Today we have a very odd BSA prototype Long Lee rifle. The details of its production are unknown, but it has good provenance; the Charnwood Ordnance collection. What makes the rifle unusual is a unique style of split charger guide unlike either the SMLE type fixed guides or the earlier CLLE guides mounted to the bolt head. It has commercial proof markings, and nothing on the receiver socket. An interesting mystery rifle for you Lee Enfield enthusiasts…
Artillery
Fiji in World War Two: the Momi Bay Gun Battery
When the clouds of World War Two began to loom in the 1930s, Britain decided to begin securing some of its more distant colonial outposts – places that might be of strategic importance in a […]
Bolt Action Rifles
The Very First Troop Trials SMLE Rifles at James D Julia
One of the British lessons form the Boer War was that the distinction between infantry rifles and cavalry carbines was becoming obsolete. In 1902, they would initiate troop trials on a new short rifle pattern, […]
Anti-Tank Rifles
RIA: Boys Anti-Tank Rifle
Pretty much every major military had an antitank rifle in service when WW2 kicked off, and the British example was the Boys AT rifle, named after the Captain Boys who designed it. It was a […]
I’m curious how a rifle from the Charnwood Ordnance collection ended up in Ian’s house? Did Ian buy it somewhere along the line? Another collector lend it?
Perhaps related to this patent as seen on Espacenet
GB190514587 (A) – Improvements in Certain Parts of Magazine-rifles
BIRMINGHAM SMALL ARMS CO LTD; GEORGE NORMAN
1906-01-18
“14,587. Birmingham Small Arms Co., and Norman, G. July 15. Breech actions, sliding breech-block. -Relates to guides for the cartridge chargers or clips attached to rifles of the Lee – Enfield and similar types. The right – hand guide, which is usually connected to the breech-bolt, is, according to the present invention, attached to the body a and made of the form shown at e in the sectional view, Fig. 3, having on its inner side a clearance or passage f so that the head of the bolt can pass through to allow the bolt to be fully withdrawn.”
So, when can we look forward to the 1000th Lee Enfield posting by Ian? Laughter.
You best start believing in Enfield stories…..You’re in one.
It is very interesting, especially, to see how the developers consistently went to the solutions that can be seen in the final versions.
Judging by the cutouts on the sides of the receiver, they already knew (or guessed) about the problem with the brass breaks.