SOME NEW LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE PARTS – COUNTRY Of MANUFACTURE ?

[45B40-95B40]

Brian,

Thanks very much for explaining the meaning of the “P” stamps and the “46” stamps on the backsights. I erroneously thought that the Royal Ordnance Factory at Poole only manufactured bayonets.

I notice on your website that one of the items you currently sell is a “British No. 9 Mk. 1 bayonet less scabbard, NIW” (New In Wrap). Were those bayonets manufactured by the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield (as shown in the attached photograph), or were they manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factory at Poole, and when were they manufactured???

Thanks for all of your informative answers!!!

Ralph Van Buren (45B40-95B40)

[peregrinvs]

Were those bayonets manufactured by the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield (as shown in the attached photograph), or were they manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factory at Poole

Both. I used to own a ROF Poole marked example and currently own an RSAF Enfield marked example. The Poole mark was 'P' in a circle.

Mark

[45B40-95B40]

Mark,

Thanks for your information. Both of the NO9Mk1 bayonets I currently own were manufactured at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in 1954. So the Royal Ordnance Factory at Poole manufactured bayonets for Lee-Enfield rifles that were stamped with a “P” inside of a circle, and they additionally manufactured Lee-Enfield rifle backsights and many other components that were stamped with a “P” all by itself. I have some new Lee-Enfield rifle foresights that are each marked with a “P” all by itself, and I now know that they were manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factory at Poole.

Thanks also for Bob Dylan’s quote, “[but] I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.” I remember that quote from the song “My Back Pages” that Bob Dylan sang back in the 1960’s and that the Byrds also sang back in the 1960’s. So I guess Bob Dylan and The Byrds were popular over in Great Britain, just like The Beatles and The DC5 (The Dave Clark Five) were popular over here in the United States Of America. I once had quite a large collection of LP’s and 45’s from the late 1950’s through the late 1980’s, but I’ve sold or given away almost all of them.

Ralph Van Buren (45B40-95B40)