Lee-Enfield Totally Explained

Everything about Lee Enfield totally explained

The Lee-Enfield was, in various marks and models, the British Army's standard bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle for over 60 years from (officially) 1895 until 1957, although it remained in British service well into the early 1960s and is still found in service in the armed forces of some Commonwealth nations. In its many versions, it was the standard army service rifle for the first half of the 20th century, and was adopted by Britain's colonies and Commonwealth allies, including India, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
The Lee-Enfield was chambered for the .303 British cartridge, and featured a ten-round box magazine which was loaded manually from the top, either one round at a time, or by means of five-round chargers. The Lee-Enfield superseded the earlier Martini-Henry, Martini-Enfield, and Lee-Metford rifles, and although officially replaced in the UK with the L1A1 SLR in 1957, it continues to see official service in a number of British Commonwealth nations to the present day—notably with the Indian Police—and is the longest-serving military bolt-action rifle still in official service.
Total production of all Lee-Enfields is estimated at over 17 million rifles, making it one of the most numerous military bolt-action rifles ever produced—second only to the Russian Mosin-Nagant M91/30, which was itself a contemporary design.

Design and history

The Lee-Enfield rifle was derived from the earlier Lee-Metford, a mechanically similar black powder rifle, which combined James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system with a barrel featuring rifling designed by William Ellis Metford. The Lee action cocked the striker on the closing stroke of the bolt, making the initial opening much faster and easier compared to the "cock on opening" of the Mauser design. The rear-mounted lugs place the operating handle much closer to the operator, over the trigger, making it much quicker to operate than traditional designs like the Mauser, which force the operator to move his hand forward to operate the bolt; also, the bolt's distance of travel was identical with the length of the cartridge, and its rotation was only 60 degrees (compared to the conventional 90-degree rotation of Mauser-style actions). The disadvantage was that the rear lugs placed a greater load on the rigidity of the bolt up to the receiver.
   The Lee-Enfield relied on various woods for its stock but chiefly walnut, both North American black walnut and European 'English' walnut, renowned for their qualities. The decorative figure of these timbers, prized amongst game shooters, wasn't required for military rifles, but it isn't uncommon to find military Lee-Enfield rifles with almost presentation-quality wood stocks.
   The rifle was also equipped with a detachable sheet-steel, 10-round, double-column magazine, a very modern development in its day. Originally, the concept of a detachable magazine was opposed in some British Army circles, as some feared that the private soldier might be prone to lose the magazine during field campaigns. Early models of the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield even used a short length of chain to secure the magazine to the rifle. Critics also predicted that a repeating rifle with such a large magazine capacity would discourage soldiers from taking careful aim, relying instead on sheer volume of fire to repel the enemy. Both of these concerns were proved to be unfounded.
   The fast-operating Lee bolt-action and large magazine capacity enabled a trained rifleman to fire between 20 to 30 aimed rounds a minute, making the Lee-Enfield the fastest military bolt-action rifle of the day. The current world record for aimed bolt-action fire was set in 1914 by a musketry instructor in the British Army — Sergeant Instructor Snoxall — who placed 38 rounds into a 12" target at in one minute. Some straight-pull bolt-action rifles were thought faster, but lacked the simplicity, reliability, and generous magazine capacity of the Lee-Enfield. War stories from WWI tell of British troops sending the Germans home reporting they'd suffered withering machine gun fire, when, in fact, it was simply a group of trained riflemen armed with standard-issue SMLE Mk III rifles.
   The Lee-Enfield was adapted to fire the .303 British service cartridge, a rimmed, high-powered rifle round. Experiments with smokeless powder in the existing Lee-Metford cartridge seemed at first to be a simple upgrade, but the greater heat and pressure generated by the new smokeless powder quickly wore away the shallow, rounded, Metford rifling. Replacing this with a new square-shaped rifling system designed at the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) Enfield solved the problem, and the Lee-Enfield was born. Despite calls for a new rimless cartridge design better suited to the double-column magazine and the new machine guns then in development, the government demanded that the new design use the existing rimmed cartridge design in order to use existing ammunition stocks. This decision had the unintended effect of ensuring that the .303 British cartridge survived well into World War II and Korea, by which time the need for a rimless cartridge had become a priority to enable the Commonwealth militaries to field self-loading rifles (which require rimless cartridges for more-reliable magazine feeding).
   The Lee-Enfield rifle was introduced in November 1895 as the .303 calibre, Rifle, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, or more commonly simply Magazine Lee-Enfield, or MLE (sometimes spoken as "emily" instead of M, L, E). The next year a shorter version was introduced as the Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mk I, or LEC, with a 21.2 inch (538mm) barrel as opposed to the 30.2 inch (767mm) one in the "long" version. Both underwent a minor upgrade series in 1899, becoming the Mk I*. Many LECs (and LMCs in smaller numbers) were converted to special patterns, namely the New Zealand Carbine and the Royal Irish Constabulary Carbine, or NZ and RIC carbines, respectively. Some of the MLEs (and MLMs) were converted to load from chargers, and designated Charger Loading Lee-Enfields, or CLLEs.

Models/marks of Lee-Enfield Rifle and service periods

ť _{Note 1 : World War II UK production rifles had manufacturer codes for security reasons. For example, BSA Shirley is denoted by M47C, ROF(M) is often simply stamped "M", and BSA is simply stamped "B".} _{Note 2: Savage-made Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I* rifles are all stamped "US PROPERTY". They were supplied to the UK under the Lend-Lease programme during WWII.} Australian International Arms No. 4 Mk IV The Brisbane-based Australian International Arms also manufacture a modern reproduction of the No. 4 Mk II rifle, which they market as the AIA No. 4 Mk IV. The rifles are manufactured by parts outsourcing and are assembled and finished in Australia, chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO and feed from standard M14 magazines. The No. 4 Mk IV is designed with the modern shooter in mind, and has the ability to mount a telescopic sight without drilling & tapping the receiver. Stocked with teak, the No. 4 Mk IV has been very positively received by shooters and hunters in Australia, despite retailing for approximately AUD$1000 - compared to about AUD$400 for a .303 calibre WWII vintage No. 4 Mk I or a 1960s 7.62x51mm NATO Ishapore 2A1. AIA also offers the AIA M10-A1 a Jungle Carbine-styled version chambered in 7.62x39mm Russian, which uses AK-47 magazines.

Khyber Pass Copies

A number of British Service Rifles, predominantly the Martini-Henry and Martini-Enfield, but also the various Lee-Enfield rifles, have been produced by small manufacturers in the Khyber Pass region of the Indian/Pakistani/Afghani border.
   "Khyber Pass Copies", as they're known, tend to be copied exactly from a "master" rifle, which may itself be a Khyber Pass Copy, markings and all, which is why it's not uncommon to see Khyber Pass rifles with the "N" in "Enfield" reversed, amongst other things.
   The quality on such rifles varies from "as good as a factory-produced example" to "dangerously unsafe", tending towards the latter end of the scale. The ammunition used in the region is often underloaded, being made from a variety of powders or even old film (which contains nitrocellulose, a key component of smokeless powder), and as such, Khyber Pass Copy rifles can't generally stand up to the pressures generated by modern commercial ammunition. It is generally advised that Khyber Pass made firearms NOT be fired under any circumstances.
   Although there are a few collectors out there who have made extremely mild handloaded cartridges for their Khyber Pass rifles, this practice isn't recommended, as there's a high element of risk involved.
   Khyber Pass Copies can be recognised by a number of factors, notably:

Spelling errors in the markings; as noted the most common of which is a reversed "N" in "Enfield")
V.R. (Victoria Regina) cyphers dated after 1901; Queen Victoria died in 1901, so any rifles made after 1901 should be stamped "E.R" (Edwardius Rex - King Edward VII or King Edward VIII) or "G.R" (Georgius Rex, - King George V or King George VI).
Generally inferior workmanship, including weak/soft metal, poorly finished wood, and badly struck markings.

The Lee-Enfield in military/police use today

Lee-Enfield rifles are used by reserve forces and police forces in many Commonwealth countries, particularly Canada, where they're the main rifle issued to the Canadian Rangers, and India, where the Lee-Enfield is widely issued to reserve military units and police forces. Indian police officers carrying SMLE Mk III* and Ishapore 2A1 rifles were a familiar sight throughout railway stations in India after the Bombay train bombings of 2006. They are also still seen in the hands of Pakistani and Bangladeshi second-line and police units. Many Afghan participants in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan were armed with Lee-Enfields, the rifle being common in the Middle East and South Asia, and are today manufactured in the Khyber Pass region, as bolt-action rifles remain effective weapons in desert and mountain environments, where long-range accuracy is more important than rate of fire.
   Photos from the current civil war in Nepal show that the government troops are being issued SMLE Mk III/III* rifles to fight the Maoist rebels. The SMLEs observed are not in especially good condition, but it should also be noted that the Maoists are also armed with SMLEs (and anything else they can acquire), but as to whether the SMLEs in question are of British or Indian manufacture is unknown, as is the year of manufacture. Lee-Enfield rifles were also used by numerous warring factions in the Solomon Islands during the early 2000s, with news footage showing one faction's fighters using Lee-Enfield No.4 rifles that they'd taken from government armouries.
   The Lee-Enfield family of rifles is the oldest bolt-action rifle design still in official service, after the contemporary Mosin-Nagant M91/30 was officially retired by the last of the former Communist Bloc in 1998—a testament to both the durability of the original Lee-Enfield design and the influence of the British Empire.
   The Rifle No. 8 variant (.22 chambered with no magazine) is in regular use with UK cadet forces as a light target rifle, the L98A1 Cadet GP Rifle being more regularly used. Deactivated No. 4 rifles are also used to practise weapon handling drills in UK Cadet Forces.

The Lee-Enfield in civilian use

Lee-Enfields are very popular as hunting rifles and target shooting rifles. Many surplus Lee-Enfield rifles were sold in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa after WWII, and a fair number have been 'sporterised', having had the front furniture reduced or removed and a scope fitted so that they resemble a bolt-action sporting rifle. Top-notch accuracy is difficult to achieve with the Lee-Enfield design, as it was intended to be a battle rifle and not a sharpshooter's weapon, and thus the Enfield is nowadays overshadowed by derivatives of Paul Mauser's design as a target shooting arm. They did, however, continue to be used at Bisley up into the 1970s with some success, and continue to perform extremely well at Military Service Rifle Competitions throughout the world.
More recently, the Lee-Enfield rifle is mainly shot by historic rifle enthusiasts and those who find the 10-round magazine, loading by stripper clips, and the rapid bolt-action useful for Practical Rifle events. Since formation in 1998, the organisations such as the Lee Enfield Rifle Association have greatly assisted in not just preserving rifles in shooting condition (many Lee-Enfields are being deactivated and sold as "wall-hangers" to collectors who don't hold a Firearms License), but holding events and competitions wholly accurate in terms of the various courses of fire and targets of the period. Lee-Enfields are also popular with competitors in service rifle competitions in many British Commonwealth countries—notably Australia, which boasts a very active Military Service Rifle shooting community. For these competitions rifles are sometimes converted to 7.62x39 and 5.56 mm NATO (.223 Remington), although this practice is frowned upon as it effectively removes the historic value of the altered rifle. The extensive use of the Lee-Enfield rifle for service rifle shooting competitions in nations like Great Britain and Australia are also due to other factors like the gun laws of both Great Britain and Australia which strictly regulate and limit the private ownership of ex-military and military-style semi-automatic centrefire rifles. (For more information see Gun politics in the United Kingdom and Gun politics in Australia.)
Many people still hunt with as-issued Lee-Enfield rifles, with commercial .303 British ammunition proving especially effective on medium-sized game. Soft-point .303 ammunition is widely available for hunting purposes, though the Mark 7 military cartridge design often proves adequate because its tail-heavy design makes the bullet yaw violently and deform after hitting the target. The 10-round magazine and fast bolt-action are especially desirable in areas where multiple opportunities to make a humane shot may present themselves, or there's a likelihood of encountering more than one animal at a time.

Cultural impact

As the standard infantry arm of the British Empire for over half a century, the Lee-Enfield rifle had a strong impact on the military affairs of the time, and often appears in feature films concerning the British Empire/Commonwealth. Much like the Webley Revolver, which is often called into play to signify a stereotypical "British" revolver, the Lee-Enfield rifle can often be seen as a stereotypical "British Rifle".

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