Place of origin United Kingdom Designed 1944 Cartridge .27 Broadway Trust | Designer Dennis Burney Manufacturer Broadway Trust Company | |
Type Assault rifleLight machine gun | ||
The EM-4 rifle (Burney rifle) was an experimental bullpup assault rifle of British origin designed by Dennis Burney of the Broadway Trust Company.
Overview
The principle of the Burney was an enlarged chamber that the gases expanded into and were then exhausted through the barrel after the bullet had left. An article on the Burney projects appeared in the International Ammunition Association Journal in 2012 which had pictures from the provisional manual on all the Burney guns that were demonstrated at Shoeburyness in 1944. The Burney 7mm recoilless rifle, usually referred to as the Broadway Trust Rifle, may have been the EM-4.
It was certainly more than a paper project. Both the 7mm and the 20mm rifles were made and tested. There was also an EM-4 machine gun, the Turpin-designed tank machine gun. The EM numbers were allocated to weapon type, for example the EM-1 rifle but also the EM-1 Light Machine Gun in 7.92×57mm.