A Victorian-era/Boer War,
British
Army MLE Mk.1 1896 30" target rifle known where I hail from as the Long Tom. The butt socket markings are 'Enfield 1896 LE1'. Serial number is 5288. The walnut woodwork on this beautiful Long Lee is free from cracks and serious dents other than the usual handling and storage marks but is better than average. Metalwork is free from pits and has almost all of the original finish, although the magazine finish is thin. The barrel is factory 30.2" and the bright and shiny bore is like a mirror - absolutely amazing for one of these. It's no wonder someone a long time ago selected this particular Long Lee for target application. The rifle is headspaced perfectly and does not close on a .074" as specified in EMERs.
All original mil-spec Long Lee parts remain on this rifle. It has the chain link attaching the magazine to trigger guard, magazine cutoff, dustcover on the correct bolt with safety catch, wooden handguard, nosecap with piling swivel and bayonet bar and the original swivel and band. The foreend is the later type "not grooved for rod" and the front volley sight is complete. It comes with a brass butt plate, brass muzzle cover and an original military leather sling.
The target sight with this rifle is the highly prized Parker Hale 6A sight with single aperture eyepiece which is the definitive Long Lee sight as it does not have the leg which extends to the trigger guard screw. Everything about this classic sight is in perfect working order.
Like me, this full length Long Tom with target fittings came from
New Zealand - I bought it from the original NZ owner many years ago. I've put no more than 50 of my light target reloads through it - accuracy is outstanding (better than my Club Pattern) and the longer sight radius and weight out front makes it nice & easy to shoot. Bit of history - the British NRA banned Long Lees from competition shortly after the adoption of the SMLE because they were much more accurate than the SMLE which replaced the MLE in service. MLEs continued to be used in competitive shoots but had to have their barrels shortened to 25" - hence the development of the Range or Club Pattern .303.
The numbers on this Long Lee don't match and the barrel carries a 1920 fitting date. This isn't unusual - in fact, it's the norm. The NZ Dept. of Defence approach to this rifle in the first half of the 20th Century now means that it's extremely unusual if not impossible to find matched rifles. Some went to the Boer war, then from 1902 to 1914 were issued to Territorial units. Our first troops landed at Gallipoli with Long Toms, then they were withdrawn back to NZ as training rifles - all WWI reenforcements were trained on them (over 100,000 soldiers.) In the inter-war period, the rifles were given to the extensive NZ school cadet movement. At this point any bolts that had by chance stayed with the original rifle where mixed up by the cadets. When WWII started, all these rifles were impressed into Home Guard service, where more mixing occurred. As the rifle was effectively obsolete by 1915 ( ie not to be deployed on active service,) armorers were casual as to maintaining serial number integrity and certainly disinterested in maintaining common manufacturing codes to components. Bottom line is, it's a pretty safe bet you won't find a NZ Long Tom with all matching numbers.
My current camera gives everything a reddish tinge - the rifle is actually browner than it looks in my pics - the pics taken by the original NZ owner on the light blue background are much closer to the actual color. $1,200 + shipping.
Long Lee Mle Mk.1 Target Rifle (CGN Private Ad)
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