New Purchase...Help With Identification

Hey guys,

Although this is not my first enfield, it is the firs No. 4 (I came here for help with my first one as well). I purchased this today at my local gun shop. For the price I couldnt pass it up. It came with a sling and two boxes of ammo. The sling is marked M.E.Co 1913. The ammo is original british ammo in new unopened boxes of 32 rounds. The box was stamped (K17 7 51). I know the rifle is a No.4MkI and was manufactured in 1942 but really know nothing else(including manufacturer) I have included multiple pictures below of all three items.

I guess the questions I had were as follows:

General info on the rifle
Manufacturer of the Rifle
Info on the sling
Info on the ammo

Thanks to all who give imput :)

-Matt
(ps i know the rifle is dirty......just bought it today and havent had time to clean it up yet)

Ammo is British Mark 7 174 gr ball ammo. Accurate, berdan-primed, and corrosive. I believe the rifle is a Maltby. Experts will chime in.

Sling May be a reproduction. Have seen many on Ebay marked as such. That being said..Nice rifle. Looks to be a Maltby. How is the bore? I fell into some of the same ammo also 2 gunshows ago. Have not fired any, but it is corrosive. Nice find an all items..Cheers, Peter

Peter,

The bore looked good at the gun shop with the exception of two small pits. When i ran a patch through it showed that they were not pits at all, just some crud in the bore. It is bright and shiney...cant wait to see how it shoots.

I was wondering if the sling was a reprobecause of the condition. It just seems to good of shape to be 100 years old.

Made by the Royal Ordnance Factory , Maltby.

As has been said the Ammunition is Mk.VII ball made by Kynoch in 1951. It is Cordite loaded with corrosive Berdan primers.

Nice on the Bore. The 1912 I picked up last week was the same way. 20 Patches and some Blue Wonder Later, Nice bright and shiny. I like the Privi Partizan 176 grain ammo in mine. Seems to chrono to original specs and is accurate, Non Corrosive, and Reloadable. Have fun on the range. #4's are the best shooter of the lot of Enfields, in My opinion...

I concur on the accuracy of the 174 gr Prvi Partizan ammuntion. I got mine from Wideners and Aim Surplus. Fell into 720 rounds of Greek HXP 69. Boxer-primed as well and as good as their M2 ball. I really enjoy my No4s.

Nice rifle there, mdrim, but the sling is indeed a fake. That stamp appears to be the most commonly encountered WWI forgery. Fake slings with WWII dates are springing up like weeds lately-Ebay is full of them and it seems every third table at the gun shows has a pile. Sometimes they're advertised as repro's, sometimes not. Green and blue are available but the most numerous may be this khaki with a '44 date.

I really do like the Prvi Partizan ammo as well. The gunshop where the rifle was purchased carries their full line. At $15 its cheaper than most high quality comercial loads and shoots great. although i do not reload it is easily reloadable from what i understand.

Very easy to reload, and I dare say that the brass is 200% better than the crappy stuff Remington was putting out before they discontinued making .303..Have a ball firing that #4..Reminds me to go to the ammo store and pick up 2 more boxes..Cheers, Peter

Fireform your brass on first firing, segregate it for that rifle, then lube the INSIDES of the case-necks when reloading. Your brass will last a LOT longer. Neck-size only or use the Lee Collet Die; brass will last 5/8 of forever.

Also, dropping the loading about 10% contributes to long brass life AND to best accuracy.

My best (and test) load for the .303 is 38 grains of IMR 4895 with a Sierra .311" Pro-Hunter 180, seated to the OAL of a Ball round. This load is extremely accurate in many rifles. Enfield rifling really does prefer the flat-based bullets, no matter what rifle it may occur in; this includes the US M-1917 and the P-'14.

You have a "0" bolt-head: you are a very lucky man! Nice and tight.

Have fun!

What exactly is the "O" bolt head and why does this make me lucky?

The headspacing of the Number 4 is controlled by means of a fitted bolt and bolthead assembly. The parts are selected, fitted and then numbered to the rifle. Normally, efforts were made to fit the tightest bolt/head combination possible, but this was not always possible in the middle of rushed wartime production.

The IDEAL fit is for the bolt to headspace properly in the rifle with a "0" bolthead (which you have). When the rifle develops some wear and tear and headspace starts to creep upward (or if you run into a batch of ammo with badly substandard rims) you switch to a "1" bolthead....... then, later on yet, to a "2"..... and, finally, to a "3" and then you're ready for an FTR. The boltheads are .010" apart in actual measurement, "0" being the shortest head you will normally encounter.

There WERE small numbers of "4" boltheads made during War Two, even though they are not to be found in any of the books. I actually owned a "4" at one time and I saw a "5" on a rifle. These are terribly rare and likely somebody will come on here and tell me I'm a liar for saying this. But there WERE a very few, made during a period of terrific rush; they were all FTR'd out of existence and destroyed just as quickly as could be done.

There is also a "00" head, but this is for one of the post-War sniper rifles on the Number 4 action. They are not common at all.

In all, it was a most efficient way to control headspace on the rifles, and much cheaper than manufacturing complete new bolts.... as was done with most rifles. Just one more example of good industrial design and thinking ahead.

Hope this helps. I still say you're a lucky guy!
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Psssssssst, Smellie. Come a bit closer because I don't want anyone else to see this. I have been a UK Military Armourer since my apprenticeship began in the bitter cold January of 1963 and am now just getting the hang of it as the most senior one in the UK Military system. Before it starts to become fact, let me tell you that there was NEVER a No4 bolthead made nor authorised for any UK, Canadian or US made No4 rifle. Some do indeed exist but these DO NOT come from the UK Military system and NEVER have. India, maybe. Pakistan, maybe but NEVER the UK

There were some trials that took place in the 50's to ascertain the viability of a No4 bolt head but................... I won't go on.

Just let me reiterate with this. If you are out of CHS with a No3 bolt head and you have gauged the rifle with the 'BOLT, inspectors' and it still fails, then your body is worn out. It is as simple as that. There is NO No4 bolt head issued nor approved.

As for it '........not being found in the books.....' That is also NOT the case. IF such a beast were used or available or issued, then it WOULD be in the Armourers bible, the EMER's. To say otherwise is totally incorrect. It is irresponsible to say what you have as these things tend to become fact if they're not nipped in the bud straight away

The shorter '00' bolthead for the L39 and 42 was in order to utilise some barrels with slightly shorter chambers that might have otherwise meant rejected otherwise perfect barrels.

Would that be one of those turkish imported rifles?
I've seen a few of them with restamped seriel numbers starting with 'MK4' then a 5 digit number