Questions about ann odd Enfield by a newbie

[gsimmons]

It looks like a previous owner wanted a jungle carbine look alike. The importer wouldn't put the effort into doing that. And it wasn't done in service.


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[Arthur Lombardi]

A good point and you may be right. I say may only because I bought it directly from the distributor off of an ad in Shotgun News in 1962. So far as I know I'm the first civilian owner.

[conec]

Here's another example of "strike thru" star. MkIII retrofit (the armourer was more accurate on the positioning of the marks over the star). It happens to be a '16 BSA, this one has South African acceptance stamps on the barrel, knocks, and buttstock.

[Peter Laidler]

There was an EMER instruction issued in - I think, 1948/50 - that detailed the marking of Mk3 and 3* rifles. It was all to do with the * being barred out, even if the cut-off slot remained and....... and.......... whether the cut-off slot was covered by a higher fore-end. I'm sure I wrote it out word for word once. Anyway, the long and short of it was that once the star was marked, it should not be deleted and all those Mk3 or 3* rifles in service were to be documented by mark/type and VAOS category by quartermasters as Mk3* - or something like that

[Patrick Chadwick]

The rifle looks as if it may have been "sporterized" for a hunter, and not just subjected to thoughtless Bubbaring. Have a look whether the inner band+spring is still in place, and if any bedding has been applied.

If that is so, then I am glad that I live a long way away from Enfield purist who might feel inclined drop a crate of No 1s on me from a great height, when I write that it quite possibly now shoots better than in the original configuration, if you have ammo that is matched to the barrel "vibes". This is not knocking the SMLE, which was conceived as a rugged service rifle with a good magazine capacity (in which it succeeded brilliantly) and not as a target or hunting rifle.


Patrick