Thread: Early Lee Enfield safeties

Im interested in a lee that has the safety on the bolt. The reciever looks like it once had the more common safety type.

How effective was the cocking piece safety and why was it abandoned? Thanks

The receiver probably originally had or was designed to have the rear lobbing sight fitted where the safety ended up in later models.
The bolt safety works (ok) but may have been replaced for ease of manufacture and ergonomics.

00Buck has it right, the SMLE safety cutouts in the receiver replaced the inside surface that the volley sight arm sat against on the long lees - when the volley sights were deleted the pivot bit at the bottom of the rear volley sight arm stayed as a spacer for a time and was eventually deleted. I think the Long Lee with the bolt safety had that deleted due to it being a pain during bayonet drills, the extra length caused injuries to the hand.

Thanks