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I have two 1917 Eddystone Enfields that belong to a friend of mine. One has a red stripe around the front of the stock and a C with an arrow in it on the right side of the the butt stock. I am going to take the wood off of it later today and see if there are any special markings under it. If there are I will post pictures.
These came out of his Great Great Grand Father's House.
Any suggestions on what I should look for?
Dane
You've probably seen what there is to see. The markings are generally applied where you can see them and that's about it.
you wont likely find anything on the metal other then the typical markings.. some had the receiver notched with a U on the back of the receiver ring, it was said to clear special ammo..
when in fact it was to show that the rifle was in 30-06 rather then .303..and could be spotted at a glance.
more Danish rifles have this then any others.
you may find British proof markings on the chamber area, or receiver ring.
He says he has a C broad arrow on the wood Chuck...I suspect he's correct that it's Canadian, but pics would be nice.
There were no Model 1917 rifles Lend-Leased to Canada. It may have been sent to Canada from England, as almost 120,000 were L-L'd to England.
OK...minor oversight on my part about LL. But we had scads of them in service. Wherever they exactly came from. We used them in the RCAF, they were used in the PCMR, and they were on issue around the continental training here in Canada. My father-in-law was issued one for instance. He was a driver in New Brunswick, and only used it on the weekends when they were made to "Play soldier" as he put it. They were all proofed and that varied from hand stamps to electro-pencil.
Chuck, I already posted the picture on the other thread and you commented on it aswell. Therefore you should know that the U notch in the receiver which was being made by the Norwegians was for useage with a special stripper loading clip.
To the question: check the butt of the stock if there are more markings than just the C with the broad arrow in it. Also look at the front sight, if it's a pin it was used by the Danish Army (and if it has the U notch, it was previously given to the Norwegians by the Canadian, which were given the rifle by the British ;) ).
Find attached pictures of my Canadian M1917 (with Canadian marked sling plus Canadian marked bayonet) which I've posted here a while ago. Might be good for comparison.
Nice caliber mark on the red band...haven't seen that before.
i had one a few years ago with RAF markings on the buttstock, and notched receiver, as well as Brotish proof markings.. red stripe was removed but you could still see paint in the grain if you looked just right. nice rifle...thanks for sharing.