Lee Enfield MkIII with optional bayonet (ID 9.77)

A shorter and lighter version of the original MLE—the Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee–Enfield or SMLE (sometimes spoken as "Smelly," rather than "S-M-L-E")—was introduced on 1 January 1904. The barrel was now halfway in length between the original long rifle and the carbine, at 25.2 inches (640 mm). The SMLE's visual trademark was its blunt nose, with only the bayonet boss protruding a small fraction of an inch beyond the nose cap, being moddelled on the Swedish Model 1894 cavalry carbine. The new rifle also incorporated a charger loading system, another innovation borrowed from the Mauser rifle and notably different from the fixed "bridge" that later became the standard: a charger clip (stripper clip) guide on the face of the bolt head.