No5 MK1 questions

[SMcGeown]

I would take the rifle to the range. As long as your keep the bore clean the No5 will make a great addition as a shooter/collectable.

[aqbill]

Shoot it! They're lovely rifles and I've happily discovered that my hand-me-down Shirley - shooting Prvi Partizan - is quite accurate. They bark and push-back a bit, as any lighter rifle will do, and you will learn that the rubber butt-pad is not a recoil pad! Only downside of the Prvi is that it is pretty dirty ammo so keep it clean!

[villiers]

What a question!

[browningautorifle]

The bolt wouldn't move...probably because people used to use motor oil to lube rifles. It would turn to varnish practically and had to be scrubbed off. Oil is oil...right?

[smle addict]

On the subject of metal fore-end caps. Got to thinking about it and dug these out of the gun safe. Top pic is 1947 dated BSA. Middle is a 1945 dated BSA. Bottom pic is a 1946 Faz. I used to have a 1944 Faz, FTR'd in 1945, with no fore-end cap. For what it's worth....

[Aussie48]

What a question!

Nice pick up surprised it still has the bayonet lug as most of the US ones I gave seen have been ground off. PRIVI is as good as it gets brass wise and is no dirtier than any other commercial ammunition.

[5thBatt]

Ah......, but WHERE did that assumption come from 5th Batt? There's nothing written anywhere and it doesn't appear to be a climatic thing as we had all sorts. And believe me, From my experience it'd seem most strange to go to one cap THEN revert to NO cap, then change to another cap............. and then supply spares later with..... NO cap, contrary to whatever! The 11/55 EMER and drawing shows NO cap. The 7/44 original parts list shows NO cap with the STOCK, fore-end as an assembly of the tie plate and rivet. NO cap and rivet. But amendment 3 dated 5/53 is fore-end assembly with cap, rivet, tie plate and tie plate rivet. But this becomes difficult to decipher as all the part numbers change from the old B1-BJxxx numbers to post-war Ordnance B1-CR numbers.

To be honest, the caps were just trouble!

Production of the No5 started in Feb 1944 with the FE prefixed 1000 & the normal production began shortly aftrer in March /April, i have a 4/44 with the serial number 524 with a un-numbered forend & mag, no cap on forend.
According to the "Bible" in May 1944 a request was made for a cap to be designed to fit the end of the forend & in July 1944 the rounded type was fitted to an experimental rifle & also to some experimental lightened No1s but was found to "difficult to produce" so was changed in September of 1944, there is no mention of this early cap being fitted to production No5s but a photo of one fitted is shown in the book.
No date is given for the later cap of the type we see but Ian states the rounded cap-less forend appears to be preferred type.
Nothing really definitive in that but we can see, no cap, cap, no cap in 1944 production.

When studying the No5 a trend appears showing that the cap appears in earnest in mid 1946 production & as the numbering of the forend was not approved untill Nov 1946 the fitting of salvaged early forends to later No5s & being numbered to the rifle & the fitting of new forends with the cap to early No5s, plus the removal of caps in-service all serve to grey the whole thing but if you look at the No5 survey on SRF you can see the trend.
All in all, not an absolute & at the end of the day does not really prove anything, but its all we have to work with.
Surplusrifle Forum View topic - No5 Mk1 Jungle Carbine S/N Survey! - Updated 11.2.2013

[Homer]

Wow! A reference to surplusrifles from you 5th. I bet that hurt.

[5thBatt]

Wow! A reference to surplusrifles from you 5th. I bet that hurt.

Yeah, did a bit

[muffett.2008]

C'mon Stuart, admit it , you love the guy.