Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk I (T)

[Roger Payne]

I just got off my fat lazy aXXe (censored UK & antipodean spelling) & went & looked at eight original No4 T butts in my garage. I've had them years & their origin is beyond reproach. Some have had the original scope number barred out & a second scope serial number applied, & some have only the original number. All of them have been numbered (or renumbered in service) with the older style stamps where the surrounding metal to the number itself is ground away, leaving no 'ring' around the number. I was & still felt that the rifle offered giove is suspect in having been given a replacement scope, but I was less concerned about the 'rings' around the stamps than the disturbed look to the wrist underlying them, but it looks like the 'rings' might be a useful indicator of possible post-war tampering......as Peter intimated.

What I have noticed is that when 4T's have the rifle number applied along the forend, it always seems to be done with the 'modern' stamps, 'with ring', as it were, so this may also answer giove's question.

So maybe it's 'wrist - no ring; forend - ring'. It would be interesting to see if many (original) rifles differ from this.

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