The Martini Henry rifle was introduced into service in 1871 but by then most military authorities had already started to look at magazine rifles. Although strictly only carbines firing pistol calibre cartridges, the advantages of the Henry Rifle introduced in 1960 and the Winchester rifle introduced in 1966 were already clear by then. Both of these rifles were available in .44 calibre with the magazine capable of holding at least 15 rounds.
In 1877, the Turkish army used American made Winchester rifles to great effect in repelling Russian forces during the siege of the Bulgarian town of Plevna which brought to the attention of the major powers on the need to adopt magazine fed rifles. In 1880 Paul Mauser introduced his Model 71 rifle using an eight-round tubular magazine which, after various trials, was adopted by the German army in 1884 as the Model 71/84 in .43 calibre. The French army adopted the bolt action Fusil Mle 1886 M93 in 1887 which also used an eight-round tubular magazine in 8 mm calibre.
James Paris Lee was British borne but moved with his family to the US in 1858. In 1861 he developed a breech loading cartridge conversion for the Springfield 1861 rifle musket. In 1872, he submitted a single shot breech loading rifle to a U.S. Army Trials board which to be considered as a replacement for the original Springfield ‘trapdoor’ system. Although his rifle did not win the trials, it was considered worthy enough to be considered further. However, in 1979, Lee was awarded UK and US patents for a breech loading, rotating bolt action coupled to a detachable box magazine.
In February 1883, a British Small Arms Committee was set up to consider a replacement of the .577/450 Martini Henry rifle then in service. The Lee bolt action rifle was included in these trials which were based on the use of the .450 sold drawn Gatling gun cartridge. These trials were not entirely successful. In August 1885, the committee recommended further trials which included a Lee magazine rifle. These trials narrowed down the contenders and further trials were ordered in February 1887 with the two most promising candidates: these were a Burton rifle with a Lee bolt and an improved Lee magazine rifle. The trials were conducted with a .40 straight case Rubin cartridge and with Metford rifling.
These trials led to the adoption of a .303 inch calibre rifle using an improved Lee bolt action and magazine together with Metford rifling. In December 1888, the pattern was sealed as the Magazine Rifle Mark I and manufacture began. Over its lifetime, the rifle was manufactured at the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) in Enfield and Sparkbrook (Birmingham) as well as commercially at the Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) and London Small Arms (LSA) factories.
Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle Mk I
In April 1891, the official title was changed to Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle Mk I or MLM. The Mk I used Metford rifling employing 7 shallow grooves with left-hand twist and a pitch of 1 turn every 10 inches. The Mk I was fitted with Lewes sights in which the front rectangular sight block incorporated a vertical slot and the rear sight incorporated a rectangular notch. The rear ladder sight bed was marked 400 and 500 yds while the leaf was graduated up 1900 yds. The MLM also incorporated a volley sight for long range shooting consisting of a rear flip-up aperture sight and a front dial sight graduated from 1800 to 3500 yds.
The Lee bolt used a pair of rear locking lugs that engaged with shoulders in the receiver body when the bolt was closed. Unlike bolts with forward locking lugs, the required Lee bolt travel (~3.5 inches) only needed to be slightly longer than the length of the cartridge (~3.1 inches) and it also required only a rotation of 60 degrees to unlock it. The bolt used a separate bolt head that was a sliding fit into the bolt and was retained by a screw. The bolt head incorporated a spring loaded cartridge extractor claw and did not rotate with the bolt but moved back and forth along a rail on the right-hand side of the receiver body. The bolt could be removed from the rifle after first releasing the bolt head from the rail held there via a spring loaded catch at the rear. The bolt incorporated a dust cover secured by two screws which kept dust and dirt out of the receiver. The cocking piece at the back of the bolt was cocked and held in place by the sear during the forward motion of the bolt – essentially, the MLM cocked-on-closing. The rear locking lugs and the cock on closing led to a very fast and easy bolt action allowing a high rate of magazine fire to be achieved with the MLM.
There were two safety features built into the design of the bolt action. The first was a number of vent holes to guard against the effect of a cartridge or primer rupture; there was one in the side of the bolt head and there were two holes either side at the front of the receiver. The other safety feature was to prevent a cartridge being fired unless the bolt was fully closed. This was achieved by the action of a lug on the cocking piece that runs in a slot milled into the underside end of the bolt. If the bolt is not fully closed when the trigger is pressed, the milled slot prevents the cocking piece from moving fully forward and thus preventing the firing pin from striking the cartridge.
The MLM Mk I was fitted with an eight round, single column detachable box magazine with a spare magazine carried by each soldier. The magazine was removed from the rifle using a spring loaded catch just in front of the trigger. Each round had to be loaded separately into the magazine and, because of its design, this had to be done by sliding the back of the round in first making the loading process slightly awkward. At the time the MLM was introduced, the British Army was used to loading and firing single rounds, most often during volley firing. The practice was continued with the MLM and a magazine cut-off was therefore built into the right-hand side of the receiver that could be rotated into place over the cartridges in the magazine allowing single rounds to then be loaded easily into the breech. When rapid magazine fire was required, the cut-off could be swung out of the way allowing rounds to be fed from the magazine.
The MLM used a long fore end stock with metal end cap which left the front 4.5 inches of barrel fully exposed as well as most of the top half of the remaining barrel exposed. The only part not exposed was the short section between the back sights and the receiver which was covered with a wooden hand guard. The hand guard was attached to the barrel via spring clips. The fore end stock featured finger grooves along either side and was attached to the barrel via a mid band just in front of the dial sight and a front band that incorporated a piling swivel and the upper sling swivel. The lower end of the leather sling was attached to a swivel just in front of the magazine.
The rear end of the receiver incorporated a square socket for the front end of the butt which was held in place via a large bolt that screwed into the back of receiver. The butt bolt was accessed via a trap in the butt plate which was made of steel. Within the butt, a jag and oil bottle was accommodated via the trap.
The fore end stock end cap incorporated a boss for the Pattern 1888 bayonet and also a hole for the cleaning rod that was accommodated within the stock. The bayonet had a blade length of 12 inches and, as well as the spring catch for the bayonet boss, also incorporated a barrel ring on the quillon to provide a firmer mounting on the rifle barrel. The Mk I Pattern bayonet incorporated a hole inside the end of the handle for the end of the cleaning rod. It used a leather scabbard and included an elongated stud for the Valise Equipment Pattern 1888 (also known as Slade-Wallace Equipment) bayonet frog.
The MLM Mk I was fitted with a safety catch on the left-hand side of the receiver not dissimilar to those fitted to the much later SMLE and No 4 rifles. One of its purposes was to lock the bolt in position when the springs were eased to prevent it from accidentally opening. However, the safety catch was removed from the Mk I in December 1890. The cocking piece was also equipped with a half-cock notch that allowed the weapon to be carried safely with a round loaded in the breech. A single stage trigger was used.
Rifle Lee-Metford Magazine Mk I*
The MLM Mk I* was approved in 1892 with no safety catch, revised front and rear sights, an improved hand guard, butt, main spring, magazine spring, dial sights and piling swivel. All Mk I rifles were converted to Mk I* standard.
The original Lewes sights proved to be unsatisfactory and were replaced by a more conventional barleycorn front sight and rear sight with a V-notch. The front sight bed was now marked with 200, 300, 400 and 500 yds and the leaf was marked to 1800 yds. The dial sight was now marked from 1600 to 2900 yds.
Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle Mk II
The MLM Mk II was first introduced in 1892 with the main difference compared with the MK I* being a new receiver body in order to take a wider 10-round magazine in two staggered columns. The bolt was also changed and a screw-in bolt head employed. A spring steel dust cover was now used which was clipped into place rather than being screwed to the bolt.
The main changes to the fore stock were the use of a combined front band and end cap and the elimination of the finger grooves along either side. Other changes were the move of the upper sling swivel to the mid barrel band with the piling swivel remaining on the end cap. The changes to the butt included a brass end plate and the provision of space inside the butt for a pull through in addition to the oil bottle. A swivel was also screwed into the butt to accommodate the lower end of the sling.
Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle Mk II*
In 1895, the MLM Mk II was modified to Mk II* standard with the provision of a safety catch attached to the rear of the bolt and the elimination of the cleaning rod. Apart from this, it was similar to the MK II. However, few were made before being superceded by the the Magazine Lee-Enfield or MLE.
Sighting Problems
During the Boar War (1899-1902), soldiers found that the Lee Metfords (and Lee-Enfields) shot significantly to the right. As the MLM had left-hand rifling, this naturally caused the bullet to drift to the left during its trajectory – this phenomena is called Spin Drift and results from the gyroscopic procession of the bullet and the interaction with atmospheric drag . To account for this drift, the MLM front sights were slightly set to the left (.05″) during manufacture. Unfortunately, the batch process for determining this offset was flawed resulting in all the service rifles issued being incorrectly sighted. In order to correct the rifles then in use during the Boar War, new backsight leafs were issued with the V-notch cut .03″ to the left. For future rifles or those in store, the front sight was modified instead by moving the barleycorn .02″ to the left. Those so modified, where stamped with an asterisk on the side of the front sight.
.303 Cartridge Development
A few months after the introduction of the MLM Mk I, a new cartridge was approved that was officially called the Cartridge S. A. Ball, Magazine Rifle, Mark I. It used a round nosed .303 bullet with a lead core and nickel jacket with a weight of 215 gr. The bottle necked cartridge was filled with 71.5 gr of compressed RFG2 black powder and gave the bullet a muzzle velocity of 1830 fps. At 1000 yds, the bullet drop was of the order of 110 ft.
However, in 1891, the Cartridge S. A. Ball, Magazine Rifle, Mark II was introduced using a smokeless propellant called Cordite together with a 215 gr round nosed bullet. Cordite was so named because, during manufacture, it was extruded in string-like rods. It consisted by weight of 58% nitroglycerine, 37% gun cotton and 5% petroleum jelly. The Mk II cartridge had a thicker cupro-nickel jacket as the original Mk I nickel jacket was found to be too thin for use with Cordite. The MK II cartridge produced a muzzle velocity of 2060 fps.
However, it was found that the Mk II bullet did not have the stopping power of the earlier .577/450 Martini Henry bullet – essentially the jacketed bullet had a tendency to pass straight through the target depositing insufficient energy or momentum. To overcome this, the Mk III bullet was introduced 1897 in which the cupro-nickel jacket was removed over the nose of the bullet causing the bullet to expand on impact resulting in a much greater wounding power. Since these bullet were produced in the Indian Dum Dum arsenal and henceforth were referred to as Dum Dum bullets.
The Mk IV cartridge was produced in Britain and had a cylindrical hole in the nose – effectively a hollow point expanding bullet. The Mk IV used a pure lead core but this was found to give problems with the core being blown through the jacket on firing. To overcome this problem, the Mk V cartridge was introduced in 1899 and reverted back to using a core made from lead and 2% antimony.
However, the 1899 Hague Convention banned the use of expanding bullets and therefore the Mk III – IV cartridges were subsequently only used again for target practice.
Magazine Lee-Metford Carbine Mk I
In 1894, the Magazine Lee-Metford Carbine Mk I was approved with a reduced 20.75 inch barrel length, a safety catch on the cocking piece and a shallower 6-round magazine. It was fitted with a recessed sling bar on the butt as well as a brass identification disk.
The MLM carbine was intended for use by the cavalry because the MLM was too long to be carried in a saddle bucket and, instead, had to be carried slung over the shoulder which was not ideal. The MLM carbine dispensed with the volley sights and the backsight was marked to 2000 yds. Like most full bore carbines, the effective range of the MLM carbine was probably closer to 300 yds.
My MLM Mk I*
My Mk I* was made by BSA in 1891 and is in reasonable condition. It is marked DP (Drill Pattern) on the barrel knox form and was therefore deactivated a long time ago.
My Mk I* has a front sight that is pinned to the mounting block which means that it is a converted Mk I. The newly made Mk I*’s had a solid front sight which could not be replaced. It also shows the recess in the stock adjacent to the long range aperture sight for the original safety catch which was then removed in the upgrade to Mk I* standard.
The original cleaning rod is still in place and the bayonet fitted is a Pattern 1888 MK I with a hole in the handle to accommodate the end of the rod.
Lee-Metford Specifications
- Weight: 9 lb 8 oz
- Weight of Full magazine: 13 oz
- Weight of Bayonet: 15 oz
- Length of Rifle: 4 ft 1.5 in
- Length with Bayonet: 5 ft 1.34 in
- Length of Barrel: 30.2 in
- Calibre: .303 in
- Rifling: Metford Segmental
- Bullet: 215 gr jacketed round nosed lead
- Muzzle Velocity: 1830 fps (.303 Mk I), 2060 fps (.303 Mk II-IV)
- Front Sight: Lewes slot on Mk I; Barleycorn on Mk I* – II*
- Rear Sight Bed: 400 & 500 yds on Mk I
- 200, 300, 400 & 500 yds on Mk I* – II*
- Rear Sight Leaf: Up to 1900 yds on Mk I; to 1800 yds on Mk I* – II*
- Dial Sight: 1800 – 3500 yds Mk I; 1600 – 2900 yds Mk I*
- 1600 – 2800 yds Mk II
- No. of Grooves: 7
- Depths of Grooves: .004 in
- Width of Lands: .023 in
- Rifling Twist: Left-handed with 1 turn in 10 in
