Question: The No.8 rifle is what version of the main firearm used by the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century?
Context: The 19th century (1 January 1801 – 31 December 1900) was the century marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Napoleonic, Holy Roman and Mughal empires.  This paved the way for the growing influence of the British Empire, the Russian Empire, the United States, the German Empire, the French colonial empire and Meiji Japan, with the British boasting unchallenged dominance after 1815.  After the defeat of the French Empire and its allies in the Napoleonic Wars, the British and Russian empires expanded greatly, becoming the world's leading powers.  The Russian Empire expanded in central and far eastern Asia.  The British Empire grew rapidly in the first half of the century, especially with the expansion of vast territories in Canada, Australia, South Africa and heavily populated India, and in the last two decades of the century in Africa.  By the end of the century, the British Empire controlled a fifth of the world's land and one quarter of the world's population.  During the post-Napoleonic era, it enforced what became known as the Pax Britannica, which had ushered in unprecedented globalisation, industrialisation, and economic integration on a massive scale. The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle that was the main firearm used by the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century.  It was the British Army's standard rifle from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957.  .  It is often referred to as the "SMLE," which is short for the common "Short Magazine Lee-Enfield" variant. Until Australia(british colony) became a Federation in 1901, each of the six colonial governments was responsible for the defence of their own colony.  From 1788 until 1870 this was done with British regular forces.  In all, 24 British infantry regiments served in the Australian colonies.  Each of the Australian colonies gained responsible government between 1855 and 1890, and while the Colonial Office in London retained control of some affairs, and the colonies were still firmly within the British Empire, the British Governors of the Australian colonies were required to raise their own colonial militia.  To do this, the colonial Governors had the authority from the British crown to raise military and naval forces.  Initially these were militias in support of British regulars, but British military support for the colonies ended in 1870, and the colonies assumed their own defence.  The separate colonies maintained control over their respective militia forces and navies until 1 March 1901, when the colonial forces were all amalgamated into the Commonwealth Forces following the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia.  Colonial forces, including home raised units, saw action in many of the conflicts of the British Empire during the 19th century.  Members from British regiments stationed in Australia saw action in India, Afghanistan, the Maori Wars of New Zealand, the Sudan conflict, and the Boer War in South Africa. Majitha is a town and a municipal council in Amritsar district in the Indian state of Punjab.  Majitha holds a distinguished place in the history of Punjab as the well-known Majithia Sirdars (chiefs) came from this region.  These were several generals in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army of the Sikh Empire in the first half of the 19th century.  No less than ten generals from Majitha can be counted in the Maharaja's army during the period of 1800-1849.  Chief amongst the Majithia generals during the Sikh Empire were General Lehna Singh, General (aka Raja) Surat Singh, and General Amar Singh.  Sons of General Lehna Singh (Sirdar Dyal Singh) and of General Surat Singh (Sirdar Sundar Singh Majithia) had great impact on the affairs of Punjab during the British rule through the latter 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.click here more information The Rifle, Number 8 (commonly referred to as the Number 8 Rifle) is a bolt-action .22 calibre version of the Lee–Enfield designed for British Army target shooting.  They are simple hand-fed rifles and were originally designed to be used by military marksmen firing in civilian competitions , before being turned over to the cadet forces.  Currently, the Number 8 is used by the British cadet services as a basic target rifle.  Some examples are in civilian ownership worldwide, especially following the disposal by the New Zealand cadet forces of their Number 8 and Number 9 rifles at auction. The 8×50mmR Lebel (8mm Lebel) (designated as the 8 × 51 R Lebel by the C.I.P.) rifle cartridge was the first smokeless powder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country.  It was introduced by France in 1886.  Formed by necking down the 11mm Gras black powder cartridge, the smokeless 8 mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition.  Standard 8mm Lebel military ammunition was also the first rifle ammunition to feature a spitzer boat tail bullet (Balle D), which was adopted in 1898.  The long-range ballistic performance of the 8mm Lebel bullet itself was exceptional.  For use in the magazine tube-fed early Lebel rifle, the 8mm case was designed to protect against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet.  However, the shape of its rimmed bottle-necked case, having been designed for the Lebel rifle's tube magazine, also precluded truly efficient vertical stacking inside a vertical magazine.  The bolt thrust of the 8mm Lebel is relatively high compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century.  Although it was once revolutionary, the 8mm Lebel was declared obsolete after World War I and was soon after replaced with the 7.5×54mm French round. The Philippines campaign, the Battle of the Philippines or the Liberation of the Philippines (Filipino: "Kampanya ng Pilipinas", "Labanan sa Pilipinas" & Liberasyon "sa Pilipinas"), (Operation Musketeer I, II, and III) (Filipino: Operasyon "Mosketero I", "II", "at" "III"), was the American and Filipino campaign to defeat and expel the Imperial Japanese forces occupying the Philippines during World War II.  The Japanese Army overran all of the Philippines during the first half of 1942.  The liberation of the Philippines commenced with amphibious landings on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte on October 20, 1944.  United States and Philippine Commonwealth military forces were progressing in liberating territory and islands when the Japanese forces in the Philippines were ordered to surrender by Tokyo on August 15, 1945, after the dropping of the atomic bombs on mainland Japan and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Malaysia's armed forces, which encompasses three major branches, originate from the formation of local military forces in the first half of the 20th century, during British colonial rule of Malaya and Singapore prior to Malaya's independence in 1957.  The branches have undergone several restructuring, but fundamentally includes the army, navy and air force. From 1611 to 1721, Sweden was a European great power, becoming a dominant faction in the quest for control of the Baltic Sea and a formidable military power.  During this period, known as "Stormaktstiden" (Swedish: ""The Great Power Era"" ), the Swedish Empire held a territory more than twice the size of its modern borders and one of the most successful military forces at the time, proving itself on numerous occasions on battlefields such as Wallhof, Narva and Düna.  The military of the Swedish empire is commonly (and wrongfully) recognized only as the Caroleans, which were in fact not in service until the late 17th century under Karl XI and his successor.  The Swedish Empire and its modern military force was founded by Gustavus Adolphus, who inherited the throne in 1611 at age 17.  He immediately reformed the common European military based on mercenaries to a professional national army.  However, before completing his vision of conquering the Holy Roman Empire, the warrior king was killed in action in 1632.  His daughter and successor did little to improve Sweden's military position and abdicated early, providing the Swedish Empire with a more warlike ruler.  Karl X Gustav was only king for 5 years, but conquered large amounts of territory that still belong to Sweden today (including Blekinge, Bohuslän, Skåne and Halland).  His son Karl XI would further strengthen the army by introducing the Caroleans, which were also used by Karl XII in the Great Northern War. The wall piece was a type of firearm used during the 18th century by the national and colonial armies of most European countries.  Essentially, it was a scaled-up version of the army's standard infantry musket, operating under the same principles, but with a bore of up to one-inch (25.4 mm) calibre.  These weapons filled a gap in firepower between the musket and the lightest artillery pieces, such as the swivel gun.  Wall pieces were so named because they were designed to be used along the walls of fortifications.  They were equipped with a yoke at the point of balance, which tapered into a pivot, which could be inserted into several sockets along the walls, which would absorb the recoil of the piece and also provide a stable gun platform.  (In this respect they were much like a scaled-down version of the swivel gun.)  Wall pieces could also be mounted on very light carriages for service in the field, usually in support of the larger guns.  They were also used on small naval vessels.
Answer: .22 calibre