The object of forming a company was to begin making small amis by machinery to meet the growing competitionfrom the mechanised government factory at Enfield. It was satisfactorily carried out, and a firm contract was made between the Government and the quintet for the supply of 200 snaphance muskets a month “at seventeen shillings per piece, ready money”.Īs an emblem of their craft they adopted the sign of three crossed rifles, which has since become world-known as the Piled Arms trademark. The result was a trial order for five of the leading Birmingham smiths. He was overheard by Sir Richard Newdegate, an MP for Warwickshire, who immediately spoke up on behalf of his Birmingham constituents – among whom were many fine gunsmiths. King William III, worried by threats of invasion, sharply criticised the practice of obtaining military weapons from Holland. To begin at the very beginning, however, it is necessary to go back much farther than a century – to the year 1689, infact, at the court of William and Mary. And because BSA has served its country more directly than most private concerns, its story is also part of Britain’s history. The story is not entirely one of steady progress and expansion there is drama and excitement too. In a Little over a hundred years BSA has grown from a small union of gunsmiths to become one of Britain’s important industrial groups.
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