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MILITARY RIFLE ACCURACY: A COMPARISON

BY JOHN T. BUTTERS

This article chronicles the results of an enjoyable project that grew out of a series of more or less unrelated events starting in the year 2000 with the acquisition of a very nice SMLE No. 4 MK2 rifle. I had always wanted to find out for myself what my father, who served in the British Army in WWI, found so praiseworthy about the SMLE.

Admittedly, he was issued the No. 1 rifle in one or another of its earlier versions but the No. 4 model was more appealing to me due to its better trigger arrangement and heavier barrel. I immediately discovered that his observation that it was “the same size from muzzle to butt plate” was indeed close to being literally correct. Thankfully, I did not have to check on the truth of his comments regarding its handiness as a club carrying an oversized butcher knife on the other end. He believed that “cold steel is the answer” and “the rifle is designed for disciplined and commanded musketry and is best employed under strict unit control.”