Lee Metford rear sight and Long Lee- differences?

[PeterOM]

Hello all,

I have a recently acquired Lee Metford MK 1* 1889, DP marked, in rough shape but mostly there. The barrel appears to be the later Enfield rifling. The rear sight is broken off- for replacement purposes what is the difference between the Long Lee rear sight and a Metford?

Thanks

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[Omark]

Hello all,

I have a recently acquired Lee Metford MK 1* 1889, DP marked, in rough shape but mostly there. The barrel appears to be the later Enfield rifling. The rear sight is broken off- for replacement purposes what is the difference between the Long Lee rear sight and a Metford?

Thanks

I don't believe there is any obvious difference (from what I can tell)
I shot both today with cast bullets and they appeared to be the same

[smle addict]

I just looked at my MLM MkI*, MLM MkII, and MLE MkI*, and all the sights look to be the same; They are all graduated to 1,800 yards. I have seen the rear leafs for sale fairly regularly on ePay.

[Ridolpho]

One would think that sights must have been modified through time as the ammunition evolved. Among my older ones, I have a commercial MLM II* that has a very noticeably higher rear sight ramp than my MLE's. The numbering is similar but the ramp differences suggest calibration for different ammo.

Ridolpho

[PeterOM]

Thank you- smle addict, Omark and Ridolpho. I've found a Long Lee rear sight (1800 yards) on Ebay which will work. I've tried my LEC MK 1, 1896 rear sight (2000 yards) on the Metford and it fits fine.

[englishman_ca]

Here is a tidbit of Lee Metford minutia. Not a big thing, but I noticed and took notes! Somebody asked, so I'll share my OCD.

The sight leaf on the MLM Mk.I*, Mk.II, Mk.II*, MLE Mk.I and MK.I* were all graduated to 1800 yards and appear outwardly similar. Ridolpho is onto something for sure. It is the ramp heights that vary on the different models. Difference in sight cap height too.


MLM Mk.I* leaf.

The Lee Metford Mk.I* sight leaf has one subtle difference that can be seen only with the sight up. At the bottom of the ladder, there is a small half moon dimple in the edge of the metal. From the front, it cant be seen. I often wondered what this was for. It disappeared with the next generation, the Mk.II MLM did not have it.

The first time that I saw the sight leaf on a New Zealand carbine, I then knew what the feature was for. On the NZ carbine, the graduations on the sight leaf are quite different. They go up to 2000 yards at the top of the scale, the bottom of the scale is much lower on the leaf. To get the slider low enough on its extreme lowest setting, the slider is made slimmer. It sits down lower, and the sight leaf has a relief cut in it to give clearance when sighting through the V notch in the slider.



There you have it. The difference of the MLM Mk.I* sight leaf, it has a dimple.

The notch in the MLM Mk.I* was a redundant feature that was never put into use and subsequently dropped. It was kept in the design file and revived on the NZ carbine, which is another story.

The NZ carbine design was around since 1892, just not put into production by Enfield until 1900. The first major customer being New Zealand, hence the handle. They have quite an interesting development history, these little Lee Enfields.

[PeterOM]

Thanks, Englishman CA- perhaps someday I'll find one and sell the Long Lee replacement.

[englishman_ca]

Keep looking, they are out there on the loose, just not many are recognised as MLM Mk.I and end up fitted to other marks.

If things went the way they usually go with me, I would find a sight leaf only just after I sold the rifle!!!!