NationMaster - Encyclopedia: L42A1

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 loss of Britain's empire; it was also used by many of Britain's commonwealth allies, including India, Australia, and Canada. It fired the .303 British cartridge from a ten-round detachable box magazine, loaded from five-round chargers. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia will not tolerate irrelevant posts. ... The word caliber (American English) or calibre (British English) comes from the Italian calibro, itself from the Arabic quâlib, meaning mould. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... A bolt-action firearm is one that is manually operated (i. ... A rifle is a firearm that uses a spiral groove cut into the barrel to spin a projectile (Usualy a bullet), thus improving accuracy and range of the projectile. ... 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A world war is a military conflict affecting the majority of the worlds countries. ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps The British Empire was the worlds first global power, a product of the European Age of Exploration that began with the global maritime empires of Portugal and Spain in the late 1400s. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ...

History

The Lee-Enfield rifle was derived from the earlier Lee-Metford, a physically similar 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 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. The Lee-Metford rifle was a breech-loading British army service rifle, combining James Paris Lees rear-locking bolt system and ten-round magazine with a seven groove rifled barrel designed by William Ellis Metford. ... Black powder - here a 100 grams container - can be freely bought in Switzerland. ... Mauser is the common name of German arms manufacturer Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, as well as the line of bolt action rifles they built for the German armed forces. ...

The speedy bolt and large magazine capacity (ten rounds, compared to the five of the Mauser and its derivatives like the US M1903 Springfield) ensured that a trained rifleman could fire between 15 to 30 aimed rounds a minute, making the Lee-Enfield the fastest military bolt action rifle of the day. Categories: Military stubs | Firearm components ... M1903 M1903A1 M1903A3 M1903A4 with M84 sight The Springfield 1903 rifle (designation United States Rifle, Caliber . ...

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. Photo taken by Moriori for Wikipedia, free to use by anyone This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Photo taken by Moriori for Wikipedia, free to use by anyone This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Smokeless powder is the name given to any number of gunpowder-like propellants used in firearms which produce negligible smoke when fired, unlike the older black powder which it replaced. ... Rimmed, centerfire . ... The RSAF at Enfield was closed in 1987 and the majority of the site is now covered by a large housing development. ... Arms of Enfield London Borough Council The London Borough of Enfield is the most northerly London borough. ...

The rifle was introduced in November 1895 as the .303 calibre, Rifle, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, or more commonly simply Magazine Lee-Enfield, or MLE. 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*'s. 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1902 a carbine version of the original was introduced, the famous Short Magazine Lee-Enfield, or SMLE. 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 having shrunk into the stock. 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. 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

During the Boer War the British were faced with accurate long-range fire from the famous Mauser rifles, model 1895, in 7 x 57 mm caliber. This smaller, high-velocity round prompted the War Department to develop their own "magnum" round in 1910, using a .276 calibre round patterned from that of the Canadian Ross rifle. A modified Mauser-pattern rifle was built to fire it, the Pattern 1913 Enfield, although nothing came of this. Adapting the same mechanism to fire the standard .303 round led to the Pattern 14 Rifle, or P14, a competent design fed from a five-round internal magazine. Effective mass production was still a way off when World War I started, and the P14 was dropped. The SMLE therefore remained the standard British rifle during World War I and beyond. In 1926 the British Army changed the nomenclature and the SMLE became the Rifle No.1 Mk.III, with the original MLE and LEC becoming the Mk.I and Mk.II. The P14 went into production in America as the Enfield M1917, and enjoyed some success as a complement for the Springfield M1903 rifles which were America's standard issue; furthermore, 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). Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one from December 16, 1880-March 23, 1881 and the second from October 11, 1899-May 31, 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch, French and German origin (called Boers, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South... Mauser is the common name of German arms manufacturer Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GmbH, as well as the line of bolt action rifles they built for the German armed forces. ... 1910 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Ross rifle was a straight-pull bolt action . ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The tone of this article is inappropriate for an encyclopedia. ... Dads Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in World War II, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. ...

The SMLE design was fairly difficult 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 No.1 Mk.V used a new receiver-mounted sighting system, which moved the rear sight from its former position half-way up the barrel. The increased gap improved sighting accuracy. 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. Small numbers of rifles were also built with an experimental semi-automatic loading system. This article is about smithing. ... A lathe is a common tool used in machining. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. // Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working mechanical television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to...

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 with a new adjustment system for setting the "headspace", the spacing between the boltface and chamber. Unlike the SMLE, the No.4 did not have a blunt nose, the barrel protruding some way from the stock. The new floating barrel improved accuracy, and the No.4 became the most common sniper rifle in the British forces, fitted with a 3.5x No. 32 scope. Known as the No.4 Mk.1(T), many were re-barreled after the war to the new 7.62 mm NATO round and continued in service until the early 1980s as the L42A1 sniper rifle. Hey. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The traditional definition of a sniper is an infantry soldier especially skilled in field craft and marksmanship who kills selected enemies from concealment with a rifle at large distances. ... The NATO flag NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), sometimes called North Atlantic Alliance, Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for defence collaboration established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, D.C., on April 4...

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 "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 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 fierce recoil, and partly because of an alleged "Wandering Zero". Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1164x249, 44 KB) Source:http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1164x249, 44 KB) Source:http://www. ... The No. ... This article or section should be merged with Flash suppressor A flash hider, also known as flash eliminator, is an attachment on the end of the barrel of a weapon that is intended to reduce the amount of flash given off when firing. ... Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky emulsion (known as latex) in the sap of a number of plants but can also be produced synthetically. ...

There has been extensive debate over the past 50 years or so as to whether the Jungle Carbine's "Wandering Zero" was a real problem, or a myth exaggerated by soldiers to avoid being armed with a bolt-action rifle when the rest of the planet was equipping themselves with semi-automatic firearms.

Military Tests at the time seemed to confirm the presence of the Wandering Zero, leading to production of the rifle ending in 1947. However, modern collectors and shooters insist that the Jungle Carbine has no accuracy problems. How this alleged inaccuracy problem would have been a problem at the short ranges encountered in the jungle areas for which it was designed, is unclear.

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. The Fusil Automatique Leger, or Light Automatic Rifle (LAR). ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... National Service was the name given to the system of military conscription employed in Great Britain between 1949 and 1960. ...

During the 1960's, the British Government and the Ministry of Defence converted a number of Lee-Enfield No.4 rifles to 7.62mm 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 7.62mm NATO were re-designated as the L8 series rifles with the rifles being refitted with 7.62mm NATO rifle barrels, new bolt faces and extractor claws, new rear sights and new 10-round 7.62mm 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 7.62mm NATO rifle magazine to replace the old .303 British magazine and the new 7.62mm 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 7.62mm NATO. Despite this, the British learned from the results of the L8 test program and used them in successfully converting their stocks of No.4T sniper rifles to 7.62mm 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 AW/L96. Accuracy International is a British firearms manufacturer, best known for producing the Accuracy International AWM rifle. ... AW or aw may stand for: Active Worlds Addison-Wesley, publishers Ahrweiler district in Germany After Waizz, a dating system used in the Phantasy Star videogame series. ... The L96 is a precision rifle or sniper rifle produced by the British firm Accuracy International. ...

Production

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 (Royal Ordnance Factory) ROF Fazakerley. Contributing to the total was the arsenal at Ishapore in India, which continued to produce the Enfield in 7.62 mm until the early 1970s, and the BSA factory at Shirley in Birmingham. 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK governments munitions factories in and after World War II. Until privatisation in 1987 they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply and later the Ministry of Defence. ... Ishapore is a town in India. ... The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) was a British manufacturer of military equipment and vehicles. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ...

Post World War Two the Lithgow Small Arms Factory in New South Wales, Australia converted some SMLE IIIs and III*s to commercial sporting rifles with Lithgow Slazenger branding. These included centrefire .22 Hornet and .410 shotgun.

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.

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.

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 Arsenal to confirm this have so far been unsuccessful.

It was at first thought that some of these may be a product of the small manufacturers in the Khyber Pass region of the Indian/Pakistani/Afghani border, but "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, and the "VR" ("Victoria Regina") cypher from years well after her death.

It has been positied that the 1980s dated Ishapore SMLEs were made for the Mujahadeen during the Soviet invasion.

Usage today

Lee Enfields are still used by reserve forces and police forces in many Commonwealth countries, particularly India and Canada, where they are the main rifle issued to the Canadian Rangers. Television news footage of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan revealed that many Afghan tribesmen were still armed with Lee-Enfields, the rifle being common in the Middle East. Bolt-action rifles remain effective weapons in a desert environment, where long-range accuracy is more important than volume of fire.

Lee Enfields are very popular hunting rifles. Many surplus Commonwealth rifles were sold in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and they are also prolific in Southern Africa with hunters, farmers and sportsmen. A fair number have been 'sporterized', having had the front furniture removed and a scope fitted so that they resemble a sporting bolt rifle. Top-notch accuracy is very difficult to achieve with the Lee Enfield design due to the loose chamber - designed primarily to work in adverse conditions - the two part stock and the bolt's rear locking lugs, thus the Enfield is nowadays overshadowed by derivatives of Paul Mauser's design as a target shooting weapon. They did however continue to be used at Bisley up into the 1970's with some success. Paul von Meisner, born June 27, 1838 in Oberndorf am Neckar, died May 29, 1914 in Oberndorf am Neckar, was a German industrialist and weapon designer. ... The village of Bisley, in Surrey, the United Kingdom, is well known to rifle marksmen around the world. ...

At present in the UK 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 near 300 members of the Lee Enfield Rifle Association (link below) have greatly assisted in not just preserving rifles in shooting condition (many are sadly being deactivated and sold 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 Commonwealth countries. For example, the Wellington Service Rifle Association holds a popular ANZAC Day competition for Lee Enfields. The Wellington Service Rifle Association (or WSRA) is New Zealands oldest active service rifle club. ... hahahhaahahahahahaha chicken. ...

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.

The Lee-Enfield series rifles were also seen in use by numerous factions on the Solomon Islands back in 2000 when the islands were gripped in civil unrest. News footage showed a number of the fighters armed with Lee-Enfield No.4 rifles that were stolen from government armouries.

External links

Contents

History

Production

Usage today

External links

See also

Contents

History GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Production

Usage today

External links

See also

History