Reblueing a Long Lee Enfield

[Story]

'7 COLT'?
Must have been issued to a Cavalry unit.

[jrhead75]

More likely to a Land Transport company of the Indian Army's Supply and Transport Corps.

My guess anyway.

[RobD]

On looking closely at the pics, it seems to me that the butt socket markings are very naive compared to the otherwise pukka rifle. It simply doesn't add up to a hand-made copy.
Shortened Long Lees were made for private purchase around the time of the Boer war, and were quite popular with British officers. I have some photos somewhere.
Now, the rifle in question has been converted to charger loading and the CLLE sight upgrade, but, apart from the naive markings, it could be a private purchase short rifle made pre-WW1. Alternatively, it may be a composite of rifle parts, some private purchase and some broad-arrow marked (like the butt plate).But not necessarily of Khyber Pass manufacture, apart from teh stamps on the buttstock...
I wonder if this is a rifle which has been "enhanced" in the bazaar? Can the rifle be dismantled to show the concealed markings?

[jrhead75]

On looking closely at the pics, it seems to me that the butt socket markings are very naive compared to the otherwise pukka rifle. It simply doesn't add up to a hand-made copy.
Shortened Long Lees were made for private purchase around the time of the Boer war, and were quite popular with British officers. I have some photos somewhere.
Now, the rifle in question has been converted to charger loading and the CLLE sight upgrade, but, apart from the naive markings, it could be a private purchase short rifle made pre-WW1. Alternatively, it may be a composite of rifle parts, some private purchase and some broad-arrow marked (like the butt plate).But not necessarily of Khyber Pass manufacture, apart from teh stamps on the buttstock...
I wonder if this is a rifle which has been "enhanced" in the bazaar? Can the rifle be dismantled to show the concealed markings?

Exactly! I'd also like to see an in depth photo study of this thing...could be very educational.

[newcastle]

I love threads like this - basically a scooby do mystery and at some point Peter or Warren will pop up and let us know that it would have been fine if it wasn't for that meddling Bubba / Achmed.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Ali Bubba & Sons of 666 Khyber Pass Road, Kabul, wish to make it clear that this is not one of their products. The crown is a joke and the lettering, irregular in height and spacing, is a disgrace to anyone who possesses a straight edge. And the poor lad who hacked out the "Co." didn't even have the right size of stamps to make a neat little superscript "o" with a stroke beneath it. Forgot the point after the A as well. Really, I don't know what they teach 'em these days! With the aid of photo-etching, there is no excuse for not getting the markings right.

Avoid cheap imitations! Buy only the real article - from Ali Bubba, purveyors of fine fakes to the undiscerning since the Brits first appeared with things that went bang!

--------------
P.S: I think RobD has the answer - a creative brew-up of parts, some original.

[RobD]

Here's a photo of Boers in 1901 with Gen. Jan Smuts and Gen Maritz in the western Cape. You'll notice how, by this stage of the ABW, many Boers were using British kit. The concession they make to not being mis-identified as British is to raise the right hand side of the slouch hat (vs left hand side if British).
The fellow sitting in front, second from the right, has a short version of the Long Lee, which I imagine would have been a private purchase item of a British officer, from whom he'd have liberated it.

[Jc5]

Are we ever going to see photos of the markings on the rifle's action and barrel? I don't want this thread to be just a teaser. Solving this one will be very educational.

[boltaction]

There is something seriously wrong with the markings on that rifle. They are not correct at all. They look hand stamped. Either the rifle was completely refinished at some point and then someone tried to replicate the original stamps, or else the entire rifle was made by hand, but it looks too good to be that. Any proof marks on the barrel or receiver? What do the numbers on the rearsight look like? That is one mystery rifle.

[boltaction]

Sorry, I had only looked at the first page of the thread--didn't realize there were another two! Barrel is definitely way too short, and has the wrong front sight as mentioned. The rearsight markings and graduations appear correct though, although it is a target rearsight and not a standard ladder. Seems to be a mixmaster of correct parts and maybe incorrect parts, or it might have been a correct Long Lee which was thoroughly ground down, shortened and then crudely restamped. I would favour the latter, but I'm not sure I'd want to shoot it. Very odd.

Based on the buttplate tang stampings, I would say it was the 7th rifle dealt with in such a way--COLT clearly stands for Cruel Old Lee Torture, or maybe Cruelly Obliterated Long Tom ........

If I saw it at a gunshow for not too much, I would buy it just for interest and uniqueness.

Out of curiosity, what's with the markings on the left side of the barrel, and the oddball serial number stamped on the left side of the receiver? Are those importer marks?

Ed