The magazine designed by James Paris Lee is a distinctive feature of the Lee-Enfield. Introduction of the smokeless powders in the form of the Cordite showed that the Metford rifling had a short service life, so it was soon replaced with Enfield rifling, with 5 traditional land and grooves and left hand pitch. The polygonal rifling was intended to produce tighter tolerances and easier cleaning, with less fouling. The barrel rifling of the Lee-Metford used a Metford pattern polygonal rifling with shallow groves, intended to be used with ammunition loaded with black powder. The Lee-Enfield rifle is a bolt-action magazine-fed rifle. Throughout all of the Enfield bolt action models, over 17,000,000 have been made.
This is most common in the simplified Mk.1* Enfields. Likewise, through the Lend-Lease Act, drafted by the United States to assist Britain prior to its entry in World War II, many existing Enfields were produced at American firearms manufacturer Savage Arms Co, and are marked as such on their receivers with an "S". The most well known of the licensed copies is the Ishapore 2A1, the Indian variant of the Mk.III, and it is the most common of the non-British produced Enfields. Other commonwealth countries, particularly India, Canada, and Australia, also produced the Lee-Enfield, particularly the MKIII SMLE and No.4 Mk.1 variants under various names.
The L42A1 sniper variant, chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, served in the British Army into 1992, before they were replaced by the Accuracy International L96. Older model Enfields that hadn't been converted into No.5 rifles were adapted into more specialized roles, such as sniper (L42), drill (L59) and target practice (元9) rifles. It was outlived by the No.4 Mk.2 Enfield, which was argued to be a much more successful weapon. 5 rifle was used in the Malayan Emergency, where it saw combat in Southeast Asian jungles, giving it the nickname "Jungle Carbine". It had limited success and mixed user opinions.Īfter World War II, the No. Later in World War II, a carbine iteration of the Enfield was created, designated the No.5 Mk.1, used in the jungle climates of Southeast Asia. The Mk.6 was also issued in the aftermath of Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk Evacuation), and was so similar to the No.4 that post 1931 models were simply designated as No.4 Enfields, and by this time, No.4 Enfields had been issued to the vast majority of the British armed forces, while Commonwealth nations used licensed copies of the SMLE Mk.III. 22LR ammunition, the "No.3" was assigned to the Pattern-14 rifle, which was used in limited numbers, and provided the basis for the No.4's improvements. The "Rifle No.2" (No.1 Mk.4) was a training version of the SMLE No.1 but chambered to.
It was not issued en masse until around 1941. I, the standard British infantry rifle from 1939.
III was further improved over time through two new trial models, the Mk.5 (1922) and the Mk.6 (1926), culminating in the creation of the Lee-Enfield No. III* variant.Īfter World War I, the SMLE Mk. During World War I, the SMLE was also simplified for ease of production, with the removal of the volley sights, among other features. The SMLE Mk.III is the standard rifle for the United Kingdom in World War I. James Paris Lee is the owner of the Lee in the name, as he was instrumental in its design, having developed a number of bolt action innovations, like box magazines. The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) is developed in the pre-WWI years at Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, outside of London, as well as the pattern of rifling inside of the barrel. The Lee-Enfield rifle is derived from the Lee-Metford rifle.