But I think Lee Ermey makes a fool of himself here.
The bloke with the SMLE's accent sounds as if he's an Aussie to me and is wearing an Aussie slouch hat with badge. The only thing that makes me wonder if he is Aussie is that he isn't giving Ermey what for about the mix up.
If he is an Aussie, he should also point out the Australians used the MK. III into the 1950s (Lithgow stopped production in 1953) Not to mention the Pakistanis and Indians were using them into the 60s-70s.
"Hey, Ermey How did you like being in the Canadian Navy????"
I don't know about being the fool as Ermey's goal is to entertain and educate and I thought he did that well in the video.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Ermey is wrong when he says that the 30-06 was the first to use smokeless powder. The French Lebel of 1888 was the first. Mauser began loading smokeless immediately with the 1890 Belgian Mauser 7,65x53. The U.S. had been using smokeless since the Lee Navy 6.5 issued in 1890. They went on to issue the .30 Army with smokeless from 1892. The Army adopted the .30-03 in 1903 then quickly changed to the .30-06 in 1906. None of the U.S. cartridges designed for use in bolt action rifles were created before smokeless powder.
While the .303 cartridge that the SMLE was using began life with black powder, in 1907 the British had been using Cordite for more than a decade.
Of the two rifles, for a similar competition I would always choose the SMLE. While Ermey did mention that the Lee-Enfield had a quicker action and twice the capacity, he left out that the SMLE was also heavier and the .303 round somewhat less powerful than the 30-06 making it far more comfortable to shoot and quicker to return to target. The 30-06 is a superior round and will shoot flatter farther but that wasn't at issue in the video.
While I am a fan of the SMLE, particularly the No.1 MkIII, I have always liked the 1903 Springfield. I carried one in High School ROTC years ago--yes, we did have guns in school a few years ago.
Just watched it again. Ermey described the 30.06 as "big" then remarked that the .303 was puny. I wonder if he ever measured the bullets? If so, he would find that the .30-06 is .308 of an inch while the .303 is .312 per inch. Yeah, 4/1000s may be splitting hairs but when you are buying bullets, it is a big difference.
ReplyDeleteGiving Gunny the benefit though, the 30-06 is substantially longer and the case does hold far more powder.
yes, he is entertaining, but my Yank side finds him annoying--seriously it's hard to confuse England with Australia!
ReplyDeleteThe US gets a bad rap for being dim and he doesn't help.
But it is his show.
I'm with you about the SMLE, but that's a British Empire thing for me.
The 98k is also a nice rifle, but I prefer the SMLE.
The 98k is arguably better made, at least the German manufactured Pre-war models as well as those made in Sweden and Belgium, but there is something just romantic about the SMLE, especially the No.1 MkIII. I like the No.4 too but have always had a special affinity for the MkIII.
ReplyDeleteWell, it seems a bit silly for Gunny Ermey to be using an M-1 against a bolt action rifle.
ReplyDeleteIs that really a demonstration of marksmanship, shooting painted china plates at, what, 100 yards or so? Shit, I haven't fired a gun of any kind in over 35 years and I think I could probably do that. Either those guys are losing their edge or they were faking it for the camera. So much for entertainment or information.
I remember reading somewhere a while back, in a discussion about the "Magic Bullet" Oswald assasination theory, that a qualified USMC marksman could probably fire that bolt action Mannlicher Carcano at something like a 3 second cycle time.