A Rare Survivor

[Buccaneer]

I know that a 1914 dated Sht LE MkIII is not particularly rare but to find one that is all original is. This rifle is all matching, not rematched or renumbered but all matching.
It would seem to have done its bit during WWI then dissapeared from military service as it remains untouched or unmodified in any way.
From the butt disc marks it would appear to have been issued in November 1914 to the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards and held in rack number 303.
The butt is one of the early type fitted to the MkI rifles in that it has the lightening slots, these slots were discovered to be a weak point causing the butts to split and this one is no execption with a split along both sides almost the full length of the butt.
With the execption of repairing the butt, removing some rust from the nose cap and giving the whole rifle a "sympathatic" clean it remains as it was with all of the wear, knocks and
scratches that it has picked up in its 101 year lifetime.
Some people might be tempted to refinish this rifle but in my opionion it is a part of history and deserves to be preserved as a rifle that went to war and survived.
I have taken photos of all of the marks that I have found especially around the Knox form both on the sides and underneath as 1914 dated barrels are a bit thin on the ground. I have also tried to show the split in the butt that now just shows as a thin line especially on the left hand side.
The barrel whilst being far from perfect is still clean and sound with good rifling, I have seen a lot worse..
The rifle has just returned from its first civilian proof which begs the question where has it been all of these years??

Information

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[therno]

Nice example! Especially with the volley's still intact. I have one it's siblings.

1914 Enfield Birthday Rifle
1914 Enfield Birthday Rifle

Unfortunately the volley sights were removed from mine. I am always amazed by these early war survivors. 4 full years of brutal war and then sticking around for 100 more years to still be with us today.

[Beerhunter]

It was Birmingham Proofed at some point post 1954 (the actual date is "coded" in the crossed sceptres) so that is the point at which it entered the UK civilian market place.

[CowboyBillWatts]

looks like somebody drilled the buttstock. is that what it is?

[Frederick303]

Older MK I style buttstock wood lighting cuts. very early buttstock and correct.

[Thunderbox]

Museums and military collections are still dumping or destroying their rifles. It might well have come out of a small museum somewhere.

[Surpmil]

Wouldn't be hard for a soldier to disassemble a rifle and bring it home in his kit when on leave. There were thousands whose owners no longer required them lying about after the battles, never to be accounted for unless collected by a salvage party.

A farmer always had a use for a rifle and why not get one for free? Or a man from a rural area who fancied doing a bit of poaching after the war. And if not that, at least a good way to supplement the King's shillings. We forget how little the average man had in those days.

[browningautorifle]

Sad to think of a museum destroying anything...nice rifle.

[Beerhunter]

Sad to think of a museum destroying anything...nice rifle.

I move in those circles and they are coming under increasing pressure to dispose, destroy, deactivate. In case they should "fall into the wrong hands".

[browningautorifle]

increasing pressure to dispose, destroy, deactivate.

Sad, actually.