1910 NZ Sht LE Mk1 restored
In 1910 the NZ Defence force imported from BSA, parts to rebuild its Sht LE Mk1's which had been in service with the Mounted Rifles since 1905 to supplement imports of MkIII which begun in 1909, the infantry still used Long Lees. The parts included new receivers and barrels which were presumably mated to older parts as the rifles were given 1905 inventory numbers, The NZ Mk1's were given to the senior cadets in 1913, the infantry kept their Long Lees until 1915.
This one has been a few years in the making but I finally found a suitable sporter to go with my carefully stockpiled parts.
The forend and handguards came to me a few years ago but the forend had been cut through just forward of the magazine. Supposedly a previous owner had made a De Lisle out of the rifle!
The Sporter came with a forend with just enough meat left to scarph the pieces together and had not been thinned too much, Ive put a walnut peg though the who lot and its glued with epoxy. The forend had been roughly scraped in the past and coated with varnish.
The rear right had one of its bone inserts sheared off and the only reason I got it was I had a NOS insert I acquired during the hunt for parts. Getting the rear sight apart was interesting and the Mk1 rear sight is a little marvel of precision engineering, I would certainly lost one of the tiny springs which are mounted behind the elevation block if it had not hit me in the eye and dropped back to the bench. The elevation block got a new knob since some one had used pliers on it in the past.
I'm pleased with the result and this is probably the last full SMLE rebuild I can see myself doing for a long while since i'm out of stocks. I have a stack of 1903 Springfield stocks but no sporters to work on!
Were Mk1 buttplates bright or blued originally? mine show no sign of any finish on the outside but one is blue on the inside.
Does anyone have a spare rear volley arm and a piling swivel to trade? :)
Roy
Sht LE Mk1 1910 by Roy Kum | Photobucket
