Mystery CLLE I (no star) opinions please

[Roy]

Hi Folk

I have here a CLLE 1 built on a LSA MLE 1* however I have never seen a CLLE I (no star)

Oddly there is no conversion date and the CLLE I marking is roughly stamped,

In 1919 it was reported that MLE and MLM rifles held in NZ stores were to be converted to CLLE, however none have been observed, Perhaps this is part of some sort of trial run, however there is a 'BM' Birmingham repair mark on the receiver and a '15 date, however this is well after any CLLE I conversions should have been made.

Any modified sights may have been lost in a rebarreling, incidentally with a 1903 Sparkbrook barrel which matches the butt and all the stock metal work.

The trigger guard appears to be a MLE one which has been hand filed to fit MK2-3 magazines with the stop clip, the chain link has been carefully removed.

The bolt has had its dust cover clips roughly removed.

There is evidence of 'restoration' it has a MA marked cutoff and a MA sling swivel cut through and used as a piling swivel, also it appears someone has tried to remove the charger bridge by attacking the inside of the rivets with a dremmel and a punch, fortunately without any success.

Overall it seems the conversion is rough, however it seems like it was done many years ago, before anyone would want to try to fake such a rifle.

If anyone has a CLLE 1 I could compare this to, especially one that has seen NZ service I'd be very interested in seeing some pictures.

Cheers

Roy

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