Did the No.4 Mk2 see service durring the korean war?

[PA_RIFLEMAN303]

ok well if the mk2 was first adopted in 48/49 and it didn't see battle in korea then the L1A1 was adopted in 54, did the mk2 see any battle at all?

[Paul S.]

I'm fuzzy on the dates, but I thought the SLR came in in 1959. Anyway, Suez, Kenya, Aden and all that lot came after Korea. What was on issue?

[PA_RIFLEMAN303]

I'm fuzzy on the dates, but I thought the SLR came in in 1959. Anyway, Suez, Kenya, Aden and all that lot came after Korea. What was on issue?

I got the SLR adoption date from Wikipedia so it could very well be "59". I'm just not getting that battle rifle feeling from my Mk2 like I do when I cuddle with my MK1. It suck because you can tell it was imported as a mummy and has been lightly used since so it is in great condition but It just isn't giving me that been there done that feeling. yeah, I am a bit strange.

[Beerhunter]

I'm fuzzy on the dates, but I thought the SLR came in in 1959. Anyway, Suez, Kenya, Aden and all that lot came after Korea. What was on issue?

1954 is the date that I use but I do not remember where I got it.

No.4s at Suez, SLRs for Aden, Kenya both plus No.5s.

[Frederick303]

The Ulster Defense regiment, which was formed in 1972 if my memory is correct, was first equipped with the No 4 MKII rifles from ordnance stores in the UK. From what I have read, the rifles were new. The UDR was a territorial unit and had something like 12 or 13 battalions, so there were significant issues. The Ulster defense regiment continued to use these rifles until 1974, when they were replaced by the L1A1. This occurred as the IRA had obtained AR-180 rifles around this time.

I seem to recall that the Ulster Defense Regiment was formed to replace the old "special B" police reserves of the RUC. The RUC/B specials were equipped with a mixture of No1 and No 4 rifles, though looking at the pictures of the 1969 and later troubles seems to indicate the B specials had either No 4 Mk II or No 4 Mk 1/3 or No 4 MK I/2 rifles.

So from the start of the Irish troubles to around 1974, the No 4 Mk II pattern rifles saw significant use in the hands of the police and Irish territorial troops.

[Beerhunter]

looking at the pictures of the 1969 and later troubles seems to indicate the B specials had either No 4 Mk II or No 4 Mk 1/3 or No 4 MK I/2 rifles.

You have good eyesight. I find it difficult to differentiate the marks from news photos or even closer as below. Here's a little story from my past on the subject.

In 1967 the British Reserve forces were reorganised with the Territorial Army being renamed and re-roled to the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve. (BTW Wikipedia has this name wrong.) There were originally TAVR I (Army Reservists), TAVR II (TA Units with a BAOR Role), TAVR III (TA Units with a Home Defence and Military Aid to the Civil Power role).

There was a unit of the latter formed at our TA Centre and they were difinately armed with Lee-Enfield No.4s (and wore Battle Dress) but I have no idea what mark of No.4 even though I used to see them training with them. However no sooner were they formed (it seemed at the time) they were disbanded.

[muffett.2008]

So the Hunter has finally found the Beer.

[RJW NZ]

I wonder how effective the Enfield was in Korea, was it becoming over taken by newer types of tactics and combat situations and newer concepts of weapons, or did the short range, high velocity, smaller caliber rifles like the M16 only really make their mark in the 1960's, or, would it have been normal for an AK 47 to be on a korean battlefield as well as long range heavier caliber bolt rifles? Or am I just imagining things from an under educated point of view from many years after the events?

[Beerhunter]

It would have been rare to the point of never happening for a Kalashnikov to be used in Korea.

At the time the PLA, in common with the other belligerents, was armed with a variety of WWII weapons, including the PPSh-41.

The only semi-auto to be used in numbers would have been the Garand (using the full-power 30-06 cartridge) and, to a slightly lesser extent, the M1 Carbine.

[Mk VII]

Once the battle lines had settled down to a impasse that neither side was prepared to spend the casualties that it would take to break, it resembled the First World War - the line did not move much over the final two years. Both sides tacitly agreed to limit the war to the Korean theater - Chinese air bases remained off-limits, the Communists refrained from attacking bases in Japan, or the sea traffic between Japan and Korea. Small topographical features would change hands, if the attackers felt like paying the price for it. The Chinese dug themselves out of sight, in contrast to the UN lines which were plainly visible (the US owned the air, so camouflage would have been a waste of effort). In this WW1 situation, the basically WW1 weapons proved themselves once again (in some cases the exact same guns). The M1 Carbine attracted considerable criticism; users felt that its M2 mechanism made it less reliable, and the cartridge was felt to lack stopping power.