British Enfield History, Part Two

In Part One we took a look at the muzzleloading and single-shot British service rifles manufactured at the Royal Small Arms Factory in the London Borough of Enfield. In this segment we will look at the bolt-action repeaters. The Long Lee-Metford Beginning in 1879, the British held trials to select their next service rifle. Satisfied with the Martini-Henry, they didn’t adopt anew rifle until 1888.

This was the bolt-action, magazine-fed Lee-Metford chambered for the same .303 cartridge they were using in the Martini-Enfield. Once again, the name of the rifle was derived from the names of the of the designer and barrel. James Paris Lee was a Scottishborn, Canadian- American inventor that designed a turn bolt rifle with a detachable box magazine. Originally a single stack magazine, it was later modified into a ten-round, staggered, double-stack style.

The Metford name refers to William Ellis Metford, an English engineer who perfected the .303 jacketed bullet and the barrel rifling for it. Originally it was not designed for smokeless powder but in 1895 the design was modified to accommodate it and resulted in the Lee-Enfield. The design of the rifle incorporates several refinements that make it faster to operate in combat conditions than the Mauser.

A rear locking lug right next to the bolt handle provides a mechanical advantage over the front locking lugs of the 1. Made to replace the long infantry rifle and the carbine versions made for the cavalry with one size for all troops. Mauser system but at the same time limits the power of the cartridge it can use due to bolt flex when the gun is fired. The action of the No. 1 also cocks on closing, accomplishing several things that contribute to speed of cycling.

The initial opening of the bolt is easier because the shooter isn’t working against the firing spring. The closing stroke of the bole is more powerful than the opening stroke, making it faster to manipulate the bolt. The 60-degree bolt rotation of Enfield design as opposed to the 90-degree bolt rotation of the Mauser along with a shorter bolt stroke allow the shooter to leave his cheek on the stock and never lose sight of his sights and have to take the time to reacquire them as is necessary with the Mauser.

The Lee-Metford was adopted for British service in 1888. In 1895, when smokeless powder was adopted and the rifling and sights were changed, the name of the rifle was changed to the .303 calibre, Rifle, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, or more commonly, the Magazine Lee-Enfield. Never satisfied with a design, changes continued to be made to the rifle over time. From 1903 though 1909, many of the rifles had their barrels shortened and charger bridges installed.

This was the first British rifle to accept a magazine that could be reloaded while still on the rifle by means of stripper clips. Kind of a belt and suspenders solution. As it turned out, rifles were issued with one magazine and spare magazines were not issued to individual soldiers. Instead, they were issued less expensive stripper clips (chargers.) Several carbine versions were made and in 1896, the Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine Mk I was approved.

The Magazine Lee-Metford and Magazine Lee-Enfield were 49.5 inches long and referred to today as the "Long Lees." The No.1 Trials were again conducted at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in 1901 with an eye to replacing the Long Lees and the carbines with one rifle that would serve all branches of the service. In December 1902, the Army adopted a "Short Rifle" version of the Lee-Enfield that measured 44.5 inches overall length.

These were the first Short Magazine Lee-Enfields (short referring to the length of the rifle, not the magazine) and it probably took the Tommies

1. 1 with a ten-round box magazine and charger guide. The detachable magazine was rarely removed or replaced as ammunition was provided in stripper clips. about two seconds to start calling the SMLE a "Smelly." These were marked STH L. E. 1. Production began in 1903. At the same time production of the new rifles began, the British undertook converting the old Long Lees to SMLE specifications and naturally felt the need to tell the world about it by marking them SAHT L. E.

Con DII with the various stampings of asterisks, stars, moons, and shamrocks for all we know. In 1907, additional conversions were authorized and marked SHT L. E. Con D IV (Con D is the abbreviation for "Converted"). During production, the factory found ways to simplify the rifle and speed production. Each time they did they would add a mark or a star to the end of the name stamped on the rifle. This culminated in 1916 with the adoption of the SMLE Mk III*.

Early SMLE rifles had a cutoff that would block the magazine and keep the rounds in it for reserve or emergency use. The rifle was then used as a single shot to discourage wasting ammunition. It didn’t take much WWI combat to convince everyone that the era of the single-shot service rifle was long over and the cutoff was removed. As other factories picked up production for WWI, Enfield started to research producing a rifle with aperture rear sights.

The P14 As early as 1910, the British War Office had seen the advantages of a one-piece stock as used on the Mauser and Springfield rifles as well as a receiver-mounted aperture rear sight and forward locking lugs. They also considered a rimless cartridge that would produce a higher velocity than the old rimmed .303. They produced several prototypes and test rifles over the next two years and in 1913 conducted extensive field trials.

Enfield produced about 1,000 of the new rifles, chambered in .276 Enfield and called the Pattern 1913 Enfield (P’13) rifle. With the beginning of WWI in 1914, the War Office decided to go ahead with production of both the SMLE and the new rifle but dropped the experimental cartridge and produced the new rifle in the same old .303 caliber to ease production and supply problems that having two different calibers would have created. This was called the Pattern 14.

The War Office contracted with Vickers to produce 100,000 of the Pattern 14 rifles because all the other factories were busy making the vast numbers of SMLEs that would be needed. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending which side of the Atlantic you live on—Vickers was having problems getting the new rifle into production, so the War Office contracted with Winchester and Remington to produce the P14. Production started in January of 1916.

To fulfill the orders, Remington purchased a factory in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, latter to be unofficially known as the "Eddystone Arsenal." At the time of the purchase, Eddystone was a partially-finished locomotive factory. Each of the three factories worked independently and made design improvements to speed production. This led to some parts incompatibility between models.

As hard to believe as it is in this age of interchangeable parts, they were in such a hurry to get the rifles that the British War Office accepted the differences and simply had the rifles marked Pattern 14 Mk I E (made at Eddystone), Pattern 14 Mk I R (made at Remington), and Pattern 14 Mk I W (made at Winchester). This was followed by a design change with a different locking lug and all of the rifles made with that change were marked the same but with an asterisk (Mk I* and E, R, or W).

By April of 1917, 1.2 million P14 rifles had been produced and the contracts were nearing completion. With America’s entry into the war and Springfield Armory unable to produce enough rifles to arm the new army being raised, both Remington and Winchester offered to produce the P14 in .30-06 rather than .303. Because it was faster and cheaper to retool to make the rifle in .30-06 rather than produce new tooling to make the 1903 Springfield, the U. S.

Department of War accepted the proposals and United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917 was born.

Shortly after the first combat experiences in WWI, this was removed. Once the magazine cutoff was removed, the star would have been stamped behind the III. These are commonly known as the M1917 Enfield although none of them were ever manufactured at the Royal Small Arms Factory. Production was so successful at Eddystone, Remington, and Winchester that virtually all U. S.

Army troops, with the exception of the very first troops that went over with Pershing, were armed with the M1917 Enfield and the 1903 Springfield production was issued to the Marines.

In 1918 a telescopic sight sniper rifle was authorized and the Winchester P14s, having proven to overall more accurate than the others, were selected and were marked 1 rear sight lead to the adoption of the Pattern 1914 Enfield and No. 4 rifles with an aperture sight mounted on the receiver. with a "T" indicating Telescopic sight, labeled as Mk I* W T. After WWI, the P14 and M1917 rifles were designated as "Substitute Standard" and put into storage. In the U. S. many were sold through the NRA to members.

In 1926, the Pattern 14 rifles were redesignated as Rifle No. 3 Mk I and Mk I*. In 1939, with WWII just starting, the British Government took P14 rifles out of storage, refurbished them, and returned them to service after having them reworked to the Weedon Repair Standard (WRS). The work was done at Enfield as well as several private firms. The rework was not extensive. The rifles were degreased, volley sights were removed, and the rifles were then inspected and repaired if necessary.

New stocks were made without the volley sight inletting and the rifles with new stocks were designated Rifle No. 3 Mk II. After Dunkirk, the British need for rifles was so critical that the United States removed over 100,000 M1917 rifles from storage, reworked them to service condition, and shipped them to England for use by the Home Guard. 150,000 or so were sent to China and another 40,000 were provided to other allies. The remainder were issued to U. S. troops.

Near the end of the war in 1944 and 1945, P14s were dropped to the allied resistance fighters in France and the low countries by the British. No. 4-series Lee-Enfield Shortly after WWI, the British sort of picked up where they had left off in 1913 by holding trials to develop a rifle with a rear aperture sight similar to the Pattern 14.

Not feeling any particular pressure to actually choose anew rifle, the Enfield factory continued to conduct trials through the 1920s and 1930s, first coming up with the No. 1 Mark Vin 1922 and the No. 1 Mark VI in 1926. In 1931, the No. 1 Mk VI was altered slightly once again and redesignated the No, 4 Mk I and it was accepted in 1939 as the new British service rifle. So, after 20 years of development the result was a modified No. 1 Mk III* bolt action rifle in the same old .303 chambering.

I have not found any information on why after deciding in 1913 that they needed a rifle with a one piece stock and a receiver sight they scrapped the P14 and went back to the two piece stock. However, the new rifle was made with anew and different standard in screw threads, making pretty much all of the threaded components non-interchangeable with the No.1 rifles.

Once again finding themselves facing a war with Germany and in need of large quantities of small arms, two new Royal Ordnance Factories were built to manufacture the No. 4 rifles: ROF Maltby in South Yorkshire and ROF Fazakerley near Liverpool. In addition, Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) built a factory in Shirley, near Birmingham, to manufacture the

4 rifle. After 20 years of trials this modified version of the No. 1 was adopted. It had the receiver mounted aperture sight but abandoned the one-piece stock of the P14 and maintained the .303 British cartridge that many considered under powered. 4 with the barrel modified to accept a bayonet, eliminating the heavy No. 1 bayonet mounting hardware. No.4. By the middle of 1941 these facilities were all in production.

Even with all this production capacity the War Office felt the need for more capacity and contracted with Savage Arms in the states and Small Arms Ltd. in Canada to make the No. 4 Mk I rifles. Naturally by 1942 with service rifles rolling in, a telescopic-sighted version was approved and just as naturally it needed its own designation as the No. 4 Mk I (T). Some 25,000-30,000 of these rifles were produced.

So as not to end the confusion of marks, some of the No. 4 Mk I* rifles were converted to the "T" variation by SAL at their Long Branch factory in Canada and were marked No. 4 Mk I* 4 receiver. This example has a non-military target sight attached but its similarity to the No. 1 is easy to see. It maintains the tenround box magazine and the bridge for the stripper clips to charge it. (T). If you’re not confused yet, it gets better.

A modification of the bolt release was approved for rifles manufactured by Savage and Long Branch, changing the markings once again. These are marked No. 4 Mk I*. In case you’re wondering where that "*" came from, rifles produced by Savage under the Lend-Lease Act were additionally marked "U. S. Property" on the left side of the receiver. I suspect that was chosen because it was the only place that hadn’t been stamped.

In 1943, the British felt the need to once again return to the carbine concept that they had abandoned with the No. 1 rifle and began trials on a shortened and lightened No. 4. In 1944 the No. 5 Mk I, commonly known as the "Jungle Carbine" was released. These were produced by ROF Fazakerley and BSA-Shirley from 1944-1947.

In 1947, the mounting of the trigger was changed from the trigger guard to the action body, beech wood was approved for stocks, and the practice of using Roman numerals was changed to use of Arabic numbers. These "monumental" changes were adopted in 1949 and, of course, these rifles carried anew stamp, marked as No. 4 Mk2. We have strayed quite far from Enfield and although there were many more changes to the No. 4, they all occurred at other places, so we will skip over them.

All that remains are the assault rifles that we cannot own without a BATF Class III license. Much was made, at the time, of the EM-2 (Rifle No. 9 Mk1 or Janson rifle) which was a bullpup-style rifle that was chambered for the .280 British but never put into production. The next service rifle was the L1A1, a British version of the FN FAL in 7.62. The FN FAL was developed in Belgium beginning in 1946 and the first FALs were in .308, available in 1953. Britain adopted it in 1957 and produced them at Enfield.

In the 1970s, Enfield designers were looking for a replacement for the FAL and went back to the bullpup design. Originally chambered for an experimental .190 caliber cartridge, this was cancelled because of NATO standardization and later chambered in 5.56mm and designated the XL70. This became the basis for the development of the SA80 and then the L85.

The first production runs of the L85 displayed a lot of problems, so many that the troops named it the "Civil Servant" because it wouldn’t work and you couldn’t fire it. Naturally, the bugs were worked out of the new design and in the grand British tradition of confusing everything, it was renamed the L85A2. In 1984, the Royal Small Arms factory at Enfield was privatized and the factory finally closed in 1988. The L85A2 remains the standard British service rifle.

About all we can say for certain about what the next British service will be is that it will not be designed or built at Enfield. AG