Artifact Friday: Lee-Enfield SMLE Mk III

Of all the empires the world has seen, only one has held territory in Europe, North

America, South America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and even Antarctica at one point in

time. This would be the British Empire, with nearly a quarter of the world’s population under

British rule at the height of their power. With a globe spanning empire of such magnitude,

enemies were bound to arise. As such, the British took great strides to ensure they were the

greatest military power both tactically and technologically. One such technology the British

Empire developed was the Lee-Enfield repeating rifle.

Early iterations of the Lee-Enfield were adopted into the British Army in 1888 and

replaced other rifles such as the Martini-Henry and Lee-Metford. With a ten round magazine

loaded with the .303 British cartridge, the Lee-Enfield was an respectable service rifle. It would

be shipped out to the British colonies such as India and large parts of Africa as well as the

commonwealths such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The designer, James Paris Lee,

sought to make a weapon that would be reliable in any terrain because the British Empire

spanned icy tundra, damp jungles, and scorching sandy deserts. The design would undergo

many upgrades and changes which is where the Lee-Enfield SMLE Mk III comes from. In 1907

the Mk III was developed with a fixed charger guide, a simplified version of the rear sight

assembly, and a magazine upgrade to allow the Lee-Enfield to load and fire the new Mk VII

spitzer .303.

Unfortunately, these upgrades would prove to be to complicated and difficult to mass

produce during the first World War. Although they still saw service, it was drastically reduced

for the Great War. World War Two, on the other hand, saw SMLE Mk III’s in every theatre the

British or their colonies fought in. The Mk III was so efficient and was given so many upgrades

that the Australian military carried them into the Korean War. Production of the SMLE Mk III

continued all the way to 1953 where it was finally replaced by the L1A1 SLR.