scarce rifle barbed wire cutter F/S on eBay

[rayg]

1917 Enfield MK3 Rifle Barbed Wire Cutter | eBay

Thought maybe someone would be interested, You don't see these for sale often and there's not many of them in collections over here. Looks like only surface rust that will clean off easy. I have one in my collection, Ray

PS, it's the 1st pattern with the one shorter leg. These will fit all the rifles, the P14, the MkIII Ross and of course the LE. I have the 1st pattern also and it works on the 1917 Enfield and the 03 Springfield's too.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Roger Payne]

Yes, they are nice & I am sure would clean up sympathetically. I couldn't quite make out the manufacturer's markings, but they are there & will no doubt come up. (I could just make out 'Birmingham'). It is nice to see a genuine set up for sale; the last few I've seen have been repro's. They're an interesting & scarce accessory to go with a WW1 dated SMLE.

[rayg]

Most likely some of them also found their way and were actually used by the US on the 1917 Enfield's. And here is the proof, Lol, Ray.

Attachment 49636

[rayg]

I heard about the fakes but knew that one was good.
Ray
Here's the maker on mine, 'Birmingham' also. Ray
Attachment 49637

[Roger Payne]

Thanks. The majority of surviving original examples seem to be either Pugh or Decimals, although both were based in Brum.

[rayg]

There are a number of interesting and discussion threads on the cutters on Milsurps here if you do a search and type in "Wire Cutter", and also a couple on gunboards below. Ray

Wire cutters
Here's a item you don't see for sale too often. A Enfield wire cutter

[Peter Laidler]

I should think that it was flawed because by default, the blokes issued with them were out in front. Not a wise place to be during an advance aross no-mans land in my humble opinion!

[Badger]

With thanks to ~Angel~ and warren, there was an interesting article from 2007 about these rare wire cutters, added to the United Kingdom - Milsurp Knowledge Library (click here)

1917 No.1 MKII Wire Cutter for ShtLE Rifle (click here)
(Mounted on Canadian issued 1918 No.1 MkIII* Cdn ShtLE)

This MKL entry includes on-line videos demonstrating how the wire cutter works when mounted on an Enfield Rifle, as well as feedback from MILSURPS.COM member "warren", who describes its operation in detail.

Regards,
Doug

[husk]

I kept a clipping of the Shotgun News ad from 1986 (or '88) where I found my 1917 Decimals. I bought three or four, but like a fool only kept one. IIRC, I was told they came out of the basement of the Imperial War Museum. The same outfit had original WWII No.32 leather scope covers for $10!

[rayg]

Here's a couple of photos of troops with the wire cutters on the rifles. One photo is a group of troops with the cutters on the rifles. Looks like six or seven with the rifles having them. , Ray

Attachment 49644Attachment 49645