Sighting Instructions For The Enfield Rifle - Page 1

Front

All Lee Enfield's utilized a dovetailed, blade type, front sight. (Note: SMLE and No4 front sights will not interchange because of different dovetail dimensions) There were nine different front sights available and were marked on top of their base with their sizes. They were: .090, .075, .060, .045, .030, .015, .0, -.015 and -.030 (see Figure 1 for an example).

Although it was the individual rifleman who fired his rifle for zero at either 30 or 100 yards, it was the armourer's task to select and install the correct front sight to adjust the rifleman’s group to hit center. Once the armourer had corrected the zero for the rifleman, the front sight was staked in place (see figure 2 for an example). The British rifleman was taught to “aim off” if windage corrections were needed. For a more detailed explanation on how to zero your own Enfield check Sighting page 2.

Rear Rifle, SMLE

The SMLE was fitted with a windage adjustable rear “U” notch sight, mounted to the barrel. Eventually the windage adjustment was omitted and existing ones were pinned in place, though there are still some out there that escaped modification. Be careful if you find a SMLE with the windage adjustment wheel, the pin used to secure the sight preventing windage adjustment was small and hard to see. If it does not turn easily or offers resistance, DON’T hog on it, you will shear the small pin and the sight will be rendered useless.

The rear sights were graduated from 200 to 2000 yards most with the course adjustments (100 yards) on the right and fine (25 and 50 yards) on the left. Adjustment could be made by depressing the slide catch and moving he slide to the desired range (course) and then turning the worm wheel to adjust the slide to a particular 25 yard increment (fine). Also on early Marks, was a long-range volley sight. This was a separate set of sights mounted on the left side of the fore-end and on the safety lever axis pin. The concept of volley fire was to engage an enemy formation with harassing (not effective) small arms fire from a great distance. This type of fire involved organizing a large formation (company or battalion) to fire on command. Concentrating on one point of aim, the volley created a beaten zone, not unlike machine-gun fire today. Matter of fact, it was the use of machine-guns (and the shortened engagement ranges of modern warfare) that made the use of volley sights unnecessary and they were omitted from further production and existing ones ordered removed altogether. Rifle No4 (All Marks) The No4 rifle was equipped with a receiver mounted rear sight arrangement that initially was comprised of a fixed range battle aperture sight (300 yards) combined with a flip up range adjustable micrometer aperture sight. The original sights were milled and of very good quality, they were adjustable from 200 to 1300 yards, but again had no windage adjustment. Through the course of WWII, increased production demands caused manufacturers to develop several expedient alternatives. These alternatives were two stamped type slide adjustable sights and a two position "L" type aperture sight (see figure 3). All three expedient type sights were combat functional but obviously lacked the ability for precision shooting. The two position flip sight only offered the shooter the choice of a 300 or 600 yard setting.

SMLE (No1 Rifle) Sight Examples

Figure 1

Figure 2
SMLE Long Range Dial Sight (upper) and Rear Iris (lower)

SMLE rear windage sight

No4 Rifle Sight Examples

Figure 3
Pictured is a Mark 1, 2, 3 & 4 rear sight in order of appearance.

A Mark 2 wartime expedient two position sight. Graduated for 300 and 600 yards only.

The Competition Sight

As the Lee-Enfield rifle was developed as a front line battle rifle with only the ability to adjust for elevation (a practical arrangement for field use), it left little to be desired when applying the rifle to long range competition. The competitions, which still exist to this day, include target ranges of up to 1000 yards or more and certainly require quality sights. For this reason several enterprising gunsmiths and companies developed precise adjustment rear sights for the Lee-Enfield’s of all numbers and marks. These competition sights varied in quality, size, shape and method of adjustments but they all had to be “no gunsmithing” attachable. The rules for competition shooting required that all rifles be in original condition or be returnable to original military configuration. Thus the Parker-Hale, AJ Parker, Central etc. sights all utilized existing screws or screw holes to effect the attachment of their sights. The competitor simply removed the issue back sight and replaced it with a competition version. Illustrated below are examples of these various competition sights.

Parker-Hale PH5A

Parker-Hale PH5C

A Central Co. (Australia) No4 competition sight.

A Central Co. (Australia) No4 competition sight Made in two pieces, the first being the mounting bracket. Which for mounting, utilized the existing safety lever and rear trigger guard screw holes, but with slightly longer screws. The second piece being the sight assembly itself. This attached to the mounting bracket using a large screw with a thumb piece. Both items had mating channels cut into the flat surfaces for a precision fit, allowing the sight assembly to be removed and replaced without having to re-zero. This sight offered elevation and windage adjustments in 1/4-minute increments, a sliding scale for double zeroing, and a choice of aperture diameters and eye relief settings.