T H E R I F L E M A N December, l^iO More About the .300 Rifle B}' The Editor Game and Gidi. I DO not think I am giving away important secrets to the enemy if I refer again to the .300 American Ser\nce rifle with which many units of the Home Guard are armed. After all, I mentioned this rifle some months ago when I ventured to give a few hmts as to how these rifles and various types of .303 rifles should be sighted so as to give the best possible results in practice. I am returning to the .300 again now partly because there is a considerable amount of confusion as to what the rifle really is, and partly because I have now had e.xperience of checking and sighting of well over two hundred of these rifles and so hope that the results of this experience, such as it is, may possibly be of some interest and even help to others. First as to what the rifle is. For some extraordinary reason, wholly beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals, this rifle has been officially designated the " Lee- Enfield .300." I need hardly say that it is nothing of the sort. In fact, such a designation has not only led to misunderstanding and confusion among the many who do not know the truth, but has given rise to iddicule amongst the very considerable number who do. It maj'^, Aerefore, be as well to give a very brief history of the British Service Rifle. I do not think it necessary to go hack to Brown Bess and \yatcrloo, so let us make a start with the first breech-loading rifle which was adopted in 1864. This was the famous Snider, so called because the breech action was the invention oif a Mr. Jacob Snider. The cahbre was .577. But this did not last long and was soon superseded by a rifle of .450 bore and a hammerless action. Ilfis was the well-known Martini, which was again so named after its inventor, Mr. Martini. T H E " L E E " A C T I O N In 1889 the .303 calibre was adopted and a magazine rifle was u^d for the first time. The particular magazine action which was selected after many trials was that .designed by Mr. Lee, and consequently once again the mventor of the breecli action gave his name to the rifle The type of rilling adopted was that designed by Mr. Metford, and consequently the rifle became officially known as the Lee-Metford. It is interesting to remember that the original .303 cartadge was designed for black powder and the rifling was a lather shallow groove type designed to reduce tendency to maccurac\i caused by the heavy fouling of black powder. But when cordite supplanted black powder as the propellant, experience showed that this shaUow rifling did not give the barrel a very long fife owing to the increased wear caused by the Iiigher velocities and "Otter powder gases. Consequently in 1899 a deeper grooved type of rifling was adopted after many trials at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, and" this type of rifimg was known as the " Enfield." The Lee breech action was retained and externally the 1899 rifle, known ee-finfield, was identical with its immediate r , Lee-Metford, the only difference being A?!! ^I'^tford rifling was replaced by the Enfield. J .,.n? ^^'"0 time a .303 Carbine was used for cavalry an« aitillery. This was not a magazine weapon, but a single-loading Martini action, and so was known, first as the Martmi-Metford since it was a combination of the Martmi action and the Metford rifling. It is important to note that in cver\- case the rifle or carbine was named, with every technical accuracy, after the breech action adopted. Even the old Martini-Henry was so caUed because it combined a Martini breech action with a barrel rifled with the rifling designed by Mr. Henry. Alter the experience of the South African War a universal short rifle was adopted for all arms and the old Martini action carbine disappeared. The new rifle retained tne ^ee breech action and magazine and the Enfield rifling J ? " t h e " S h o r t M a g a z i n e L e e - Enfield or S.M.L.E. for short. Incidentally, the Enfield type of riflmg became almost universalhr adopted in all than dSerenLs^^'^*^ variations being distinctions rather A N E W R I F L E About 1911, however, it was decided to adopt a new cartridge which would give higher ballistics than the .303 which, as has been stated, was designed in the black trials and experiments a bottle-shaped cartridge of .276 calibre was adopted. o grains and developed a muzzle deveW^K^''.^ 360 f.s. higher than that ^ains n ^ 1 Mark VII cartridge with its 174 h S i e r g e n e r a t e d w a s S tfip t" t -3^3 and it was considered m .n 1 1 , ^ tireech action, in which the bolt had no foiward locking lugs, was not strong enough to carry the new cartridge. Consequently an entirely different breech actwn was adopted, which was really a modification of the well-known Mauser action with its forward locking lugs Enf^^ldin of these new .276 rifles were made at wftb experimentaUy W s o r e t a i n e d t h e E n fi e l d r i fl i n g , designed at -f and partly because it was Pattom roTo^" became officially known as the Pattern 1913 Enfield, or P. 13 for short. but b naturaUy knocked it on the head, large ^ shooting weapon that n for! rn ru manufacture were placed in America of thel ifl •303. Many thousands a s t h f p . ^ r w h i c h w e r e k n o w n of mnmff ^ Enfield because of the date of beginning t h e r i fl e . I n tint it the P. 13 rifle, the only difference being has ■^°3 and of American manufacture. This thp • 1 ^ "^°®t excellent and accurate rifle and became still if smper's rifle for the British Army, which it THE AMERICAN COUNTERPART riflef ^917 she wanted qnWnJr n "umbers. There were only two factories, SorinSf r universally known as the SSd as .£°"'®9uently the P. 14 Enfield rifle was fnf OP ® the new American service arm, but naturally .300 American service calibre and cartridge' wasDecember , 1!>J0 THE ^ipLEBJAN rctaiiied. This new rifle was accordingly manufactured in vast numbers at the factories wliich were already turning out the P. 14 for Great Britain, and the new rifle ■was identical in every detail with the P. 14 except that it was bored and chambered for the .300 cartridge instead of the .303, while the magazine was adapted for thc .300 cartridge. It became ofliciall}- known as the U.S. Model 1917 rifle, but unoflicially as the 1917 Sprmg- lield, since it took the famous .300 Springfield cartridge. I would repeat again that the rifle lias got a modified M a u s e r a c t i o n , a n d s o t o c a l l i t a " L e e " r i fl e i s m e r e h " to expose ignorance. I am confident tliat no Lee action has ever been made to carry the .300 cartridge for the simple reason tiiat this action is not considered sufficienth" strong to stand up to tlic pressures developed by the .300 •cartridge. It is just as wrong to call the U.S. Model 1917 ■a " Lcc-Enfleld .300 " as it would be to call it a " Martini- Enfield .300" or a " Snider-Enfield .300," and it would tend to far less confusion if it were called b}- the more colloquial name of " 1917 Springfield," when everyone would know exactl}- what was meant and what cartridge it took. Now for the actual sighting of these rifles. E X A M P L E S O F Z E R O I N G The procedure adopted in eveiy case was for the man ■to whom the rifle was issued to fire two series of fi%'e shots in succession. The first series was with a P. 14 rifle Parkerifled lor the .303 cum .22 sj'stem, on a target on ihe left, and the second with his .300 on an identical target on the right. The advantage of the .22 being identical in weight, trigger puj), sigliting, handling, etc., with the .300 is obvious and this first scries with the .22 made'it possible to assess the capabilities of the man as ■ a s h o t . " In eveiy case the grouping \yith the .300 was begun witli the " Battle " sight, aiid in the majority oT rifles it was found that this sight instead of giving a true elevation for 400 jrifds as often as hot gave ah elevation for 200 to 300 yards.' Quite one rifle in ten did not shoot straight, and this vvas corrected by' tapping d-ver the foresight. Fig. I is a group reproduced' exact size which shows (the necessity for this latter correction. In this case the man grouped well \vith the .22 and so when shots Nos.' i and 2 almost cut each other out on the right the foresight was tapped o\er the necessary amount to the right, with t h e r e s u l t t h a t h i s l a s t t h r e e s h o t s w e r e o n t h e c e n t r a l vertical line and his elevation so nearly the correct point (indicated by the short horizontal line immediately under shot No. 5) that no finer adjustment was necessarjy or indeed possible. Fig. 2 is an example of correcting both for elevation and direction. Again the .22 show^ed that the shooter was a rehable shot, and so when shots Nos. i and 2 with the .300 cut each other very high and to the left of the vertical the foresight of his rifle was tapped over to the left and his backsight set for 200 yards with the leaf up and the " Battle " sight discarded. Shots Nos. 3, 4 and 5 proved the correctness of these alterations. In both these first two e.xamples the rifle was shooting quite 8 inches to the right or left, at 200 yards, winch W'Ould be quite enough to give a miss on a man standing. But this simple test enabled accuracy to be obtained, w i i i l e i n t h e s e c o n d c a s e e l e \ - a t i o n w a s c o r r e c t e d a t t h e same time. Fig. 3 is an e.xample of the great %-alue of the first grouf) with the .22. In tliis case the man's actual group is reproduced e.xact size on the left. It wiU be seen that although it was a good group it was centred to the right of the central line. Since it was known that the .22 rifle grouped dead true iimnediatelj* above the point of aim this centreing to the right must have been a personal error. But when shots Nos. T, 2 and 3 with the .300 cut each other nearly two inches to the right (as can be seen in the diagram) it was obvious that the rifle was also throwing to the right. So the foresight' was tapped over to the right enough to bring the group the same distance to the right of the central line as the .22 group, and shots No. 4 and 5 with the .300 gave the correctness of the alteration. The .22 was the yard-stick and the shooting of the .300 was brought into line with that of © © —V A V -"TIi£ RIFLEMANDecember , 1940 distance above that of the .22 for the proper sighting elevation while the lateral error is the same. Consequently no change in the sighting of this man's rifle was needed. Of couise, not ail the men can shoot as well as those whose groups have been reproduced. In the case of a man who makes a very poor group it is probably unwise to make any attempt at lateral correction, although there can be little harm in altering the sighting for elevation, when a man shoots markedly high. Each case must be judged on its individual merits, but the .22 will always prove an invaluable guide, and these four e.vamples which have been given to show the value and importance of zeroing rifles correctly as well as the great discrepancies which can, and do, c.xist between the sighting of individual rifles. His Royal Highness T H E D U K E O F G L O U C E S T E R ' S 1 a p p e a l f o r t h e R E D C R O S S & S T . J O H N F U N D Every new development of the present conflict throws further responsibilities on the War Organization of the Red Cross and St. John. When many thousands of our men fell into the enemy's hands as prisoners of war, the Red Cross was charged with the task of providing them with clothing, food, and comforts. When the air attack on these Islands began i n e a r n e s t . R e d C r o s s a n d S t . J o h n w o r k e r s everywhere were instantly in action. Ever since, help of every kind has been given to the sufferers ; to-day the Red Cross and St. John is helping to staff air-raid shelters with trained first-aid workers. In Egypt the Middle East Commission, prepared and equipped in days of comparative quiet, is fully occupied in providing comforts and supple mentary medical and surgical supplies for the sick and wounded. All its resources have recently been placed at the disposal of Greece. At home the Red Cross'is still hard at work converting country houses and other suitable premises into convalescent homes and hospitals capable of receiving 20,000 patients. For all these activities and the many other s e r v i c e s i t r e n d e r s t h e R e d C r o s s a n d S t . J o h n War Organization relies on voluntary support, and this support 1 now earnestly ask you to redouble. 1 am more than grateful for the generous response that has been given to my original appeal, and am confident that the British people every w h e r e w i l l c o n t i n u e t o m a k e t h e i r c o n t r i b u t i o n t o w a r d s t h e c o s t o f R e d C r o s s w o r k f o r o u r s i c k and wounded and prisoners of war. 22, Lancaster Gate, London, W.2. the .22 with the necessary allowance for the 200 to 250 yards elevation, and once again an S-inch error at 200 yards was eliminated. Fig. 4 is yet another example of the value of the .22. In this case the man was not such a good shot and his .22 group was centred both high and slightly to the right. The cross indicates the centre of the group, or the M.P.I. (Mean Point of Impact). The similarity of the .300 group on the right is obvious, and again the cross gives the M.P.I. This is, for all practical purposes, the correct ©Next >