M1895 Lee Navy

The M1895 Lee Navy was a straight-pull magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle. The Navy's official designation for the Lee Straight-Pull rifle was the "Lee Rifle, Model of 1895, caliber 6-mm" was semi-rimless, and fired a 135-grain (later 112-grain) jacketed bullet.

Production history and development

By 1894, the U.S. Navy desired to adopt a modern small-bore, smokeless powder rifle in keeping with other first-line naval powers. Originally, a rimmed 6mm round was envisioned, but after problems encountered with cartridge feeding, naval authorities decided that the new cartridge should be semi-rimless or rimless to facilitate optimum functioning in both clip-fed rifles and machine guns. As the military forces began adopting smaller and smaller caliber rifles with higher velocity cartridges, U.S. naval authorities decided to leapfrog developments by adopting a semi-rimless cartridge in 6-mm caliber, with a case capable of holding a heavy charge of smokeless powder. Per the terms of the Notice to Inventors, the new government-designed 6mm U.S.N a.k.a. Ball Cartridge, 6mm was the only cartridge permitted for rifles tested before the Naval Small Arms Board. In a second set of trials the Model 1893/94 Luger 6-mm Rifle and the Durst rifle were also considered, along with a Lee turning-bolt design. However, deliveries of the initial shipment of 10,000 rifles were not completed until 1897, owing to delays caused by manufacturing issues, as well as contract changes imposed by the navy. The latter included a significant change in ammunition specification, which required extensive test firings followed by recalibration of the sights. Marine battalions scheduled to be equipped with the 6 mm Lee rifle did not begin to receive their new rifles and ammunition until 1897, two years after adoption of the cartridge and rifle.

Colonel-Commandant Charles Heywood of the Marine Corps reportedly refused small initial allotments of the 6 mm Lee rifle to the Corps until he was given assurances that the Corps would be immediately issued at least 3,000 Lee rifles, improved target ranges, and most importantly, enough ammunition for Marine units to continue their existing marksmanship program.

Despite this threat, the September 1897 report of the Marine Corps Quartermaster to the Secretary of the Navy urgently requested a minimum additional $10,000 in funding to purchase sufficient 6 mm ammunition to allow Marines to conduct live fire and target practice with the Lee rifle. The report warned that, except for drill practice, enlisted Marines were "entirely unfamiliar with the use of this arm", since all target practice still had to be conducted using the old single-shot Springfield and .45-70 black-powder ammunition.

Second contract

While serial numbers 13391 through 15000 were made after December 1, 1898, and are not categorized as antiques by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a second contract was let on February 7, 1898, for an additional 5,000 rifles The firing pin lock and bolt-lock actuator were relatively fragile, and would occasionally break or malfunction, while the tension in the en bloc cartridge clips proved difficult to regulate, occasionally causing failures to feed.

Design and operation

Magazine system

The Lee's magazine system was improved over the prior Navy rifle, the M1885 Remington-Lee, by incorporating a clip-loaded magazine system and an action capable of handling high-velocity, small-caliber smokeless cartridges. Designed by inventor James Paris Lee, the rifle weighed and was about long. achieving a rate of fire considerably faster than most existing turn-bolt rifles of the day.

Sights and other features

Because of the 6mm cartridge's flat trajectory and resultant increased danger zone when firing at enemy personnel (compared to prior service rifles), the Navy had originally expressed interest in a fixed rear sight for the M1895.

Because of the relatively high velocity and flat trajectory of the 6mm Lee cartridge, authorities calibrated the sights at their lowest setting with a point-blank or dead aim range of . The latter was intended for use on targets at all ranges from point-blank to 700 yards.

The M1895 was normally issued with a sling, bandoliers, and a modern knife-type bayonet with an blade. Individual sailors and marines were issued a black leather belt with adjustable cross suspenders, fitted with twelve black leather ammunition pouches.

Ammunition

In December 1894, after a series of test evaluations with both rimmed and rimless 6mm cartridges, the U.S. Navy adopted the 6mm U.S.N. or 6mm Lee Navy cartridge. The original 6mm ball loading was supplied by Winchester, and used a roundnosed, cupro-nickeled steel-jacketed lead-core bullet with a total weight of 135 grains. In March 1897 a new military loading was adopted using a 112-grain (7.3 g) round-nose, copper-jacketed (FMJ) military loading developing Besides providing increased velocity and a flatter trajectory, the primary reason for the change in cartridge and bullet design was to reduce chamber pressures and extend the life of the rifle barrel: the new 112-grain loading with its copper-jacketed bullet gave an average barrel life of 10,000 rounds as opposed to only 3,000 for the 135-grain steel-jacketed load.

The U.S. 6mm Lee Navy (6mm U.S.N.) cartridge used by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps was initially supplied by Winchester Repeating Arms (WRA) and later, the Union Metallic Cartridge Company (UMC). Intended primarily for shipboard use against enemy naval forces in small boats, the 6mm Lee had considerably more penetrating power than the U.S. Army's .30 Army (.30-40 Krag) cartridge, and could perforate of soft wood at , a single thick steel boiler plate at , or a plate of chromium steel (no backing) at 150 feet. The basic combat ammunition load of an 1898 naval bluejacket or marine was 180 rounds of 6mm ammunition packed in five-round clips carried in black leather ammunition pouches. Outfitted in this manner, a navy bluejacket or marine could carry considerably more ammunition than that of the typical Army trooper of the day, who usually carried 100 rounds of .30 Army ammunition in individual cartridge loops on his Mills canvas cartridge belt. along with metal fouling due to unburned powder compounds, a problem intensified by substandard internal barrel finishing at the factory. These were eventually sold to Bannerman's, a military surplus dealer. As far as is known, all Marine companies involved in the Cuba combat operations were equipped with the 6mm Lee rifle.

In addition to service with the First Battalion, additional rifles were later distributed by navy quartermasters to elements of free Cuban forces revolting against the Spanish government. The Marine assault force had only just been issued their Lee rifles, and enlisted men aboard the Panther were hurriedly given lectures on operating and field-stripping their newly issued rifles aboard ship, along with ten 6mm rounds each to fire for familiarization purposes. During a four-day call at Hampton Roads, Virginia, and later during a two-week stopover at Key West, Florida Lt. Col. Huntington ensured that all enlisted Marines aboard the USS Panther underwent target practice on the beaches with the Lee rifle, as well as marksmanship training and small-unit battle drills. After the battle of Cuzco Wells, the surviving members of the retreating Spanish garrison informed the Spanish General Pareja at Ciudad Guantánamo that they had been attacked by 10,000 Americans.

The M1895 would see considerable action in the Pacific during the Spanish–American War and the early stages of the later Philippine–American War with U.S. Navy and Marine personnel.

During the Moro Rebellion of 1899–1913, it was reported that some Marines preferred the M1892/98 Springfield (Krag) rifle and its .30-caliber ammunition to the M1895 Lee Navy and its 6mm U.S.N. cartridge, believing the latter to have inadequate shocking or stopping power against frenzied bolo-wielding Moro juramentados, who attacked from jungle cover at extremely close distances.

In this situation, the 6mm Lee bullet may have overpenetrated without causing sufficient shock and trauma to the enemy, a situation which the Chief of the Bureau of Naval Ordnance had foreseen as early as 1895, when he acknowledged the concern that "the wounds produced by small-caliber bullets will frequently not be sufficient to put the wounded out of action and their shock will not stop the onset of excited men at short range".

On the other hand, the Marine Legation Guard, which used the 6mm U.S.N. cartridge in the defense of the foreign legations in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, apparently had no such criticisms.

U.S. forces equipped with the Lee rifle in the first (Seymour) relief expedition advancing from Tientsin to relieve the Marines at Peking were able to transport some 10,000 rounds of 6mm ball for the riflemen as well as a Colt machine gun crew, and consequently never ran short of ammunition, unlike other Western forces, who were forced to capture the Imperial Chinese arsenal at Hsiku to find enough cartridges to continue fighting. During the same expedition, Marine sharpshooters using the Lee Navy rifle managed to eliminate the gun crews of two heavy artillery batteries using only rifle fire.

The board did acknowledge that the rimmed .30 Army round was less than ideal when used in modern machine guns, and that the decision to adopt the .30 Army for the Navy and Marine Corps might be postponed until a rimless version of the .30 Army had been developed. The U.S. Marines continued to use the M1895 Lee rifle until January 1900, when they received Model 1892/98 rifles in exchange (Philippines and Far East Marine battalions were the first to receive the new rifle and ammunition).

The Navy continued to use the M1895 Lee as its primary small arm through at least 1903. though the M1895 Lee would remain in service aboard some ships of the fleet into the 1920s, albeit as a secondary (drill practice) arm.

References

External links

Winchester Arms Collectors Association page on the Model 1895 Lee
https://web.archive.org/web/20121103191821/http://www.history.navy.mil/library/special/contract02.htm
" Lee United States Navy Rifle, Model 1895," by Patrick McSherry
New York Times article on the replacement of the M1895 Lee