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First SMLE: Short Magazine Lee-Enfield History..

Created as a compromise between a rifle and carbine, the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) became one of history's great Bolt-Action Military arms.

August 11, 2021
By Garry James
When repeating military arms began taking hold with the militaries of the world, unsurprisingly many of the earlier conventions were maintained. One of the most common was the adoption of a particular system in both infantry long-rifle form and in cavalry carbine length. Additionally, often there were other specialized arms for such entities as artillery and engineers.

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. Early incarnations of such a rifle were the U.S. Model 1903 Springfield and a shortened version of the German Gewehr 98, the Karabiner a, which is still basically a cavalry arm. 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. 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.

Continued:

https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/first-smle-short-magazine-lee-enfield-history/395637

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