmore Company, turned out to be an extremely complex weapon. It utilized the system of long recoil, but faulty design kept the barrel and breech locked together long after the bullet had left the muzzle; this and other complications led to problems of feed and the gun was rejected. Nothing more was heard of it until 1917 when a second version appeared; this was described, very accurately, as a light machine gun with some potential as an anti-aircraft gun, but was in fact an improved version of the earlier gun: its main difference was in its unusual magazine which was in the shape of a truncated cone, motive power being provided by a clockwork spring.

This version was also tested and rejected, being very liable to fouling and prone to a variety of complex stoppages. It was in any case somewhat late, since it appeared at a time when the Lewis gun was giving good service. The inventors were extremely persistent and as late as 1924 they submitted the weapon illustrated. This had a similar but much smaller magazine with a capacity of ten rounds (as compared with up to sixty-five in the earlier versions) but again it was unsatisfactory (still mainly because of its defective magazine) and was not therefore adopted.

BRITISH FARQUAHR-HILL PATENT EXPERIMENTAL SEMI-AUTO RIFLE.
SN 22. Cal. 303 British.
Very unusual rifle with 26" tapered rnd bbl, Enfield style protected front sight and an unusual vernier ladder rear sight mounted to rear of receiver. It has an all metal handguard with a round oak grip post mounted to a multiple position rail on bottom. Sides of handguard have sliding covers with multiple ports, apparently for either cooling or gas relief. Left side of receiver has British Patent number. The most unusual feature is the large detachable sheet metal drum magazine. Mounted with an uncheckered straight grain semi-pistol grip buttstock with smooth rifle buttplate with trap containing a British pull-through. It has sling loops on front band with a corresponding loop in buttstock containing a brown leather sling. PROVENANCE: Stern Collection. CONDITION: Very fine. Overall retains 75-80% orig blue on metal handguard with a heavy dent in upper section. Bbl & receiver retain most of their orig arsenal blue. Magazine is mostly a gray/brown patina. Buttstock is sound with usual nicks & dings and retains most of its orig factory varnish. Mechanics are crisp, brilliant shiny bore. Sling is fine. 4-34103 JR41 (3,000-5,000)