Roadkingtrax,

I was not intending to be sarcastic, if you took it that way. My response was meant to be read in a humorous light, not as a sarcastic answer. It just seemed funny to me that the non-contract…was a contract. This is the site for Enfields on the web; stop by a while and I think you will find it a very friendly place.

Your A2517 is in the range block where some rifles were accepted by Eire, the A25234 is clearly not in that range. The numbers in the 55A block received by Ireland is not known, but the best estimate I know of is on the order of 17,000 plus.

Capt. Laidlericon,

It is my understanding that Ireland found themselves very short of arms during the emergency, and that the UKicon gave them very favorable terms on the purchase of these rifles in 1953. I can only conclude they bought so many, when their actual army was only ~8,000 men in 1953 to be prepared for another major war and to ensure they did not once again find themselves short of basic arms. That is my assumption anyway.

It was shortly after this,( in 1961) that they sold the war time supplied M1917 rifles (~20,000), SMLE MK I rifles (4,105) and SMLE MK III rifles (~21,169) in one surplus sale. The best evidence indicates they retained ~ 10,000 SMLE MK III rifles (plus 500 complete barreled actions) after this sale in 1961, so they actually had a full stock of 60,000 .303 rifles from 1961 to the first surplus sales in the middle 1980s, when the remainder of the SMLE rifles were sold off into the trade.