It was published in 2007, available now from Aust., N.Z., US and UK distributors. BSA Co. 1917 dated, mag cut-off, matched serial numbers. 1 Mk. III, largely due to its heavier barrel. [33], Due to the poor performance of the .303 British cartridge during the Second Boer War from 18991902, the British attempted to replace the round and the LeeEnfield rifle that fired it. The British military switched over to the 7.6251mm NATO round in the 1950s; starting in 1970, over 1,000 of the No. It is highly collectable but not rare. These are designated Mk IV Cond., with various asterisks denoting subtypes. 1 Mk III or III*, with the original MLE and LEC becoming obsolete along with the earlier SMLE models. is there a site or data base of Enfield serial numbers where a person could track their rifle back to place of manufacture, deployment etc.? Work on a long-range replacement cartridge began in 1910 and resulted in the .276 Enfield in 1912. GWF is free to use so please support the Forum. Bolt and stock band serial numbers match Bolt head is an#3 It's been sporterized. I rifle as many collectors believe. [25][27][28][29] The windage adjustment of the rear sight was also dispensed with, and the cocking piece was changed from a round knob to a serrated slab. I rifles were made for Trials. 4 Mk I, No. Enfield Trials Rifle . The L59A1 was a conversion of the No4 Rifle (all Marks) to a Drill Purpose Rifle that was incapable of being restored to a firing configuration. There were more than 317,000 Mk I MLE rifles produced and nearly 600,000 Mk I* MLE rifles. Volley Sights Arabic butt disc marked ( Ottoman Empire captured) This has come out of the 'Hans Gnter Collection' 890.00. Will ship at buyers expense. 4 Mk. Just a ball park would work, I have seen some Enfield for $600 and some for $2500. Sterling Armaments of Dagenham, Essex produced a conversion kit comprising a new 7.62mm barrel, magazine, extractor and ejector for commercial sale. [14] LeeEnfield rifles are still popular in the region, despite the presence and ready availability of more modern weapons such as the SKS-45, the AKM, the Chinese Type 56 assault rifle, and the AK-74. It was unsuitable for general issue and production ceased in 1947, due to an 'inherent fault in the design', often claimed to be a 'wandering zero' and accuracy problems.[47]. you can get the place of original mfgr , as to deployment there are a few markings put on in service that sometimes help but mostly not . . Vietnam: Vit Minh captured LeeEnfields from French forces. I* (T) were the standard WWII sniper rifles for the British and for the Commonwealth, except for Australia. 4 Mk. The rifle's two-piece stock and 10-round magazine are two of its most distinctive features. Note 2: Savage-made LeeEnfield No. The Lee-Enfield No. 32 and its bracket (mount) were matched and serial numbered to a specific rifle.[54]. Italy: post-World War II Italian Army and Navy. Also non macthing bolt is a concern. [17] Some straight-pull bolt-action rifles were thought faster, but lacked the simplicity, reliability, and generous magazine capacity of the LeeEnfield. As far as civilian rifles are concerned, some manufacturers have their own dating systems, with, for example, prefixes or suffixes to serial numbers providing that information. Sri Lanka: Phased out in the late 1960s with the arrival of the L1A1 SLR. Thailand: (the contract was concluded on 10 December 1920 when the king received shipment of 10,000 rifles.). Serial numbers tend to be "electro-penciled" onto . It's not stamped all that well so that doesn't help. [14], During both World Wars and the Korean War, a number of LeeEnfield rifles were modified for use as sniper rifles. 7, Rifle, No. The No. 1 Mk. 2 3 rd Edition, Lee-Enfield No.4 and No. When Japan entered the war in 1941, New Zealand found itself lacking the light machine guns that would be required for local defence should Japan choose to invade, and so the New Zealand Government funded the development of self-loading conversions for the LeeEnfield rifle. Short Magazine LeeEnfield Mk I (1903), Swedish Army Museum, Stockholm. Thanks to inter-war development, an improved and simplified design was waiting in the wings, and the No. [23] The barrel was now halfway in length between the original long rifle and the carbine, at 25.2 inches (640 mm). I cant seem to find his posting right now, but it might help explain things. 2 Mk. The carbine subsequently was down graded to. The Australian military were not permitted to manufacture the No. Canadian sniperSergeant Harold Marshall carries a No. Often the serial number would be obscured by the Suncorite when refinished, so it was practice to restamp the serial onto the left wrist socket. The original bolt would be proofed to 18 ton's per square inch of pressure. A further likely consideration was the difficulty of obtaining replacement ammunition in the event of the rifle's theft or the carrier's desertion. [85] The L8 series of rifles consisted of L8A1 rifles (converted No.4 Mk2 rifles), L8A2 rifles (converted No.4 Mk1/2 rifles), L8A3 rifles (converted No.4 Mk1/3 rifles), L8A4 rifles (converted No.4 Mk1 rifles), and L8A5 rifles (converted No.4 Mk1* rifles). Serial number on barrel is 5349 then on bolt entrance that number. I rifles made at Enfield. . [80] Most of the Charlton Automatic Rifles were destroyed in a fire after the Second World War,[81] but a few examples survive in museums and private collections. [22], A shorter and lighter version of the original MLEthe famous Rifle, Short, Magazine, LeeEnfield, or SMLE (sometimes spoken as 'Smelly', rather than S, M, L, E)[14]was introduced on 1 January 1904. Roughly 1,400 of these were converted to No. 4 Mk I* rifles that were brought up to Mk 2 standard were re-designated No. II and Mk. No Savage LeeEnfields were ever issued to the US military; the markings existed solely to maintain the pretence that American equipment was being lent to the UK rather than permanently sold to them. The LeeEnfield rifle was derived from the earlier LeeMetford, a mechanically similar black-powder rifle, which combined James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system that had a barrel featuring rifling designed by William Ellis Metford. Lee Enfield Serial Number Database The Number 4 Rifle had a peep sight at the rear of the receiver, and the barrel extends about 3 inches from the front of the forestock. The Royal Canadian Air Force also used these as a survival rifle in the remote parts of Canada. Ive just purchased a 1942 stamped Lee Enfield rifle which has a number 93L8939. Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. The machinery from ROF Fazakerley was sold to Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in Rawalpindi where production and repair of the No.4 rifle was continued from 1957. The SMLE Mk V (later Rifle No. Numerous attempts have been made to convert the various single-shot .410 shotgun models to a bolt-action repeating model by removing the wooden magazine plug and replacing it with a standard 10-round SMLE magazine. Serial number is of 1950s and date stamped 1942? I assume its a Canadian longbrance, but I am a bit confused as a web post puts this serial number around 1950? The Original Yesterdays Weapons Lee Enfield - Serial Numbers Moderators: millwright39, PaulM, Amatikulu Share 15 posts 1 2 Next Amatikulu 223 veteran member Aug 17, 2008 #1 The link below is to a web site I created some time ago. 4 Mk. (serial) number on. Australia: No.1 MkIII/MkIII* manufactured at Lithgow Arsenal in Lithgow, New South Wales. I introduced in 1942, the Mk. I rifles at RSAF Enfield and a few others including Stevens-Savage No. Possible, sure. This puts collectors into a spin trying to figure it out and fake is called!. The current world record for aimed bolt-action fire was set in 1914 by a musketry instructor in the British ArmySergeant Instructor Snoxallwho placed 38 rounds into a 12-inch-wide (300 mm) target at 300 yards (270 m) in one minute. The Mk V did retain a magazine cut-off, but without a spotting hole, the piling swivel was kept attached to a forward barrel band, which was wrapped over and attached to the rear of the nose cap to reinforce the rifle for use with the standard Pattern 1907 bayonet. The initial wooden-stocked De Lisle with a fitted suppressor. 4 Mk I/3. In the late 1960s, RSAF Enfield entered the commercial market by producing No.4-based 7.6251mm rifles for sale. Although the .276 Enfield had better ballistics, troop trials in 1913 revealed problems including excessive recoil, muzzle flash, barrel wear and overheating. I have a lee Enfield no1 mark3. Khyber Pass Copies can be recognised by a number of factors, notably: British company Armalon Ltd[101] developed a number of rifles based on the Lee Enfield No 4. 4's spike bayonetand subsequently the No. [43], In the years after the Second World War, the British produced the No. 4 Mk I, Britain had obviously settled on the rear aperture sight prior to WWI, with modifications to the SMLE being tested as early as 1911, as well as later on the No. During World War I alone, more than 2,000,000 SMLEs were made at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock, Middlesex (Reynolds 1960: 180). If it's a 1942,it will more likely then not,have the rear release tab for the bolt. III* (HT). In British service, the No. Grizzley1 Registered Joined Aug 31, 2014 under the crown stands for 'George Rex' and refers to the reigning monarch at the time the rifle was manufactured. The main difference between the two conversions was in the cartridge ejection arrangement; the Enfield magazine carried a hardened steel projection that struck the rim of the extracted case to eject it, the Sterling system employed a spring-loaded plunger inserted into the receiver wall. [105], Khyber Pass Copies patterned after the LeeEnfield are still manufactured in the Khyber Pass region, as bolt-action rifles remain effective weapons in desert and mountain environments where long-range accuracy is more important than rate of fire. This means Royal Ordance Factory Fazakerly, Factory Through Repair, 1949. Where are the serial numbers on a Lee Enfield? 4 (T) LE. No5 rifles (Jungle Carbines) serial numbers consisted of a sequential 4 digit number starting with 0001 running through to 9999, the numbers were preceded by a letter prefix. III* LeeEnfields were used by the. The trigger guards is marked: DF The wood just above the signt is marked: DR Rifle has the serial number 8832. Bermuda: used by the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps. Thanks for all you answers. Austria: used post-war by the Gendarmerie. Lee Enfield Rifle Lookup Upgrade T Later [48] The No. The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited, Small Arms Limited and later, Canadian Arsenals Limited, Spelling errors in the markings; as noted the most common of which is a reversed 'N' in 'Enfield'), V.R. http://www.enfieldcollector.com/serials.html. Best to get an appraisal though, and like all things, firearms values fluctuate, more so here in Canada lately. 5 Mk I, designated Rifle, No. In the stowed position, a fixed distance aperture battle sight calibrated for 300 yd (274 m) protruded saving further precious seconds when laying the sight to a target. [46] With a cut-down stock, a prominent flash hider, and a 'lightening-cut' receiver machined to remove all unnecessary metal, reduced barrel length of 18.8 in (478 mm) the No. Most of these were 1931 and 1933 dated No. 1 Mk V), adopted a new receiver-mounted aperture sighting system, which moved the rear sight from its former position on the barrel. [62][63] No. The No. [14] Soft-point .303 ammunition is widely available for hunting purposes, though the Mark 7 military cartridge design often proves adequate because its tail-heavy design makes the bullet yaw violently and deform after hitting the target.[109][110]. 4 Mark I would be adopted in 1941 and serve until 1952, until replaced by the M1 Garand. Lee-Enfield No 4 Mk 2, .303 British. [36] Many Mk III and III* rifles were converted to .22 rimfire calibre training rifles, and designated Rifle No. I (T) chambered in .303 British. 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