For Robert303 Thi Marked No.4

[SpikeDD]

Robert ,I will take more photos if you wish. These are some old pics I found on a old drive.

Thai Marked Savage

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[Robert303]

I have to be honest and say when I saw your first post I thought that you did not know the difference beteween an SMLE and a No 4, as many Americans get the two mixed up! Fortunately I was not too rude in print!
Very Interesting, first time I've seen a Thai No 4 or heard any ref to them. Thanks a lot for posting, do you have any more info on them? Were they a post war issue from either the USA or the U.K.?
If there is other clear Thai script that might be useful as I could get it translated and it might give a date.

[SpikeDD]

LoL...yes, Robert. I am among the Americans that knows the difference between the rifles. I also have a "Smiling Tiger" Mk.III.

I can't tell you any history on the Thai marked No. 4's. I would presume they were post war due to the occupation of Thailand by the Japanese during WWII. The only reference I have found is in the back pages of "The Lee Enfield"....in the latest edition it is on page 588. I don't know what page it is on in the previous edition as I loaned that book out.

Ian has a very small paragraph with a picture of each of the marks I have shown and reads as follows.....

"Savage Stevens Lend Lease No.4 rifle with Siamese markings. The "Juk" mark has Hindu origins, a "weapon of the gods" and was originally used on weapons of the royal bodyguard"

In Skennerton's "The Broad Arrow" he calls the small receiver marking a "Chuck" (Chuck-ree) and the stock marking a "Chuck" No indication of how many or when.

The full name if you wish to search "google" would be "Siamese Chakra" or "Sudarshana Chakra". You will see many images of it and references to the Chakri Dynasty when doing so.

I never found, or rather, looked for any more information than that.

[Frederick303]

I have a copy of the ad for these rifles from the 1965~66 time frame. The rifles were imported by Century arms. I believe the rifles were supplied post WWII, prior to the US move into the area when the Brits gave up their southeast Asia empire/zone of influence.

The smiling tiger rifles saw use in WWII, or so I read. When the Japanese occupied Thailand and Burma, these rifles were put to use. I have never read if the INA used any of them, but based on the many numbers of jungle rotted rifles it sure seems like they did.

[Robert303]

Having done some reading last night I suspect that the Smiling Cat SMLEs never went to the INA but would have been kept by one of the Thai factions, possibly the one Pro Japanese one occupying Northern Burma. The No 4s would either have been supplied to the anti Japanese Thais but I doubt they would have had Thai markings at the time, or post war when all WW2 and post war would have been marked up.