Thread: Bubba what have you done?

Originally Posted by ubique

Speaking of tunnel rifles. This might be the bugger you are referring to https://www.trademe.co.nz/2595248686

From the TM blurb:

In Skennerton's THE LEE ENFIELD
"During the trench fighting of the Great War, some SMLE rifles were cut down for use by the Tunnelling Companys. In 'Villiers-Stuart Goes to War', Brigadier-General W.D. Villier-Stuart in 1915 raised and took the 9th Battalion Rifle Brigade to France until they virtually ceased to exist as a fighting Regiment in September of 1915 because of the large number of casualties.
Villiers-Stuart records ...'when last in 'Y' Wood sector [Ypres] I had seen that the bombers were very much hampered by their rifles. I thought a lot about it and finally took a Salvaged rifle along to the Field Ordnance repair shop and got a conductor to cut it down to a 12-inch barrel, re-braze the foresight block and sight to the muzzle of that, and remove the backsight and bed altogether, cutting a 'V' in the bridge charger guide to replace it.
This made a very good close-quarter weapon and the nose cap being repositioned on the shortened fore-end meant that a sword [bayonet] could be fixed. I then had 10 more made and issued them to Officers for testing. We tried them on the butts and found them very accurate to 100 yds and made sure they would have been good at 200 yds as well.'
In the event, these shortened rifles were not developed any further because Villiers-Stuart states that, 'The American sawn-off shotgun* came along and was better for close-quarter fighting'.