Famous Firearms | British Lee-Enfield Rifle

Although the Gatling Gun which was forerunner of the machine gun was used by Union forces during the American Civil War, most infantry attacks were against muzzle loaded rifles and artillery. That was bad enough, but fast-forward 50 years and infantry weapons had been developed that massively increased rate of fire and accuracy. What hadn’t changed a great deal, was the tactics to deal with the new warfare. Generals grounded in the days of a bygone age struggled to find ways to combat these new modern weapons.
The British Lee-Enfield rifle typified this new wave of devastating firepower. Introduced in 1895, this 10-round bolt-action rifle was one of the finest infantry weapons of World War I. With the ability to fire 20-30 aimed rounds per minute by a trained rifleman, German soldiers sometimes mistakenly thought that they had faced a machine gun when in fact it had been scores of these rapid firing rifles. Guns such as the Lee-Enfield now provided a mobile and powerful presence on the battlefield.
Watch the complete documentary here - • Battle of the Somme | ...
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[@Element.18]

Watch the complete documentary here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/gYDalnyLnq2Wpbc

[@charlesfrancis6925]

Lee Enfield rifles were not only used in World War I but also used as a primary infantry weapon in World War II as well. It was used by most common wealth militaries until 1950's and eventually passed on to the police force. In India it is still used by the police as a secondary weapon.

[@Nooziterp1]

And by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

[@gordonbone3689]

I owned one. Powerful kick to it. When I moved to the states in 1982, I had to leave it at my parent's place. Full wooden stock and brass butt plate.

[@JohnWilliams-iw6oq]

Even saw use in the Korean war in the hands of Australian troops.

[@mrjockt]

In British Army service the .303” Lee Enfield wasn’t retired until 1972 when the No4 Mk.I(T) sniper rifle was replaced with the L42, which was itself just a 7.62 NATO conversion of its predecessor.

[@danielargolo2797]

Yes, that's right!

[@Tipi_Dan]

To those unfamiliar with the Lee-Enfield SMLE, she may at first seem a somewhat homely dear. The poor thing looks as though she was designed by a committee. Which indeed she was. Oh! But take her into your arms and at once the sweet balance, poise, pointability, and feel! An SMLE comes into the rifleman's arms like a willing woman eager to please. Even our beloved M1903 Springfield cannot exceed her charms in terms of the pure pleasure to hold. Nor, unfortunately can her successors the No.4 and P14. The SMLE is one of those guns that is greatly loved, like the M1911, and the Luger. No rifleman should miss out on an opportunity to shoot one.

[@christskingdomiscoming5964]

That was written like a piece of poetry, did you mean to do that?

[@naterod]

It is my dream to own one for my collection.

[@invisibletosociety8338]

I have an Enfield made in 1916 but it is not as nice as the one in the video. It shoots straight and has never failed to fire. Love the old warhorse, my favorite rifle for longer ranges.

[@rogercarbonell3696]

I have a 1917 and still going strong

[@gortbot7748]

One of the best deer hunting rounds in North America. The classy old rifles are the bonus.

[@robleary3353]

I had an old Lee Enfield mk4 I think no. 4, used it on my parents country property. Even I could hit a target at nearly a thousand yards. I used it for ferral goat and dog hunting, great pig gun too. It never missed a beat, jammed or gave any problems. Sad day when I had to sell it!. Nuff said.

[@Mike-zw7fq]

Why did you have to sell the rifle?

[@robleary3353]

@@Mike-zw7fq My parents sold the property and I didn't have anywhere to use it.

[@supertom8552]

@@robleary3353should have kept it !

[@williamsoens9973]

The rifle shown was the SMLE - Short Magazine Lee Enfield. This was used in both world wars but was replaced roughly half-way through WW2 by the Lee Enfield #4 mark 1, which I used during my National Service. This was a slightly simplified version and easier to manufacture but otherwise identical in many ways.

[@Dogboy1092]

One of the most beautiful rifles. Used (different variants) by Commonwealth forces in Boer War, WW1, WW2, Korea, Malayan Emergency. Only phased out for SLR in late 50’s early 60’s

[@johnpoile1451]

Keep your modern plastic/ polymer things.

[@honestjohn1129]

I love the look of the gun in the video - we had toy ones in the early 80s that the bolt used to work on.

[@MantaLad]

I own a 1917 lithgow (australian) mk3 and its still my favourite gun. The power and accuracy behind it on ironsites is second to none

[@OldFloatingSeaman]

I remember the recoil so well. It was a pleasure to fire a SLR afterwards. 🙂

[@davidmiller3709]

Father did two drafts back to back at the Sigs Wing in Sandhurst, won all the instructor competitions which he demurred was ‘commando training’. At the range, lit an oily rag an held the endsight in the smoke to coat it in lampblack, much to the interest of his Army colleagues. He won, “because I used the Naval wind tables”.

[@christianchristian57g.]

j'adore ce fusil, il est très beau et la capacité de son chargeur fait de lui la meilleure arme de la première guerre mondiale.

[@JohnWilliams-iw6oq]

One of my all time favourites, the recoil is smooth and starts as a push back into your shoulder then the muzzle rises to the right. The 7.62 was a sharp hit to the shoulder, totally different to fire but I must add that both rifles were target rifles, a number 4 Mk 1 and an Omark model 44. I used both out to 900 yards and enjoyed them every time.

[@panthermartin7784]

From alot of experience myself, this round in a hunting style configuration is absolutely devistating on game animals, filled my freezer for over 20 years now. Has no equal in the same segment.

[@551taylor]

I drilled with, and shot the SMLE (smelly) until 1968, and I was clearing the butts until some years later. The unusual thing about the .303 bullet was that it was boat-tailed spire point fmj with an aluminium tip and lead core. Later on in WW2 the tip was replaced with compressed paper due to the shortage of aluminium. The reason for the dual core was to cause the bullet to bend like a banana on hitting a target in order to cause maximum damage, and it often travelled at a tangent after shattering bone and would exit a long way from the entry hole. Why, you might ask? Well, that’s because dum-dum bullets were illegal in warfare… The accurate SMLE range using the ladder sight could be as much as a mile, but they used the battle sight in the trenches to allow for quick aiming. The round was powerful enough to go straight through a moderate sized tree trunk or an engine block… I believe that a carbine version was manufactured for jungle use too. Ammo was supplied in soldered tins containing bandoleers of rounds in 5 round clips. Unfortunately ammo produced in India was of very dubious quality and I had to destroy all that we found in stock in the 70s and 80s.

[@Trebor74]

One of the Brit generals was questioned about the need for dumdum rounds at the conference where they were banned from use said they were needed because "unlike European soldiers who fall down and stay down when shot, natives get back up again." Or something to that affect.

[@wastedtalentinc8007]

This was the first rifle i fired as a teen in Sydney back in the 80s… what a rifle

[@fancymcclean6210]

I remember firing a mark 4 many years ago -an absolute delight. Flaxen Saxon.

[@eddylloyd7413]

It was still issued to the South African Police up to the late 1960’s - a very good rifle.

[@kentr2424]

The SMLE was, IMHO, the best rifle of WW1 because of its handy length, reliability, speed of loading and firing, and that 10 round magazine. It became the No 4 Mk 1 in 1939, just after WW2 in Europe kicked off. I believe it was still the best bolt-action rifle of WW2, for all the reasons listed above. A trained British or Commonwealth rifleman was expected to put a minimum of 15 rounds into a target sited at 300 yards in one minute (called the Mad Minute) - many soldiers could do 20 rounds plus. That compares favorably to the US M1 Garand rifle rate of fire. Britishmuzzleloaders has an excellent video series on just how the British soldier was trained and the practices they fired on an annual basis for qualification. Prior to WW1, a British Army private was paid something like 12 pence a day - and if he qualified as First Class Marksman - he received an extra 6 pence per day for the next year. A 50% pay bump is a great motivator to do your very best on the rifle range...😁

[@blackukulele]

As a school boy in the 1970s, I was in the army cadets. I used both the 303 and the SLR on ranges. I preferred the 303.

[@jpaulc441]

3:04 Reminds me of the Zapruder film...

[@mrjockt]

It’s strange to think that had it not been for W.W.I the career of the Lee- Enfield series of rifles in the British Army would have been much shorter than it actually was, by 1913 the British Army was already looking at a replacement for the SMLE, with trials of the new Enfield P13 rifle in .276” rimless due to begin in 1914, and if trials had been successful replacement of the SMLE scheduled to begin in 1916.

[@Reso-Tech]

This is my favorite firearm of all time 💯

[@bharatkumarjoshi1596]

Made in India from 1914 till 1950s. Atleast 1.6 million of different variants were made in India at Rifle factory Ishapore. Last users were different state police forces till 2015.

[@ozen4909]

I don't know why, but I find this rifle beautiful.

[@wolfpack4694]

I have one and put a new old barrel on it and it’s an impressive shooter. Twice the capacity of the Mauser and a smooth action. Solid and deadly. And oh lord, that 19” sword bayonet will definitely get an opponent’s attention.

[@jamieteal2107]

Well said Wolfpack 4694 still very effective in a lot of situations I’m in the market for one now 👍🇦🇺

[@TheRealLeeVanCleef]

Get some 😎

[@Ethan-xf4or]

Beautiful sturdy powerful rifle.

[@tombrydson781]

Having fired 303lee Enfield and slr both great weapons

[@alien6551]

I remember shooting this gun in the 60s in the ACf

[@clementevaldez1271]

I love that model.....303 great round

[@konnorrockkonnoisseur4970]

Just bought one made in 1945. Love it!

[@PassivePortfolios]

I had one of these but sold it because the surplus ammo was drying up. Well designed rifle, good shooter, more accurate than I was.

[@BingleFlimp]

2:14 I've been a fan of the Lee-Enfield and its variants for a long time. I've on and off read and watched videos discussing the rifle. Years later, I had no idea until this video that it had a functional detachable magazine. I knew it was detachable, but I always assumed that it wasn't designed to contain the 303 rounds under tension when detached from the rifle. I had assumed, that they'd all be immediately ejected from the box magazine.

[@plymouth5714]

If you had enough 'spare' magazines you could use the SMLE like a modern assault rifle but they were designed from the outset to have only one magazine to each rifle. In fact the very first Lee Enfields just like the Lee Metford before them actually had a small chain linking the magazine to the receiver (the 'Brasshats' thought the raw recruits might panic under fire and squeeze the mag release instead of the trigger and drop all their ammo out the bottom! Incidentally, the magazines on the No1 and the WW2 No4 are slightly different at the locating points at the top, use the wrong one and it might work if you are lucky but is more likely to get jammed tight into the receiver!

[@chrisgee5893]

You wouldn’t need spare magazines, you would have carried ‘clips’ of five rounds each leaving the magazine in place. The magazine contains a removable W spring. Incidentally the butt would carry an oil bottle, a pull through and small piece of cloth called a 4 by 2 which went through the loop in the pull through to clean the bore.

[@BingleFlimp]

@@chrisgee5893 No I'm aware of the clips, etc. The comment was just to express that I didn't know the SMLE was designed so that it could theoretically function with spare, detachable, pre-loaded box magazines rather than clips.

[@plymouth5714]

@@BingleFlimp One thing I forgot to add was that the MLM, the MLE and the early SMLE all had magazine cut off shelves which swivelled on a screw and could be pulled out or pushed in to the receiver. They effectively converted the ten round rifle into a single shot bolt action. Again, the top brass thought poor Tommy Atkins would get so exited in battle he'd shoot all his ammo off too quickly so he would have to shoot and load each round individually until his officer ordered rapid fire when he could pull out the cut off and use the ten rounds waiting in the box. Soon after the start of WW1 the cut off was deleted from production and the SMLE MkIII* had no slot for the cut off in the receiver. Interestingly, after the end of the war the cut off was re-introduced for a while until they thought better of it and removed it entirely. The No4 WW2 SMLE never had them from the start!

[@hayleywilliams8750]

In ww2/1 a good British soldier could fire 10 rounds in a minute this was called the 'mad minute' where you put your middle finger on the trigger and your hand on standby bear the bolt

[@stephenrichie4646]

Had one. Possibly the most interesting rifles I ever handled. Unfortunately, the barrel looked like rough cast iron on the inside, which made accuracy an iffy proposition, and made it impossible to clean.

[@christopherfranklin972]

The bolt of a Lee Enfield should never be closed by using the palm of the hand in case of an AD which would result in the bolt handle being blown into the wrist. The bolt should be opened with the thumb and forefinger and closed with the thumb hooked over the bolt handle.

[@MSM4U2POM]

Not disagreeing with you, I'm just trying to understand: are you saying the 'correct' method avoids accidental discharges, or that it is safer in the event of an accidental discharge?

[@christopherfranklin972]

@@MSM4U2POM The latter,I can only assume that there had been cases of accidental discharge caused by a damaged sear allowing the firing pin to strike on the closing stroke before the locking lugs engaged.

[@richardjoyce7198]

@@christopherfranklin972 the reason for thumb and fore finger is to rapid fire ,more rapid ,the rifle owner had it right the weapon should be kept in the shoulder and kept sighted on target whilst working the bolt ,my corporal in depot was left handed (like me ) and and by just turning the rifle anti clockwise slightly and fire off 11 rounds (one up the spout ) accurately and very quickly i served in 1para 56to 59

[@SamhainBe]

Still a fine rifle!

[@Dragonfire1911]

I have studied the second Boer War and it was a disaster for the British, but was it really all due to the Lee Enfield rifle ?

[@georgemorley1029]

They weren’t using the Lee Enfield. They were using Lee Metford rifles which replaced Martini Henrys.

[@Dragonfire1911]

@@georgemorley1029 Yes they were the Lee Enfield was first put into service in 1895 the Lee Metford was still in service when the war started but the Lee Enfield was there.

[@johanels8385]

the very first Lee Enfield had rudimental sights. There was 2 Boer wars. The first one was won by the Boere. Then the 2 nd boer war was also won in the begining due to the Mauser rifles with magazines and smokeless ammo. The British won the war eventually after having 500 000 soldiers in South Africa. The boere had 27 000 at the start of the war and that fisseled away to about 7 000 at the end with about 6 000 killed. The British started their scorched earth action and put all the farmers wives and children in concentration camps were 27 000 perished. This was the first time in the world it was done and the Germans later followed with their camps that killed about 6 000 000. So the gun is not the winner in wars but to extermination of the population as is even true today with the Russian Ukrain conflict.

[@Dragonfire1911]

@@johanels8385 But there were British soldiers test firing captured Mauser rifles and they said that they could shoot better with the Mauser. And it was said that the British was intending to start making the Mauser for themselves but when WW1 happened, they couldn't afford or have the time to build something new, so they had no choice but to use the Enfield again and again the British took a huge beating.

[@johanels8385]

@@Dragonfire1911 I suggest you read books writen by British scolars after the war. The first Enfield made in Britain by the War Department shòt about 300 mm to the left at 100 meters due to sights fitted on the wrong position on the gun. I personally hunt with a mk 4 and it is a beautifull hunting rifle but it came from the SADF from 1948.

[@sathishslifestyle4783]

There is a man named veerapan was there near karnataka who scared 3 state police with just a muskets on beginning slowly adapted to sks , ak 47

[@adamr9720]

The Mark IV was the first center fire rifle I ever shot.

[@shanetrent8799]

I use this for Whitetails. ❤

[@MarsFKA]

5:32 As it turned out, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme was the greatest military disaster in British history - nearly 20,000 dead. The trenches of World War 1 effectively destroyed a generation from each nation involved, and all for nothing.

[@My10thAccount]

Worse than that this and the war that would come after effectively broke the Western World’s spine. The European countries a shadow of their collective former glory and are slowly committing cultural suicide. While the countries descended from their efforts follow suit. There’s no fight left in them anymore and they only persist thanks to sheer inertia. It’s depressing and heartbreaking to watch. Centuries of greatness curtailed in under 50 years…

[@MarsFKA]

@@My10thAccount As long as they aren't going to war against each other and killing each other in their millions. That's what is important, don't you think?

[@My10thAccount]

@@MarsFKA Europe along with it’s descendant countries (US, Canada, Australia, etc) won’t exist by the end of the century, at least not as we understand them. Frankly if that is to be the case maybe it would’ve been better if we simply annihilated each other in one final battle to rock the world. To go down in a true war of legend would at least be a grand conclusion to the European Arc of human history and a final one at that. Certainly better than a slow recession and eventual consumption by newer powers.

[@MarsFKA]

@@My10thAccount You should wash your socks and underwear more often. Something about you stinks. If you have anything more to say, spit it out now and be done. I have nothing more to say to you.

[@jackx4311]

@@My10thAccount - people have been writing off England ever since England existed as a nation. Old but very wise saying: "Before you start skinning a lion, make BLOODY sure he's dead."

[@mikem6176]

I think it more than a matter of English pride that they consider the Enfield to have been the finest battle rifle of the Great War. It has been said that, of the three rifles seen most on the western front, the Enfield was the best battle rifle, the Mauser the best hunting rifle and the Springfield the best target rifle.

[@user-rl8kr1uj6c]

Of all the thousands of authentic historically correct SMLE No1 Mk111's out there you couldn't find one that hadn't been butchered and had a scope bridge sight thingie screwed on top of it???! Who was that idiot with the rifle?

[@2009Berghof]

Too bad the particular choice of a SMELLY that has a scope mount added to it. Could we not find one minus this anachronism?

[@loadofstuff10]

Give them an inch.. they will take a foot..the next thing you won't have a leg to stand on..😂

[@donaldshaffer9275]

Design of bolt action is from a Lee-Remington

[@kalmurphy5254]

You could bring 1 round and10 in mag

[@guywithhisownopinion]

Wrong type of sling and has has a slide for a telescopic scope added

[@dimasjayuli2610]

👍👍

[@donalfinn4205]

Wow! A 303 blasts apart a Melon! Wow!

[@Finglesham]

They did not have a spare head I presume but it would have been the same result.

[@KathrynLiz1]

Casually handling that rifle not only with the bolt closed, but the rifle actually cocked, is VERY bad form and a serious safety violation on any well run range.

[@alexvisser5913]

This dude runs around with a loaded mag in the gun?

[@rambultruesdell3412]

This beast could grant Taiwan a partisan civil army to be reckoned...

[@danielfourie5500]

Ha ha the last piece where the chap is walking in fairy land takes it in truth people lost their fuckin minds in those fields😢

[@andrewchirgwin4136]

This guy is walking around being interviewed with a cocked rifle and a full magazine, REALLY.

[@hb9145]

It was obsolete by the time of the second Boer War, where Mausers showed their superiority. That is why the British moved to replace it with the P13 (more or less a Mauser).

[@spartakspartaki6289]

Who eats the melon

[@Mocha-Koffee01]

1st

[@andrewchirgwin4136]

PS, I've also noticed that the interviewer is handed a cocked and loaded rifle with a round in the breech and no safety engaged. Who seriously has this kind of ra ge attitude considering a supposed expert?

[@colinmacdonald5129]

theyre handling a cocked rifle and the the owner drops the loaded magazine . cringey safety practise

[@BigLisaFan]

A 1913 rifle but it has a late cocking piece. Great rifle, I have a 1916 No1 Mk. III with the magazine cut off.

[@crankyinvestor]

i took a moose when I was 16 with a Lee-Enf across a grassfield in Labrador hunteed with it until I was 28 and it fell out of my canoe into a 85 ft-deep lake. ever owned a better riflu