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Lee-Enfield rifle series
The Lee-Enfield is a series of bolt-action rifles and carbines that were designed by Scottish-born gun designer James Paris Lee (1831-1904) and the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, Great Britain; to replace the Lee-Metford series bolt-action rifles and carbines (a series of bolt-action rifles and carbines that were designed by James Paris Lee and William Ellis Metford) when the British armed forces adopted smokeless gun powder in the late 19th century. The Lee-Enfield series of bolt-action rifles and carbines saw extensive service with the armed forces of Great Britain and the nations, colonies, and dominion states of the British Empire/British Commonwealth from 1895, until the rifles were replaced from frontline military service in 1957 by the British version of the FN FAL rifle, the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle.
Short Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle
This includes all examples of the SMLE or Lee Enfield Bolt action rifle from it's introduction to the last widely-distributed version.
Specifications
(???? - ????)
- Type: Rifle
- Caliber: .303 Mk VII SAA Ball
- Weight: 8.8 lbs (4 kg)
- Length: 43.3 in (110 cm)
- Barrel length: 25 in (63.5 cm)
- Capacity: 10-round magazine (loaded with 5-round charger clips)
- Fire Modes: Bolt-Action
The Lee-Enfield rifle series and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hell's Angels | British troops | No.1 Mk III | 1930 | |
| The Lost Patrol | Victor McLaglen | The Sergeant | No.1 Mk.III | 1934 |
| The Lost Patrol | Wallace Ford | Morelli | No.1 Mk.III | 1934 |
| The Lost Patrol | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1934 | |
| The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | British infantrymen | Mk III* | 1943 | |
| Sahara | British Commonwealth troops | No.1 Mk.III | 1943 | |
| The Desert Rats | Robert Newton | Pvt. Tom Bartlett | No.1 Mk.III | 1953 |
| The Desert Rats | Australian soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1953 | |
| The Desert Rats | German soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1953 | |
| The Bridge on the River Kwai | Japanese P.O.W. guards | Mk.III* and No.4 | 1957 | |
| The Hunters | Greek soldier | No.1 Mk.III | 1958 | |
| Northwest Frontier | Eugene Deckers | Mr. Peters | Mk.III | 1959 |
| Northwest Frontier | Wilfrid Hyde-White | Mr. Bridie | Mk.III | 1959 |
| Northwest Frontier | Rebels and British and Indian soldiers | Mk.III and No.4 | 1959 | |
| The Giant Behemoth | British soldiers | No.4 Mk.I | 1959 | |
| Dr. No | Royal Navy sailors | No.4 | 1962 | |
| The Longest Day | British troops | No.4 Mk.I | 1963 | |
| From Russia with Love | SPECTRE agents | No.4 with Energa rifle grenades | 1963 | |
| Goldfinger | No.1 Mk.III; seen in Q's lab | 1964 | ||
| Zulu | British soldiers | Mk.I* as Martini-Henry | 1964 | |
| The Ipcress File | No.4 Mk.I, No.4 Mk.I(T) and SMLE with the attached grenade discharger cup | 1965 | ||
| Help! | The kidnappers | No.1 Mk.III* | 1965 | |
| Help! | Buckingham Palace guards | No.4 | 1965 | |
| You Only Live Twice | Royal Navy honor guards | No.4 Mk.I | 1967 | |
| If... | Malcolm McDowell | Mick Travis | No.4 Mk.I | 1968 |
| If... | British soldiers and public school students | No.4 Mk.I | 1968 | |
| Three to Go - Michael | Australian troops and guerilla fighters | No.4 | 1969 | |
| No Blade Of Grass | Survivors | No.1 Mk.III* | 1970 | |
| Too Late the Hero | Ronald Fraser | Pvt. Campbell | No.1 Mk.III | 1970 |
| Kelly's Heroes | U.S. soldier | No.4 | 1970 | |
| Young Winston | Sikh soldiers and British soldiers | Mk.I and Mk.I* | 1972 | |
| Zardoz | Exterminators | No.4 | 1974 | |
| Soldier of Orange | Jeroen Krabbé | Guus LeJeune | No.4 Mk.I | 1977 |
| Soldier of Orange | English and Dutch soldiers | No.1 Mk.III, No.4 Mk.I | 1977 | |
| A Bridge Too Far | Anthony Hopkins | Colonel John Frost | No 4 Mk 1* | 1977 |
| A Bridge Too Far | British troops | No 4 Mk 1* | 1977 | |
| Breaker Morant | Edward Woodward | Harry 'Breaker' Morant | Mk.I | 1980 |
| Breaker Morant | Lewis Fitz-Gerald | Lt. George Ramsdale Witton | Mk.I | 1980 |
| Breaker Morant | Bryan Brown | Lt. Peter Handcock | Mk.I | 1980 |
| Breaker Morant | Australian and British soldiers and Boers | Mk.I | 1980 | |
| The Outsider (1980) | Frank Grimes | Tony Coyle | No.4 | 1980 |
| The Outsider (1980) | IRA gunmen | No.4 | 1980 | |
| Death Hunt | Carl Weathers | Sundog/George Washington Lincoln Brown | Sporterized SMLE | 1981 |
| Octopussy | Kamal Khan's guards | No.4 Mk.I | 1983 | |
| Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | Terry Jones | Lt. Biggs | No.1 Mk.III* | 1983 |
| Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III* | 1983 | |
| Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | British and Indian Army soldiers | No 4. Mk.I | 1984 | |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | Oceanian soldiers | No.V Jungle Carbine | 1984 | |
| Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome | A biker | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 | |
| Crocodile Dundee | Paul Hogan | Mick Dundee | Sporterized SMLE | 1985 |
| Out of Africa | Several men in hunter camp | No.1 Mk III* | 1986 | |
| The Lighthorsemen | Gary Sweet | Frank | No.1 Mk.III | 1987 |
| The Lighthorsemen | Peter Phelps | Dave Mitchell | No.1 Mk.III | 1987 |
| The Lighthorsemen | British and Australian soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1987 | |
| The Beast of War | Steven Bauer | Taj | No.1 Mk.III* | 1988 |
| The Beast of War | Afghan Mujahideen | No.1 Mk.III* | 1988 | |
| Rambo III | Mujahideen fighters | No.1 Mk.III* and No.4 Mk.I | 1988 | |
| Farewell To The King | Frank McRae | Sgt. Tenga | No.4 Mk.I with sniper scope | 1989 |
| Farewell To The King | Marilyn Tokuda | Yoo | No.5 Jungle Carbine | 1989 |
| Farewell To The King | Australian soldiers, Gurkha soldiers, Headhunters | No.1 Mk.III* | 1989 | |
| Legends of the Fall | Henry Thomas | Samuel Ludlow | No.I Mk.III* | 1994 |
| Legends of the Fall | Brad Pitt | Tristan Ludlow | No.I Mk.III* | 1994 |
| Legends of the Fall | Canadian infantrymen | No.I Mk.III* | 1994 | |
| Sahara | Robert Wisdom | Sergeant-Major Tambul | No. 1 Mk III | 1995 |
| Richard III | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III* | 1995 | |
| Michael Collins | British and IRA forces | Mk.III and Mk.I | 1996 | |
| The Trench | Daniel Craig | Sgt. Winter | Mk.III | 1999 |
| The Trench | Paul Nicholls | MacFarlane | Mk.III | 1999 |
| The Trench | Danny Dyer | Lance Corporal Dell | Mk.III | 1999 |
| The Trench | Cillian Murphy | Pvt. Rookwood | Mk.III | 1999 |
| The Trench | James D'Arcy | Pvt. Daventry | Mk.III | 1999 |
| The Trench | British soldiers | Mk.III | 1999 | |
| All The King Men | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1999 | |
| Three Kings | Shiite refugee | 1999 | ||
| Charlotte Gray | John Bennett | Gerard | Sporterised SMLE | 2001 |
| Bloody Sunday | An IRA member | No.1 Mk.III | 2001 | |
| The Lost Battalion | US soldiers | No.4 MkI | 2001 | |
| The Mummy Returns | Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje | Lock-Nah | 2001 | |
| Deathwatch | Hans Matheson | Pvt. Hawkstone | No.4 Mk.I | 2002 |
| Deathwatch | Jamie Bell | Pvt. Shakespeare | No.4 Mk.I | 2002 |
| Deathwatch | Hugo Speer | Sgt. Tate | No.4 Mk.I | 2002 |
| Deathwatch | Dean Lennox Kelly | Pvt. McNess | No.4 Mk.I | 2002 |
| Deathwatch | Hugh O'Conor | Pvt. Bradford | No.4 Mk.I | 2002 |
| Deathwatch | Kris Marshall | Pvt. Starinski | No.4 Mk.I with sniper scope | 2002 |
| Secondhand Lions | Michael O'Neill | Ralph | No.1 Mk.III* | 2003 |
| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | British soldiers and Fantom's men | Mk.I | 2003 | |
| Curse of the Komodo | William Langlois | Prof. Nathan Phipps | Customized No.4 Mk.I | 2004 |
| Kokoda | Jack Finsterer | Jack Scholt | 2006 | |
| Kokoda | Simon Stone | Max Scholt | 2006 | |
| Kokoda | Travis McMahon | Darko | 2006 | |
| Kokoda | Tom Budge | Johnno | 2006 | |
| Kokoda | Steve Le Marquand | Sam | 2006 | |
| Kokoda | Angus Sampson | Dan | 2006 | |
| Kokoda | Australian soldiers | 2006 | ||
| My Boy Jack | Daniel Radcliffe | Lieutenant Jack Kipling | No.1 Mk.III | 2007 |
| My Boy Jack | Richard Dormer | Corporal John O'Leary | No.1 Mk.III | 2007 |
| My Boy Jack | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 2007 | |
| Atonement | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III* | 2007 | |
| Transformers | Village militia in Qatar | No.1 Mk.III* | 2007 | |
| Hot Fuzz | Kevin Eldon | Sgt. Tony Fisher | No.1 Mk III* | 2007 |
| The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep | British Army soldiers | No.4 Mk.I | 2007 | |
| Assembly (Ji jie hao) | Hanyu Zhang | Gu Zidi | No.4 Mk.I | 2007 |
| Female Agents | Sophie Marceau | Louise Desfontaines | With sniper scope | 2008 |
| Tobruk | Czech troops | 2008 | ||
| Passchendaele | Paul Gross | Sgt. Michael Dunne | 2009 | |
| Passchendaele | Michael Greyeyes | Pvt. Highway | 2009 | |
| Passchendaele | Joe Dinicol | Pvt. David Mann | 2009 | |
| Passchendaele | Canadian soldiers | 2009 | ||
| Beneath Hill 60 | Australian and British soldiers | 2010 |
Television
| Show Title | Actor | Character | Episode | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The War Game (1965) | British police officers and survivors | No.4 Mk.I | 1965 | |
| Rat Patrol | British soldiers | 1966-1968 | ||
| Monty Python's Flying Circus | WWII British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III* | 1969-1974 | |
| The Professionals | CI5 agents and police | No.4 and No.4T; "Heroes", "Stopover", "Madness of Mickey Hamilton" | 1977-1981 | |
| Anzacs | Andrew Clarke | Martin "Marty" Barrington | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 |
| Anzacs | Jon Blake | Flanagan | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 |
| Anzacs | Christopher Cummins | Roly Collins | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 |
| Anzacs | Alec Wilson | Alec "Pudden" Parsons | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 |
| Anzacs | Patrick Ward | Sgt. Tom MacArthur | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 |
| Anzacs | Mark Hembrow | Dick Baker | No.1 Mk.III* | 1985 |
| Blackadder Goes Forth | Tony Robinson | Pvt. Baldrick | No.1 Mk.III*; "General Hospital" | 1989 |
| Blackadder Goes Forth | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III* | 1989 | |
| Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | In Lex's mansion on display behind glass | 1993-1997 | ||
| Rebel Heart | British soldiers and IRA members | No.1 Mk.III/Mk.III* | 2001 | |
| Ultimate Force | No.1 Mk.III*; seen on the wall of the SAS bar | 2002 - 2007 | ||
| Doctor Who (New series) | David Tennant | The Doctor | No.1 Mk.III; "The Family of Blood" | 2005 - |
| Doctor Who (New series) | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III*; "The Empty Child", "The Doctor Dances" | 2005 - | |
| Doctor Who (New series) | British soldiers | No.4 Mk.I; "Victory Of the Daleks" | 2005 - | |
| My Name is Earl | Young Joe | No.1 Mk.III*; S4E4 | 2005-2009 | |
| Sea Patrol | Kate McGregor | Mk.III*; S3E9 | 2007 | |
| Sea Patrol | Pete 'Buffer' Tomaszewski | Mk.III*; S3E9 | 2007 | |
| 24: Redemption | Robert Carlyle | Carl Benton | No.4 Mk.I | 2008 |
| 24: Redemption | Kiefer Sutherland | Jack Bauer | No.4 Mk.I | 2008 |
| Inspector George Gently | Martin Shaw | DCI George Gently | "The Burning Man" (S01E01) | 2008 |
| Inspector George Gently | Police constables | "The Burning Man" (S01E01) | 2008 | |
| Kokoda | Australian soldiers | 2010 | ||
| Falling Skies | Resistance fighters | 2011 |
Video Games
- British Army soldiers in Medal of Honor: Frontline (non-playable)
- Medal of Honor: Heroes (as the "Enfield Rifle")
- Call of Duty 2 (scoped version available in singleplayer)
- Silent Storm (standard and sniper versions)
- Eternal Darkness (2001)
- World War II Online: Battleground Europe (Lee Enfield Rifle No.4 MK I, Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk.I(T))
- ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead
Animation
Enfield Enforcer/L42A1 sniper rifle
Specifications
(1970-1990)
- Type: Sniper Rifle
- Caliber: 7.62x51mm NATO
- Weight: 9.7 lbs (4.4 kg)
- Length: 42.2 in (107.1 cm)
- Barrel length: 27.5 in (69.9 cm)
- Capacity: 10-round box
- Fire Modes: Bolt-Action
Film
- Brad Pitt as Tom Bishop in Spy Game.
- Mumbai police officers in Shootout at Lokhandwala
- British Army soldier in Doomsday (with thumbhole stock and Harris bipod)
Video Game
| Game Title | Appears as | Note | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medal of Honor: Allied Assault | appears only in Breakthrough expansion pack | 2002 | |
| Hitman: Contracts | 2004 | ||
| Manhunt | 2004 | ||
| Insurgency | 2007 | ||
| Manhunt 2 | 2007 |
Birmingham Small Arms Lee-Speed Sporter
The Lee-Speed was popular with British officers and other hunters who wanted a fine rifle, but couldn't afford the expensive double barrel rifles made by Purdy, Holland & Holland and other famous, and expensive, British gun makers. The Lee-Speed was popular because it fired the easily obtainable British service round (.303 British), though it was also manufactured in other calibers. The "Lee - Speed" had the same action as the Lee-Enfield bolt action rifle, which allowed many British hunters and colonists in Africa to obtain spare parts and ammunition from British Army units based in Britain's African colonies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Film
| Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Kong | Robert Armstrong | Carl Denham | . | 1933 |
| Out of Africa | Meryl Streep | Karen Blixen | . | 1985 |
| The Ghost and the Darkness | Val Kilmer | Col. John Patterson | . | 1996 |
| The Mummy Returns | Rachel Weisz | Evelyn Carnahan | . | 2001 |
| King Solomon's Mines | Gavin Hood | Bruce McNabb | . | 2004 |
| The Wolfman | Benicio del Toro | Lawrence Talbot | . | 2010 |
Additional Information
Background & Usage
Despite being removed from frontline service in 1957, the Lee-Enfield saw extensive use as a secondary infantry rifle with reserve forces as well as use as a sniper rifle by the British military. In 2008, nations like India, Pakistan, Nepal and Canada still use the Lee-Enfield rifle as a standard issue rifle to police forces and to reserve military units. In the case of Canada, the Canadian Rangers are still using the Lee-Enfield No.4 rifle as their standard-issue rifle. In the case of India and Pakistan, the Lee-Enfield is used by the police forces of both nations with the Indians utilizing a 7.62mm NATO version of the No.1 MkIII* rifle called the Indian 2A/2A1 rifle. Australia still manufacture/convert Lee-Enfield's as hunting/plinking weapons in a range of calibres from 7.62mm NATO and the Soviet 7.62x39mm M43 with Australian International Arms (AIA) manufacturing modern versions of the Lee-Enfield rifle for the civilian firearms market.
The Lee-Enfield rifle saw extensive use in many military conflicts from the late 19th century to the present day (easily outstripping the length of service the Mosin-Nagant rifle has achieved) with Lee-Enfields being used in conflicts like the Second Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Suez Canal Crisis, and the Mau Mau Uprising. The Lee-Enfield was also extensively used by the Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s. The Lee-Enfield has also seen extensive use in the hands of insurgents and warring factions recently in nations like Nepal (where both Nepalese Government forces and Maoist guerrillas used the Lee-Enfield rifle), Afghanistan, Iraq, India (with both the Indian government forces and the Naxalite Maoist rebels being seen armed with SMLEs and various firearms) and the Solomon Islands (where many of the warring factions in the Solomon Islands were seen armed with Lee-Enfield No.4 rifles stolen from military and police armories during the civil unrest that occurred on the islands during the late 1990s/early 2000s).
Unlike Mauser-derived bolt-action rifles (with their 5 round internal magazines and "cock on opening" bolt systems), the Lee-Enfield series of bolt-action rifles and carbines have a 10-round detachable magazine and a "cock on closing" bolt system, which allowed a well-trained rifleman to fire between 15 to 30 aimed rounds in under 1 minute. Between 1895 and 1957, around 17 million Lee-Enfields have been produced and, as of 2010; are still in circulation today.
See Also
- Royal Small Arms Factory - A list of weapons produced by RSAF Enfield