303 history info ?

[acepatt]

Can somebody help me id the history of my 1916 303. i have posted some photos on my other thread but i can post more as well as other stampings from the gun. what info is needed.

plus can someone direct me to replacement parts for restoration. the gun is in great shape just a few things missing.

Thanks

Information

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[No4Mk1(T)]

What kind of information were you looking for? From the looks of things I think the information you got in your first post will be about all that your likely to ever know for sure.
As for restoration parts I’m not sure about what’s available state side. Gun Parts Corp. perhaps?

[smellie]

Oh, boy!

She's a London Small Arms rifle and they are NOT common at all. LSA made only about 5% of the SMLEs made in England during the Great War and none at all in the Second War, being that they closed down operations permanently in the 1920s.

The PARTS you need are available at quite reasonable prices (compared to what we pay up here) from Springfield Sporters. They have a website at, IIRC, ssporters dot com. They have almost anything you might want, including original unnumbered nose-caps.

Assuming that the part of the rifle which we can see is complete, you will require:
fore-end (yours has been cut)
nose cap (yours is missing)
forward handguard (yours is missing completely)
nose-cap cross screw (likely you will need the early type with the small head)
nose cap screw (the vertical one that goes in from the bottom)
rear handguard (yours has been trimmed, unfortunately)
middle barrel band, screw and sling swivel (set)
Stud and Spring for between the Barrel and Nose-cap, up at front of the Forestock: necessary for Barrel pressure.
Magazine Cut-off and Screw
For cash money, likely you are looking at well under a hundred bucks.

That's the BAD news.

The GOOD news is that the parts ARE available and you will have no trouble getting them. Springfield's prices are pretty much what we WISH the prices would be, here!

More good news is that you have a pretty darned scarce rifle, friend. AND you have the REALLY hard-to-get parts: the forward Volley Sight Assembly complete and the Rear Volley Sight. And you HAVE the Butt Marking Disc (that cute little brass thing) which generally was removed from these rifles before they were sold. Original Discs often bear the markings of the Regiment or other formation which actually used YOUR rifle.

Now, two important points about the STOCK you get. You need a Fore-stock for a Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle Mark III...... NOT for a Mark III STAR. The Mark III STAR (III*) did not have a Magazine Cut-off, nor did it have Volley Sights, both of which YOUR rifle was equipped with originally...... and the woodwork is DIFFERENT. Point Two is also important: be sure to request a Forestock which does NOT have an "Ishapore Screw". An English rifle would only have this part if it had served and been reworked in India, which I doubt yours was. The wood might cost an extra $5, but it is well worth it. Correct wood for your rifle is WALNUT. LSA did not use any other wood in the Great War, even though it is quite likely that they would have wanted to, decent Walnut becoming scarce as the War went on.

Don't waste money on getting a spare Magazine; the rifles were never issued with spare Mags. You can actually reload the Magazine with Chargers MUCH quicker than you could change mags, anyway. DO spend $5 on a handful of Chargers, learn how to load them and use them. You will NEVER regret it.

Get the parts you need and get back on here. Somebody is sure to coach you through a proper restoration... and there are several people here who are very much experts on exactly that.

You have a very scarce rifle, friend, one which has a huge chunk of history riding along with it. It also looks to be in much better mechanical condition than the ones we usually find around here.

Most important point of all: treasure the old thing and have fun with it!

And I note the very low Post Count. Welcome to the Club, friend!
.

[NRA]

About Us

Brian is a Great guy to do business with

[No4Mk1(T)]

Wow smellie yet another one knocked out of the park! Thanks!

[acepatt]

Thank you very much for the info, i love the history, thanks again fro the parts list ( i needed it to do a restore). no to push but is there any way to id where this gun was used in service?
Thanks again.

[Peter Laidler]

Any way of finding out where it was used......... not even the remotest chance!

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

brian is a great guy to do business with

ditto.

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

If it has the brass stock disc, and that disc is marked, you should be able to tell the LAST folks to use it. Thousands upon thousands of dead soldiers smle's were recovered and refurbished from the battlefields (thanks to Haig) and re-issued. One pic was of the rifles stacked like cordwood being refurbed to be issued to the next PBI (poor bloody infantry)

[SpikeDD]

Nice job Smellie... the only thing I would suggest as a alternative to purchasing a new forestock is to have a new end grafted onto yours. It seems your stock has been cut forward of the middle band grove so the graft joint can easily be hidden in the center of the middle band. I am suggesting this because the chances of you finding a MK. III volley sighted forestock will be very difficult and VERY expensive. Not that a proper graft job is cheap, I just feel it will be cheaper and, you are preserving more of the original rifle in the process.