Post by Whizz_Bang on Sept 21, 2004 13:20:47 GMT -5
From an old Tommy article.....
A direct predecessor of the WW1 SMLE , the No.4 contains many
of the now familiar characteristics of it’s older WW1 brother.
Over four million of this pattern were produced, from mid 1940,
until the end of the war in Europe, in May ’45. The production of
this weapon was literally on a world-wide scale, countries
such as; India, Canada, Australia and the United States, helped the
United Kingdom supply this reliable weapon to the Commonwealths
fighting men in all it’s theatres of operation.
The British army went to war in 1914 with the good old Mk III,
Short Magazine Lee Enfield, or SMLE for short. Although many
purists of the day criticised the Army for not using the tried and
tested Mauser family of weapons, it’s faith in the new ‘smiley’
was justified, when coming under fire from this swift and accurate
weapon, the Germans thought they were under machine gun fire.
Indeed, the last time the infantry had such a quick firing weapon
was during the Hundred Year war in the form of the Longbow!
A few changes were made to the Mk III to enable swift manufacture,
and even swifter weapons training. The main changes were the bayonet
attachment and the sighting unit. The new bayonet, fondly referred to
by Tommy as a ‘pig sticker’ required a new nosecap, and the sighting
unit was greatly simplified. Many training instructors complained that
although it was easier to train new recruits, the new sights were not as
effective. It is true that many ‘old sweats’ of the BEF went to great
lengths to retain or re-aquire a MKIII for their own use when supplies
of this newer weapon became available.
In combat, this weapon proved itself to be very reliable, in fact so
reliable that the British army was still using a modified Lee-Enfield
as a sniper rifle up to the early 1990’s!
One of it’s many advantages over the Wehrmacht Kar98k was it’s
magazine capacity, double that of the Mauser’s 5 rounds, this was to
prove the vital factor in many a firefight in the years to come. This
was a traditionalists weapon, and it required much convincing on
N.A.T.O.’s part to retire this line of weapons from service in the mid
1950’s for the newer L1A1. SLR.
A direct predecessor of the WW1 SMLE , the No.4 contains many
of the now familiar characteristics of it’s older WW1 brother.
Over four million of this pattern were produced, from mid 1940,
until the end of the war in Europe, in May ’45. The production of
this weapon was literally on a world-wide scale, countries
such as; India, Canada, Australia and the United States, helped the
United Kingdom supply this reliable weapon to the Commonwealths
fighting men in all it’s theatres of operation.
The British army went to war in 1914 with the good old Mk III,
Short Magazine Lee Enfield, or SMLE for short. Although many
purists of the day criticised the Army for not using the tried and
tested Mauser family of weapons, it’s faith in the new ‘smiley’
was justified, when coming under fire from this swift and accurate
weapon, the Germans thought they were under machine gun fire.
Indeed, the last time the infantry had such a quick firing weapon
was during the Hundred Year war in the form of the Longbow!
A few changes were made to the Mk III to enable swift manufacture,
and even swifter weapons training. The main changes were the bayonet
attachment and the sighting unit. The new bayonet, fondly referred to
by Tommy as a ‘pig sticker’ required a new nosecap, and the sighting
unit was greatly simplified. Many training instructors complained that
although it was easier to train new recruits, the new sights were not as
effective. It is true that many ‘old sweats’ of the BEF went to great
lengths to retain or re-aquire a MKIII for their own use when supplies
of this newer weapon became available.
In combat, this weapon proved itself to be very reliable, in fact so
reliable that the British army was still using a modified Lee-Enfield
as a sniper rifle up to the early 1990’s!
One of it’s many advantages over the Wehrmacht Kar98k was it’s
magazine capacity, double that of the Mauser’s 5 rounds, this was to
prove the vital factor in many a firefight in the years to come. This
was a traditionalists weapon, and it required much convincing on
N.A.T.O.’s part to retire this line of weapons from service in the mid
1950’s for the newer L1A1. SLR.
The .22 sleeved ones are 50's dated.
Doh!
;D