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| - The Baker Rifle was the primary weapon of the Chosen Men. The rifle was more suited to accuracy than fire-power and had a longer reload time than the muskets used by the common redcoat. (Sharpe's Gold)
- The Baker rifle (officially known as the Infantry Rifle) was a flintlock rifle used by the Rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British armed forces. The Baker Rifle was first produced in 1800 by Ezekiel Baker, a master gunsmith from Whitechapel. The British Army was still issuing the Infantry Rifle in the 1830s.
- The Infantry Rifle, hereafter known by its modern name "Baker Rifle", was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British armed forces. Previously, rifles had been issued on a limited basis and consisted of parts made to no precise pattern, often brought in from Germany. The war against Revolutionary France had resulted in the employment of new tactics, and the British Army responded, albeit with some delay. Prior to the formation of an experimental Rifle Corps in 1800, a trial was held at Woolwich by the British Board of Ordnance on 14th. February 1800 in order to select a standard rifle pattern; the rifle designed by Ezekiel Baker was chosen. This is remarkable because he is not known to have produced military rifles before, being involved only in the repair and prod
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| abstract
| - The Baker Rifle was the primary weapon of the Chosen Men. The rifle was more suited to accuracy than fire-power and had a longer reload time than the muskets used by the common redcoat. (Sharpe's Gold)
- The Infantry Rifle, hereafter known by its modern name "Baker Rifle", was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British armed forces. Previously, rifles had been issued on a limited basis and consisted of parts made to no precise pattern, often brought in from Germany. The war against Revolutionary France had resulted in the employment of new tactics, and the British Army responded, albeit with some delay. Prior to the formation of an experimental Rifle Corps in 1800, a trial was held at Woolwich by the British Board of Ordnance on 14th. February 1800 in order to select a standard rifle pattern; the rifle designed by Ezekiel Baker was chosen. This is remarkable because he is not known to have produced military rifles before, being involved only in the repair and production of muskets. Indeed, it is not known how much of the rifle now commonly named after him was actually the result of his own work. Numerous parts used in the pattern existed before the rifle was submitted for trial. Colonel Coote Manningham rejected the first two proposed designs; the third gained his approval and became the first Baker Rifle adopted by the British Army. The specification of the first service Baker rifled musket was .625-caliber, 30-inch barrel, fitted for a sword bayonet designed by the Birmingham sword cutler Henry Osborn, a standard 6-inch long lock mechanism and ring-neck cock, a folding-leaf rear sight, a scrolled brass trigger-guard and a raised cheek-rest on the left of the butt for additional support when aiming. The completed Baker was 45-inches in length and weighed almost nine pounds. Ingeniously, and unlike the smooth-bore musket, the cleaning equipment essential for the weapon's maintenance (and therefore crucial to its success) was stored in the patchbox in the butt of the rifle, ready for use at all times. The rifle is now referred to, almost exclusively, as the "Baker Rifle", but it was produced by a variety of manufacturers and sub-contractors from 1800 to 1837. Most of the rifles produced between 1800 and 1815 were not made by Ezekiel Baker, but under the Tower of London system, and he sub-contracted the manufacture of parts of the rifle to over twenty British gunsmiths. It was reported that many rifles that made it to the British Army inspectors were not completed,to the extent of even having no barrel, since the rifle was sent on to another contractor for finishing. Baker's production during the period 1805-1815 was a mere 712 rifles, not even enough to be in the "top ten". The Board of Ordnance, both of its own volition and at the behest of Infantry Staff Officers, ordered production modifications during the rifle's service life. Variations included a carbine with a safety catch and swivel-mounted ramrod, the 1801 pattern West India Rifle (a simplified version lacking a patchbox), the 1809 pattern, which was .75 (musket) caliber, and the 1800/15, which was modified from existing stocks to use a socket bayonet. The most common field modification was the bent stock. Riflemen in the field found that the stock was not bent sufficiently at the wrist to accommodate accurate shooting, so stocks were bent by steaming. As this technique produces temporary results (lasting approximately five years), no examples found today exhibit this bend.
- The Baker rifle (officially known as the Infantry Rifle) was a flintlock rifle used by the Rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British armed forces. The Baker Rifle was first produced in 1800 by Ezekiel Baker, a master gunsmith from Whitechapel. The British Army was still issuing the Infantry Rifle in the 1830s.
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