Further changes were tested, jettisoned or retained. This new piece weighed around a pound less than the rifle and 8 ounces more than the carbine - a happy medium.Įxperimentation and trials continued. These developmental arms, as well as employing a new safety, long handguard, new-style rear sight and hooded front sight protector (among other mods), most notably had a barrel some 5 inches shorter than that of the long rifle, and 4½ inches longer than the carbine. In 1901, some “Shortened Enfield Modified Rifles” were produced at the Enfield Royal Small Arms Factory. By the turn of the 20th century, it was becoming increasingly obvious that a universal-pattern rifle would be more practical.Ĭircumstances in the Boer War prompted ordnance types to step up work already begun on an arm that would provide a happy medium between long rifle and carbine. The Long Lee-Enfield (above, top) and Lee Enfield Carbine (above, bottom) were originally produced for foot and mounted use. In something of a mixture of roles, rifles, rather than carbines, were employed by so-called “mounted infantryman.” Special-order in-between-length Lees were also carried by some yeomanry units. Both carbines and long rifles were being carried by the Brits in South Africa. One of the first things that was noticed was, while the Lee-Enfield was a superb arm, it had one major deficiency when compared to the fine Model 1893/95 7mm Mausers employed by the Boers: It had no capacity for being rapidly loaded by means of a “charger,” aka “stripper clip.” The Enfield, while possessed of a capacious 10-round magazine, still required cartridges to be loaded into the magazine one-at-a-time. Though possessed of one of the finest fighting forces in the world, commanders found themselves constantly confounded by what they mistakenly thought of as an amateur Boer fighting force. The Second Boer War (1899-1902) was a rude awakening for the British Army. ![]() The British Mark I Short Magazine Lee-Enfield was the first of it’s breed, a compromise between a short cavalry carbine and long infantry rifle. It must be admitted that the flow of K98 development was not quite as tidy as presented here, but the gist of the timeline is correct. The “a” first appeared circa 1902 evolving into the “assault” Karabiner 1898 AZ which, in turn, transmogrified into the Karabiner b, and thence to the famed K98k of World War II. Model 1903 Springfield and a shortened version of the German Gewehr 98, the Karabiner a, which is still basically a cavalry arm. ![]() Early incarnations of such a rifle were the U.S. It gradually dawned on the authorities that, particularly with smokeless powder arms, some sort of compromise could be achieved wherein a rifle could be devised that would suit practically all purposes. Additionally, often there were other specialized arms for such entities as artillery and engineers. One of the most common was the adoption of a particular system in both infantry long-rifle form and in cavalry carbine length. ![]() When repeating military arms began taking hold with the militaries of the world, unsurprisingly many of the earlier conventions were maintained.
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