No. 5 Accuracy

[Peter Laidler]

You have it in one. In my opinion - and it is only an opinion, the system was too complex and totally too closely toleranced for field use. The notion that even well trained Infantry soldiers would be sitting at the back of the range, say, between range details, stripping the bolt into its parts, several of which were spring loaded and user strippable to clean and maintain the rifle ready for the next detail is as laughable as it is laudable.

Given that the actual round is the weapon and the rifle part is just the means of accurate delivery, then the EM was over the top in complexity compared with the other offerings, Plenty of good ideas in the EM idea but totally outclassed by the FN and the L1A1. We did try a 7mm FN too and 2(?) examples exist at Warminster.

Some weapons enter the pages of folklore as great could-have-beens. Like the DeLisle and the EM's. But strip away the glitz and shiny paper and they're mediocre could-have-beens.

As for the brilliant 7mm round, then time and time again, the 7.62mm NATO round has proved itself a great, reliable and capable all-rounder. All my own opinion of course