I didn't expect this amount of interest and experience with Lee-Enfield rifles and other British items on the KCA Forum.

FWIW - Some rambling thoughts on early Lee 'small-bore' magazine arms.

IMHO - The 'genius idea' of James Paris Lee was the 'detachable (sheet metal) box magazine'. The evolution and efficient exploitation of this feature, probably was not realized, until applied to semi-automatic and automatic arms.

It seems, J.P. Lee and the companies in North America, that produced his 'turn-bolt' rifles, saw the 'detachable magazine' best utilized as a means of disciplined 'Fire Control'.

In its military configuration, the Remington-Lee "small-bore magazine rifle", (a.k.a. model 1899), came with four detachable magazines. This Lee rifle design also included a long 'side spring' to serve as a loading aid or platform.

This spring facilitates single loading by preventing a loosely loaded cartridge from dropping through the magazine opening, when the magazine is absent.

When a magazine is inserted, this spring is pushed aside.

The scheme was for troops to normally fire their Remington-Lee rifles as single shot rifles. When rapid fire was needed, the command was given to load a five round magazine.

With four loaded 5-shot magazines available, twenty one rounds of ammo, per man, could quickly be discharged by a unit! (Or ... so was the theory)!

It appears to me, gun designers and military thinkers were really blundering and feeling their way into this "Magazine Thingy".

---