South African No 1 Mk 3 barrels?

[Garandy]

I don't own a No 1 Mk 3 type rifle, but I recently ran across a couple of South African No 1 Mk 3 barrels for sale from two different sources. One is unwrapped and being sold as NOS. The other is in a waxy material like cutting tools are dipped in after sharpening and is being sold as "excellent".

I looked through my copy of The Lee-Enfield and only found one brief reference to South African made Enfield parts.

I also did a search here with little luck.

What is the story on these? When were they made? When were they originally imported to the US as surplus and sold?

Information

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[bigduke6]

They are used barrels that are from stripped rifles, they are normally complete with the rear sight block etc. A dealer in the UK bought many.........

[mrclark303]

I believe they were originally made by the UK trade in WW2 as factory dispersal production.

The S A marked Barrels have have allowed the creation of many new build SMLE's over the last 15 years

[Garandy]

They are used barrels that are from stripped rifles, they are normally complete with the rear sight block etc. A dealer in the UK bought many.........

Interesting.

The "NOS" barrel has the sight bases and inner band mounted. It also has a five or six digit (a digit may have been struck out) number stamped on the chamber end. Looks like it suffered a bit in storage too.

The "excellent" barrel that is still partially covered with the waxy looking coating does not appear (pictures are not the best) to have a number stamped on the chamber end but it is wearing sight bases and the inner band as well.

[smerdon42]

Guys there is a company in Australia that sells new barrels southern cross militarila also do wood as well not sure if they ship to the states . Cost is around $500 Aussie dollars .

[Mk VII]

The ban on arms sales to South Africa meant that the country developed its own arms industry including spare parts for existing arms.



IIRC the inner band which comes already on it had a different-from-normal thread.

[Roger Payne]

There must be SA barrels from more than one source then. Many years ago Charnwood imported a load of them, all wax dipped, all with rear sight bases & all brand new (NOS) SA 1950's manufacture. When Charnwood ceased trading most or possibly even all of the barrels were bought by Terry Abrams. I managed to persuade Terry to let me have a few. I think he still has some, although last I heard he didn't have many left & so was reluctant to part with any more.

[smle addict]

Here's an older thread that touched on this a few years back, re: SA manufactured barrels.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....597#post370597

[Brian Dick]

All of the South African SMLE barrels I've had were plastic coated and in new condition. They are excellent. The RFI barrels Sarco has available are take offs but mostly "as new" and also excellent. I've lost count of how many I've breached up for folks over the past few years. No complaints.

[Amatikulu]

Just as a useless anecdote, at one time in South Africa the licensed part of the rifle was the barrel. Receivers were not registered.