"Unissued" (not JJCO) Lithgow

[CINDERS]

SSJ - copper 2 x small brass screws at least that's what my Mk III's have sometimes there is shim material behind either plate to get the right fitment.
Homer - I hope that is not a spot of rust at about 17:30 just @ 1/4 " inside the bore on your Mk III

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[Homer]

SSJ - copper 2 x small brass screws at least that's what my Mk III's have sometimes there is shim material behind either plate to get the right fitment.
Homer - I hope that is not a spot of rust at about 17:30 just @ 1/4 " inside the bore on your Mk III

Could very well be, don't own it anymore though.

[Colonel Enfield]

Personally I would be extremely wary of an "unissued" 1941-dated Lithgow because Australia had been well and truly involved in WWII for two years by that point and things would soon be heating up in the country's backyard (particularly New Guinea) so the Australian troops needed every rifle they could get. Add to that Australia still using SMLEs in Korea a few years after WWII finished and it just doesn't seem likely a rifle of that year would somehow end up in storage without an exceptionally good reason (production archetype for that year for SAF Lithgow, for example).

I could see a late 1944 or early 1945-dated Lithgow SMLE managing to avoid being issued and eventually surplussed off, but a 1941? I'd be taking that with a Himalayan salt mine.*


*And having said all that, I'm sure someone will be along presently to show us pics of their genuinely unissued 1941 Lithgow SMLE Mk III*, complete with papers and/or an Advisory Board thumbs up.

[Homer]

Personally I would be extremely wary of an "unissued" 1941-dated Lithgow because Australia had been well and truly involved in WWII for two years by that point and things would soon be heating up in the country's backyard (particularly New Guinea) so the Australian troops needed every rifle they could get. Add to that Australia still using SMLEs in Korea a few years after WWII finished and it just doesn't seem likely a rifle of that year would somehow end up in storage without an exceptionally good reason (production archetype for that year for SAF Lithgow, for example).

I could see a late 1944 or early 1945-dated Lithgow SMLE managing to avoid being issued and eventually surplussed off, but a 1941? I'd be taking that with a Himalayan salt mine.*


*And having said all that, I'm sure someone will be along presently to show us pics of their genuinely unissued 1941 Lithgow SMLE Mk III*, complete with papers and/or an Advisory Board thumbs up.

Ha your small print is very funny. Never say never with enfields. I hate the word unissued, but there are 1941/42/43/44 and 45 dated lithgows around that appear almost as new, as if unissued i suppose.

No pictures though.

[Colonel Enfield]

Ha your small print is very funny. Never say never with enfields. I hate the word unissued, but there are 1941/42/43/44 and 45 dated lithgows around that appear almost as new, as if unissued i suppose.

You're absolutely right on the "Never say never" thing with Enfields - Even something as simple as trying to categorise an SMLE as a Mk III or Mk III* is fraught with complications! I've seen Mk IIIs with magazine cut-off and volley sights removed but the windage adjustable sights still on them, Mk III*s with the slot and wood cutout for the magazine cut-off still present, Mk IIIs with the magazine cut-off but not windage adjustable sights... There's a reason Skennerton's book is (fortunately) so hefty!

I agree there's some nice, outstanding condition 1941-1945 Lithgows out there but I think there's a huge differece between "Unissued" and "Issued to people who didn't use them very much". There are plenty of reasons a WWII-dated Lithgow would come through the scrape in tip-top shape (even without an FTR somewhere along the way) - issued for guard duty at a base or depot in Australia, for example.

To me, "Unissued" implies the rifle went straight from the factory to a warehouse (Raiders of the Lost Ark-style or otherwise) and was promptly forgotten about until after all the brouhaha was over, at which point somene doing an inventory said "Why have we got these obsolete rifles in storage?" and arranged for them to be surplussed off.

In other words, a totally different kettle of fish to a rifle which went from said warehouse to the Waikikamukau Tank and Vehicle Repair Depot where it sat in the armoury rack for 95% of its service life, except for being used for target drills occasionally, until well after the war somene doing an inventory said "Why have we got these obsolete rifles here?" and arranged for them to be surplussed off.

[MRoberts06]

Thank you for the reply, Colonel.

[ssj]

SSJ - copper 2 x small brass screws at least that's what my Mk III's have sometimes there is shim material behind either plate to get the right fitment.
:

The ones Ive seen are copper but have used steel screws, which btw took the "hammer" So on my one I replaced them with brass ones (Ive kept the "originals") and yes Ive seen brass shim.