[ 1893 Lee-Metford Trials Carbine ]
Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and today we have a super-rare rifle,
or carbine actually, this is
a pre-production prototype Lee-Metford carbine.
Now this dates to 1893, but the original development program for the Lee-Metford carbine
started in 1888, basically right when the Lee-Metford was being adopted as a service rifle.
However, what they came up with right at that time
wasn't really an acceptable carbine for immediate adoption.
And unfortunately none of those prototypes from that period survive.
The next couple of years would see the carbine program kind of taking a back seat
as they made a bunch of improvements to the Lee-Metford rifle.
And you can understand wanting to get the rifle correct,
the action, all the details of the operating system,
before you move on to trying to make and issue a carbine version of it.
So this would come back up as a priority in 1891, which then kind of got pushed into 1892.
And the first batch of guns were actually produced in 1893, and it was 100 of them,
using a ... mixture of features from the Lee-Metford and from the old Martini carbines.
So this is serial number 32 of those original 1893 experimental carbines.
They were sent out for some trials, and let me show you what they put together here.
Basically what we have here is the action from a Mark II Lee-Metford rifle.
So we have a full length dust cover, we do have a cartridge cut off.
Unlike the rifle, the magazine has been cut down to 6 rounds.
And this is to make it lower profile so that it's easier for a cavalryman
to drop into a cavalry scabbard or ... carbine bucket.
We have a few markings on the receiver socket.
We of course have the royal crest, and then Enfield is the factory where this was made,
and a production date of 1893.
On the final production carbines the markings would actually be put over here on the left side.
One of the interesting omissions to me is the fact that there's no safety on this trials carbine.
That would come up as an issue, that was something that the cavalry wanted.
They would really like to have a way to have a round chambered but have a safety engaged.
And so that's something that would change between this prototype and the final adopted version.
Another thing that would change would be the bolt handle.
The handle here has been pulled down nice and close to the receiver,
and it's been swept forward slightly, but it still has a full round ball for a bolt handle.
The pattern that was ultimately adopted, they would also flatten off the top of that bolt handle
just to make the gun have a smoother overall profile.
You can see here the safety as well.
There was also no sling attachment on these,
so there's no sling bar or sling swivel on the buttstock.
Nor are there attachments for a sling anywhere on the action
or at the front of the rifle.
Now this has a nose cap that's set back substantially from the muzzle,
which is a little bit more rifle-like, also actually Martini-like.
So the Martini carbines, like this one here, have the stock ending back here.
They have cleaning rods, which are actually intended as clearing rods,
for knocking out a stuck cartridge should you have one.
Now this is ... a Martini carbine that was designed to take a bayonet.
As a cavalry arm, this trials Metford carbine does not have any bayonet fitting.
And that's fine, that's what they intended.
The rear sight here is basically identical to the Metford rifle rear sight.
The very first pattern of carbines in the late 1880s did have volley dial sights on them.
That was dropped for the 1893 production guns, and I think that makes a lot of sense.
I will point out, at some point this carbine had a leather sight protector added to it,
which is a little interesting.
That was a feature that was ... not on the initial adopted version of the carbine.
But either they experimented with it in the trials,
or possibly a trials carbine like this was used for further development later on
to test out ... leather sight covers.
Anyway, while the rear sight is very much like a Metford rifle, the front sight is not.
The front sight is much more like that of a Martini.
So here is our trials carbine, here's a Martini.
You can see that the front sight base is basically the same in concept.
Now the trials carbine here adds a very small pair of protective wings
to prevent damage to the actual front sight post. That's something that the Martini did not have.
So they're making a little bit of an improvement here.
Ultimately these wings would get a lot bigger, and they would be incorporated
into the nose cap of the carbine design that was ultimately adopted.
And it's also interesting to note that there was no barrel band fitted to this early carbine.
So we have a handguard up here, and a relatively long stock.
... The barrel band would ultimately be added to the production version of the carbine.
We have a whole mess of typical proof marks here on the barrel and the receiver.
You'll also note these head-to-head broad arrows, which are sold out of service stamps,
indicating that this carbine was surplused at some point.
And thus ended up on the civilian market.
Now one other ... interesting thing to note, there appears to be a
repair done to the top of the barrel there that would suggest that at some point
... my guess would be they experimented with a fixed sight perhaps.
But I don't know of any documentation discussing that.
It's just an interesting feature of a surviving trials rifle.
As is pretty common with pre-production trials experimental guns,
there were some features on here that weren't really entirely suitable.
They would go back to make some ... changes to them,
as you saw with the comparisons between this and the final adopted version.
A batch of another 50 carbines was updated.
It's unclear to me: either newly manufactured in 1894, or updated from some of these 1893 guns.
Any rate, in 1894 50 newer versions were tested out.
Those were better liked, and they led to the adoption
of what would ultimately be the Mark I Lee-Metford carbine.
So, we'll have a separate video on the final adopted version of the carbine itself,
as well as the modifications that were made to it over the course of its production.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.