Lee-Enfield
The
Lee-Enfield was the
British Army's standard
bolt action, magazine-fed,
repeating rifle from
1895 until
1956. In various marks it was standard army issue for the first half of the 20th century, a momentous period which saw two
world wars and the growth and loss of
Britain's empire. The Lee-Enfield 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, loaded from the top of the rifle by five-round chargers (a.k.a.
stripper clips). The Lee-Enfield superseded the earlier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 1956, the Lee-Enfield continues to see official service in a number of parts of the former British Empire to this day.
Total production of all Lee-Enfields is estimated at over 17 million rifles, making it the 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.
The Lee-Enfield rifle was derived from the earlier
Lee-Metford, a mechanically similar (most would say identical)
black powder rifle which combined
James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system with a barrel featuring rifling designed by
William Ellis Metford. Lee's action was a major improvement on existing bolt-action designs. The 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 forced 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. Because of the faster bolt locking mechanism, introduction of semi-automatic rifles was delayed considerably, relative to those nations using rifles derived from the Mauser's mechanism.
The speedy bolt and large
magazine capacity (ten rounds, compared to the five of most Mauser derivatives) 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- one Sgt. Snoxall- who placed 38 rounds into a 12" target at 300 yards in one minute. Some straight-pull bolt-action rifles were thought faster, but lacked the simplicity, reliability, and generous magazine capacity of the Lee design.
Experiments with
smokeless powder in the existing Lee-Metford
cartridge seemed at first to be a simple upgrade, but the greater heat and pressures generated by the new cartridges proved to wear out 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. In order to avoid throwing away massive stocks of existing cartridges, the government demanded that the new design use the existing rimmed design, a decision which ensured that the .303 British survived well into the age of rimless cartridges.
The 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 (538 mm) barrel as opposed to the 30.2 inch (767 mm) 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
charger clips, and designated
Charger Loading Lee-Enfields, or
CLLEs.
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.303in cartridge for Lee-Enfield rifle |
On 1 January 1904 a shorter and lighter version of the original MLE was introduced, the famous
Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, or
SMLE (sometimes spoken as
"smelly", rather than S, M, L, E). The barrel length was now half-way between the original and the carbine, at 25.2 inches (640 mm). The SMLE's visual trademark was its blunt nose, the end of the barrel protruding a small fraction of an inch beyond the nosecap. The new rifle also incorporated a charger loading system, another innovation borrowed from the Boer's Mausers. The shorter length was controversial at the time, many influential thinkers believing that it was neither short enough for horseback use nor long enough for accurate long-range fire. A replacement was sought. When the US introduced its new
M1903 Springfield, it used a single one-size-fits-all intermediate rifle design (23 inch barrel). This was in contrast to most earlier rifles and the just adopted (by the U.S.)
Krag-Jørgensen, where both carbine and full-length versions were fielded. (It would not be until 1935, for example, that Germany finally adopted a universal size with the
K98k, who had earlier been fielding both full length
G98 and shorter G98 carbines (e.g. K98a).)
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Magazine Cut-Off on an SMLE Mk III rifle- this feature was deleted on the Mk III* rifle. |
The iconic Lee-Enfield rifle, the
SMLE Mk III, was introduced in 1907, and featured a simplified rear sight arrangement and a fixed, rather than a bolt head mounted sliding, charger guide. The design of the handguards and the magazine were also improved.
Many early model rifles, of Magazine Lee Enfield (MLE), Magazine Lee Metford (MLM), and SMLE type, were upgraded to the Mk III standard. These are designated Mk IV Cond., with various asterisks denoting subtypes.
During
WWI, the standard SMLE Mk III was found to be complicated to manufacture and simplifications were sought. In 1916, the
Mk III* was introduced, which incorporated several changes, the most prominent of which were the deletion of the magazine cutoff and the long range "volley" sights. The windage adjustment capability of the rear sight was also dispensed with, and the cocking piece was changed from a round knob to a serrated slab. Rifles with some or all of these features present are found, as the changes were implemented at different times in different factories and as stocks of preexisting parts were used.
The inability of the principal manufacturers (RSAF Enfield, Birmingham Small Arms, and London Small Arms) to meet military production demands led to the development of the "peddled scheme", which contracted out the production of whole rifles and rifle components to several shell companies, leading to a minor political scandal.
The SMLE Mk III* saw extensive service throughout World War II as well, especially in the North African, Pacific and Burmese theatres.
Australia and India retained the SMLE Mk III* as the standard-issue rifle during WWII, due to familiarity with the design and ease of production.
During the
Second Boer War the British were faced with accurate long-range fire from the famous
Mauser rifles, model 1895, in
7.92 x 57 mm (also known as
8 mm Mauser) caliber. This smaller, high-velocity round prompted the War Department to develop their own "magnum" round in 1910, using a .276 caliber round patterned from that of the Canadian
Ross rifle. A modified Mauser-pattern rifle was built to fire it, the
Pattern 1913 Enfield (
P13), although the outbreak of war and the attendant manufacturing and logistic constraints meant that nothing came of this. Adapting the same mechanism to fire the standard .303 round led to the
Pattern 1914 Rifle (
P14), a competent design fed from a five-round internal magazine. Britain's complete lack of spare industrial capacity (the P14's initial contractor (
Vickers) never produced more than a handful of rifles) and the reasonable aversion to changing infantry weapons in the middle of a war meant that the P14 was never a serious contender for replacing the SMLE. The rifle was instead used as a sniper rifle and as a reserve weapon. When the US entered the war, the P14 was standardized and modified by the US
Ordnance Department and went into production in America as the
M1917 Enfield, having been chambered for the standard US
30-06 cartridge; it enjoyed some success as a complement for the Springfield M1903 rifles which were formally America's standard issue, ultimately far surpassing the Springfield in total production and breadth of issue. Prior to and during
World War II, the P14 was used in Britain as a rearguard rifle, latterly to equip the WW2
Home Guard (the soldiers of
Dad's Army carried P14s). The US also sent some M1917 rifles to the UK under
Lend-Lease, though the different ammunition requirements limited use and necessitated clearly marking the rifles as being non-standard.
In 1926 the British Army changed their nomenclature and the SMLE became known as the
Rifle No. 1 Mk III or
III*, with the original MLE and LEC becoming obsolete along with the earlier SMLE models. Many Mk III and III* rifles were converted to subcaliber (
.22 rimfire) trainers, and designated
Rifle No. 2, of varying marks. (The Pattern 1914 became the
Rifle No. 3.)
The SMLE design was fairly expensive to manufacture because of the many
forging and
machining operations required. In the 1920s several experiments were carried out to help with these problems, reducing the number of complex parts. The
SMLE Mk V, later
Rifle No. 1 Mk V, used a new receiver-mounted aperture sighting system, which moved the rear sight from its former position on the barrel. The increased gap resulted in an improved sighting radius, improving sighting accuracy, and the aperture improved speed of sighting (making it also known as a "battle sight"). The magazine cutoff was also reintroduced, and an additional band was added near the muzzle for additional strength during bayonet use. Unfortunately, this design was found to be even more complicated to manufacture than the Mk III. Production of this rifle numbered approximately 20000 units, produced between 1922 and 1924 at
RSAF Enfield. The
No. 1 Mk VI also introduced a "floating barrel" which was not connected strongly to the stock, allowing the barrel to move with the expansion and contraction of heating without changing the bedding forces, and thus accuracy. The receiver mounted rear sights and magazine cutoff were also present. Production numbered 1025 units, produced between 1930 and 1933.
By the late 1930s the need for new rifles grew, and the
Rifle, No. 4 Mk I was adopted in 1939, although widespread production did not start until 1941. The No. 4 was similar to the Mk VI, but lighter, stronger, and most importantly, easier to mass-produce. Unlike the SMLE, the No 4 Lee-Enfield barrel protruded some way from the end of the forestock, and a new bayonet was designed to go with the rifle. The result- a
spike bayonet- was essentially a steel rod with a sharp point, and was unsurprisingly nicknamed "pigsticker" by the soldiers. Towards the end of WWII, however, a bladed bayonet was developed and issued for the No 4 rifle, using the same mounting system as the spike bayonet.
During the course of World War II, the No. 4 rifle was simplified more for mass-production with the creation of the
No. 4 Mk I* which saw the removal of the bolt release catch and replaced with a more simplified notch on the track of the rifle's action. It was produced only in North America with Long Branch Arsenal in Canada and Savage-Stevens Firearms in the USA producing the No. 4 Mk I* rifle from their respective factories.
In the years after World War II, the British produced the
No. 4 Mk 2 (Arabic numerals replaced Roman numerals for official designations in 1944) rifle which saw the No. 4 rifle being refined and improved with the trigger being hung from the receiver of the rifle and not from the trigger guard, the No. 4 Mk 2 rifle being fitted with beech wood stocks and the return of brass buttplates to the rifle. With the introduction of the No. 4 Mk 2 rifle, the British refurbished all their existing stocks of No. 4 rifles and brought them up to the same standards as the No. 4 Mk 2 rifle. Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I rifles that were brought up to Mk 2 standards were re-designated as the
No. 4 Mk I/2 rifle while Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk I* rifles that were brought up to Mk 2 standards were re-designated as the
No. 4 Mk I/3 rifle.
Both the No. 4 and No. 5 rifles served in Korea (as did the SMLE Mk III*- mostly with Australian troops, however).
During both World Wars and the Korean War, a number of Lee-Enfield rifles were also modified as
sniper rifles. The Australians modified approximately 500 Lithgow SMLE Mk III* rifles by adding a heavy target barrel, cheek-piece, and a telescopic sight, creating the
SMLE Mk III* (HT). (HT, in this case, standing for "
Heavy Barrel,
Telescopic Sight), which saw service in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Malaya.The British and Canadians, however, modified the No 4 Mk I rifle by adding a cheek-piece and telescopic sight, creating the No 4 Mk I (T)- which saw service until the late 1960s, well into the
7.62 × 51 mm NATO era.The Lee-Enfield was replaced in front-line service with the
FN FAL-derived
L1A1 SLR in 1955, although the Enfield continued for a few years as a training and drill weapon; those who undertook
National Service trained with the Lee-Enfield.
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Lee-Enfield No. 5 Mk 1 "Jungle Carbine" |
Main article: Jungle Carbine
Later in the war the need for a shorter, less heavy rifle for use in the jungles of the Far East led to the development of the
Rifle, No. 5 Mk I (a.k.a. the "
Jungle Carbine"). With a severely cut-down stock and a prominent
flash hider, the design was somewhat shorter and 2 lb (907 g) lighter. Despite (or possibly because of) a
rubber butt-pad, the .303 round produced too much recoil for the lightweight rifle to be a complete success, and it was never popular with the troops - partly because of the allegedly fierce recoil, and partly because of an alleged "wandering zero".
An Australian experimental version of Jungle Carbine, designated
Rifle, No. 6, Mk I was also developed, using an SMLE MK III* as a starting point (as opposed to the No 4 Mk I used to develop the No 5 Mk I Jungle Carbine). The No 6 Mk I never entered full production, however, and examples today are extremely rare and worth a large sum of money to collectors.
The term "Jungle Carbine" was a marketing term popularised in the 1950s by a U.S. importer of surplus rifles, used in the hopes of increasing sales of a rifle that had had little U.S. market penetration.
It is in no way an official designation- however, British & Commonwealth troops serving in the Burmese and Pacific theatres were known to unofficially refer to the No 5 Mk I as a "Jungle Carbine".
.22 Training Rifles
After WWI, numbers of SMLE rifles were converted to .22 calibre training rifles, in order to teach cadets and new recruits the various aspects of shooting, firearms safety, and marksmanship. These rifles were designated
Rifle, No 2 Mk IV, and were generally single-shot affairs, although some were later modified with special adaptors to enable magazine loading. After World War II, the
Rifle, No. 7,
Rifle, No. 8 and
Rifle, No. 9, all .22 rimfire trainers and/or target rifles, were adopted or in use with Cadet units and target shooters throughout the Commonwealth.
Charlton Automatic Rifle
Small numbers of Lee-Enfield rifles were built as, or converted to, experimental semi-automatic loading systems, the best-known of which was the
Charlton Automatic Rifle, designed by a New Zealander, Philip Charlton.
During WWII, the majority of New Zealand's land forces were deployed in North Africa. When Japan entered the war in 1941, New Zealand found itself lacking the light machine guns that would be required for local defence should Japan choose to invade. The New Zealand Government funded the develpoment of self-loading conversion kits for the Lee-Enfield rifle. The end result was the
Charlton Automatic Rifle (based on the obsolete MLE) which was issued to Home Guard units in NZ from 1942. Over 2000 conversions were made - including some by the Australian firm
Electrolux using Lithgow SMLE Mk III* rifles- and an example is viewable at the NZ Army museum in Waiouru (NZ), as well as at the Infantry Museum in Singleton, NSW (Australia) and the
Imperial War Museum in London (UK).
De Lisle Commando Carbine
During WWII, the
Commando units of the British military requested a silenced rifle for eliminating sentries, guard dogs, and other clandestine operational uses. The resulting weapon, designed by W.G. De Lisle, was effectively an SMLE Mk III* receiver redesigned to take a
.45 ACP cartridge and asociated magazine, with the barrel shortened and replaced instead with an integral silencer. The weapon was particularly effective, and it was said by Commando personnel that the sound of the bolt operating was louder than the sound of the gun being fired.
During the 1960's, the
British Government and the
Ministry of Defence converted a number of Lee-Enfield No. 4 rifles to
7.62 mm NATO as part of a program to retain the Lee-Enfield as a rear-echelon weapon and as an emergency issue rifle for British military and civil defence forces if the
Soviet Union and the
Warsaw Pact invaded
Western Europe and the British military were short of
L1A1 SLRs to arm her troops at home and abroad to fight the Soviet Union.
The Lee-Enfield No. 4 series rifles that were converted to 7.62 mm NATO were re-designated as the
L8 series rifles with the rifles being refitted with 7.62 mm NATO rifle barrels, new bolt faces and extractor claws, new rear sights and new 10-round 7.62 mm NATO rifle magazines that were produced by RSAF Enfield and Sterling Armaments to replace the old 10-round
.303 British rifle magazines that the No. 4 series rifles employed.
The outward appearance of the L8 series rifles were no different to the original No. 4 rifles, except for the new 7.62 mm NATO rifle magazine to replace the old .303 British magazine and the new 7.62 mm rifle barrel.
The results of the trials that were conducted on the L8 series rifles produced were mixed and the British Government and the Ministry of Defence decided not to convert their existing stocks of Lee-Enfield No. 4 rifles to 7.62 mm NATO. Despite this, the British learned from the results of the L8 test program and used them in successfully converting their stocks of No. 4 (T) sniper rifles to 7.62 mm NATO and hence the creation of the L42A1 series sniper rifles.
The
L42A1 sniper rifle continued as the British Army's standard sniper weapon until the early 1990s, being replaced by
Accuracy International's
L96.
During the 1970's, RSAF Enfield produced the
Enfield Enforcer series sniper rifles for use by police marksmen in Great Britain. The Enfield Enforcer was made in small numbers and the rifles are highly sought after by many gun collectors due to the small numbers of rifles that were produced by RSAF Enfield, and due to the policy of various Metropolitan Police services in Great Britain to destroy old police firearms instead of selling them to the general public which has made the Enforcer rifle a collector's item.
Ishapore 2A/2A1- The Last Lee-Enfield
At some point just after the
Sino-Indian War of 1963, the Ishapore Rifle Factory in India began producing a new type of rifle known as the
Rifle 7.62 mm 2A, which was based on the SMLE Mk III* and reworked to use the 7.62 mm NATO round. Externally the rifle is very similar to the classic Mk III*, with the exception of the magazine- which is more "square" and usually carries twelve rounds instead of ten, although a number of 2A1s have been noted with 10 round magazines.Ishapore 2A/2A1 rifles are made with strengthened steel (to handle the increased pressures of the 7.62x51 round), and the extractor is redesigned to cope with the rimless round. From 1965-1975 (when production is believed to have been discontinued), the sights were changed from 2000 m to 800 m, and the rifle re-designated
Rifle 7.62 mm 2A1.
There are no other differences between the Ishapore 2A and 2A1 rifles, but they are often incorrectly described as ".308 conversions". It must be stressed that the 2A/2A1 rifles are
not conversions of .303 calibre SMLE Mk III* rifles- they are new manufacture, and are not technically chambered for commercial .308 Winchester ammunition. However, many 2A/2A1 owners shoot commercial .308 Winchester ammunition in their rifles with no problems, although it must be stressed .308 Winchester does generate higher pressures than 7.62x51 NATO, even though the rounds are otherwise interchangeable.The Ishapore 2A1 has the distinction of being the last non-sniper military bolt action rifle ever designed and issued to an armed force, and they are becoming increasingly popular with civillian shooters and collectors in the US, UK, and Australia as the supplies of affordable .303 British ammunition fluctuate.
In total over 14 million Lee-Enfields had been produced in several factories on different continents when production in Britain shut down in 1956, at ROF (
Royal Ordnance Factory)
Fazakerley. Contributing to the total was the arsenal at
Ishapore in India, which continued to produce the Enfield in both .303 and 7.62 mm (NATO) (the 2A1) until the 1980s,the
BSA factory at Shirley in
Birmingham, and SAF Lithgow in Australia, who finally discontinued production of the SMLE Mk III* in 1950.
Post-WWII SAF Lithgow converted some SMLE IIIs and III*s to commercial sporting rifles with Lithgow Slazenger branding. These included centrefire .22 Hornet and .410 shotgun.
From the late 1940s, legislation in New South Wales, Australia, outlawed .303 British calibre rifles, so large numbers of SMLEs were converted to "wildcat" calibres such as .303/25, .303/22, and the popular 7.7x54 round. .303/25 calibre sporterised SMLEs are very common in Australia today, although getting ammunition for them is very difficult. The restrictions placed on the .303 British calibre and rifles chambered for .303 British in New South Wales were lifted in the 1970's and many people who converted their Lee-Enfields to the "wildcat" rounds converted their rifles back to .303 British.
Numerous attempts were made to convert the .410 Shotgun model (which was single shot, and generally manufactured by the Ishapore arsenal) to a bolt-action repeating model by removing the wooden magazine plug and replacing it with a standard 10 shot SMLE magazine. None of these is known to have been successful, however.
SMLEs were also made as (or converted) to .22 rimfire for training purposes, designated "Rifle No 2 Mk IV"- not to be confused with the service-issue Rifle No 4 Mk 2.
Ishapore-made .303 calibre SMLE Mk III* rifles have appeared with 1980's manufacture dates suggesting that it may still be manufactured in the
Indian sub-continent. Attempts to contact the
Ishapore Rifle Factory to confirm this have been unsuccessful. However, re-arsenaled rifles on the Indian sub-continent often have all old markings scrubbed off, and a new marking added, so there is some debate as to whether 1980s-dated SMLEs are actually newly-made, or simply re-arsenaled.
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The wristguard markings on a 1918-dated Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III* rifle manufactured by the London Small Arms Co. Ltd |
List of Manufacturers
The manufacturer's names found on the
MLE and variants,
SMLE Mk I and variants,
Mk III and
Mk III* rifles are:
*
Enfield: Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield, UK
*Sparkbrook: Birmingham Small Arms Company, Sparkbrook, UK
*
BSA Co: Birmingham Small Arms Company, Small Heath, UK
*
LSA Co: London Small Arms Company Ltd, UK
*Lithgow: Small Arms Factory,
Lithgow, New South Wales,
Australia*
GRI: Ishapore Arsenal, India (GRI stands for "Georgius Rex, Imperator")
*RFI:
Rifle Factory, Ishapore (Post-Partition)
*SSA: Standard Small Arms, UK (not a full manufacturer, SMLE Mk III* only)
*NFA: National Rifle Factory, UK (not a full manufacturer, SMLE Mk III* only)
For the
No. 4 Mk I,
No. 4 Mk I* and
No. 4 Mk 2 rifles:
*ROF(F): Royal Ordnance Factory
Fazakerley, UK
*ROF(M): Royal Ordnance Factory
Maltby, UK
*BSA Co:
Birmingham Small Arms Company, Shirley, UK
*Savage (S): Savage Arms;
Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts,
USA - made the No. 4 Mk I* rifle
*Longbranch: Longbranch Arsenal;
Long Branch, Ontario,
Canada - made the No. 4 Mk I* rifle
*POF:
Pakistani Ordnance Factory, Pakistan
Note: WWII UK production rifles had manufacturer codes for security reasons. For example, BSA Shirley is denoted by M47C, and ROF(M) is often simply stamped "M".
The Brisbane-based
Australian International Arms also manufacture a modern reproduction of the No 4 Mk I rifle, which they market as the
AIA No. 4 Mk IV. Chambered in
7.62x51 NATO/
.308 Winchester, 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 7.62x51 NATO Ishapore 2A1.
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 are 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 cannot 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 is not recommended, as there is nonetheless 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.
Lee-Enfield Rifles are still used by reserve forces and police forces in many Commonwealth countries, particularly Canada, where they are the main rifle issued to the
Canadian Rangers, and India, where the Lee-Enfield is still 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 in 2006.Many Afghani participants in the
Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan were still armed with Lee-Enfields, the rifle being common in the Middle East and still manufactured in the
Khyber Pass region even today, as bolt-action rifles remain effective weapons in a desert environment, where long-range accuracy is more important than volume 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 with. The SMLEs seen thus far 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 had taken from government armouries.
The Lee-Enfield family of rifles is the oldest 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.
Lee-Enfields are very popular hunting rifles. Many surplus Commonwealth rifles were sold in the
United States,
Canada,
Australia,
New Zealand, and Southern Africa- all countries in which they are also popular with hunters, farmers and sportsmen. 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 while many other Lee-Enfields remained in their original military configuration. Top-notch accuracy is difficult to achieve with the Lee-Enfield design, as it was intented 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 1970's 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 shot 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 sadly being deactivated and sold as "wall-hangers" to collectors who do not hold a Firearms Licence), 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.
Many people still hunt with as-issued Lee-Enfield rifles, with commerical .303 British ammunition (typically loaded with a 180gr SP projectile) proving especially effective on medium-sized game. The 10-round magazine and fast bolt are especially desireable in areas where multiple opportunities to make a humane shot may present themselves, or there is a likelihood of encountering more than one animal at a time.
Movies
The Lee-Enfield series bolt-action rifles have been seen in many war movies dealing with the
Second Anglo-Boer War, the
First World War, the
Second World War, and the
Korean War, with the rifle being carried by British and British Commonwealth forces. Some notable Lee-Enfield military movie appearances include the
1981 Australian World War 1 film
Gallipoli (with the SMLE Mk III being seen and used by the ANZACs and the British troops) and the
1977 British/
American World War 2 film
A Bridge Too Far (with the No. 4 rifle being seen and used by British soldiers and paratroopers),
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (the British and Arab troops therein armed almost exclusively with these weapons, though for some reason the Turkish soldiers in the film- who should be carrying German
Mausers- also have them), and the 2006 Australian
World War II film
Kokoda (in which the Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk.III* rifle is widely used by the Australian characters in the film). There is a long tradition of the incorrect use of Lee Enfields in films; many
First World War movies have German soldiers equipped with the No.4 Rifle, such as
The Blue Max and Roger Corman's
Richtofen and Brown. A component from a Lee-Enfield in the posession of
Afghan Mujahideen rebels is used to repair an
RPG-7 launcher in the 1988 film
The Beast of War.
In non-military film usage, the Lee-Enfield makes notable appearances in
The Mummy Returns (Jon Hannah's character uses a Lee-Enfield target rifle to fight off several attackers),
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (The Indian military are- incorrectly- shown to be using them), and in the film
Tomb Raider.
In Computer Games
The Lee-Enfield rifle was surprisingly absent from computer games until fairly recently, as most WWII-themed games tended to focus on US and German equipment.However, of late, the Lee-Enfield No 4 Mk I has started to feature in a number of games, most notably
Call of Duty,
Battlefield:1942,
Hidden & Dangerous 2, and the
MMOFPS World War II Online. The Lee-Enfield's representation in these games is often slightly inaccurate, in the interests of gameplay balancing- for example, the No 4 Mk I rifles in
Battlefield: 1942 only hold 5 rounds (compared to 10 in reality), and the No 4 Mk I's rate of fire in
Call of Duty is made equal to that of the
Mauser K98 and the
Mosin-Nagant M91/30 rifles also featured in the game.Interestingly, the SMLE Mk III rifle has not appeared in any major computer game, despite having actually been in service for a longer period of time (and in more wars) than the No 4 Mk I.
Other Media
In
Garth Ennis' comic book series
Preacher, Frankie the Eunuch, a mafioso hired by people to ensure a slow, painful death, uses a Lee-Enfield rifle when he "works" on Cassidy, an Irish vampire. He speaks quite affectionately of the gun, referring to the bolt action mechanism's "click-clack, clack-click" noise as "the sound of history", among other references. The Lee-Enfield rifle was also the center piece in the
Avatar Press comic book story
303, written by
Garth Ennis and art by Jacen Burrows.The No 4 rifle is also represented in the
Axis & Allies Miniatures table-top wargame as the weapon of both Australian and British infantry squads.The TV Series "Foyle's War" shows the use of P14 rifles by Home Guard units, and No 1 Mk IIIs by regular British Army units.
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The Lee-Enfield Story (1993) Skennerton, Ian. Arms & Militaria Press, Gold Coast QLD (Australia) ISBN 1 85367 138 X
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1942 Basic Manual of Military Small Arms (Facsimile Edition), Smith, W.H.B, Stackpole Books, Harrisburg PA (USA), ISBN 0-8117-1699-6
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The Lee-Enfield*
SurplusRifle.Com - Lee-Enfield SMLE Mk III rifle*
SurplusRifle.Com - Ishapore 2A1*
Lee-Enfield Rifle Association*
Modern Firearms - Lee-Enfield rifle*
The Lee-Metford
