HISTORY OF THE LEE ENFIELD RIFLE

The Lee-Enfield (or what would become the Lee-Enfield) rifle actually began its tenure as Britain’s primary service rifle in 1888 when the British War Office adopted the Magazine Rifle MkI. This rifle originally designed by James Paris Lee a firearms designer who worked chiefly in the USA and Canada, incorporated a "cock-on-closing" bolt with rear locking lugs and a detachable 10 round magazine. RSAF Enfield married this action with a Metford rifled barrel chambered for the .303 British black powder cartridge and thus was the birth of the longest serving military rifle in history. Originally replacing the Martini-Henry in 1888, this rifle in various forms remained in the hands of front line troops until 1957 before being replaced by the FN FAL.

The Magazine Rifle MkI, the first of the Lee rifles, was most commonly referred to as the Lee-Metford, or Magazine Lee-Metford (MLM). As the Lee-Metford was designed to fire a black powder cartridge, the subsequent change to a smokeless powder (Cordite) loaded cartridge presented a couple of problems. The first was expected as the increased velocity altered the ballistics of the .303 British cartridge and this required a new backsight to accommodate the different trajectory. What was not completely expected was the Metford rifling’s inability to withstand the hotter temperatures of the Cordite loading, unacceptable throat erosion began to present itself rapidly. RSAF Enfield dealt with this problem by designing a new rifling pattern that had sharper edges, was cut deeper, and had lands and grooves of equal width, needless to say it was named Enfield rifling. Adopted in 1895 the new barrel, with altered sights, fitted to the Lee action became the Lee-Enfield Magazine Rifle Mark I, or Magazine Lee-Enfield (MLE). Since the MLM and MLE were 49.5 inches long overall, they are often referred to as Long Lees. In conjunction with the development of the Long Lee’s, similar carbines were produced for the Cavalry. These carbines differed only in their overall length (39.9 inches) and magazine capacity, otherwise they mirrored the Infantry rifles. The Carbines as developed were adopted as the Lee-Metford Cavalry Carbine MkI, Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine MkI (LEC MkI), Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine MkI* and the Magazine Lee-Enfield Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) carbine.

It was during the second Boer War of 1899-1902 that demonstrated the Long Lee’s inability to compete with the Boers German made Mausers. The main shortcomings included poor accuracy and the lack of a charger loading capacity. This caused the British to begin trials on an improved Lee-Enfield that would address these faults. In addition to correcting the known faults of the MLE the government was keen to reduce the cost and logistics of arming both the Infantry and Cavalry and sought to issue both with the same rifle.

RSAF Enfield responded with the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle MkI, or SMLE. Developed to provide a single rifle to replace both the Magazine Lee-Enfield and the Lee-Enfield Carbine it had an overall length of 44.5 inches, the new weapon was referred to as a short rifle, thus the word "short" refers to the length of the rifle NOT the length of the magazine. The SMLE also included provisions for charger loading and an improved sighting system where the front sight, set in a dovetail, could be replaced by a unit armourer to individually zero each rifle utilizing a variety of different sized sights. The SMLE MkI was officially adopted in 1902 and between 1903 and 1907 it saw a host of modifications culminating in the most recognizable variation the SMLE MkIII. This rifle and its sister the MkIII* would prove itself to be a formidable combat rifle during World War One and would remain Great Britain’s primary service arm until midway through World War Two.

Although the SMLE MkIII and MkIII* remained the primary service rifle of the British Army and that of her Commonwealth countries between 1907 and 1939 trials and experiments continued on the rifle at RSAF Enfield. These included attempts to reduce production costs, utilize improved mass production methods and develop better sighting arrangements. To this end RSAF Enfield produced the SMLE MkV trials rifle in 1922, its main improvement being a receiver mounted aperture sight, and then in 1926 it produced the No1 MkVI. This rifle departed radically from the SMLE, incorporating a receiver mounted aperture sight, heavier barrel and a stronger receiver. Designed with modern manufacturing processes in mind it was faster and cheaper to produce, eliminating many hand fitting procedures. The MkVI rifle will eventually be adopted in 1939 as the No4 MkI rifle of World War Two fame.

In 1926, the British government changed the nomenclature of its rifles, re-designating the SMLE’s as No1 Rifles, the .22 caliber conversions of SMLE’s as No2 Rifles, P-14 Enfields as No3 Rifles and yet to follow, the No1 MkVI would become the No4 rifle. Serious collectors will distinguish between earlier SMLE rifles and later No1 rifles, but for all practical purposes "SMLE" and "No1 Rifle" are alternate names for the same weapon.

The No4 MkI rifle was the last major development in the Lee-Enfield series of rifles. The No4 would provide the basis of which the No5 (Jungle Carbine) was designed as well as the No4 Mk2 version. It would also be the platform for which the 7.62 x 51mm conversion rifles would be built on and used into the 1980’s.

What made the Lee-Enfield such a great service rifle was its rear locking lugs which allowed a bolt movement of the same length as the cartridge case and the design of the locking surfaces which gave a particularly easy movement to the bolt handle. These features combined with the cock-on-closing striker, which split the effort of extraction and cocking, made the Lee-Enfield the fastest and lightest bolt action to manipulate. Aimed fire could be undertaken at up to 15 rounds a minute without much fatigue to the trained soldier. Other major benefits to the design was the removable bolt head which could be threaded off and changed to compensate for varying headspace and the 10 round magazine, twice the capacity of other military rifles of the time. Another well designed feature was the generous chamber dimensions which allowed loading dirty ammunition and aided in easier extraction of spent cases when the rifle was fouled or heated up from rapid firing. Overall the Lee Enfield was an extraordinary combat rifle, where its robust construction permitted it to operate in the extreme conditions of the battlefield.