Lee enfield biography

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  • Lee-Enfield

    Country of origin

    British Empire

    Number built

    17,000,000+ (as of 1993)

    Length

    • 1260 mm (Lee-Enfield Mk.1)
    • 1132 mm (SMLE No.1 Mk.3)
    • 1129 mm (SMLE No.4 Mk.1)
    • 1003 mm (SMLE No.5 Jungle Carbine)

    Barrel length

    • 767 mm (Lee-Enfield Mk.1)
    • 640 mm (SMLE No.1 Mk.3)
    • 640 mm (SMLE No.4 Mk.1)
    • 478 mm (SMLE No.5 Jungle Carbine)

    Weight

    • 4.19 kg (Lee-Enfield Mk.1)
    • 3.96 kg (SMLE No.1 Mk.3)
    • 4.11 kg (SMLE No.4 Mk.1)
    • 3.24 kg (SMLE No.5 Jungle Carbine)

    Feed system

    10 round detachable magazine, reloaded with 5-round stripper clips

    Cyclic rate

    Depending on user / 700rpm (Automatic variants)

    Other name(s)

    "Smelly" (colloquial)

    The Lee-Enfield was a series of British bolt-action rifles that served as the standard British rifle over the 20th century. The Lee-Enfield was born in 1895 as a marriage between the James Paris Lee designed magazine and bolt action, and Enfield pattern rifling. Lee-Enfields and its variants served Britain and the Bri

  • lee enfield biography
  • The Lee-Enfield Bolt Action Rifle

    By Christopher Miskimon

    A small party of about 40 German soldiers had infiltrated the Australian lines around the besieged town of Tobruk, Libya, during the night of April 13, 1941. They began setting up a half dozen machine guns, several mortars, and even a pair of small infantry guns laboriously dragged through the desert sands. It was a foothold the Germans could use to expand into the perimeter and capture the town. They began firing at the nearest Australian unit, B Company of the 2-17 Infantry Battalion. The Aussies replied with rifles and machine guns, but it was tough going. A party consisting of Lieu- tenant Austin Mackell and five pri- vates, along with Corporal John Hurst Edmondson, decided to mount a counterattack to drive the Germans back.

    The men clutched their bayoneted Lee-Enfield Rifles tightly and moved into the darkness, attacking the enemy fiercely despite the machinegun fire thrown at them. Edmondson was hit twice but conti

    Lee–Enfield

    This article is about the early twentieth-century British rifle. For other uses, see Lee rifle and Enfield rifle (disambiguation).

    British bolt-action rifle

    Lee–Enfield

    A 1903 short magazine Lee–Enfield Mk I in the Swedish Army Museum

    TypeBolt-actionrifle
    Place of originUnited Kingdom
    In service1895–1957 (as the standard British service rifle)
    Used bySee Users
    Wars
    DesignerJames Paris Lee
    Manufacturer
    Produced
    • MLE: 1895–1904
    • SMLE: 1904–1957
    No. built17,000,000+
    VariantsSee Models/marks
    Mass
    • 9.24 lb (4.19 kg) (Mk I)
    • 8.73 lb (3.96 kg) (Mk III)
    • 9.06 lb (4.11 kg) (No. 4)
    Length
    • MLE: 49.6 in (1,260 mm)
    • SMLE No. 1 Mk III: 44.57 in (1,132 mm)
    • Rifle No. 4 Mk I: 44.45 in (1,129 mm)
    • LEC: 40.6 in (1,030 mm)
    • Rifle No. 5 Mk I: 39.5 in (1,003 mm)
    Barrel length
    • M