My New 1941 Jungle Carbine!!!????

[Paul S.]

"Steam Punk". That is a new one for me.

Just shows what a pedestrian life I must be living.

[Sht_LE]

Steam Punk...... Yep Steam Punk and Enfields do indeed go hand in hand. In fact over the past weeks I have been helping a friend build up a Steam Punk prop rifle for his Dragon Con* costume in my spare time. It is a non firing "rifle" but it has been built on a drilled SMLE DP action using worn out, DP or broken SMLE parts. It now has something akin to a Pederson Device, a Galilean telescopic sight and lots of pretty copper and brass bits. A real Steam Punk Enfield..... And no, he did not use anything that was salvageable on his "rifle". I would not allow it.

* For the uninitiated, Dragon Con is a 4 day long costume party/Pop-culture convention of epic levels of nerd and geekdom in Atlanta GA that is the largest on the east coast and only surpassed in size by Comic-Con in San Diego. You can see everyone from the Myth Busters and T.A.P.S. crews to the bands Cruxshadows and Bella Morte to authors like Charlaine Harris or Jonathan Mayberry and actors like William Shatner and Elvira. If you have not been and have the opportunity to go, don't pass it up. It is a lot of fun.

[Roy]

Cool, i'd love to see a pic of that. I built a custom NERF gun last during winter 2009-10 mainly Enfield inspired, indeed the sling swivels were from a SMLE, and for a steam punk sling a home made patt 14 leather one looks great. The project helped keep me out out the pub while the yacht I work on was wintering in England.

[buffdog]

As mentioned, back in the late 1950s and early 1960s there were a lot of surplus firearms available. Companies like Santa Fe bought many of them and modified some to produce a handier rifle in line with American hunters expectations. Importers like Klein in Chicago, Century Arms, Ye Olde Hunter, Hunter's Lodge, and others sporterized them because you could buy a SMLE for $9.95 but a Sporterized SMLE was $14.95. Doesn't sound like much now, but that is 50% more for a bit of work, and more chance of selling them. There were not the collectors and enthusiasts then that we have now.

I made a trip to Alexandria, Virginia with a friend back in the late 50s, and bought FIVE cased No.4 Mark 1 T rifles, complete with scope, tins, wooden case, etc, but the funny part was the British kept the Observation Telescopes. The cost was $49.95 each.

Maybe I missed it, but I am surprised that no one seems to have mentioned the one really distinguishing feature of the Santa Fe Jungle Carbines. The four air cooling slots routed across the fore-end. Almost an immediate identification.
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