Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle Mk III*

This rifle is on display at Te Papa in Gallipoli: The scale of our war. Its official name is 'Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, Mark III*', often abbreviated as 'SMLE'. It is a bolt-action rifle with a 'magazine' which holds ten rounds of .303 inch calibre ammunition. These rifles were shorter than the older Lee-Enfield Mk 1* rifles which were used by most New Zealand infantrymen at Gallipoli. 

SMLEs were used at Gallipoli by members of Mounted Rifle regiments and the Māori Contingent.

The SMLE was the standard British infantry rifle of the First World War. It was also the standard rifle for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. Lee-Enfields were very reliable, and unlike other rifles, didn't jam when used for continuous firing.