The Turner SMLE was a prototype American semi-automatic conversion for the Lee-Enfield.
History[]
Russell Turner, a private gunsmith based in Pennsylvania, developed this rifle in 1941 for the Canadian Army on seeing the potential of these sorts of weapons. He then submitted it to the Canadian Army, where it was tested against the M1 Garand.
The weapon was put through a number of different tests, including most notably, a cold-weather test, where it was tested at −25 °C (−13 °F); the Turner was known to have functioned completely perfectly under the cold weather conditions, whereas the M1 Garand malfunctioned a few times. Ultimately, the Turner was not adopted as it was deemed too complex.[1][2]
Design Details[]
This semi-automatic conversion of the Lee-Enfield rifle is a gas-operated system with a short stroke gas system and a tilting bolt; the action of the weapon is noted to be extremely complicated. As mentioned earlier, the Turner is a gas-operated firearm with a tilting bolt; however, the bolt locks into the side of the receiver very much like a ZH-29.
The weapon's safety is essentially a modification of the Lee-Enfield safety with a ninety-degree travel as opposed to almost a 180-degree travel of the safety; when activated, a small arm moves within the action to lock the bolt in place. The rear sight of the weapon has both distance and windage adjustments, with settings up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
A small lever-like pin is seen on the left of the rifle; the pin is used to hold the ejector in place and does not appear to serve any other function. Propping up the side plate of the rifle is somewhat easy; jam a flat tool (i.e. a flathead screwdriver) into a rather visible undercut, push a small button located near the trigger with another tool and pull off the side plate.
The weapon's charging handle has two toggle switches which both work in tandem to act as an automatic magazine hold-open. The weapon's gas piston is located underneath the barrel and features a three-position gas selector actuated by a sliding lever. The center of the weapon's hammer is cut away and straddles between a spring system. The weapon's trigger locks against a curved surface of the hammer, with the only thing holding the hammer open being the bolt; when the bolt closes, the hammer drops.
The weapon's firing pin is located in the center of the bolt; this design feature works in tandem with the oddly-shaped hammer to act as an out-of-battery safety. If the bolt is not tilted off to the side and the hammer somehow manages to drop, the hammer will strike either side of the bolt and not hit the firing pin. Disassembling the weapon is noted as being a very tedious affair.[1]