Lee Enfield chamber reaming in the Great war?

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Just to make things more interesting:

SMLE (and previous Lee Enfields) had their chambers formed, not by running in a slinky Clymer or PT&G one-piece reamer, but by a series of operations involving the use of what appear to have been "D" reamers.

Because of the limitations of these rather rudimentary tools, the chambers were cut in stages, with the neck AND the "leade" (throat) being cut LAST, using specialised reamers and gauges.

By the 1920s, one would hope this had changed, although, to the end, apparently, the final chambering operation was the firing of a "special" proof cartridge to "set up" the barrel / body "fitting" and the mating of the bolt lugs and the locking shoulders in the body..

One has to ask:
1. What were the other "Majors" using in their factories at the time?

2. Did this caper continue on into the No4 series?

Given this method, is it any wonder that HM Ordnance opted for a rimmed case; at least this would have provided SOME fine control over breeching.

In the previous Snider and Martini Henry rifles, the service ammo had a case made from a steel "base washer" and a rolled brass foil body to contain the powder and bullet and provide some semblance of a "seal" on firing. This ammo was not as flimsy as it sounds, but would work in almost any "appropriate" chamber, cut by whatever method, as long as the bullet could enter the throat / leade. Only a short hop from rolled paper cartridges of just a couple of years before.

The Martini Henry went into service with such "composite"ammo at about the same time several other countries were fielding rifles with smaller bores, and cartridges with one-piece, deep-drawn brass cases. As they say in the classics: "What were they thinking?

Also bear in mind that serving alongside the Martinis, was the Gatling gun, with a "proper", deep-drawn cased .45 calibre cartridge, different from and NOT interchangeable with the rifle ammo. There is NO way the antique, rolled-brass cartridges would have stood up to the stresses of being fed, fired and extracted through a Gatling, at almost any rate of fire. There was enough of a problem conducting sustained fire from a Martini Henry, especially once black-powder fouling started to build up.