Jungle carbine

Experience of jungle fighting in 1943 identified that mobility was critical and to that end the weight of equipment carried by the individual soldier needed to be reduced. The requirement for a rifle was a "light handy weapon with good accuracy to 400 yards []" The first tests of the rifles took place in 1944 during which a flash hider was added. The rifle was officially introduced into service in September 1944 with 20,000 produced, and by end of 1944, 50,000 had been accepted for service. ==Design==

and scabbard of a jungle carbine. The No. 5 was about shorter and nearly a kilogram () lighter than the No. 4 from which it was derived. A number of "lightening cuts" were made to the receiver body and the barrel, the bolt knob drilled out, woodwork cut down to reduce weight and had other new features like a flash suppressor and a rubber buttpad to help absorb the increased recoil and to prevent slippage on the shooter's clothing while aiming. Unlike modern recoil pads, the No. 5 buttpad significantly reduced the contact area with the user's shoulder, increasing the amount of felt recoil of the firearm. In official recoil tests, the No. 4 rifle yielded average free recoil energy and the No. 5 carbine . Of the No. 5 carbine's extra recoil energy, was caused by adding the conical flash suppressor. The No. 5 iron sight line was also derived from the No. 4 and featured a rear receiver aperture battle sight calibrated for with an additional ladder aperture sight that could be flipped up and was calibrated for in increments. It was used in the Far East and other jungle-type environments (hence the "jungle carbine" nickname) and was popular with troops because of its light weight (compared to the SMLE and Lee–Enfield No. 4 Mk I rifles then in service) and general ease of use, although there were some concerns from troops about the increased recoil due to the lighter weight. Several No. 5 Mk 2 versions of the rifle were proposed, including changes such as strengthening the action to enable grenade-firing, and mounting the trigger from the receiver instead of on the trigger guard, but none of these would proceed towards production, let alone adoption into service. Similarly, a number of "takedown" models of No. 5 Mk I rifle intended for Airborne use were also trialed, but were not put into production. "Wandering zero" One of the complaints leveled against the No. 5 Mk I rifle by soldiers was that it had a "wandering zero" – i.e., the rifle could not be "sighted in" and then relied upon to shoot to the same point of impact later on. The British government officially declared the jungle carbine possessed faults "inherent in the design" and discontinued production at the end of 1947. However, modern collectors and shooters have pointed out that no jungle carbine collector/shooter on any of the prominent internet military firearm collecting forums has reported a confirmed "wandering zero" on their No. 5 Mk I rifle, before finally converting to the L1A1 SLR. ==Operational history==

The rifle was first issued to British airborne forces in Norway towards the end of the Second World War; these were troops that were likely to be sent to the Far East for an invasion of Japan. The term was colloquial and never applied by the British Armed Forces, but the Rifle No. 5 Mk I was informally referred to as a "jungle carbine" by British and Commonwealth troops during the Malayan Emergency. ==Postwar non-military conversions==

Though they did not invent the name, the designation "jungle carbine" was used by the Golden State Arms Corporation in the 1950s and 1960s to market sporterised military surplus Lee–Enfield rifles under the "Santa Fe" brand. Golden State Arms Co. imported huge numbers of SMLE Mk III* and Lee–Enfield No. 4 rifles and converted them to civilian versions of the No. 5 Mk I and general sporting rifles for the hunting and recreational shooting markets in the US, marketing them as "Santa Fe Jungle Carbine" rifles and "Santa Fe Mountaineer" rifles, among other names. while a post-war conversion will generally have either no markings or markings from manufacturers who did not make the No. 5 Mk I (for example, Savage or Long Branch). ==Notes==