A post I just made about the Ruger No. 1 in .303 British reminded me of something I had often wondered about, which is commercial Lee-Enfield sporting rifles. Now I've seen sporterized Lee-Enfields and supposedly they were commercially available even before WWII but I've never seen a Lee-Enfield that was obviously a commercially produced sporting rifle--in person, that is.
An article about Frederick Burnham in the November 1987 issue of Petersen's Handuns magazine illustrates what appears to be such a rifle,although one can't be sure. It has a regular capped pistol grip syle buttstock, a sliding dust cover on the action and a short forearm with checkering on both the grip and the forearm. He must have acquired it before 1900, which puts it before the SMLE variation. There is also a bandolier or cartridge belt illustrated alongside the rifle (along with a Remington revolver) but the cartridges don't appear to be .303 British, so maybe the rifle isn't either. As a matter of fact, the rifle is described as being a Lee-Metford sporter which was presented to him by Cecil Rhodes.
I happened to run across on the internet (where else?) a copy of a sales brochure from B.S.A., I think (because I didn't download it yet) that had a few sporting rifles, all Lee-Enfields (and perhaps Lee-Medford) and I think mostly in .303 British. Also illustrated were most other variations of Lee-Enfields ever made to include more than one version of carbine (called an "Officer's Model"--the hype has been around), the SMLE and even the long (so named) Lee-Enfields. All except the sporting rifles were described as issue rifles, except of course for the Officer's Models.
The largest collection of rifles I've ever seen is in the NRA museum, about 15 miles from here but I recall no such rifle there and not many Lee-Enfields at all, come to think of it. Anyone else here have an "original" Lee-Enfield sporting rifle?
An article about Frederick Burnham in the November 1987 issue of Petersen's Handuns magazine illustrates what appears to be such a rifle,although one can't be sure. It has a regular capped pistol grip syle buttstock, a sliding dust cover on the action and a short forearm with checkering on both the grip and the forearm. He must have acquired it before 1900, which puts it before the SMLE variation. There is also a bandolier or cartridge belt illustrated alongside the rifle (along with a Remington revolver) but the cartridges don't appear to be .303 British, so maybe the rifle isn't either. As a matter of fact, the rifle is described as being a Lee-Metford sporter which was presented to him by Cecil Rhodes.
I happened to run across on the internet (where else?) a copy of a sales brochure from B.S.A., I think (because I didn't download it yet) that had a few sporting rifles, all Lee-Enfields (and perhaps Lee-Medford) and I think mostly in .303 British. Also illustrated were most other variations of Lee-Enfields ever made to include more than one version of carbine (called an "Officer's Model"--the hype has been around), the SMLE and even the long (so named) Lee-Enfields. All except the sporting rifles were described as issue rifles, except of course for the Officer's Models.
The largest collection of rifles I've ever seen is in the NRA museum, about 15 miles from here but I recall no such rifle there and not many Lee-Enfields at all, come to think of it. Anyone else here have an "original" Lee-Enfield sporting rifle?
