CONTENTS INCLUDE:

• Lee Arms Company Catalog 1879
• Bridgeport Connecticut
• Good Illustrations, Crisp
• Why a Magazine Rifle
• The Lee Magazine System
• Component Parts System
• Now having purchased the Sharps Factory in Bridgeport and other facilities Lee is ready to mass produce fine guns

• James Paris Lee (August 9, 1831 – February 24, 1904) was a Scottish-Canadian and later American inventor and arms designer, best known for inventing the bolt action that led to the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield series of rifles.
• Born in Hawick, Scotland Lee emigrated with his family to Galt, Ontario in Canada c.1835 at the age of 4
• He built his first gun at the age of 12, using an old horse-pistol barrel, a newly carved walnut stock, and a priming pan made from a halfpenny. The gun failed to function effectively when first fired, but started Lee’s interest in gunsmithing and invention.
• In 1858, James Lee and his wife Caroline Lee (née Chrysler, of the later automotive family) moved to Wisconsin, where they had two sons- William (born in 1859) and George (1860).
• In 1861, Lee successfully developed a breechloading cartridge conversion for the Springfield Model 1861 Rifled Musket, managing to acquire a contract for 1,000 rifles from the US Army during the American Civil War. The Lee civil War carbine was manufactured in Milwaukee, Wi. 200 were delivered, but due to a bore diameter error, these were rejected by the army and the weapon did not see use in the Civil War. These guns are rare and highly collectible.
• The Lee Model 1879 rifle was his first successful magazine-fed rifle, which was adopted by China and the US Navy, and two later designs – the Remington-Lee M1885 and the Winchester-Lee or Lee Navy M1895 – were also adopted militarily and sold commercially.
• Commemorative Plaque, Civic Park, James Street, Wallaceburg
• James Lee square at Enfield Island Village formerly the Royal Small Arms Factory
• It is a portion of the Model 1879 that earned Lee his place in the pantheon of arms designers. Lee designed the first practical detachable box magazine – an item that would become an absolute requirement for military arms of the future.
• His bolt and magazine design was investigated by the British and in 1889, after extensive trials and tests, the British Army decided to adopt the Rifle, Magazine, Lee-Metford as a standard issue arm. This in turn developed into the Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield (or SMLE), the British service arm for many decades.
• James Paris Lee died in New York on February 24, 1904, having lived to see his rifles in service throughout several Colonial conflicts and the Boer War- yet no doubt completely unaware that his contribution would still be in official service 100 years later.
• From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Paris_Lee

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