The Baker rifle (officially known as the Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle) was a flintlock rifle used by the rifle regiments of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. It was the first standard-issue, British-made rifle accepted by the British armed forces. The Baker rifle was first produced in 1800 by Ezekiel Baker, a master gunsmith from Whitechapel. The British Army was still issuing the infantry rifle in the 1830s. History and design The British Army had learnt the value of rifles from their experience in the American Revolutionary War. However, existing rifle designs were considered too cumbersome, slow-firing, fragile or expensive to be put to use on any scale beyond irregular companies. Rifles had been issued on a limited basis and consisted of parts made to no precise pattern, often brought in from Prussia. The war against Revolutionary France resulted in the employment of new tactics, and the British Army responded, albeit with some delay. Prior to the formation of an Experimental Rifle Corps in 1800, a trial was held at Woolwich by the British Board of Ordnance on 22 February 1800 in order to select a standard rifle pattern; the rifle designed by Ezekiel Baker was chosen. During the trial, of the twelve shots fired, eleven were placed in a circular target at a distance of . Colonel Coote Manningham, responsible for establishing the Rifle Corps, influenced the initial designs of the Baker. The first model resembled the British infantry musket ("Brown Bess"), but was rejected as too heavy. Baker was provided with a German Jäger rifle as an example of what was needed. The second model he made had a .75 caliber bore, the same caliber as the infantry musket. It had a 32-inch barrel, with eight rectangular rifling grooves; this model was accepted as the Infantry Rifle, but more changes were made until it was finally placed into production. The third and final model had the barrel shortened from 32 to 30 inches, and the caliber reduced to .653, which allowed the rifle to fire a .625 caliber carbine bullet, with a greased patch to grip the now-seven rectangular grooves in the barrel. The rifle had a simple folding rear sight with the standard large lock mechanism (initially marked "Tower" and "G.R." under a crown; later ones after the battle of Waterloo had "Enfield"), with a swan-neck cock as fitted to the "Brown Bess". Like the German