| Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle | |
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| Type | Service rifle |
| Place of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1888-1926 |
| Used by | United Kingdom & Colonies |
| Wars | Boer War, various Colonial conflicts |
| Production history | |
| Designer | James Paris Lee, RSAF Enfield |
| Produced | 1888-1896 |
| Variants | MLM Mk II, MLM Carbine |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 49. The service rifle (also known as standard-issue rifle) of a given Army or Armed force is that which it issues as standard to its Soldiers In The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Two Boer Wars were fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics the Orange Free State and the South African Republic The Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF was a UK government-owned Rifle factory in Enfield, now part of north London, which produced British 5 in (1,257 mm) |
| Barrel length | 30. For the fictional characters see Gunbarrel (Transformers. A gun barrel is the tube usually Metal, through which a controlled Explosion 2 in (767mm) |
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| Cartridge | Cartridge .303 Mk II |
| Calibre | . A cartridge (also known as a "round" packages the Bullet, Gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the The term caliber or calibre designates the interior Diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod 303 inch (7. 7 mm) |
| Action | Bolt-action |
| Rate of fire | 20 rounds/minute |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,040 ft/s |
| Effective range | c. In Firearms terminology an action is the system of operation used to load rounds and/or seal the Breech. The term bolt action refers to a type of Firearm action in which the weapon's bolt is operated manually by the opening and closing of the breech with Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific Weapon can fire or launch its projectiles A gun's muzzle velocity is the speed at which the Projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun 800 yards (730 m) |
| Maximum range | 1,800 yards |
| Feed system | 8 or 10-round magazine |
| Sights | Sliding leaf rear sights, Fixed-post front sights, "Dial" long-range volley sights |
The Lee-Metford rifle (a. A rifle is a Firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves ("rifling" cut into the barrel walls k. a. Magazine Lee-Metford, abbreviated MLM) was a breech-loading British army service rifle, combining James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and ten-round magazine with a seven groove rifled barrel designed by William Ellis Metford. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. James Paris Lee ( August 9 1831 – February 24 1904) was a Scottish-Canadian Inventor and arms designer best It replaced the Martini-Henry rifle in 1888, following nine years of development and trials, but remained in service for only a short time until replaced by the similar Lee-Enfield. The Martini-Henry (also known as the Peabody-Martini-Henry) was a Breech-loading lever-actuated Rifle adopted by the British, combining The Lee-Enfield Bolt-action, magazine-fed Repeating rifle was the main firearm used by the military forces of the British Empire / Commonwealth
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Design
Lee's bolt action mechanism was a great improvement over other designs of the day. The rear-mounted lugs placed the operating handle much closer to the rifleman, over the trigger. This made it much quicker to operate than other, forward-mounted lug designs which forced the rifleman to move his hand forward to operate the bolt; also, the bolt's distance of travel was identical with the length of the cartridge, and its rotation was only 60 degrees compared to the 90 degree rotation of some French and Mauser-style actions. In addition Lee introduced a superior detachable box magazine to replace the common tube and integral box magazines in use with most repeaters, and this magazine offered greater capacity than the competing Mannlicher design.
The Lee-Metford was something of an anachronism, using a black powder-loaded rimmed .303 cartridge; most rifles of that time in a reduced caliber used smokeless powder, and the MLM was intended to make use of a smokeless cartridge, but this was not available when the Lee-Metford was designed. Gunpowder is a an explosive mixture of Sulfur, Charcoal and Potassium nitrate (also known as saltpetre/saltpeter that burns rapidly producing volumes Smokeless powder is the name given to a number of Propellants used in Firearms and Artillery which produce negligible smoke when fired unlike the older The design went through several variations during its service life, with the principal changes being to the magazine (from eight-round single stack to ten-round staggered), sights, and safety. The Lee-Metford started to be phased out in 1895 in favor of the Lee-Enfield, which was a virtually identical design but adapted for the use of smokeless powder. The Metford pattern of rifling was shallow and subject to rapid wear when ammunition loaded with cordite was used, with barrels becoming unusable after less than 5000 rounds. Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace Gunpowder as a military propellant Changes included a new, deeper rifling pattern (designated Enfield pattern) and sights adjusted for the flatter trajectory enabled by the smokeless propellant.
Replacement
Replacement of the Lee-Metford rifles took several years to achieve, and they were still in service in some units during the Second Boer War in 1899. See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: Troops with the Lee-Metford and even the Lee-Enfield had a disadvantage to the Mauser-equipped Boer troops, when long range accuracy was a concern. Mauser is the common name of a German arms manufacturer maker of a line of Bolt-action Rifles from the 1870s to present Poor sighting-in and quality control at the factory level resulted in British rifles being woefully inaccurate at ranges greater than 400 yards (370 m); upon correction they were essentially equal to the Mauser action in terms of accuracy, and superior in most other attributes. Even so, the British considered a whole new rifle, the Pattern 1913 Enfield, based upon a modified Mauser design, but this was not a success and the eminently adaptable Lee-Enfield served for another half century. The Pattern 1913 Enfield (P'13 was an experimental Rifle developed by the Royal Small Arms Factory for the British Army from 1912 to 1914 to serve
In British service the Lee Metford was also upgraded to the standards of later rifle patterns (e. g. to charger loading and Short Rifle, the SMLE pattern), though the barrel was almost always switched to one with Enfield pattern rifling. The Lee Metford was produced commercially and used by civilian target shooters until the outbreak of World War I, as it was considered to be inherently more accurate than the Enfield pattern of rifling. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In this context, barrels could be replaced as frequently as the owner wished, or could afford.
See also
References
- Skennerton, Ian: "Small Arms Identification Series No. In some cases less is more The purpose of this article is to give an overview The Charlton Automatic Rifle was a fully automatic conversion of the Lee-Enfield rifle designed by New Zealander Philip Charlton in 1941 to act as a substitute The Lee Model 1895 (also known as the M1895 Lee "Navy Lee" "Winchester-Lee 1895" M1895 Winchester-Lee etc 7: . 303 Magazine Lee-Metford and Magazine Lee-Enfield" Arms & Militaria Press, Gold Coast QLD (Australia), 1997. ISBN 0-949749-25-7
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