An Odd Characteristic of the SMLE

I thought the biggest problems to over-come for Aussie bowlers was ground effects & friction :)

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Originally Posted by 5thBatt

I thought the biggest problems to over-come for Aussie bowlers was ground effects & friction :)

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That was a bit grubby wasnt it, even for an Aussie but then we were playing the kiwis so any thing to win.

Our biggest problem is getting free beer out of Demo.:beerchug:

There is action at the station D day has been named the day will be warm and the BEER cold

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Originally Posted by Surpmil

Haven't read the whole thread, so maybe this has been said already, but perhaps what the original comment alluded to was the well known ability of the No1 and the No4 to "compensate" through the flexing of the action. This led to smaller vertical than horizontal dispersion at that sort of range, and so the horizontal dispersion would seem oddly greater than the vertical dispersion, when in fact the horizontal dispersion was quite normal for that range and ammunition, but the vertical dispersion was unusually small.

Sometimes it's all how you look at it.

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That makes a lot of sense to me.

BTW, thank goodness several others have chipped in on the Lee-Enfield action's compensation phenomenon. It was starting to look as though it was only "well known" by me.

Major EGB Reynolds makes a comment on pages 137 & 138 of his book "The Lee-Enfield Rifle" about how the Lee Enfield action "compensates".

Here is what Reynolds says on page 137 involving the No1 MkVI trials

"The question of whether the Mark VI rifle "compensated" in the same way as its predecessors was the subject of trials which, unfortunately, were never brought to a definite conclusion. When a rifle is fired, the barrel vibrates in both the vertical and horizontal planes, the vibrations being largely due to friction between barrel and bullet. A rifle is said to "compensate" when, due to the barrel vibrations in the vertical plane, bullets of higher velocity leave the muzzle on a lower line of departure, and those of lower velocity leave on a higher line of departure. The distance at which the trajectories of the two bullets will cross is called the "compensating range" of the weapon.
The following quotation from the Text Book of Small Arms, by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, describes the "compensation" of the earlier Lee-Enfield Rifle: "The Lee-Enfield Rifle vibrates in such a manner as to reduce the difference in height between the points of mean impact of ammunition with different velocities. for example, a Lee-Enfield Rifle fired with ammunition giving 2,235-f.s. velocity, shoots 12 ins. lower at 200 yards than with ammunition giving 2,000-f.s. velocity. At 390 yards range the points of impact with both classes of ammunition are at the same height. At 1,000 yards the 2.235-f.s. ammunition shoots 7 ft. higher than the other. We see, therefore, that the bullets of the high velocity ammunition leaves the barrel when the muzzle is at a much lower point in its curve of vibration, and therefore shoots low at 200 yards, but their trajectory being flatter than that of the 2,000-f.s. ammunition, it crosses the trajectory of the latter at 390 yards range, and keeps above it at all other ranges..................."

I had a Steyr ssg 69 , Austrian sniper rifle frrom 1970. It is locked rear, also. But out to 900 meters it shoots well, no lateral dispersion : it guaranted sub moa accuracy with his own ammonitions.
I think the same principle will apply to our loved Lee Enfield.