subject: The British .303 and Variations - Part A (93.09.01) by ron.melson@chaos.lrk.ar.us THE LEE METFORD RIFLES AND CARBINES Rifle, Magazine, Lee Metford Mark I. Adopted in December 1888, it was the first British production Lee. Chambered for the original black-powder loaded .303 cartridge, it could hold eight rounds in the magazine and had a full length cleaning rod. Rifle, Magazine, Lee Metford Mark I*. Adopted in January of 1892, this rifle was a conversion of the orginial Mark I. The sights were changed from the "Lewes" and "Welsh" pattern to the barlycorn front and v-notched rear sight. Rifle, Magazine, Lee Metford Mark II. Adopted in April 1892, it was the first to be fitted with the ten round magazine. The bolt was modified and the outside contour of the barrel was changed. A half length cleaning rod was fitted and the brass marking disk on the buttstock was omitted. Carbine, Magazine, Lee Meford Mark I. Adopted in 1894. Rifle, Magazine, Lee Metford Mark II*. Adopted in 1895, these rifles had the safety catch added to the bolt. The Mark I Lee Metford had safety catch mounted at left side of reciever. The Mark I* and Mark II Lee Metfords had no safety. Historical Perspective. Much like the Snider and Martini-Henry rifles that were in British service, the Lee rfle had its design antecedents in the United States. James Paris Lee was a naturalized American citizen whose parents came from Scotland and settled in Canada in 1835 when Lee was four years old. He followed his father's occupation of watchmaking while maintaining an interest in firearms. Eventually, Lee moved to Wisconsin and took up gun design on a full time basis. Lee did not orginally conceive the concept of the box magazine, however, he did improve up on it. A bolt action repeater of his own design was tested by both the Army and Navy. The "Remington-Lee" was to soon catch the attention of the British and in 1880, the Lee rifle was soon to enter into the British service trials. The first of these rifles were chambered for drawn brass .577-450 "Gatling" versions of the British service round and fitted with Martini-Henry barrels. The combination proved successful. Originally, the British were considering adopting .402 as their service caliber, but, the efficiency of the .303-caliber cartridged as designed by Swiss Col. Eduard Rubin caused the eventual scrapping of the .402 and experiments with the .303 instead. Finally, in 1888, prototype Lees with barrels featuring seven grove rifling by William Metford, were tested ( in .303 caliber). In December of the same year, the first Lee magazine rifle was accepted as the British main service rifle. -------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ LEE ENFIELD RIFLES AND CARBINES Rifle, Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark I. Adopted in November 1895, this rifle was the first to introduce the deep Enfield rifling rather than the shallower Metford rifling. This rifle also had modified sights. Rifle, Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark I*. Adopted in 1899, this Enfield lacked the cleaning rod found in stocks of earlier Lee's. Carbine, Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark I. Adopted in 1896, it was the same as the Lee Metford carbine except for the deeper rifling. Carbine, Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark I*. Same as the Mark I carbine but without the cleaning rod or the sling bar on the left side of the buttstock. Carbine, Magazine, Lee Enfield, RIC Model. Adopted in 1905, when 10,000 Lee Enfield carbines were modified. The carbine nose cap was removed and the stock cut back and slimmed down to take an upper band with bayonet stud to fit the Pattern 88 knife bayonet. These carbines were made up for the Royal Irish Constabulary-RIC, which was disbanded in 1922. Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark I. Adopted in December of 1902, this was the first of the short rifles(SMLE). This rifle was stocked to the muzzle and first to allow charger loading. The right side charger guide is on the bolt head, and the left charger guide is on the receiver. It has a v- notch rear sight with adjustable windage and a barlycorn front sight. This was the first of what is commonly referred to as the No. 1 rifle, nicknamed "Smellie". Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark II ( COND ). Essentially the same as the SMLE No. 1 Mark I, but was converted from the earlier Mark II and Mark II* Lee Metfords and Long Lee Enfields. Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark I*. A minor variant of the SMLE No.1 Mark I. Rifle No.1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark II*. A minor variant of the No. 1 Mark II SMLE. Rifle No.1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark III. Adopted in January 1907, this was the main battle rifle of the British forces in World War I, and used extensively in World War II. Versions of this rifle have been found in use as recently as the Afghanastan War when Afghan rebels fought against the Russians ( the Afghan rebels also created crude copies of this rifle). Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark IV ( COND ). Adopted in 1907, it was basically the same as the No. 1 Mark III but created from Long Lee's and Long Lee-Metford rifles. Rifle, Charger Loading, Long Lee Metford Mark II. This rifle is a converted Lee Metford Mark II that allowed use of a charger. The initial conversion was made in 1907 for the Territorial Army and were converted again in 1909 to a Lee Enfield Mark I*. Few of these rifles were made. Rifle, Charger Loading, Long Lee Enfield Mark I. Another 1907 conversion that involved early marks of the Long Lee Enfield to charger loading. The Mark I* version is the most common and a large number of them were used by the British in the opening days of World War I. Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark III*. Adopted in World War I, these rifles were made in large quantities and are still in use around the world today. This version lacked the long range sights of early Mark III's and does not have a magazine cut off. The Royal Ordance Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock made over 2 million of this model and the No. 1 Mark III during World War I. At the same time, B.S.A. made 1.6 million and L.S.A. made several hundred thousand. The rifle was last manufactered in Britain in 1943 by B.S.A. while the Australian arsenal at Lithgow and Indian plant at Ishapore manufactured the Mark III* after the adoption of the No. 4 by the Brits. Lithgow went on to produce 415,800 Mark III* rifles from 1939 to 1955 when production was switched to the FN. Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark V. This rifle appeared somewhere around 1922. The rear sight is mounted on the reciever bridge and an additional stock band is mounted to the rear of the nose cap. Rifle No. 1, Short Magazine, Lee Enfield Mark VI. This rifle was developed between 1924-1930 and was the forerunner of the No. 4 rifles. It possessed the sight on the reciever bridge, had a lighter nose cap, heavier barrel, and smaller bolt head than the earlier marks. It had the cut-off and the left reciever wall was cut low as on the Mark III. (continued on next rock)