Lee enfield bolt head12/7/2022 The rear sight is fitted in front of the receiver and adjusts out to 2000 yards: The butt has a brass butt plate to protect it when the rifle was rested on the ground, with a small trap door to allow an oil bottle and rifle pull through to be stored there: The magazine was not normally removed from the rifle to reload, instead five round chargers were used that fitted into the charger guide above the bolt: The follower is shaped to allow the cartridges to be arranged in a double stack so that ten rounds can be carried without the magazine protruding too far below the rifle: This was combined with a ten round magazine that gave the rifle double the capacity of a Mauser:Ī catch is fitted inside the trigger guard, just in front of the trigger:ĭepressing the catch allows the magazine to be withdrawn so it can be disassembled for cleaning: The turn down bolt handle positioned the firer’s hand back next to the trigger making it easy for a follow up shot. The SMLE had a number of advantages over the far more popular Mausers that were contemporaneous with it. The safety is positioned at the rear of the receiver, on the opposite side to the bolt handle: It then just slides out the back of the rifle: The bolt can be extracted by rotating the bolt head into the vertical position: When the bolt is puched forward, a new cartridge is picked up from the magazine and chambered and the weapon cocked ready for firing. This extracts the spent casing from the rifle’s breach and ejects it to the side. The rifle works on the bolt action principle, having a turn down bolt that is used to cycle the action. It then went through a number of upgrades, such as equipping it with a charger bridge, before settling into its final form in 1907: It had first been introduced in 1903 as an update to the older long Lee Metford Rifle. With its snub nose, the SMLE is one of the most recognisable fire arms of the two World Wars. It seems odd that it has taken so long for me to finally cover one of the most iconic rifles of the British Army, the Short Magazine Lee Enfield.
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