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The Rifle, Pattern '18, " .303in-cum-.22in "

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Below is the unusual Pattern 18 A.G. Parker conversion of the .303" Short Magazine Lee-Enfield to .22" calibre, with its "conveyors" in cartridge clip in the charger bridge - waiting to be thumbed down into the magazine.

This rifle was submitted to the military for trials in early 1917.

 

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By courtesy of the curator of the Weapons Collection, at the School of Infantry in Warminster, we are able to show a facsimile of the report made 'under minute number 183, to the Small Arms Committee on 16th. May 1917.

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It will be noted that, although many of these conversions were later attributed to Parker-Hale, the company eventually combining A.G. Parker and Arthur Hale, the initial submission for the design was from A.G. Parker himself. See the Parker and Parker-Hale Companies. Alfred Parker's comment that the ejecting screw for their previous Pattern '14 .22LR training rifle was not fully effective with the heavy steel conveyors, requiring a significant specially-made ejector spring that can be seen in our photographs, and will be covered separately further down this page.

The reference to the Pattern 1914 rifle was because it was that model of .22 training rifle, produced using A.G. Parker's Parkerifling system to fire single-loaded rimfire long cartridges, that had these four years later been modified to the Pattern '18 to utilise the new .303-cartridge-sized conveyors to fire the .22LR round in realistic magazine-fed full-bore fashion.

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At that point, it appears that the S.A.C. did not feel this training conversion particularly worthy of consideration. At a time when manufacture of arms of all types were under the greatest of pressure, it would seem that adaptors of almost any nature were not deemed a priority. It is worthy of note that the secretary of the committee was none other than the author of the famous tome "The Book of the Rifle"; Colonel, the Honourable T.F. Fremantle.

An interesting point here is that the first rifle submitted was described simply as a converted S.M.L.E., and the sample of a Pattern '14 rifle was awaited. By mid-June the "Pattern '14" rifle had been submitted and the committee further considered its merits. Since the War Office eventually gave the Parker converted S.M.L.E. rifle the nomenclature Pattern'18, because of its original date of introduction, it is evident that Parkers submitted both a converted S.M.L.E. and a converted Lee-Enfield Rifle No.3, more commonly known as the U.S. Pattern '14 - not to be confused with the S.M.L.E. .22 Pattern '14 which carried the full title of "Rifle, Short, .22-inch, R.F., Pattern 1914".

In spite of the comments of the committee in June 1917, the Pattern '18 S.M.L.E. version was, as has been written, adopted in 1918, while the .22 Rifle No.3 (the training conversion of the .303 calibre Service Rifle better known as the .303 P'14 - the Enfield designed rifle manufactured in the U.S.A.) was never militarily introduced, and seems only to have been supplied to the civilian market or 'volunteer' style units in very small numbers.

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The Lee-Enfield Rifle Pattern 1918 in .22 RF

This rifle conversion (known as the .303" cum .22" ) provided what was probably the most realistic loading system and action weighting of any of its period. The design offered rimfire cartridge "conveyors" of fullbore cartridge dimensions.

(see The Williams Floating Chamber and The Morris and Aiming Tubes)

The picture to the left shows the receiver with charger guide bridge and the .22" bolt head with offset firing pin. Unlike most .22" conversions, the extractor is full width, as on the .303" parent arm. An auxiliary ejector was fitted to the left hand side of the receiver in a freshly machined slot. It was a rather agricultural addition, but proved necessary to assist in the ejection of the heavy steel conveyors (see picture below left).

This shot of the muzzle well illustrates the sleeving. Close inspection shows either the use of a steel olive at the front of the sleeve - a precursor to the brass ones later fitted to Parker Rifled arms, or perhaps indicating the fitment of a replacement at some stage in this example's lifetime. In good overall repair, the weapon shows typical signs of significant use, and has the stain marks down the woodwork born of regular cleaning at a time when black powder was the propellant, and of having been frequently stood in the rack without being wiped down.............................

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PARKER-HALE

.303" CUM .22"

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and the barrel reinforce has a multiplicity of

markings for modifications and proof with the

~ 22" SLEEVED ~ stamping being prominent.

The right hand side of the butt socket has the original markings of Enfield manufacture

~ Sht. LE ~

III

below which was added

 

~ & Co. Ltd. BIRMINGHAM .22 PATT' 18 " ~ The line above "& Co. Ltd" is missing, either poorly impressed or ground from the stamp. It is possible that it would have read - A.G. PARKER ~ since the two companies were so closely entwined.

The long range rear aperture and dial sight are retained.

The bolt head is a modification of the .303"original with the "U" stamp, rather than

the later purpose manufactured ".22" head. The butt stock disc gives the unit to

which the converted rifle was issued as the Officers Training Corps. An unusual

career's end for a 1912 Enfield manufactured S.M.L.E. Mk.III. If only such historic

items could tell their tale..........

As already mentioned, when the Lee-Enfield P'18 was no longer issued by the military, Parker-Hale naturally continued to sell them on the civilian market. BSA manufactured commercial models were converted for sale, and one of these is illustrated below.

 

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Below is the loading tool as illustrated in the advertisement beneath. With the hand lever to the side shown, the fresh cartridge is pressed ( carefully) into the conveyor. The standing post on the right hand side receives the ejected conveyor carrying the fired cartridge case. The conveyor is slid over the post, neck downwards, and the lever brought over to that side. The empty case is then pressed out of the conveyor through the clearance hole in the lever arm. To keep a squad of recruits on the firing points supplied with ammunition would have been no mean task!

 

Below right is an advertisement for the equivalent equipment for use with the Lewis machine gun.

The fabricated rod tool below, one of a pair of designs, is purported to be the device for pushing the fired empty cases out of the conveyor.

The sliding leather washer fitted over the rod appears to be the same part that is normally placed over the stock fixing bolt head, in the Enfield rifle butt, to protect the oil bottle there stored.

 

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The specification for the Pattern 1918 rifle was issued in a Small Arms Document referenced SA 454. This confirmed approval for the rifle on 27th. January 1919. There were two SAID drawings associated with the specification, one for the rifle, components and chamber detail, and one for the conveyor and an unloading tool that was perhaps superceded by the one shown above. The former was Drg No. AID 1722A and the latter AID 1723, both dated at December 1918.

These drawings follow the PDF of the specification, and are here illustrated by courtesy of, and also copyright to, the Royal Armouries. The PDF and the drawings have been carefully processed by Rifleman from the original scans to improve their display.

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Click below to access a

Chronology of Enfield genre Training Rifles, Adapters & Cartridges