Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
This rifle served the UK and Commonwealth countries through two world wars and is still considered by many as the best bolt action battle rifle ever made. It was reliable, accurate and could sustain a rapid rate of fire. The image of the British ?Tommy? with his trusty Lee Enfield rife still endures from the trenches of WWI, through the deserts of North Africa during WWII to the National Service newsreels of the 1950s. Maybe not the most politically correct entry when looked at with 21st century eyes, but to my grandparents, and the millions of others who served, the Lee Enfiled Rifle truly deserves its iconic status.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2007-09-04 by Mark Rasmussen from Essex
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
This rifle undoubtedly saved the world, if not in the First World War, it certainly kept freedom alive during the Second. No other one piece of equipment has ever had such an impact on society. It served its country for longer than any other rifle, and for these reasons it should be an icon.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2007-07-27 by Andrew Greig from South Yorkshire
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
Probably the best bolt action battle rifle ever made - it defended us through two world wars, and still sees use as a target rifle.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2007-02-14 by Mike Eveleigh from Cheshire
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
My Lee Enfield hunted Black bear and deer in Ontario, and gave surface protection against Grizzly bears in the Yukon, whilst dredging river bottoms for placer gold using scuba. All this in the 1990's.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2006-07-10 by BrianIngle from Canada
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
The Enfield Rifle No4 Mk2 was the first serious rifle I ever fired as an Air Cadet at the age of 14. The .303 cartridge it fired "kicked" you and if you weren't ready for it - it hurt! As an infantry weapon , however, it was almost indestructible, accurate, high capacity (10 rounds in the magazine) and fast to use. The bolt opening is a distinctive and unmistakable sound heard by generations of National Servicemen and latterly cadets. My father used a Long Lee Enfield Rifle No1 (manufactured in 1894 or thereabouts) on board minesweepers in the North Atlantic during the Second World War to puncture sea mines and sink them. Once they outlived their usefulness as a front line weapon, they were lawfully and peacably used by another generation of recreational riflemen - a true "swords into ploughshares" argument that many anti gun owning organisations cannot adequately refute.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2006-06-02 by Andrew Coleman from Carlisle
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
The Short Lee Enfield which I had whilst in the Corps at Shrewsbury School (1955-1960) was, I think, dated 1912 and was fired with regularity using live ammunition. I also owned a Long Lee Enfield until the 1960s, when I gave it to the police for destruction. It had the red hand of Ulster and the words 'Ulster Volunteer Force' stamped on the butt. This rifle was in excellent condition,accurate and also fired live ammunition.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2006-02-13 by D.A.S. Corbett from London
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
The Lee Enfield rifle has been an essentially unchanged design and has defended Great Britain, her territory and her people from the turn of the 20th Century to the Fallkand Islands. They are still in use around the world today and they are without doubt of of the huge Icons of England in the 20th Century. Through two world wars and countless other conflicts, these rifles shaped, and indeed are still shaping the world as we know it in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other places.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2006-02-03 by charlie from San Francisco
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
The Lee Enfield rifle was the main weapon of the British soldier for over 60 years, from the days of the Empire under Queen Victoria to the post-war reign of Queen Elizabeth 2nd
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2006-02-02 by Jonathan Moore from Scotland, UK
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle
I wonder how many more rifles made for the British Military usage will stand the same test of time and abuse which the S.M.L.E. saw through its service life. These rifles still come though the Proof House today following their release from overseas armouries to pass into the hands of British target shooters having been made by factories which no longer exist. They are excellent examples of engineering for which the country was once famous.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2006-01-31 by Bill Harding from Birmingham
Lee Enfield rifle
The Lee Enfield rifle is why we speak English.
Comment on Lee Enfield Rifle posted 2007-10-08 by bill from UK