Because of these points, work began immediately after the Armistice in 1918 to try to develop a rifle which retained the Lee-Enfield’s many virtues’ robustness, speed of operation, reliability – but which had better sights and was easier to make. The other principal complaint was that the nature and location of the back sight (an open-topped U in front of the chamber) made it difficult to master quickly. Excellent as the Mark 3 was, it had some drawbacks, and the major one was that its manufacture was time-consuming, demanding much machining and handfitting.
