SMLE No.1 Mk.III:
Copyright 2010, Gamburd USA:
Called the "workhorse of the British Army", the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield ("SMLE") No.1 Mk. III was the standard issued bolt action rifle of British, British Empire, Dominion, and Commonwealth troops during the First World War, and was manufactured by the millions.
The rifle holds 10 rounds of .303 ammunition, comprised of two 5-round charger clips. The SMLE is reknowned for its durability and smooth, fast firing bolt action.
The origin of the rifle began during the South African Boer War (1899-1902), when the Magazine Lee-Enfield ("MLE") rifles then in service in the British Army were found to be inferior to the Mauser Model 95 rifles used by the Boer forces.
The main drawbacks to the MLE were it’s lack of accuracy and the need for it to be loaded one round at a time.
Its Mauser opponent meanwhile was accurate and could be quickly reloaded with stripper clips; even before the Boer War had ended the British military had begun development of a new rifle.
Introduced on 1 January 1904, as the “Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield Mark 1”, the new rifle put into practice all of the lessons learned during the Boer War and more.
Through small refinements and modifications, the SMLE No. 1 Mk. III was introduced in 1907. Adapted to fire the new Mark VII High Velocity spitzer .303 ammunition and holding ten .303 rounds, the most notable feature of the gun was it’s extremely fast bolt cycling action.
The effectiveness of the new rifle’s action was demonstrated during the very first engagement of British and German forces during the First World War at the Battle of Mons, in Belgium, on 23 August 1914. Here British troops, outnumbered more than 2 to 1, were effectively able to halt the German advance utilizing the “Mad Minute” technique of rifle fire.
Historically, it was perfectly feasible for a British Expeditionary Force professional soldier who was trained in marksmenship to be able to fire 15 rounds of concentrated rapid fire each minute from his SMLE rifle. That is just four seconds to aim, fire and cycle the bolt for the next shot.
British troops decimated the attacking German columns at Mons; the effectiveness of their firing convinced the German soldiers that the British troops were heavily armed with machine guns, when in fact they were only armed with SMLE No.1 Mk. III rifles.
A slightly redesigned version of the rifle, the SMLE No. 1 Mk. III* (distinguished in name from its predecessor by an asterisk), changed to help ease mass production, saw service for three decades in the British Army through the end of the Second World War in 1945.
The Lee-Enfield was one of the most mass produced military rifles ever in the history of firearms; it is estimated a total of 17 million Lee-Enfield rifles of all Lee-Enfield designs were manufactured between 1895 and the 1980's.
Over one hundred years later, the SMLE is still used in many military conflicts, especially in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, and it is reported to be the preferred rifle used by Taliban snipers in the current war in Afghanistan.
