Lee Metford .22 conversion

[PrinzEugen]

In part three of a burst activity caused by it being half term and my son residing on the sofa with the flu preventing activities of any sort... today, after it was suggested by another forum member I thought I'd post up pics of my new (to me) Lee Metford .22 conversion. Often the discussion on these things throws up some nuggets not known to me or other members so all thoughts appreciated. It shoots very nicely by the way! It was made in Sparkbrook in 1892 and converted at Enfield in 1908.
Few questions - is it possible it could have seen action somewhere - eg the boer war - or were all the rifles there long lees? Also is it missing a foresight protector? If so any thoughts on sourcing one? I presume the 468 is the rack number but would be interested to know what the 1.09 on the butt disc might mean. Anyway hope people find the pics interesting if nothing else.
Apologies from the non-thumbnailed pics - can't seem to shrink them enough for the attachments manager on milsurps to accept them.

Information

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[Son]

Everything you need is on P414 of the Lee Enfield Story or page 478 of Mr Skennerton's last book, "The Lee Enfield".

Your rifle is a .22 Short Rifle No1. 5532 were recorded as being converted from MLM MkI# rifles in 1908 at Enfield.
At the time of the conversion, the Magazine Lee Metford rifles were most likely in stores having been replaced by MLE's and then SMLE's. I don't know if there is any way to tell if it was ever saw action, not being up on the Boer War, I don't even know if the older Metford barreled rifles were used.
I think the 468 is a rack number, and the markings on the disc were date of return to store from conversion, yours being January '09.
It is missing the front sight protector. If nobody else comes up with a pic of it, I'll dig one out and take one for you.

[RobD]

An early Lee Metford like yours could easily have been used in the ABW. Battlefield pickups on the Natal front (That's Colenso, Spion Kop, Tugela Heights, Relief of Ladysmith) indicate roughly half the .303 bullets (which were easy to find when I was a kid) have Metford rifling, the other half have Enfield rifling. The same would probably apply at Magersfontien and Paardeberg, which were simultaneously going on in the Western front. By the guerilla phase, mainly Lee Enfields were in use. Terry Lee (a relular forummer here) is probably the world expert of rifles used by Imperial and Colonial forces during the conflict.

[PrinzEugen]

Really interesting stuff Son - and I've only got 'The Lee Enfield' sat on the shelf... for some reason because the bloke I bought it off had a special .22 lee enfield conversions book so for some reason I thought I needed to get one of them.
RobD - amazing information - mine is no doubt extremely unlikely to have been there, but you never know.
Anyone seen any front sight protectors knocking around recently?

[bigduke6]

Nice one PE, if you ever get bored with it.........., regarding the info from RobD, well worth reading up on the ABW, lot of mistakes made during these times, but nothing learnt as they were repeated 15 years later...

For anyone interested there is an excellent book based on a diary of Pte George C Maidment RAMC, during the siege of Ladysmith in the Boer war.

Bombardment of Ladysmith Anticipated ( The Diary of a siege ) by Alan Chalmers

[PrinzEugen]

Thanks for all the responses chaps. At the nosecap there are two swivels - would I be right in thinking one would be a piling swivel and one for a sling? Is it normal to have both. And is it called stacking or piling or either?

[jrhead75]

"Stacking" on the west end of the pond (US), "piling" on the east.

[Brian Dick]

I've got front sight protectors. Email me off forum. I probably have the screw for it too.