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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 its 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 |
Wallace Ford | Morelli | |||
British soldiers | ||||
Went the Day Well? | Frank Lawton | Tom Sturry | No.1 Mk.III* | 1942 |
Norman Pierce | Jim Sturry | |||
Elizabeth Allan | Peggy | |||
Frank Lawton | Ivy | |||
Extras | British Army/Home Guard Soldiers | |||
Extras | German Paratroopers | |||
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | British infantrymen | Mk III* | 1943 | |
Sahara | British Commonwealth troops | No.1 Mk.III | 1943 | |
Immortal Sergeant | Henry Fonda | Cpl. Colin Spence | No.1 Mk.III* | 1943 |
Thomas Mitchell | Sgt. Kelly | |||
Melville Cooper | Pvt. Pilcher | |||
Morton Lowry | Pvt. Cottrell | |||
Bramwell Fletcher | Pvt. Symes | |||
Allyn Joslyn | Pvt. Cassidy | |||
British troops, German soldiers | ||||
The Desert Rats | Robert Newton | Pvt. Tom Bartlett | No.1 Mk.III | 1953 |
Australian soldiers | ||||
German soldiers | ||||
Paratrooper | British paratroopers | No.1 Mk.III* and No.4 Mk.I | 1953 | |
Paratrooper | German soldiers | No.4 Mk.I | 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 |
Wilfrid Hyde-White | Mr. Bridie | |||
Rebels and British and Indian soldiers | Mk.III and No.4 | |||
The Giant Behemoth | British soldiers | No.4 Mk.I | 1959 | |
Yesterday's Enemy | British soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1959 | |
Dr. No | Royal Navy sailors | No.4 | 1962 | |
55 Days at Peking | John Ireland | Sgt. Harry | Lee-Enfield Mk.I | 1963 |
British and American troops | ||||
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 | |
Buckingham Palace guards | No.4 | |||
The Heroes of Telemark | Richard Harris | Knut Staud | No.4 | 1965 |
Cast a Giant Shadow | Kirk Douglas | "Mickey" Marcus | No.4 Mk.I | 1966 |
Cast a Giant Shadow | Arab Legion soldiers | No.1 Mk.III | 1966 | |
Poppies Are Also Flowers | Brigands, Colonel Salem's men | 1966 | ||
You Only Live Twice | Royal Navy honor guards | No.4 Mk.I | 1967 | |
If... | Malcolm McDowell | Mick Travis | No.4 Mk.I | 1968 |
British soldiers and public school students | ||||
Three to Go - Michael | Australian troops and guerilla fighters | No.4 | 1969 | |
How I Unleashed World War II | British soldiers | No.4 | 1970 | |
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 | |
The Wilby Conspiracy | Black Congress militants | No.1 Mk.III & No.4 Mk.I | 1975 | |
Soldier of Orange | Jeroen Krabbé | Guus LeJeune | No.4 Mk.I | 1977 |
English and Dutch soldiers | No.1 Mk.III, No.4 Mk.I | |||
I Am the Law (Il prefetto di ferro) | Giuliano Gemma | Caesare Mori | 1977 | |
The bandits | ||||
A Bridge Too Far | Anthony Hopkins | Colonel John Frost | No 4 Mk 1* | 1977 |
British troops | ||||
Breaker Morant | Edward Woodward | Harry 'Breaker' Morant | Mk.I | 1980 |
Lewis Fitz-Gerald | Lt. George Ramsdale Witton | |||
Bryan Brown | Lt. Peter Handcock | |||
Australian and British soldiers and Boers | ||||
The Outsider (1980) | Frank Grimes | Tony Coyle | No.4 | 1980 |
IRA gunmen | ||||
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 |
British soldiers | ||||
High Road To China | Ric Young | Kim Su Lee | 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 | 1988 |
Linda Kozlowski | Sue Charlton | |||
Out of Africa | Several men in hunter camp | No.1 Mk III* | 1986 | |
The Lighthorsemen | Gary Sweet | Frank | No.1 Mk.III | 1987 |
Peter Phelps | Dave Mitchell | |||
British and Australian soldiers | ||||
The Beast of War | Steven Bauer | Taj | No.1 Mk.III* | 1988 |
Afghan Mujahideen | ||||
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 |
Marilyn Tokuda | Yoo | No.5 Jungle Carbine | ||
Australian soldiers, Gurkha soldiers, Headhunters | No.1 Mk.III* | |||
Legends of the Fall | Henry Thomas | Samuel Ludlow | No.I Mk.III* | 1994 |
Brad Pitt | Tristan Ludlow | |||
Canadian infantrymen | ||||
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 |
Paul Nicholls | MacFarlane | |||
Danny Dyer | Lance Corporal Dell | |||
Cillian Murphy | Pvt. Rookwood | |||
James D'Arcy | Pvt. Daventry | |||
British soldiers | ||||
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 | |
El Alamein - The Line of Fire | British Troops | 2002 | ||
Deathwatch | Hans Matheson | Pvt. Hawkstone | No.4 Mk.I | 2002 |
Jamie Bell | Pvt. Shakespeare | |||
Hugo Speer | Sgt. Tate | |||
Dean Lennox Kelly | Pvt. McNess | |||
Hugh O'Conor | Pvt. Bradford | |||
Kris Marshall | Pvt. Starinski | No.4 Mk.I with sniper scope | ||
Zelary | Jan Tríska | Old Gorcík | No.4 Mk.I | 2003 |
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 | |
Simon Stone | Max Scholt | |||
Travis McMahon | Darko | |||
Tom Budge | Johnno | |||
Steve Le Marquand | Sam | |||
Angus Sampson | Dan | |||
Australian soldiers | ||||
Black Book | Canadian soldiers, Dutch resistance | 2006 | ||
Pan's Labyrinth | Spanish Guardia | 2006 | ||
Spanish Maquis | ||||
My Boy Jack | Daniel Radcliffe | Lieutenant Jack Kipling | No.1 Mk.III | 2007 |
Richard Dormer | Corporal John O'Leary | |||
British soldiers | ||||
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 |
The 39 Steps | British soldiers | 2008 | ||
Tobruk | Czech troops | 2008 | ||
Max Manus: Man of War | Nicolai Cleve Broch | Gregers Gram | 2008 | |
Norwegian resistance | ||||
Passchendaele | Paul Gross | Sgt. Michael Dunne | 2009 | |
Michael Greyeyes | Pvt. Highway | |||
Joe Dinicol | Pvt. David Mann | |||
Canadian soldiers | ||||
Red and White (Merah Putih) | Darius Sinathryah | Marius | No.1 Mk.III* | 2009 |
Donny Alamsyah | Tomas | |||
Dutch/Indonesian soldiers | ||||
Red and White (Merah Putih) | Darius Sinathryah | Marius | No.4 Mk.I prop rifle | 2009 |
Zumi Zola | Surono | |||
Lukman Sardi | Amir | |||
Donny Alamsyah | Tomas | |||
T. Rifnu Wikana | Dayan | |||
Indonesian cadets | ||||
Japanese soldiers | ||||
Beneath Hill 60 | Australian and British soldiers | 2010 | ||
Let the Bullets Fly | Wen Jiang | Pocky Zhang | No.1 Mk.III* | 2010 |
Fan Liao | Three | |||
John Do | Four | |||
Li Jing | Five | |||
Xiao Wei | Seven | |||
Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen | French troops | No.1 Mk.III* | 2010 | |
War Horse | British troops | No.1 Mk.III* | 2011 | |
War Horse | Jeremy Irvine | Albert Narracott | No.1 Mk.III* | 2011 |
War Horse | Matt Milne | Andrew Easton | No.1 Mk.III* | 2011 |
100 Bloody Acres | Angus Sampson | Lindsay | No.1 Mk.III* | 2012 |
Damon Herriman | Reg | |||
Cockneys vs. Zombies | Jonathan Stephenson | Young Ray | No.1 Mk.III* | 2012 |
Emden Men | British Sailors | No.1 Mk.III* | 2012 |
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 | ||
Stawka wieksza niz zycie | British soldiers | 1966-68 | ||
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 | ||
Midsomer Murders | Ifan Huw Dafydd | Paul Bright | "Dance with the Dead"; No.4 Mk.I | 1997 - Present |
Midsomer Murders | Will Featherstone | Pvt. Tommy Hicks | "Shot at Dawn"; No.1 Mk.III* | 1997 - Present |
Midsomer Murders | Lloyd Hutchinson | Mickey Ryan | "Shot at Dawn"; No.1 Mk.III* | 1997 - Present |
Midsomer Murders | Malcolm Sinclair | Johnny Hammond | "Shot at Dawn"; No.1 Mk.III* | 1997 - Present |
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 | ||
Foyle's War | British Army and Home Guard soldiers | 2002-2010 | ||
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 | ||
The Promise | Christian Cooke | Len Matthews | No.1 Mk.III*, No.4 Mk.I*, Parker Hale Lee Enfield T4 Sniper Rifle | 2011 |
The Promise | Luke Allen-Gale | Corporal Jackie Clough | No.1 Mk.III*, No.4 Mk.I*, Parker Hale Lee Enfield T4 Sniper Rifle | 2011 |
The Promise | British paratroopers | No.1 Mk.III*, No.4 Mk.I* | 2011 | |
The Promise | Irgun fighters | No.4 Mk.I* | 2011 | |
The Promise | Arab fighters | No.4 Mk.I* | 2011 | |
Peaky Blinders | Joe Cole | John Shelby | No.1 MkIII | 2013 |
Peaky Blinders | Benjamin Zephaniah | Jeremiah Jesus | No.1 MkIII | 2013 |
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)
- Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45 (No.4 Mk.I w/ pigsticker bayonet and No.4 Mk.I(T))
- Forgotten Hope (No.4 Mk.I and No.4 Mk.I(T))
- Forgotten Hope 2 (No.1 Mk.III*, No.4 Mk.I and No.4 Mk.I(T). W/o bayonet and rifle grenade launcher)
- 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
Title | Actor | Character | Note | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spy Game | Brad Pitt | Tom Bishop | 2001 | |
Shootout at Lokhandwala | Mumbai police snipers | 2007 | ||
Doomsday | British Army sniper | With thumbhole stock and Harris bipod | 2008 | |
State of Emergency | 2011 |
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 |
Captain Corelli's Mandolin | Christian Bale | Mandras | . | 2001 |
King Solomon's Mines | Gavin Hood | Bruce McNabb | . | 2004 |
The Wolfman | Benicio del Toro | Lawrence Talbot | . | 2010 |
Television
Show Title | Actor | Character | Episode | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Midsomer Murders | Tony Haygarth | Jack Tewson | "King's Crystal" | 1997 - Present |
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