I saw this Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III; it was, seems to me, a .410 smooth bore, but now it's back in .303 cal.
It's all Ok? When was the restoration done?
Thank you.
Giancarlo
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I saw this Lee-Enfield No. 1 Mk III; it was, seems to me, a .410 smooth bore, but now it's back in .303 cal.
It's all Ok? When was the restoration done?
Thank you.
Giancarlo
Hard to say who did it though. Any markings to see on the barrel knox form?
It seems more likely that it was stamped in error as a 410. surely the work involved with converting back to .303 must be out of all proportion to the reward and the likely cost of just getting a 303 instead.
To convert to 410, the rifle would need to have a barrel change. With a replacement 303 barrel bored out to 410. Many muskets (shot guns) retained the magazine as a loading platform and were used as single loaders. I don't think that anything had to be done to the bolt.
So by my thinking, to convert such a 410 musket back into a 303 rifle, all that would be needed was another barrel change.
The 410 marking looks to be officially canceled with the 'propeller' mark.
There are some old Sht.LEs out there converted to 410 and then converted again to 22 rimfire.
Interesting things happen in India.
Unless you had all the parts sitting there and you assembled them...Quote:
Originally Posted by newcastle
I asked the seller for more pics. I'm waiting.
I am fairly sure that there are no changes required to the bolt, bolt head or extractor Simply just a barrel change and sort out headspace.Quote:
Originally Posted by englishman_ca
I can swap over '303' bolts into my 410 without any problem.
In the UK you cannot have spare bolts bolt heads or barrels for a firearm (rifle) without Police permission and having them listed on your certificate, but, you can for a shotgun.
It is simply coincidence that they are interchangeable.
The fore-end was changed, the color is different compared to the buttstock.
Quote:
Originally Posted by giove
So was the Butt on my No4T, but that was done 'in service' by an RAF armourer.
Your 'different coloured' woodwork could well be 'original'. Armourers did try to match but the priority was to get the rifle back out into service, not make everything match so that collectors could 50 years later claim 'all matching'.
I would suggest that it not the forend and hand guards that have been change, but, maybe, like mine' the Butt that needed changing to suit a long (or short) armed person to get the correct LoP and that was the one available.
That's right as the case for the .410 was based on a blown open .303 case.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan de Enfield
So basically, somebody simply re-barrelled the 410 smooth bore musket with a 303 rifled barrel and then cancelled the 410 marking?
This would have been done post 1942 (410 conversion date). Well, there was a war going on at that time. Somebody needed a rifle more than a shotgun?
Maybe we can glean some clues and determine who did this if we could see the markings on the barrel reinforce either side of the Nock's form and the underside.
Regarding Post #7.
If you have a spare bolt for your .410 SMLE shotgun; would it need to be numbered the same as the shotgun to be legal? Seeing as it will also fit a .303
My dear friends, as I have already said, I asked the seller for more photos (post # 6). The gun isn't mine and is located about 130 Km. from where I live.
I really don't know. the question has never arisen.Quote:
Originally Posted by 30Three
The buttstock bears a mark, the letter G in a roundel (I - I - G and the broad arrow, I supposed, the mark is faint) and the III: a buttstock from an Indian SMLE Mk III , I think.
The ISA /|\ is certainly Indian.Quote:
Originally Posted by giove
Inspectorate of Small Arms
Yes Alan, you are right, but what I meant was that the mark I-I-G-/|\ was used, in India, since the beginning of SMLE Mk III production (1909?), while the I-S-A /|\ mark was used since 1918, if I remember correctly.
So, if everything is correct, the buttstock is very old, older than the rifle.
Does anyone know the meaning of I-I-G?
Indian Government Stores according to a couple of sources.Quote:
Originally Posted by giove
Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Strangely Brown
I = ? (Inspectorate?)
I = Indian
G = Government Stores
It's right?
You have to remember that there are more than 20 languages in India, plus the one that is common to most so things aren't always put down in an English manner.Quote:
Originally Posted by giove
Ok, thank you Strangely.