The Rifle Factory Ishapore (also known as Ishapore Arsenal) is an Indian state-owned arms manufacturing unit located at Ichhapur in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

History

The first arms manufacturing facility on the site was a

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). T ...

factory, which was started in 1787 by

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

and began production in 1791, whilst a gun & carriage manufacturing facility was set up nearby in 1801. In 1904, a rifle factory was established by the British at Ichhapur,

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

as Ishapore, and began production of the

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's sta ...

rifle, which has continued- more or less- until the mid-1980s, and possibly the present. The factory also manufactured the Vickers-Berthier (VB)

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the ...

, which was adopted in 1932 by the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

and still remains in reserve use. Military rifles manufactured at Ishapore 1949 and pre-1949 are stamped "GRI" on the buttsocket, referring to ''George Rex, Imperator'' (i.e. King

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...

, last Emperor of India), whilst military rifles manufactured 1949 and post-1948 are stamped "RFI", which stands for ''Rifle Factory, Ishapore''. The

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

calibre Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk III, the

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service fo ...

calibre

Ishapore 2A1 rifle The Rifle 7.62mm 2A/2A1 (also known as the Ishapore 2A/2A1) is a 7.62×51mm NATO calibre bolt-action rifle adopted as a reserve arm by the Indian Armed Forces in 1963. The rifle is a variant of the Lee–Enfield rifle. The design of the rifle � ...

and the 7.62mm NATO

L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle 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 ...

were manufactured at the factory. It now manufactures the 5.56mm INSAS rifle assault rifle, Kalantak rifle, Ghatak rifle (7.62×39mm AKM-style assault rifle), 7.62 Sniper Rifles and

Pistol Auto 9mm 1A The Pistol Auto 9mm 1A, also known as IOF 9mm pistol, is a semi-automatic pistol manufactured by Rifle Factory Ishapore. It's a licensed copy of the Browning Hi-Power, made using tooling acquired from John Inglis and Company. It is the main ...

for military and other firearms such as IOF .22 revolver, IOF .315 sporting rifle,

IOF .30-06 sporting rifle The IOF .30-06 sporting rifle is a 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 ...

and IOF .22 sporting rifle for civilian customers. The factory was administered by the Ordnance Factory Board of India till 2021 when it was corporatised under the ownership of Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited.

References

External links

Ordnance Factory Board of India website
{{Ordnance Factories Board Defence companies of India Firearm manufacturers of India Economy of West Bengal Manufacturing companies established in 1904 Indian companies established in 1904