Lithgow SMLE sporter

Try Wellington, not wagga, FA - Forbes.
Thanks Jon, added.

As Henry Crun (Goon Show reference) used to say." Min, you just can't get the wood anymore!"

I know I won't make any friends here AFJon, but remember this. When you've scoured the nation for Lithgow this that and the other and paid astronomical prices for these special bits to complete your rifle, IT STILL WON'T BE ORIGINAL! Sure, it'll have all Australian bits but they ain't the original bits. Just like every(?) other Enfield in existence (except the new-in-wraps of course) it'll never be as it left the factory again.

Like changing the alternator or front shocks on your MGBGT

Quote:

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Originally Posted by henry r

sorry, i'm still learning all of this stuff.

MA = lithgow
OA = orange arsenal

WA? wagga wagga?
BA? bathurst?

what other places and markings are there for australian made lee enfields?

nice collection of ammunition AFJ. you probably already know this, but over the last few months i have been looking, there has been a reasonable selection of australian made sight protectors, barrel bands and nose caps etc on australian e.bay. (.com.au)

henry.

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Henry,

Thanks.

I did not, but a company in the US (Springfield Sporters) has a good selection on the metal parts I needed for $66 shipped.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

I know I won't make any friends here AFJon, but remember this. When you've scoured the nation for Lithgow this that and the other and paid astronomical prices for these special bits to complete your rifle, IT STILL WON'T BE ORIGINAL! Sure, it'll have all Australian bits but they ain't the original bits. Just like every(?) other Enfield in existence (except the new-in-wraps of course) it'll never be as it left the factory again.

Like changing the alternator or front shocks on your MGBGT

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True, but even my modest collection of US military rifles have been through a rebuild, or they were modified by the service they were assigned to; both my M-1 assigned to the US Navy and US Air Force were re-barreled to 7.62X51.

Probably the two biggest reasons for getting it was it was not import marked, and it was well priced. I'm looking at about $140 in part to restore the rifle, so I'm still ahead based on the asking prices for import marked SMLE are going for in my local area.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

I know I won't make any friends here AFJon, but remember this. When you've scoured the nation for Lithgow this that and the other and paid astronomical prices for these special bits to complete your rifle, IT STILL WON'T BE ORIGINAL! Sure, it'll have all Australian bits but they ain't the original bits. Just like every(?) other Enfield in existence (except the new-in-wraps of course) it'll never be as it left the factory again.

Like changing the alternator or front shocks on your MGBGT

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Come on Peter. Every other rifle in existence?

Once there was more than one factory, and especially when the shooting started and every man and his dog was making parts, the chances of a "PURE" ANYTHING went right out the window.

It doesn't matter to an Ordnance / workshop system. If the parts are as per the current instructions and have met gauging and metallurgical testing, and the whole assembly passes function and firing tests, it is all Kosher.

OK, if you are lucky enough to find a Pre-WW1 Lithgow, still in its Mk 111 guise and with ALL Lithgow parts, it is a rarity of a significant order. Or, it may be a total bodge job. Once such a rifle entered service in Oz, it would have been bashed around the parade grounds and battlefields for the rest of its life.

Consider the number of SMLEs that went from Australia to Britain in WW1 (and 2). Quite a few were officially repaired, rebuilt, upgraded etc. during that fracas. If such an "officially, by the book" rifle was then further upgraded to "111*" status, it is still "authentic", especially if appropriately marked. Some of the Lithgow rifles returned to Australia, in the hands of Austrailan troops, who were issued or "acquired" them in North Africa.

If the Unit or Field Workshop armourers declared any of these "tourist" rifles to be in need of substantial repair work, they went to big "Base" workshops for a total rebuild.

They even swapped actions around to get "product" out the door.

Back to a Unit for a bit more thrashing.

Sure, many of us would like to have a mint, untouched 1912-marked Lithgow (with matching bayonet, of course), BUT these are SERVICE rifles. Just like SERVICE vehicles and even aircraft, they were used, abused and rebuilt. How many Lancaster bombers survived WW2 with their original engines, tyres and guns, let alone crews?

If you change the tracks and drive sprockets on your "mint' M-4 tank, is it any less authentic?

With Commonwealth gear, every component of any significance (even the wooden ones) were numbered.

If you are into US gear, where do you start?

Don't take it tooooo literally Homer. And I did quantify 'every' with the bracketed question mark. It's really the POINT that I was making! But BinO has his Armourers finger right on the button with his thread 16. It's borne out of a few years on the bench in an Armourers shop dealing with zillions of weapons of all types/sorts together with the strict gauging and acceptance limits of the OUT INSPECTION and Out Inspector. And it is HE who passes it fit for further service without a mere thought about who made what and when.

Just like the new Spax shocks and Lucas alternator on your MGB GT. And even the RAF Lancaster that runs on Shackleton wheels and tyres

My front hand guard arrived today looks to be NOS and as a bonus it is marked SLAZ...stinks like a dairy barn though:yikes:

"stinks like a dairy barn though"

I love the smell of creosote in the morning,....Smells like Lithgow!

(Ducks for cover!)

..........or the Council patching the road.:)