Sir, At Cranwell in the late 1950s we were issued with Lee Enfields (letter, Sept 2). Our drill instructors insisted that we made plenty of noise as we carried out each drill action, with our hands smacking against the rifle. We soon discovered that an easy way to make our drill louder was to slightly loosen the nuts and bolts that held the rifle together. This was fine until one cadet carried his loosening a little bit too far; on parade one day, as he ordered arms and the butt struck the ground, the rifle dramatically fell to pieces. Following that there was no more loosening up of rifles.
Rod Bell
Goldsborough, N Yorks