The Lee bolt-action and 10-round magazine capacity enabled a well-trained rifleman to perform the " mad minute" firing 20 to 30 aimed rounds in 60 seconds, making the Lee–Enfield the fastest military bolt-action rifle of the day. These design features facilitate rapid cycling and fire compared to other bolt-action designs like the Mauser. To further facilitate rapid aimed fire the rifle can be cycled by most riflemen without loss of sight picture. Early models of the Lee–Metford and Lee–Enfield even used a short length of chain to secure the magazine to the rifle. Originally, the concept of a detachable magazine was opposed in some British Army circles, as some feared that the private soldier might be likely to lose the magazine during field campaigns. The rifle was also equipped with a detachable sheet-steel, 10-round, double-column magazine, a very modern development in its day. This is one reason the bolt closure feels smooth. The British probably used helical locking lugs to allow for chambering imperfect or dirty ammunition and that the closing cam action is distributed over the entire mating faces of both bolt and receiver lugs. This means that final headspace is not achieved until the bolt handle is turned down all the way. The action features helical locking surfaces (the technical term is interrupted threading). The bolt has a relatively short bolt throw and features rear-mounted lugs, and the bolt operating handle places the bolt knob just rearwards of the trigger at a favourable ergonomic position close to the operator's hand. 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 that had a barrel featuring rifling designed by William Ellis Metford. 12.1.1 Australian International Arms No.10 Special service Lee–Enfields: Commando and automatic models.9 Lee–Enfield conversions and training models.
It featured a ten-round box magazine which was loaded with the. The WWI versions are often referred to as the "SMLE", which is short for the common "Short, Magazine, Lee–Enfield" variant.Ī redesign of the Lee–Metford (adopted by the British Army in 1888), the Lee–Enfield superseded the earlier Martini–Henry, Martini–Enfield, and Lee-Metford rifles. The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's standard rifle from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957. Fixed and adjustable aperture sights incorporated onto later variants Sliding ramp rear sights, fixed-post front sights, "dial" long-range volley telescopic sights on sniper models. Border Campaign (Irish Republican Army)ġ0-round magazine, loaded with 5-round charger clips.