[DuncanWaring]

...the SMLE was once the best combat rifle in existence? If fires a .30 caliber bullet at well over 2,000 FPS, and it does so accurately for hundreds of yards.

Designed to stop a cavalry charge by killing/disabling the horses at 600 yards.

The current world record for aimed bolt-action fire was set in 1914 by a musketry instructor in the British Army — Sergeant Instructor Snoxall — who placed 38 rounds into a 12 inch wide target at 300 yards (270 m) in one minute.

[Ancesthntr]

The target was actually a 24-inch diameter one, but Snoxall had all of his hits inside the 4-ring, which was 12 inches. Point well made, though - the Lord Roberts Match, or “Mad Minute” made the British Army of pre-WW1 into a bunch of rapid, accurate shooters. The Germans after being beaten back, badly bloodied, in one battle claimed that the Brits all had machine guns.

It has been said that in WWI the Germans had the best hunting rifle,the Americans had the best target rifle and the British had the best battlerifle. The latter is what we are after here.