Bought my first Lithgow yesterday

Well the income tax money came in friday so I went down to pay on a couple of my layaways and saw they still had a 1918 Lithgow I've had my eye on for the last month.So I paid off one of my layaways and bought the Lithgow.on the wrist band it has "SHTLE III*" does the * have a special meaning? It also has "MD" stamped on the reciver and the right side of the butt, does this mean anything also?
For being 90 years old the old girl is looking pretty good. The bolt , reciver and rear sight numbers all match, but the nose cap does nt ( it is only off by 20). The number under the bolt handle and the number on top of the wrist sockett match. There is also a set of 5 numbers above the serial number that were struck out, and the letters MD. The serial number is A285XX
There is an array of stamps on the right side of the butt. In the upper left there is C.M.F. over 2M.D., then in the center top there is what appears to be a set of crossed rifles, bellow that a star with an "A" in it.below that the Lithgow sheild, Below that a mark I can't make out, and below that "III*" . To the right of the sheild there eithe IIV or LLV stamped. There is also a couple sets of numbers stamped but they dont appear to have as much meaning. Can anyone help me desipher these markings, so I can know what I spent my money on? Thanks Guys.

Mickey

You done real good, a Lithgow is an excellent rifle and a good first one. I have a 1918 lithgow too, my first enfield. I now have 7, each one a separate bit of history and a fine shooter.
MD stands for military district, as in 1 MD,2 MD, 3 MD etc, each MD was a different state, 1 MD was Queensland, 2 MD was either Victoria or NSW, or in that area. MD rifles were the stockpile held in case of invasion of the homeland. Many post war surplus rifles came from those stocks. A lot of WW1 rifles ended up being re furbished and held ready in case the Japs invaded.
CMF = ?, etc on the right butt stock, its all a common branding on lithgow rifles.
A marking HV means the rifle sights were configured for high velocity ammo, which was a slight improvement on 303 ammo from circa 1900.
SHTle means short lee enfield, or short magazine lee enfield = smle, its a model designation, previous rifles were the long lee. The no1 mk3 was initially looked upon as a carbine concept, ie cutting back the rifle and sacrificing some long range ability for more manuoverability, supposedly.
I don't know why you have a second serial number on the rifle, but its not uncommon on enfields, it may have been reserialed by an importer, or by the armory doing parts replacement. If you see the initials JJ Co Ny Ny in little letters behind the bolt its the importers mark who brought a lot of enfields into the US.
Lithgows are a nicely made, nice shooting rifle, with plenty of history and should give you years of shooting fun, and afterwards it'll be worth more than you paid for it. Doesn't get much better than that.

The No1 MK3 was viewed as a 'bit complicated' for wartime manufacture so the powers that be decided to simplify it where they could. The main change was the removal of the 'magazine cut-off' (a flap which slid over the top of the magazine to limit it to single shot, but which could, in time of enemy advance, be slid back and have a full 10 rounds to 'have a go' with) Because the changes were minor it did not justify re-designating the rifle issue from a No1 Mk3 so they added a star (*) and it became a No1 MK3*.

The British have a history of these type of modifications and some of the very early Enfields / Long Lees / CLLE can be seen with 3 or ever 4 'stars' as they have been modified to the latest specifications. So you could have (for example) a No1 Mk1****

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Originally Posted by RJWT32

You done real good, a Lithgow is an excellent rifle and a good first one. I have a 1918 lithgow too, my first enfield. I now have 7, each one a separate bit of history and a fine shooter.
MD stands for military district, as in 1 MD,2 MD, 3 MD etc, each MD was a different state, 1 MD was Queensland, 2 MD was either Victoria or NSW, or in that area. MD rifles were the stockpile held in case of invasion of the homeland. Many post war surplus rifles came from those stocks. A lot of WW1 rifles ended up being re furbished and held ready in case the Japs invaded.
CMF = ?, etc on the right butt stock, its all a common branding on lithgow rifles.
A marking HV means the rifle sights were configured for high velocity ammo, which was a slight improvement on 303 ammo from circa 1900.
SHTle means short lee enfield, or short magazine lee enfield = smle, its a model designation, previous rifles were the long lee. The no1 mk3 was initially looked upon as a carbine concept, ie cutting back the rifle and sacrificing some long range ability for more manuoverability, supposedly.
I don't know why you have a second serial number on the rifle, but its not uncommon on enfields, it may have been reserialed by an importer, or by the armory doing parts replacement. If you see the initials JJ Co Ny Ny in little letters behind the bolt its the importers mark who brought a lot of enfields into the US.
Lithgows are a nicely made, nice shooting rifle, with plenty of history and should give you years of shooting fun, and afterwards it'll be worth more than you paid for it. Doesn't get much better than that.

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Gday, could it be assumed that some rifles such as this were stockpiled for the so called "Brisbane Line", I'm researching this and have found a couple of places of interest worth a closer look, we all know about Archerfield pit and the bren guns and aeroplane parts recovered when they drained part of the pit, now a listed heritage site.
Who knows whats still out there waiting to be uncovered...I WANT to believe.

If you're turned on by digging up australian history contact the HARS, historical aircraft restoration society, nsw I think. When I knew them they had a lot of members and it was amazing what individuals were up to, knew of or had one of in the back yard. After talking to a couple of blokes during the 80's I ended up at an old warehouse in Melbourne where they still had spitfire parts on the shelf. I bought a set of wheels, gun sight and a few others. Around that time some other blokes had found a belly landed liberator b24 and inside a sand dune out back of brisbane somewhere. I think this was recovered but I haven't followed the plane stories for a while.

What kind of gun shops are in Omaha? I went through there last summer but it was scorching hot. I don't think I saw a soul outside of a building or car that day. But seemed like a nice place. :)

Dimitri

hey Dimitri
I mostly go to the pawn shops. My favorite is Sol's downtown, they carry the largest selection of Military surplus. There is a Bass Pro shop,cabella's and several small gun shops and a couple of other pawn shops that carry guns. one of the neatest pawn shops is Min City Loan, on the walls are something like 400 rifles and pistols from his personal collection.It is down town also next to the police station.


Mickey

Sounds like I should have stopped in for longer!

Was only there for a few hours, was taking the Gray Hound to Oregon but the people seemed friendly when I went to a few stores near the bus terminal. :)

Dimitri

CMF Citizen Military Forces