The Lee-Enfield

Hi, I’m Chris, Range Master at Mission94 Firearms Education Center. Welcome back to our educational video series.  In the last episode, we looked at what primary service rifles the Americans were using at turn of the 20th century. But what were other countries using? Let’s take a look at Britian’s service rifle, the Lee-Enfield.  

Named for John Paris Lee, the designer of the rear locking bolt system and the Royal Small Arms factory in Enfield where it was built, the Lee-Enfield was the first smokeless powder rifle adopted by the British Army in 1895. The unique deeper five-groove rifling system developed by the Enfield factory allowed the firearms to remain accurate while using the new smokeless powder. British infantrymen were issued the “long” Lee-Enfield with a 30 1⁄2″ barrel, and cavalry units were issued 20 1⁄2″-barrelled carbines. Both versions had a magazine capacity of 10 rounds.  

After its inception, the Lee-Enfield went through several models beginning with the Lee-Enfield Cavalry in 1896. The most widely known model is the SMLE Mk III. Introduced in 1907, it featured a simplified rear sight, improved handguard and magazine designs and an adapted chamber for spitzer .303 ammunition.  

These firearms were advanced and allowed for effective and efficient usage. The “mad minute” was a pre-WWI bolt-action rifle speed shooting exercise for British Army riflemen and was used to grade a soldier’s marksmanship. They were required to fire 15 rounds at 300 yards from a prone position in one minute.  The bolt-design and magazine capacity of the Lee-Enfield allowed well-trained soldiers to fire 20 to 30 aimed rounds in a minute. In 1908, Sergeant Major Jesse Wallingford set the first “mad minute” record with 36 hits in one minute. Subsequent improvements to later models of the Lee-Enfield only increased the firing rate. In the Battle of Mons in 1914, German soldiers believed they were under machine gun fire due to the rapid rate of fire coming from the British lines and the Lee-Enfields they carried.  

One of the figures who looms large in modern history to carry the Lee-Enfield, was T.E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia. T. E. Lawrence was an aspiring archaeologist when he first made his way to the Middle East before WWI. During his time there, he became fluent in Arabic and gained an appreciation for the culture and people of the region. During WWI, Lawrence served in the Middle East in the intelligence branch. Using his knowledge of the area and the peoples he convinced superiors to support local insurrections against the Turks, Germany’s allies in WWI. Lawrence became the brains behind the insurgent attacks and traversed the region from 1915 to the end of the war. His efforts helped support an Allied victory but could not lead to the formation of a unified Arab nation.  

The Lee-Enfield was a solid and reliable firearm, performing well under a wide range of conditions from the jungles of the Boer War to the desert and the trenches of WWI. It was officially replaced in the UK in 1957 but was in use until the early 1960s. Some Commonwealth nations still use the Lee-Enfield today. The Bangladeshi police use it as their primary service rifle.  

Join us next time as we take a look at the American cousin of the Lee-Enfield, the M1917.