Combining a DP Enfield, a Shooter and a Gunsmith ended up with catastrophic failure!

[Alan de Enfield]

Sorry to hear of your accident and welcome to the forum.
Maybe the first question should be was it sold to you as a 'shooter' or as a 'wall hanger'

If it was sold as a 'shooter' then maybe the dealer should be named & shamed.

What did you have to do to make it shootable ? or was it already shootable and you just cleaned it up ?

Pics would be useful.

[Thunderbox]

The receiver exploded, and yet it was your left thumb that was damaged....?

Lets see some photos of the rifle.....

[RJW NZ]

Hi Old Joe, Welcome and commiserations, I hope your recovery is swift. You have arrived at one of the sites where some of the worlds most respected enfielders spend time, advice you'll get here will be second to none.
I agree with the other comments too, pictures please, it will be really interesting to see.
What can you tell us about the rifles headspace?
BTW, A great deal of our interest here won't in passing judgements on what happened, even though I predict there might be moments when it might look like that, we do have a lot of interest though in being safe with our fine old rifles.
RJW

[Baal]

The receiver exploded, and yet it was your left thumb that was damaged....?

Lets see some photos of the rifle.....

He's probably left-handed.

[Peter Laidler]

Dear o' deary me....................

[enfield303t]

Old Joe, sorry to hear of your mishap. This really needs a full investigation as to what happened and why and I think you will find many experts on this site that will help you from a distance. I would like to stress for your protection you should immediately contact your lawyer as loosing any part of your body is very serious and must be treated as such.
I am not a "get a lawyer" type of person however shooting a DP rifle is serious and the circumstances as to how it was sold to you etc. must be investigated promptly and properly.
Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[bigduke6]

Old Joe,

Glad your ok, and are lucky to walk away with only a sore thumb.

Think the the meaning of DP does come in to question depending where in the world you are (see link below), as most Enfield owners and shooters and dealers in the UK know, a .303 with DP on means exactly what it says on the tin, its a great shame when a dealer/seller can punt this out to an innocent victim like yourself as a shooter just to make a few quid, I have to ask, has the person in question been hung, drawn and quartered yet?

I bought a Mauser with a target barrel from a dealer couple years ago, the barrel was ok, but the action looked liked it had spent most of its life in a field until someone unearthed it, when I questioned the dealer, his answer was "its in proof" my answer was a lot more than plesant but in deleting the swear words and what i thought of him, the end result was something like:

" the condition would tell you that it wasnt fit to fire caps out of, never mind a 7.62mm round you .........."

The barrel is now turned down and in a different calibre, the action was scrapped. (and I informed other local RFD,s what a c..t he was)

Anyway back to DP...

When I mentioned the different parts of the world, it seems the M1903 DP, rifles are recovered to shooters in the USA, dont know what sanctions a DP rifle over there, maybe Ed can fill us in on the details, but for anyone who has a liking for the M1903 then have a look:

drill receivers unsafe to build?

I,ve got a DP 1917 SMLE No1 Mk111* which is converted to .410 shotgun and has the DP on the Reciever and on the Knox form (the barrel is not original to the rifle), and forward of this the wood has had two 1" vertical grind marks on each side, Anyone familar with the cuts?

[Red Herring]

I'm very sorry to hear about your accident. Dreadful. I am glad that it was not worse. I am also curious as to where you got the rifle from? Was it a commercial seller, or private?

[Calif-Steve]

You really do need a lawyer. DP's are never to be fired. Not a joke.

[Edward Horton]

In the United States the Enfield Rifle and all older milsurps are sold as an Antique and Curios (wall hangers) they are not required by law to have ANY inspections for safety, headspace, functional checks etc. or are they required to be re-proofed.

I believe the laws in the U.K. are much different and inspection and re-proofing are required, that being said you are at your own risk when buying milsurps in the U.S. unless you buy from dealers like Brian Dick who check and inspect what they sell.

The No.5 Enfield below was sold by a major U.S. Importer and this importer never even looked at this No.5 before it was sold.
Caveat emptor - "Let the buyer beware"

A Lawyer can't help you when the importers are protected by U.S. law. (when money talks, safety walks)