[Mike Irwin]

"1. it was heavy and poorly balanced."

Hum... Where do you come up with that?

The Lee-Enfield family of rifles weighed roughly between 8 and 9 pounds, depending on exact model, density of the wood used in the stock, etc.

The K98 Mauser? It weighed between... 8 and 9 pounds based on the same criteria.

The Springfield 1903? Between 8 and 9 pounds.

The Moisin Nagant? Between 8 and 9 pounds.

The M1917 Enfield? Betweeen 9 and 11 pounds.

So, in other worlds, the Lee Enfield wasn't any heavier than the bolt action rifles used by other nations.

And, just for grins and giggles? The M1 Garand? It was by far the fattie of the group, coming in at 9.5 pounds more or less.

The Lee-Enfield also, depending on the model, had a medial balance point around the magazine, as is to be expected of a properly designed bolt action rifle, and just as the others did, as well.

Sorry. That complaint doesn't hold water.


"2. it had a weak action which, unless the british military wanted to ugrade to a stronger cartridge was not that big of deal."

You're right, it's not a big deal. Nor is it really true, considering that the Lee Enfield was later upgraded to the 7.62x51mm cartridge, which is a full-power cartridge operating in the 50,000 to 60,000 psi range.


"3. it took a long time to manufacture."

Another canard, really. The continual evolution of the Lee-Enfield was done in large part to ease manufacturing.

That reached its pinnacle with the adoption of the No. 4 Mk I rifle in the early 1930s. While figures are really hard to come buy, it would appear that the M1 Garand and the No. 4 could be manufactured in about the same amount of time.

Was either rifle (or the K98k for that matter) as easy to manufacture as later, largely stamped and welded guns?

No.

But it certainly wasn't a case of taking an inordinate amount of time to manufacture one rifle before moving on to the next one.



"the Brits were concerned because just about every major military that they knew of had switched to either Mausers or modified mauser action types so they commissioned Remington, and by extension Eddystone to make them a newer design similar to a mauser and what came out was the P14."

See my comments about being sold a bill of goods in my previous post...

Britain did NOT commission Remington to design a rifle for them.

The intended replacement for the Lee-Enfield, the Pattern 1913, was developed at the Royal Small Arms Manufactory, Enfield Lock (what we call Enfield Armory), where the majority of British small arms development has gone on since the early 1800s.

It wasn't until Britain became involved in WW I and needed more rifles that Britain approached Remington and Winchester to manufacture P1914 rifles.