My new Long Branch

[Seaforth72]

I would disagree with browningautorifle. I only encountered one case in my Canadian Army service of a soldier carving a design into his rifle stock. If I had found out who it was he would have been in VERY BIG trouble. I believe the carvings on yours were done by a civilian owner.

The ENGLAND marking on this Canadian made rifle was a U.S. requirement oddly enough. The McKinley Tariff Act was intended to show the country of origin/manufacture. Any Lee-Enfield rifles destined for the U.S. surplus market was so marked whether they were made in England, Canada, the USA or possibly even Australia, India or Pakistan. The ENGLAND marking does very strongly suggest that your rifle is one of the many thousands that Canada sent to the British, so looks like “it was over there”.

Replacement Long Branch furniture is available on eBay but the supply is drying up. I suggest contacting Dean at deanboyce64 at Google’s gmail service dot com in the UK. He could also see that the wood type and colours matched. The metal parts would be Long Branch marked (the L superimposed in B monogram). Your backsight is a British Mk.I sight likely fitted post-war as the rifle likely originally had a simple wartime economy sight (a simple “L” shape flip sight or stamped metal sight.) To have the rifle done really right consider contacting Brian Dick of BDL Ltd in South Carolina.

One the other hand if you do not want to put more money and effort into it you could leave it as it is, clean it, shoot it and enjoy it. Although you can slap any No.4 Mk.I or I* wood on it, unlike the Garand, they were set up to have a certain pressure on the barrel which was adjusted for each rifle.

The wood was often treated with Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) though everyone has their own opinion and favorite treatments. I use the BLO because my Dad carried a Lee-Enfield in WWII and that is what he used.

It is a good idea to have a gunsmith check the headspace. As well on the No.4 Mk.I* rifles the bolt release mechanism was greatly simplified and is simply a slot cut in the track. However if the corners of this opening become damaged/chippped I understand that the bolt head can pop out of the track when the bolt is being manipulated, although I have not seen any damaged in this fashion.

Your sling is the correct pattern, but appears to be a post-war synthetic one. Wartime examples were usually a light brown web material. There are replicas of those e.g. at IMA-USA, but for an original you could contact Hayes Otoupalik in Missoula Montana. Look for his web site.

Information

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[Alan de Enfield]

It is a good idea to have a gunsmith check the headspace. As well on the No.4 Mk.I* rifles the bolt release mechanism was greatly simplified and is simply a slot cut in the track. However if the corners of this opening become damaged/chippped I understand that the bolt head can pop out of the track when the bolt is being manipulated, although I have not seen any damaged in this fashion.

Unfortunately 'not an uncommon' fault on the US & Canadian built Mk1*

Affected rifle life can be extended by adding a chamfer onto the bolt head to help it slide across the 'cut-out'., which will help reduces the bolt jumping out of the rails. More permanent repairs can be done by VERY CAREFUL re-build welding of the broken rails - BUT - extreme care is needed not to over heat the rail and remove the hardening.
This is what to look for :

Photo previously posted by Parashooter.


I presume the carved 'arrow' is an instruction for Bubba to "point the gun in this direction".