Lithgow Small Arms Factory
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| Coordinates | 33°29′15″S 150°08′31″E / 33.48755°S 150.14184°E |
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| Website |
lithgowarms |
The Lithgow Small Arms Factory is a military small arms factory located in the town of Lithgow, New South Wales in Australia.
History
Opened on 8 June 1912, the factory initially manufactured Short, Magazine, Lee–Enfield Mk III rifles (and bayonets thereof) for the Australian military during World War I. During World War II production expanded to include Vickers machine guns, Bren Guns, and, post-WW2, branched out into sporting goods (including civilian firearms and golf clubs), tools, sewing machines, (from the mid-1950s) the F1 submachine gun, L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, KAL1 General Purpose Infantry Rifle rifle prototype and similar products. The Small Arms Factory at Lithgow was known to produce their single shot models 1A and 1B as well as their model 12 repeater under the Slazenger 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 and continues to manufacture the F88 Austeyr rifle and F89 Minimi currently used by the Australian military.
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.
List of sporting rifles manufactured under the Lithgow name
- Lithgow model 1A .22 bolt-action single-shot rifle
- Lithgow model 1B .22 bolt-action single-shot rifle
- Lithgow model 12 .22 bolt-action 5-shot repeater
- Lithgow LA101 CrossOver .22 bolt-action 5- or 10-shot magazine
External links
- Lithgow Arms Official website
- Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum Website (not affiliated with Lithgow Arms or Thales)
- Lithgow Tourism
- Thales Australia