A dug up SMLE battlefield shooter

Hi guys
This is my first post, and I thought I would share my little tale of woe, concerning a N01 Mk3* that I have had in my collection for some time now.
I've always loved Lee Enfield s, and have 4 that I shoot regularly. The one I am going to talk about is a No1 Mk3* Enfield manufactured Lee Enfield
I used to do a lot of "battlefield archaeology" in France/Belgium. This basically means going anywhere that the tourist would not know about, and scouting the ground for little treasures. This particular week-end I was in a former trench system just outside Ypres scanning over a field in October can be pretty cold and muddy, but this time the ground would reveal something quite remarkable. All that was showing was a part of the nose cap, and I expected to find “just another beat up rifle”. Imagine how it felt to remove the whole rifle, minus the stock, magazine and for- end from the ground. The rifle was almost complete, encased in mud but complete. This was just after the Hungerford shootings, and customs were still a bit twitchy, so I declared it at Dover, and was told “de-activated by other means” I must admit it did look a sorry state. To cut a long story short. I spent 4 months stripping and cleaning, and sourcing the missing parts. Taking it onto some private land, and shooting some proof cartridges (behind a wall) Then taking it to my RFD who had it proofed and it now sits on my ticket. It’s not in the best condition, but, it has seen war service, and it shoots pretty well for an old girl. I hit a V bull at 600yrds at Bisley a few years ago. She doesn’t come out that often, as she is a tired old girl, but it is something I would never part with. Although the serial number can be seen quite clearly, I know it's an impossible task to trace it's history, it would be good to actually know who the former owner was. But I guess I'll never know.The Pictures are before and after.
Hope you enjoy.
thanks
John

Nice rifle.

Have you tried to repair the forend split? Were the draws & recoil faces of the forend still ok?


IIRC there was a No1 dug out of an old arty gun position a year or two back. That rifle was so well preserved in blue clay that, when cleaned up, it was apparently indistinguishable from an un-buried rifle.

Although tangential to the topic of this thread, here's some links to various battlefield (and other) damaged Enfields and accessories, that I thought members might enjoy reading .. ;)

SMLE hit by AP round !! (by Peter Laidler)

Friday 13th SMLE sniper damage (by Kev G)

Exploding P14 Grenade Discharger Cups (by Peter Laidler)

1912 No.1 MkIII Enfield Rifle (Battle Damaged) (by terryinvictoria)

Regards,
Doug

An excellent find John. We'd all love to see a more comprehensive photo expose' if you wouldn't mind.

Thanks for the comments, although she really is a tired old girl, to me it reeks history. I have attached some additional pictures showing the marks that I can find. I particularly like the Nitro Proof one, it's very crisp, and funny enough, this one was in Blue clay also:)
I have changed the nose cap, and put a different sight on it, New (ish) Butt, forend, and a different bolt (I didn't trust the one that was on it) but apart from another magazine, it is as found.
The split in the wood, I want to keep there, I have just re-blued the action and barrel, and it would glue back together, but I think i would like to leave "as is"

And this is the one you've shot? You say you have more of these? We have a basic section for these as Badger has indicated...if there's more of these at home, we're all eyes...

Remarkable story. You'll never find the owner, and the burial parties may not have either for that matter. You might be able to narrow down to several regiments or even one, if the area was only fought over for a short time. One of our experts should be able to nail down the date of manufacture within a few months and that might help.

Outstanding.

Thanks for the comments guys. It is the only one that I have found that is good enough to shoot, I don't know of another in existence, although there will be a few, no doubt. I have attached some photos of some other little gems I have found in the past. The SMLE with the woodwork complete was found near the "mole" in Dunkirk, encases in sea life shells and hard mud that was almost like concrete. A small chisel, and a light hammer, and it all came away. There were 10 rounds dated 1939 in the magazine, but the best one is the SMLE with just the butt remaining of the woodwork. This was found in a ditch near longueval Somme area of France, quite near to the Anzac cemetery. The sling, or what remains of it, still had the round in the slides to stop it slipping (Dated 1915 RL royal Labs) when shooting. and the best bit..... There was still an oil bottle in it, complete with oil. I have, in my little collection, another 6 SMLE's that have been dug from the ground, another SMLE that I shoot, and is mint dated 1917 Enfield, a P14 shooter, and I have just bought a No4T ( just about to start a thread on that one as I need some help:surrender:

You are living the life I dream of.!! My other hobby is Metal detecting but digging anywhere I could find sweet honey like this is highly frowned upon,in fact illegal. I love watching YouTube videos of Russians digging out artifacts of the eastern front. Keep the pictures coming....

I speak for many here(because we've chatted about it)when I say we find your collection virtually priceless. These can't be had anywhere and I've seldom found anything. Nothing like this for sure. I have a few battlefield pickups, one's a pioneer axe head from the Somme battlefield...another's a D-day helmet form Nicosia Cyprus...noting like your stuff. Starting a thread is easy. There's directions on it here and almost anyone can help you. Message any of us...

At Warminster we had a couple of these things. A Vickers MMG barrel from High Wood that was a rusted pire but the bore was like new. Plus a No1 from 6' deep water at Dunkirk and another very early No1 found in a barn or certainly given to the owner while researching a book about the last 8 days in France. All interesting in their own right

I'm not trying to plug my website, honest, It is far too long to put in a post, it's easier to read, and 100% true......... but the "BEST" find in the world on the Somme was in 1998. you can find a write up of it under the "Tribute" page at the top. Now that really was amazing. the link is:
http://www.eaglerelics.com

Well done on returning a guy for burial...it would be a very eerie feeling to find him like that. They say the spirit of the lost stay at the spot of their demise until the body's found...

Thanks, it wasn't eerie when we found him, kinda calming in a weird sort of way. I'll try and post some more later this week, of course my prize find is an MP44-complete- and at ‎Berchtesgaden no less :)

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Originally Posted by john Brandon

an MP44 complete at ‎Berchtesgaden no less

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That would be very neat...those are all separate stories and threads I think.

Outstanding examples, all around. That's all I can say. It's a dream of mine to tour the battlefield sites of the Western Front. As a lover of Great War history, I would do just about anything to have one of these examples in my collection. Well done!

Oddly enough I just arrived back two hours ago from a week on The Somme...........& I was at George Nugent's funeral when he was buried in Ovillers Military cemetery. Were you the chap I spoke to about him at 'The International' arms fair at the National Motorcycle Museum a few years ago? If not you, it must have been your pal that you were with at the time when you found George. As well as knowing Paul he had also stayed with some very good friends of mine in Martinpuich......

ATB.

Wonderful restoration and top marks for doing that. It really does give me a warm feeling in my heart to think possibly somewhere someone is happier because you took the time to restore his rifle.:thup:

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Originally Posted by Roger Payne

Oddly enough I just arrived back two hours ago from a week on The Somme...........& I was at George Nugent's funeral when he was buried in Ovillers Military cemetery. Were you the chap I spoke to about him at 'The International' arms fair at the National Motorcycle Museum a few years ago? If not you, it must have been your pal that you were with at the time when you found George. As well as knowing Paul he had also stayed with some very good friends of mine in Martinpuich......

ATB.

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Tis me Roger :)

Hey John, there's another arms fair at the motorcycle museum this Sunday. Any chance you'll be coming? I'd love to have a look at your 4T in the flesh. I can't be sure from the photo's, but I think there's a very good chance it is an original gutted barrelled action that has been rebuilt, including the dreadful repro front pad (the rear's a repro too, by the way). It would be great to see it up close in person, as it were!

Oops! Sorry, I crossed threads as it were. Suppose this should be in the 4T not the dig-up SMLE thread. Mea culpa.

ATB
Roger.

Hey roger
Sadly I don't do the NEC anymore, too far to travel, anyway I couldn't just "bring it along" as there's a mountain of paperwork to fill out to get it off island. As for the No4. Well, I'm happy, and I have something to work with, especially shooting it yesterday, at least I know it hits the target :)
I do Leeds and that's about it. Actually I'm doing Stoneliegh end of Sept, are you going to that one?

Hi John,
Thanks for yours. I just posted something on your 4T thread but hadn't seen your comments re not making the motorcycle museum, so please ignore me! I suppose being on the IoM means that for some legal purposes you are 'abroad'?? I'd forgotten where you were based.

Unfortunately I shall be over on the battlefields again from next Tuesday till 1st October (grown up sons will be home but you won't get any sense out of them!) so won't be able to get to Stoneleigh, which is a shame as it's just up the road from me. I've been roped into helping on a battlefield project for a few days & will also grab a day or two field walking, so don't anybody feel sorry for me! I shall be as happy as a pig in poop.

I did mention some additional photo's of your 4T in the other thread - if you are able to do them, it might take us a little nearer to deciding the originality of the rifle. (That's if you want to....I guess if it shoots ok & you don't mind, then it doesn't matter).

ATB