1959 British enfield no. 1 mk iii drill rifle-display

[Peter Laidler]

If I had this rifle Middy, I'd be thankful that I have something that is reasonably unusual, well marked, usually unloved but another of the genuine lineage of Enfield Rifles that would fit well within any Enfield collection anywhere in the world. And guess what........... I bet VERY few of them have a genuine DP rifle. You have a grand old lady in your hands that has been in a Training Regiment for many, many years and has seen more parade grounds, training areas, recruits and bayonet galleries than the rest of us all put together

If I had it, here's what I'd do. I'd carefully strip the rifle down and set about getting rid of all of that grotty varnish with some chemicals or a sharp scraper, followed by some fine wire wool, remembering to keep the edges perfectly square then finishing it off with lashings of linseed oil.

Then I'd send the metalwork away to be bead blasted and phosphated and painted with a deep satin finish hard baked paint.

THEN I'd research, on this forum, the correct Indian Army colour codes/combinations of their DP rifles and accurately repaint the rifle as it would have been. The difference is that hopefully you'll use a proper paint brush whereas the Indian storemen use an old floor brush to paint with. Carefully assemble it then stand back and admire it.

You’ll soon find that as your Enfield enthusiast friends see it, you’ll get one of two reactions. The unknowing will just shrug their shoulders and make some off-hand comment. To those, you can just say words to the effect ‘……… that rifle isn’t a rifle any more. But do you realize that it’s probably seen more action as a DP than any of your rifles have ever seen on the battlefield. But even before it was a DP, it’d seem many years of service but STILL had sufficient life to be downgraded to the training role’. You could also mention that before anyone even picked up his service rifles, they’d done their square bashing and initial training with your DP. You won’t have to say anything to the knowing and wise will hold it in that way that lets you know that while they know a lot, they FEEL it too.

Yep, another TRUE variant from the Lee Enfield stable. Enjoy………..