Lee Enfield

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Hey I just got what seemed like an excellent deal the other night.

1916 SMLE III, has the crown with CR stamped below

Full wood, bolt and receiver match etc and 3 full boxes of ammo for $300 all in.

My question is on the SMLE it is actually SmtLE capital S lower case mt and capital LE

I've had a couple over the years various sporterized models but I've never noticed that any info on what it means if anything?
 
SMLE - Short (as opposed to "long" - from the days when an Infantry rifle was like 29" barrel); Magazine (it had one - from the days when many soldier's rifles were single shot); Lee - the American guy who designed the action / magazine system; Enfield - the British Arsenal that designed the rifling profile for that barrel. As I understand how the name was used, SMLE was to differentiate it from the "Long Lee" or the "Lee Metford" rifles that preceded it.

I am pretty sure that I read that circa 1920's, the British gave all their "in-service" guns new names - the SMLE became the No. 1, the .22 trainer version became the No. 2, the P14 became the No. 3, then with WWII came the No. 4 and the No. 5. I do not know what was the No. 6, but I think the No. 4 in .22 trainer was called the No. 7. I believe after WWII, they might have changed the names used, once more? - so eventually had the L39 and the L42 rifles, then FAL and others. Minor alterations to the major design would have resulted in "asterisks" or "star" - more significant alterations became "Marks" of the main design - so can get a No. 4 Mk1, a No. 4 Mk1*, or a No. 4 Mk2 - each are different to the others, in some way. When a No. 4 Mk.1* was converted to the Mark 2 modification, it became the Mk 1/3 - pronounced "Mark One Oblique Three" - the No. 4 Mk 1 when converted became the No. 4 Mk 1/2. At some point they swapped from using Roman numerals to Arabic numerals, but I do not know when that was done, or if that was done by all makers - for example, I think there was No. I Mk. III and No. 1 Mk. 3

The stamp on your rifle should be "GR" - for "George Rex" - "George the King" (of England) - the guy that actually owned the thing, originally.
 
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SMLE - Short (as opposed to "long" - from the days when an Infantry rifle was like 29" barrel); Magazine (it had one - from the days when many soldier's rifles were single shot); Lee - the American guy who designed the action / magazine system; Enfield - the British Arsenal that designed the rifling profile for that barrel. As I understand how the name was used, SMLE was to differentiate it from the "Long Lee" or the "Lee Metford" rifles that preceded it.

and GR as in George Rex (George V, and Rex, latin for King)
 
OP, that's a great price on that rifle.

I came across a similar deal a couple of weeks ago but gave the fellow $750, instead of the $300 he was asking. He's a friend. Turns out the LGS counter jockey told him "It's a bitser. All I can give you is $300"

Like the rifle in your pic, it's a put together but well done, many years ago with NOS original wood, with a VG bore.
 
Good deal there. The fussy collectors have pretty much cornered all the super nice ones, but that shouldn't stop the rest of us from enjoying our rifles. Sounds like you have a nice old rifle there. Take care of it and enjoy it!
 
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