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We are stalling at the Bisley Gun Show 23rd May -26th May
Rare BSA SMLE .303 Number 1 Mark 1*** dated 1904
Floating Charge Bridge
This is a very nice example of a very early Lee Enfield SMLE Number 1 Mark 1*** .303 fitted with volley sights.
This Lee Enfield Number 1 Mark 1*** .303 was manufactured at BSA in 1904 as a Number 1 Mark 1* but in the run up to WW1 it was ungraded to Mark 1***.
Just before the start of WW1 the British Army had developed a new Mark VII .303
ammo and it started to up grade all its rifles to the new ammo from 1911 onwards.
Above
Nice clear Enfield stamp and date 1904
Above
Floating charger bridge and mag cut off
Above
Military rear Target sight with micro adjustment and windage
Below
Nice view of a very clean rifle
The SMLE Number 1 Mark 1 series of rifles were only in production for 4 years,
from 1904-1907. It had replaced the Boar War Long Lee Enfield / Metford .303 rifle series which had been up till that point the standard British Army Service rifle.
It was anounced in 1906 that the No1 Mark 1 SMLE series would stop in early 1907 and be replaced by the No1 Mk3 SMLE series. But as machining problems with the No1 Mk3 dragged on into mid 1907 at Enfield , the Mark 1 stayed in production until late November 1907.
The No1 Mk1 series was light years ahead of the British Army Long Lee service rifle and was a major jump in rifle technology as lesson had to be learnt from the 1899-1901 Boar War.
£1950.00
Historical Footnote
In late 1901 after the Boar war had just ended, the inquest into the performance of the British Long Lee Service rifle was to say bad is an understatement. The Dutch Boars in the South African War had out performed the British Army on the battle field was an understatement. The inquest was damming and something need to be done.
The 'New Rifle' the Short Magazine Lee Enfield was announced in mid 1902 to replaced the Long Lee service rifle, this did not go down well with the NRA at Bisley or the shooting community plus big parts of the British Army.
Huge articles were written to the 'Editors' of THE TIMES by readers complaining about this 'New Rifle' , the NRA was by far the biggest complaint followed by Generals of the British Army and Members of Parliament.
If those people had persuade the Government which including the NRA at Bisley to stop production of the 'New Rifle' and continue with Long Lee production as they demanded in 'The Times' day after day, week after week .
The Number 1 Mark1 would never had gone into production therefor the No1 Mark 3 would have never had existed.
Without the fire power of the SMLE .303 MK3 in WW1 the British would have never have contained the whole of the German 1st Army at Mons .
Then maybe if that had come to pass, then this article may well be in written German not English.
If Smith-Dorrien (2nd Corps) and Douglas Haig ( 1st Corps) had failed to hold, then retreat from Mons the whole of the BEF would have been wiped out in two days.
Smith-Dorrien (2nd Corps) performers at Mons was outstanding, holding almost 70,000 Germans at bay. In the end the Germans had so many troops (almost 110,000) that they started to outflank 2nd Corps at Mons but Smith-Dorrien had held the whole German 1st Army at bay for enough time to get time for Douglas Haig ( 1st Corps) to fall back. Then 2nd Corps withdraw from Mons as the rear guard of the BEF.
The British had been outnumbered by about 3:1 but managed to withstand the German 1st Army for 48 hours, inflicting huge casualties on the Germans 1st Army.