Where did this 69 Enfield barrel come from?

[Surpmil]

As I recall, tapered barrels with the 'Snakeskin' finish as above were produced on a vertical GFM cold swaging machine which was capable of hammering a tapered blank. These barrels then only required machining at the muzzle and breech ends.
Later barrels were produced on a horizontal 'Fritz Werner' machine which could only hammer a parallel blank. The barrels therefore had to be turned full length and have a normal machined finish, plus usually a stight step in the centre where they were supported by a lathe 'steady'. Some may also have polygonal 'Chordal' rifling rather than the traditional Enfield form but I do not have the dates....

Reminds me of the vertical rifling machine built at Long Branch someone was telling me about the other day, that would do six barrels at a time. I assumed it was verticial to avoid gravity acting on the broaches(?)

[blast from past]

Enscien, thanks for that information; it's really useful. I recently took a chance on a No4 Mk1/2 7.62 conversion (£200 so not too much to lose), and am trying to trace its antecedents (and found this forum while doing so). The barrel carries the details that you describe (DD(E)24720/SK/392 etc), so that reassures me that it is a real Enfield barrel. The year code looks like D69, so I assume that the conversion was done in 1969. The rifle has the abbreviated foreend and heavy barrel, a PF serial prefix and has had a sniper cheekpiece fitted to make a kind of L42 look-alike. A forward scope mount block has been added, but the rear scope mount is a curious affair resembling a blank ladder sight-sized piece of metal hingeing on the rear axis pin. To my surprise, with a scope mounted it's as steady as the Rock of Gibraltar. I,ve put about 30 rounds through, and the rifle seems pretty good. I wonder if any other members have come across this arrangement?

I am very tempted to change to a sporter-style stock to give an Enforcer appearance. Sacrilege to some, I expect, but I do find the scope a bit low with the conventional butt.

Good to be an Enfield owner at last, and look forward to finding out a lot more from this forum.

[Mk VII]

That's merely the date the barrel was made. The switch to 7.62 for NRA shooting didn't really get going until the early '70s.
The mount sounds like the Parker-Hale one. These can develop some play at the rear.