Exclusive: Inside the factory that makes the Army's rifle rounds

The Swedish Armed Forced did something even worse about 15 years ago, they built a single warehouse site for ALL equipment except vehicles and ammunition. Everything was supposed to be ordered and delivered out to the regiments by the lowest bidder. That system is now reverted back to a decentralized system but that someone even got the initial idea is mind boggling

We make the projectiles, we make the cases; but sadly the UK no longer makes the primers or propellant. Not a sound decision, but as usual, it saved money. As long as our allies are with us we are ok and propellant comes from Belgium, Israel and the USA to name a few.

The precision of the moving line, placing the brass cup exactly under each stage of the forming press, is amazing. For me, it's not about the product in the video, it's the machines.

Half a kilo less is insane. Imagine if similar savings can be found in uniform, ballistic protection and such. That's what the infantryman needs on the ground: less weight and more ammo. There's only so far smart tech, drones and such can get you before you need to get dirty and put rounds down range.

This was a great video I served 14 years and had no idea how all the rounds I fired where made. Every solider, airman, sailor should be shown this video. 👍🇬🇧

One factory supplying the UK Armed forces? Well, that sounds like a sensible idea.

I was lucky enough to win a factory tour with a group of people to go to the Norma factory in Sweden earlier this year and if you have the interest for shooting or hunting it is such an awesome experience. I loved every second and would love to go back someday

This needs to be a one-hour documentary, with lots of slow-motion footage of the machines producing the rounds!

Thank you BAE and everyone that works for them.. You're greatly appreciated.

My mother was inspector number 9 at the salt lake ordinance Depot in Utah during world war II she told me many stories about things that happened during that time she also had seven brothers overseas during world war II she never let a bad bullet get by her ever

Imagine the fun you could have at the local shooting range, if you had a day's output of that factory as a gift.

I watched this wondering what my grandfather would have made of it if he was still with us. He was chief inspector of armaments for Royal Ordnance at the end of WW2, first at Woolwich then Enfield, before he retired in the sixties. My Dad once told me that he came home from work having overseen dumping thousands of tonnes of non-conforming rounds in the Irish Sea. What he would have given for the failure rates they can achieve today. Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, after retirement he couldn't stand the sight of anything to do with guns or armaments. That's probably why I went into healthcare engineering.

This is such a brilliant channel, understanding how our defensive industry and systems work is something everyone should know. Great job 👍

Ive been to the Norma factory twice, the process is basically the same. What surprised me the most is the machine that takes pictures and measures the casings and rejects bad ones. The speed it happens at, it is absolutely astonishing.

Ah, that explains why I can't get a cheap ammo box to store my seeds.

We need more of this. A lot more.

Interesting. Way back in the mid '60's I worked for Imperial Metal Industries (IMI) in Witton, Birmingham. They made all the Army's rounds back then. The Witton site is long gone and for all I know so is IMI. I wonder how many rounds I fired during my service were made there. They even had a range where blokes would come and test fire some from batches for QC.

What could go wrong with having all your ammunition being produced in one building. It’s not like it’s a likely target for any potential enemy.

Need to be self sufficient buying in from third parties is dodgy. I was in BAOR in late 60’s and on annual classification we found problems with 7.62 ammo, it either did not fire or in the case of belted L7 belts we had multiple stoppages, turned out the MoD had purchased a mega batch from Pakistan at a low price. If used in real combat it would have been a real problem. Low price equaled low quality.🤦‍♂️

Have shot a lot of RG 7.62mm in my time! Excellent rounds. Great factory tour.