Canadian SMLE No1 MkIII* Long Branch Refurbs??

[Gary D]

I have a 1917 BSA with C^ marks and a barrel stamped with the stylized LB mark.

[Dimitri]

Drill rifles for recruits and army cadets WERE needed so whack,whack,snip and presto we had a mint DP rifle.P'd me off NO end that did.

If I get your story right, the only "issue" was the cut short firing pin. If thats the case I'd be a very happy guy to find one of these "DP" rifles cheap because "it doesn't work" per the previous owner.

Dimitri

[Lee Enfield]

Canadian SMLE No1 MkIII* Long Branch Refurbs?? Did they do any in the say 1942 timeframe? I am curious as I had picked up an Canadian 1917 Enfield SMLE with a mint 42’ barrel. The blue is the same colour tone as a long branch. There are what seems to be two small C broad arrows on the right hand side of the barrel knox form? They are ¼ the size of the typical C board arrow on the left side of the receiver.

Any thoughts?

Pete

Mine is DCP proofed and has beautiful LB inspection markings. It is dated '42.

[Canuck13]

I recently came across a 1918 Lee Enfield No.1 MkIII* Canadian marked, manufactured by Enfield with a 42 Long Branch barrel.

I have a few questions. Pardon my possible ignorance.

Were the No.4 barrels built by LB interchangeable with the original British No.1 SMLE barrels? Can you just take an No.4 LB barrel and install it in a British No.1 SMLE? Do they thread the same to the action body? Or would the barrel have had to be specifically manufactured to fit the No.1?

I don't doubt the fact that LB did refurbs on some No.1's (including replacing the barrels etc) but is it not possible that in this case the barrel could of just been added by anybody at any time through the life of the rifle.

This rifle had a Lithgow marked nose cap and a Lithgow marked bolt that matched the Enfield receiver? Curiously the sight matched as well though the back sight assembly was BSA marked. Also the serial number on both the bolt and nose cap were prefixed by a "S" ( serial # S83**) matching the Enfield receiver. Is this not an Enfield prefix? According to the info available to me (Skennerton, Stratton) Lithgow didn't ever use a "S" prefix? Lots of other mixed parts. Whats going on with this one?

Thank you in advance for your time.

[Alan de Enfield]

If you try and fit a No4 barrel in a No1 action the 'cut out' for the extractor will be indexed 180 degrees out - ie the extractor cut out will be on the left hand side.

[Surpmil]

We touched on this subject recently so while looking for that thread I found this one which directly addresses the matter, so here are the marks from a Long Branch-made SMLE barrel.

[Roger Payne]

Many thanks, I've seen quite a lot of SMLE barrels over the years, but have never noticed one of these Canadian examples. At least I now know what to look out for!

[Surpmil]

The asterisk on the Nock's Form may be a later armourer's inspection mark of course. Took the wood off after those photos were taken and found a couple more marks on the underside of the reinforce. Overall the stamp strikes are weak or angled, so the partial may be another LB "cartouche" mark.