LEE ENFIELD SMLE
As the Boer War concluded, lessons learned from it were already being incorporated
into a hopefully improved rifle, which was unveiled in 1903 as the "Rifle,
Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield Mark 1", the famous S.M.L.E. The word "short"
designation referred to the rifle, not the magazine! Whereas the magazine
had the same dimensions as before, the rifle was indeed shorter than its predecessor.
The idea was that the S.M.L.E. would be in between rifle and carbine length,
and thus serve both functions.
Barrel length was now 25 inches, and the robust nose cap/sight protector was
introduced. Finally refined as the S.M.L.E. No.1 Mark 3 in 1907, it was lighter
and handier than the long Lee-Enfield, was sighted for the new Mark 7 .303
ammunition, had the desired clip feed facility (or "charger loading",
as the British termed it) and possessed an excellent set of open sights, which
could now be readily zeroed.
S.M.L.E. No.1 Mk.3.
At the end of the First World War, everyone was thus extremely pleased with
the S.M.L.E., which had evolved into the No.1 Mark 3*. The star merely denoted
a number of simplifications to the rifle to allow for greater ease and rapidity
of manufacture. These simplifications primarily included the omission of volley
sights, magazine cut-off and windage wheel on the rear sight, none of which
materially affected the rifle, and indeed this type is the most commonly encountered
version of the S.M.L.E. The volley sights in particular I find to be a source
of great puzzlement and confusion, so they are worth going into in greater
detail.
Early Lee rifles are frequently found with a peculiar rotating arm halfway
down the left hand side of the fore-end, and a flip-up peep sight affair on
the left rear portion of the receiver. These are the so-called "volley"
sights, and are designed for mass firing at extremely long range. One rotates
the front arm until the pointer indicates the desired range (which can be
set from a low of 2000 yards up to an incredible 3500 yards).
One then flips up the rear peep sight, lines this up with the stud on the
front arm (at which stage the rifle is being held not unlike a mortar) and
lets fly at the extremely distant target. One was not, of course, expected
to actually hit any individual with such a system, but it was supposed to
be used by large concentrations of troops firing in volleys against other
far distant enemy troop concentrations. This system may have been of benefit
before mobile artillery and machine guns, but even then the benefits were,
I suspect, more perceived than real. The volley sights were not missed when
they were quietly dropped as an accessory to the rifle.