MoD's Pattern Room

[woodchopper]

The MoD's Pattern Room, the world's largest working collection of military small arms, has been handed over (1 Sep 05) to the Royal Armouries in Leeds. There are nearly 14,000 working small arms in the collection, all under 40mm in calibre.

The collection was set-up in 1850 to manage quality control in the manufacture of small arms but its role has evolved into assisting forensic investigations and for weapons research. The collection is not open to the general public, but arrangements exist for specialist military visitors. Regrettably, some modernising ignoramus has decided that the terms Pattern Room and Royal Armouries are to be subsumed in a boring-sounding National Firearms Centre.

just clipped this from a reliable official source, :wink: the last comment is good for a laugh, and not someting you normally see in official documents.

Last time I was in leeds (2001) the pattern room was closed, however the Armouries is a must see if you ever find yourseld in Britain. I remember the looks on a couples faces as they overheard me saying "oh yes I have one of those and one of those, and ...." :lol: