Mystery SMLE No1 Mk 1

[Roy]

Around 1912 the mounted rifles were rearmed with MkIII's and their MkI's were issued to senior cadet forces.

After the first echelon of the 1st NZ Div left NZ in 1915 (carrying MLE's) there was such a shortage of SMLE's in NZ that NZ reinforcements left the country unarmed and the troops were armed from British stores upon arrival in England perhaps this occurred in 1917 -18 as a high proportion of SMLE's here are from those dates. Both of my NZ marked 1917-18 actions have 1920 barrels on them and had windage sights. Possibly from a mass post ww1 refurbishment of ww1 worn rifles here . My 1908 NZ SMLE was rebarreled with a 1941 Lithgow barrel, so at least some of the early pre ww1 NZ SMLE's soldiered on to their next war and I have seen a picture from Crete of a Kiwi section with sunlight reflecting off the volley sight plates of their rifles.