The Esser-Barratt system was designed by brothers George William Barratt and Frank Barratt together with John William Esser in about 1905. They established the Esser-Barratt Repeating Arms Company to market a series of weapons using this system. In this respect, application for Patent No.19,336 was applied for on 25 September that year which was approved on 16 November. The intention was to include a .303 rifle, a .22 carbine, and a shotgun. A few prototypes of the rifle, converted from pre-existing Mannlicher M1895 rifles, were produced at the designer's company in Birmingham. It utilized a retracting pump-action to operate the bolt. The travel of the bolt was therefore basically unchanged from the standard Mannlicher action, but the firer could operate it "hands-free" whilst remaining sighted on their target.

The Esser-Barratt rifles that were made were demonstrated at Bisley in 1906, and watched with interest by the Duke of Connaught. However, the rifle failed to elicit interest from the British Army. Esser-Barratt sponsored a challeneg cup at Bisley the following year. Each contestant had to fire as many rounds that they could in one minute, scoring points according to where they hit the target. The winner was Sergeant-Major Wallingford who was a champion shooter and he scored 34 points.

Although only a few examples of the rifle exist today, there is no evidence that a proposed .22 caliber training rifle or a sporting shotgun were ever made. Esser and Barratt also designed a rather improbable crank-action repeating rifle, which was also unsuccessful.