US British and Canadian .22 Military Rifles

[Ben Cartwright]

Here is another view of the left side of the receiver. Let me know what other shots you want I will go up to my gun room and take anything you want

[Patrick Chadwick]

Thanks (I had in the meantime discovered that in the Photobucket set). Not very clear, but clear enough to strengthen my suspicion that a MkIII type receiver has had the "ears" for the No.4-type ladder sight fitted. Hence the orphaned sight base on the barrel. Take a close look yourself for the differences in color and finish that may show up. Try rotating the reciever under a very directional light, and borderlines may become apparent.

Maybe it was originally a proper No.2 MkIV, but someone altered it to take the ladder sight. It seems implausible that the rifle was factory or arsenal assembled with both types of backsight.
It would still be a good idea to have better photos of the left and right sides of the receiver.
All the photos of numbers and markings are not very helpful until the "history" of the receiver can be made a little clearer.

[Ben Cartwright]

In the new "Military Surplus" 2014 magazine on page 32 the person writing up the Enfield .22's has the same style rifle with the rear sight. There are better pictures of it there, the serial numbers are very close, his is 2889 and appears to have a barrel sleeve. His came from Samco mine from SOG. He said his is an Indian No 2, says it was marked No 2 Mk III and FR on the butt socket. According to the author Steve Woods, "this Indian rifles had been modified by removing the tangent rear sight and fitting brackets to the rear of the receiver to allow the mounting of a No 4-typoe aperture rear sight. This sight was further modified by grinding off the 300-yar fixed battle aperture so that the shooter had to use the aperture on the fold-up leaf.

This sounds just like mine so I wonder if it is a factory rebuild since two private owners normally wouldn't come up with the same modification IMHO.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Hmmm, sounds like I guessed more or less right in the "what" (ears welded on) and "where" (India). The question of "who" (arsenal or private) is not so easy, as one person may make a modification that another person finds to be a good idea and therefore copies. Like "tanker" rifles. So ... plausible, but not yet proven.

[Ben Cartwright]

I wonder how we could find out if the #4 sight was arsenal or "aftermarket"

[gsimmons]

It's most likely an Indian conversion. The FR on the butt socket is Indian factory repair mark.

[Lance]

Nice .22 SMLE, I have one just like it. Pic's are and what I think the rifle was modified for are posted at:

Indian Rifle No. 2 Mk 4*____set up for L1A1 training????

Warning, collecting .22's are addictive!!

[Ben Cartwright]

Lance,
Much the same markings as mine the 502 WS **

I agree .22's are addictive, I have a US Property Remington 513T for the Military side and then 3 10/22's, 2 Savages FVT and BVT, an Anschutz 54, a Marlin (?) SQ880 bolt, S&W AR15-22, and 9 or is it 10 (maybe 11) .22 handguns.

Now I am going to start looking for US Property .22's, I have enough of the big calibers in Military stuff.

[Patrick Chadwick]

The photos provided by Lance are precisely what we needed. As Peter Laidler suggested on the linked thread, there must have been some artificers with a lot of time on their hands...

[Ben Cartwright]

Between wars that would happen, in the Navy we used to strip and paint compartments at the end of every cruise so we would get some done every year, down to bare metal. it is "makey workey" or busy hands are happy hands