George had to convince Australian engineering companies that it was possible to make gun parts and that close tolerances were not imperative, as is the common belief. Franchi eventually developed their own weapon.įrom a manufacturing undertaking, the Leader episode is indeed remarkable. Unfortunately, Jack Allen and Brian Shaw, the two other partners in Leader, were not able to conclude a satisfactory contract with Luigi Franchi. Luigi Franchi were very impressed with the Leader and wanted to purchase a manufacturing license with customers in Europe and Asia. George departed for Europe and conducted demonstrations in Portugal, Malta and Italy. The Leader demonstration resulted in Oman placing trial weapon orders for 12 Leader select rifles and 12 Leader submachine guns.ĭuring this period, Charles St. George together with Terry Dinnen demonstrated the Leader weapons on ATA's Dart System. ATA Target Systems of Albury NSW hosted the visitors, and Charles St. George developed a selective fire version (including a sub-machine gun version of the Leader) which attracted the interest of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, as well as foreign arms companies, including Luigi Franchi (a subsidiary of Beretta) in Italy, Fábrica Militar de Braço de Prata in Portugal, and foreign militaries, such as the Sultanate of Oman Armed Forces. George designed the production tooling and the factory at Smithfield began to initially turn out 200 units per month, which increased to 400 per month some months later. These rifles are quite rare in the US as very few (less than 2000) made it into the country. The original buyers/distributors were John Giovino NY, Bumble Bee CA and Ellett Brothers. The Leader was exhibited at the New Orleans Shot Show and orders in excess of $3,000,000 were written. by Ed Hoffman and Tim Painter of World Public Safety, CA. The Leader was originally imported into the U.S. George worked together (with the input of Dupont USA) to select an appropriate engineering plastic for the pistol grip, handguards and butt-stock. Fred Riddle of Dupont Australia and Charles St. The Australian Army at the time used the L1A1, made at the Government Lithgow Small Arms Factory, and significant quantities of M16A1 rifles. What was unique about this endeavor was that Australia had never designed or manufactured its own commercial gas operated semi-automatic rifle. (1978-1982/1983) The Leader was the brainchild of weapons designer Charles St. The Leader T2 MK5 Series weapons were chambered for the 5.56 mm cartridge and manufactured by Leader Dynamics of Smithfield, NSW, Australia.
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