1940-SMLE No1-MkIII (star)- 303 cal- Italian Contract
The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle that served as the main firearm used by the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century. It was the British Army’s standard rifle from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957. The WWI versions are often referred to as the “SMLE”, which is short for the common “Short Magazine Lee-Enfield” variant.
The iconic Lee–Enfield rifle, the SMLE Mk III, was introduced on 26 January 1907, along with a Pattern 1907 (P’07) sword bayonet and featured a simplified rear sight arrangement and a fixed, rather than a bolt-head-mounted sliding, charger guide. The design of the handguards and the magazine were also improved, and the chamber was adapted to fire the new Mk VII High Velocity spitzer .303 ammunition. Many early model rifles, of Magazine Lee–Enfield (MLE), Magazine Lee–Metford (MLM), and SMLE type, were upgraded to the Mk III standard. These are designated Mk IV Cond., with various asterisks denoting subtypes.
During the First World War, the SMLE Mk III was found to be too complicated to manufacture (an SMLE Mk III rifle cost the British Government £3/15/–) and demand was outstripping supply, so in late 1915 the Mk III* was introduced, which incorporated several changes, the most prominent of which were the deletion of the magazine cut-off mechanism, which when engaged permits the feeding and extraction of single cartridges only while keeping the cartridges in the magazine in reserve, and the long-range volley sights.The windage adjustment of the rear sight was also dispensed with, and the cocking piece was changed from a round knob to a serrated slab.Rifles with some or all of these features present are found, as the changes were implemented at different times in different factories and as stocks of existing parts were used.The magazine cut-off was reinstated after the First World War ended and not entirely dispensed with in manufacturing until 1933 and some cut-offs remained on rifles so-equipped into the 1960s.
