Short, Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE)

History

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SMLE MkIII

 

By the turn of the century the British War Office had determined that a new service rifle was required to replace the Magazine Lee-Metfords, Magazine Lee-Enfields (Long Lee's) and the Lee-Enfield Carbines. Deficiencies in these arms were specifically noted during the Boer War of 1899-1902, significant enough to warrant addressing. Certainly economy played it's part as what was requested was one rifle to take the place of both the Long Lee's and the Cavalry Carbines.

The task of designing this rifle was handed to the Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield and by 1901 trials began on a new "short rifle". By December 1902 the Short Magazine Lee Enfield MkI (SMLE MkI) was adopted and production began in 1903 at RSAF Enfield. Soon to follow was RSAF Sparkbrook, Birmingham Small Arms Co. (BSA) and London Small Arms (LSA).

The SMLE (short referring to its length as compared to the Long Lee's) designed with compatibility in mind, allowed existing MLE's and MLM's to be converted to the new rifle with little effort and so during this same period many Long Lee's were converted to the SMLE pattern.

The SMLE MkI from its adoption through to 1914 underwent a series of upgrades and modifications. What started as the SMLE MkI finally evolved by 1914 to the SMLE MkIII. The MkIII being the most plentiful as it is the rifle that Great Britain fielded during World War I. Through the course of the war, further modifications were made to the SMLE which resulted in the MkIII*, these changes were made in an effort to simplify and speed up production. Also with increased production in mind Standard Small Arms (SSA) and the National Rifle Factory (NRF) were contracted to produce SMLE's. These rifles became known as "peddled scheme" rifles as neither SSA nor NRF actually produced rifles from start to finish but rather assembled them from delivered parts. Joining England in the production of SMLE's were the rifle factories in Ishapore India and Lithgow Australia.

The SMLE MkIII and MkIII* provided Great Britain with an extremely battle hardy rifle. The Lee action design with, rear locking lugs and cock-on-closing bolt operation made the rifle very fast and relatively effortless to cycle. So quick in fact that German soldiers would think the British were armed with machine guns. Another benefit to the SMLE was its chamber dimensions that helped in preventing jams caused by the conditions of the battlefield. So successful was the SMLE design, Canadian troops armed with the infamous Ross rifle would conveniently loose them during battle and claim a discarded SMLE in order to carry on their fight. The SMLE, which became known as the Rifle No1 MkIII, this due to a government nomenclature change in 1926, carried on to equip the British and Commonwealth countries right up to and including World War II.

Production of the SMLE rifle continued at BSA Co. until 1943, Lithgow Australia until 1956 and Ishapore India produced them until 1974. It was Ishapore that in the 1960's developed a SMLE patterned rifle chambered for the 7.62mm NATO cartridge, this rifle was designated the 2A and 2A1. More can be read about the 2A rifle on the 2A page.

All this makes the SMLE one of the longest produced military rifles of modern history. SMLE's or Smelly's can still be seen in the hands of troops to this day. Pretty good for a design that was first developed in 1879.

 

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