The Martini-Henry rifles went through several model variations, and carbines were introduced as well. The Martini-Henry was the standard British service rifle for nearly two decades. For further information on the early rifles from Enfield, see the appropriate entries on the "Enfield-Related Web Sites" page.
The Bolt-Action "Long Lees" The "Lee" in Lee-Enfield is James Paris Lee , a Scottish-born American arms inventor who designed, among other things, the box magazine that allowed for the development of bolt-action repeating rifles. Another important name is that of William Ellis Metford , an English civil engineer who was instrumental in perfecting the. The first British bolt-action magazine rifle was developed through trials beginning in , with adoption of the Magazine Rifle Mark I in December It has an overall length of In November , changes in the rifling and the sights were made to accommodate smokeless powder cartridges, and the new rifle was designated the Lee-Enfield Magazine Rifle Mark I , or in common parlance, the "Magazine Lee-Enfield" MLE.
In , a carbine version of the Lee-Metford was approved, having an overall length of With an overall length of In , the No. The Mk VI eventually became the No. In , the British government changed the nomenclature of its rifles, redesignating the. While it is true that the British government adopted the No.
In addition, the Ishapore factory in India manufactured more than , No. All of the No. Production of No. In the mids, Ishapore developed a version of the No. The Pattern No. Field experience with Mauser and Springfield rifles had indicated the desireability of a one-piece stock, a receiver-mounted aperture rear sight, and forward-mounted bolt locking lugs.
Also under consideration was a rimless cartridge with a smaller caliber, higher velocity bullet. Over the next two years, various prototypes were examined and trials were conducted, leading to extended field trials in of over new rifles.
In October , the. A contract was let to Vickers, Ltd. Production began in January Winchester manufactured the P at its New Haven, Connecticut plant. In December , a new bolt with a longer locking lug was approved. By April , the manufacture of 1. An additional , had been sent to India. With the U. The rifle became the U.
Rifle, Caliber. By the fall of , the need for a British sniper rifle was apparent. A new backsight was developed which had a micrometer adjustment for elevation.
Outside of England, at least 46 nations adopted the SMLE in its various guises, according to an estimate. India needs free, fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism even more as it faces multiple crises. But the news media is in a crisis of its own. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism is shrinking, yielding to crude prime-time spectacle. ThePrint has the finest young reporters, columnists and editors working for it.
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Support Our Journalism. This was the rifle I trained on in NCC days, the very basic rifle. MUST train on them before graduating to more advanced weapons. The rifle with which Lawrence of Arabia captured Aqaba. I find the. With its wooden sturdiness, it has a dignity that many modern guns, like the plastic M16, do not. Gurkhas interviewed after they went over the top at Kargil said they picked up the Kalashnikovs of the fallen Pakistanis because they were better and more accurate than their own guns.
The greater beauty of the. This is why, for a century, Afghans have held on to this gun of their fathers. But it is not accurate at distance. When Afghans got the Kalashnikov in the s, many warriors kept their old rifles. The first came from its mechanism, invented by James Paris Lee. It could reload quickly and trained infantrymen could let off 20 rounds in 1 minute with great accuracy. The LE obviously stands for Lee-Enfield. S is for short but the. Modern police forces around the world carry assault rifles like the AK series or still smaller submachine guns such as the Uzi.
These are compact and easier to fire in restricted urban spaces and indoors. It is not an urban weapon. The M stands for magazine, and this was the second great innovation.
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