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Enfield trainer, on Gunstar UK
Seen this and thought some may be interested, think its a Home Guard trainer ?
Second hand Lee Enfield .303 Rifle for sale | GunStar.
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10-08-2013 05:05 AM
# ADS
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Legacy Member
Looks like a Parris-Dunn drill rifle. Made in USA
models a M1903 rifles, many were made for the US Navy in WWII (so marked) and used for drill in the very early part of the war when the US was short on rifles.
More never used at all, surplused after the war and fairly common in US collections. I have one that cost me 35 dollars, including the sling.
Made post war II in a slightly modifed form without the elaborate M1903 sight for kids. These rifles were also made fro high-school drill teams. I had one in the early 1970s.
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Legacy Member
More careful examination indicates it is of the post war variety. As I said I had one in the early 1970s, played with a lot, as it resembled the bolt actions in the 1950s and 1960s war films so common back then (55 days at Peking, Sand Pebbles, Zeppelin, Where Eagles Dare, and of course the scene in the Blue max at the beginning of the film where they were running in the trenches from trench to trench). I remembered them having Mausers, when in fact they had No 4 MKII rifles (Irish army ones). I seem to recall we even had plastic German helmets of WWI pattern. Fond memories……
In any case these were commercially made and have no connection to the WWII versions, though quite similar. The main difference is the bands were made with tape (front band is missing on the sample for sale) and the rear sight is simply a piece of the stamped action body, not the separate sight assembly on the WWII variant.
The sling was also permanently mounted on the post WWII examples and only 5/8 or ¾ inch wide, unlike the WWII version that would take the normal 1 ¼ GI sling.
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Thanks Frederick, never thought about the M1903, was just going on the sellers description.
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PM
