The Lithgow Small Arms Factory, or Lithgow Arms, is an Australian small arms manufacturing factory located in the town of

Lithgow, New South Wales Lithgow is a town in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia and is the administrative center of the City of Lithgow local government area. It is located in a mountain valley named Lithgow's Valley by John Oxley in honour of Wil ...

. It was created by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

in 1912 to ease reliance on the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

for the supply of defence materials.

History

Opened on 8 June 1912, the factory initially manufactured SMLE III rifles (and

Pattern 1907 bayonet The Pattern 1907 bayonet, officially called the Sword bayonet, pattern 1907 (Mark I), was a British bayonet designed to be used with the Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) rifle. The Pattern 1907 bayonet was used by the British and Commonwealth ...

s) for the Australian military during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, production expanded to include

Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...

s, Bren guns and, postwar, branched out into sporting goods (including civilian firearms and

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety ...

s), tools,

sewing machines A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the in ...

, (from the mid-1950s) the F1 submachine gun,

L1A1 SLR The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, officially "Rifle, 7.62mm, L1A1", also known just as the SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), by the Canadian Army designation C1A1 (C1) or in the US as the "inch pattern" FAL,Especially on the American surplus market. is a Br ...

, KAL1 general purpose infantry rifle prototypes and similar products. The Lithgow Small Arms Factory was known to produce their

single shot Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cent ...

models 1A and 1B as well as their Model 12

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Som ...

under the

Slazenger Slazenger () is a British sports equipment brand owned by the Frasers Group (formerly Sports Direct). The company was established as a sporting goods shop in 1881 by Ralph and Albert Slazenger on London's Cannon Street.J. R. Lowerson, 'Slazen ...

brand during the 1960s. The factory was first "corporatised" as Australian Defence Industries by the Hawke Government, then later sold in 2006. ADI Lithgow is now owned by

Thales Australia Thales Australia (formerly Australian Defence Industries and ADI Limited) is a defence contractor based in Australia. It is a subsidiary of the French defence technology conglomerate Thales Group. Thales Australia had been engaged in numerous pr ...

and continues to manufacture the F88 Austeyr rifle and F89 Minimi currently used by the

Australian military The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

. As a separate entity, not owned or run by the current owners of the factory, the volunteer-run Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum is located at the front of the disused section of site and has a large collection of military and civilian firearms manufactured at the factory and elsewhere. In 2019, the museum was placed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register which lists influential collections and documents considered key to Australia's history. The museum sees 9,000 annual visitors and is a big draw to the city of Lithgow.

Products

Military

Alongside the weapons listed below, the factory also produced bayonets, components, barrels, and magazines as well as repairing, modifying, and rechambering weapons. * Short Magazine Lee Enfield, at least 640,000 produced, with variants including Mk III and Mk IV, from 1912 to 1945. *

, 12,500 Mk I, Mk V, and Mk XXI produced from 1929 to 1943. *

Bren light machine gun The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used ...

, 17,500 produced from 1940 to 1945. * L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, 222,773 rifles produced from 1959 to 1986 * L2A1, 9,557 produced * L1A1-F1, 460 produced * F1 submachine gun, 25,000 produced from 1962 to 1973 * Austeyr F88, produced from 1988 * Minimi F89, produced from 1989

Commercial

A broad variety of weapons complemented the factory's military production, but also civilian products such as aircraft parts, golf heads, and tractor components, amongst other things. Discontinued firearms: * Lithgow Model 1

.22 .22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm). Cartridges in this caliber include the very widely used .22 Long Rifle and .223 Remington / 5.56×45mm NATO. .22 inch is also a popular ...

single-shot Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cent ...

rifle produced from 1945 * Lithgow Model 1A .22 single-shot rifle * Lithgow Model 1B .22 single-shot rifle * Lithgow Model 12 .22

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

5-shot

produced from 1947 * Lithgow Model 12 .22 bolt-action 10-shot repeater (Bibby) * Lithgow Model 24 .22 Hornet cartridge produced from 1949 * A single-shot bolt-action shotgun using the .410" cartridge (name unknown) Current production firearms: * Lithgow LA101 CrossOver

rimfire rifle, available in

.17 HMR .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the .17 HMR, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady in 2002. It was developed by necking down a .22 Magnum case to take a .17 caliber (4.5 mm) projectile. Commonly loaded with a 1 ...

.22 LR The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...

and .22 WMR * Lithgow LA102 CrossOver bolt-action

centerfire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...

rifle, available in .223 Rem,

.243 Win The .243 Winchester (6×52mm) is a popular sporting rifle cartridge. Developed as a versatile short action cartridge to hunt both medium game and small game alike, it "took whitetail hunting by storm"Ron Spomer.Whitetail Deer Cartridge Shoot-Out ...

6.5mm Creedmoor The 6.5mm Creedmoor (6.5×48 mm), designated 6.5 Creedmoor by SAAMI, 6.5 Creedmoor by the C.I.P. or 6.5 CM or 6.5 CRDMR for short, is a centerfire rifle cartridge introduced by Hornady in 2007. It was developed by Hornady senior ballistics ...

and

.308 Win The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

* Lithgow LA105 Woomera bolt-action centerfire rifle, available in

and .308 Win * Lithgow F90 Semi Auto/Automatic Military Grade Rifle, available in

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, but often pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, an ...

** Lithgow F90MBR Modular Bullpup Rifle, available in 5.56×45mm NATO

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.lithgowarms.com
Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum Website (not affiliated with Lithgow Arms or Thales)

Thales Australia
Military installations in New South Wales Firearm manufacturers of Australia Museums in New South Wales Military and war museums in Australia Military installations established in 1912 Military history of New South Wales Australian companies established in 1912 Lithgow, New South Wales Companies based in New South Wales