Century Arms Import SMLE

[smerdon42]

There is no such beast as a 1913 Lithgow in original pristine unmarked condition. If anybody tells you they have one rest assured it is a Bubba rebuild. The rifle shown has lost many $ to me because it has been tarted up and has the wrong sling for when it left service and is a repro. Returning a Lee Enfield Rifle to how you think it left the factory is Bubba at work because you have removed repairs and in service upgrades which now make that rifle something that does not exist except in your mind. The originality is how the rifle left service. Many very valuable historical pieces have been destroyed because of this incorrect thinking.

Bindi , I agree with you ,it is like hens teeth to find a original rifle . I like to restore the sporterized rifle s I have back to original spec.i have a 1913 Lithgow that was sporterized and I have worked on finding all the parts from Lithgow to make it a restoration as close to it left the factory. Mine unfortunately had to be restocked with volley sights original plate but I don’t have a lithgow small star nose cap and will continue to look for one to match , everything else like the sight ,bolt magazine and even the bolt head are original to the rifle . But I don’t reperesent it as original .i have 3x 1914 lithgows one is sporterized and went into the Austrian police force after ww2 , one went to India and was restocked and has Indian parts on it but numbered to the original rifle serial and the last one is one that was put into the British army during ww1 and remained there during ww2 and some how ended back up in Aussie hands during ww2 if this one could talk it would be a interesting yarn .i leave my unsporterized ones as is as it is good to keep the history .intact .if someone else has messed with it I enjoy the challenge of collecting and restoring them.

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[Bindi2]

Bindi , I agree with you ,it is like hens teeth to find a original rifle . I like to restore the sporterized rifle s I have back to original spec.i have a 1913 Lithgow that was sporterized and I have worked on finding all the parts from Lithgow to make it a restoration as close to it left the factory. Mine unfortunately had to be restocked with volley sights original plate but I don’t have a lithgow small star nose cap and will continue to look for one to match , everything else like the sight ,bolt magazine and even the bolt head are original to the rifle . But I don’t reperesent it as original .i have 3x 1914 lithgows one is sporterized and went into the Austrian police force after ww2 , one went to India and was restocked and has Indian parts on it but numbered to the original rifle serial and the last one is one that was put into the British army during ww1 and remained there during ww2 and some how ended back up in Aussie hands during ww2 if this one could talk it would be a interesting yarn .i leave my unsporterized ones as is as it is good to keep the history .intact .if someone else has messed with it I enjoy the challenge of collecting and restoring them.

All the early Lithgows have been through at least three FTRs so will have a a mixture of parts fitted as required. Rebuilding sporters is just a FTR the only thing missing will be the stamps on the butt and left socket. Lithgows have the rifles history stamped into the butt mostly which can be read like a book any thing that breaks the story stands out in flashing lights . Even the wrong furniture is correct if the stamps say so but if you have a rifle with original furniture volley sights, windage sights and cut off in place with the FTR stamps and star in place you know Bubba has been at work. If the star is barred out and the cut off in place its correct. Sanded butts are a NO NO so is any thing other than linseed oil that is any thing
Look after my history put the old girls skirts back on and enjoy them.

[smerdon42]

All the early Lithgows have been through at least three FTRs so will have a a mixture of parts fitted as required. Rebuilding sporters is just a FTR the only thing missing will be the stamps on the butt and left socket. Lithgows have the rifles history stamped into the butt mostly which can be read like a book any thing that breaks the story stands out in flashing lights . Even the wrong furniture is correct if the stamps say so but if you have a rifle with original furniture volley sights, windage sights and cut off in place with the FTR stamps and star in place you know Bubba has been at work. If the star is barred out and the cut off in place its correct. Sanded butts are a NO NO so is any thing other than linseed oil that is any thing
Look after my history put the old girls skirts back on and enjoy them.

Bindi as an Aussie ( ex army) who lives in USA I agree with looking after our history , but if it has already been stripped away . I personally feel it is satisfying to restore them to what our ancestors would of used. My family has been in th military since the first boer war only conflict we hav missed is current one and Korea

[Bindi2]

Bindi as an Aussie ( ex army) who lives in USA I agree with looking after our history , but if it has already been stripped away . I personally feel it is satisfying to restore them to what our ancestors would of used. My family has been in th military since the first boer war only conflict we hav missed is current one and Korea

That is ok my grandfathers used them in WW1 my father and Uncles used the same FTRd rifles in WW2 and Korea but they were upgraded from the original production, I have been buying the same rifles FTRd again to current specs before sold out of service. Same rifles but as used when sold.

[Frederick303]

In the case of the SMLE, in some cases you can determine the history of the arm if you post marking or serial numbers.

For example some lots of SMLE rifles were imported by century from Ireland circa 1985 and can be identified by the serial numbers.

Century imported a number of Portuguese SMLE rifles in the pre 1968 period. These rifles lack the UK export proofs of the period, but can only be identified if you have the time of import, as there were other rifles imported from Denmark (early 1960s), Spain (1959) that were not UK export marked.

SA police SMLE and BSAP rifles can be identified by the markings on the wood.

Same is true of NZ SMLE rifles.

Australian issue rifles can often be traced by their markings and if they have century markings, most likely they came out of Pakistan, the big Joe Jovino import lot not being so marked.

If they have the ID disc missing, they generally have WWII overseas issue history, as the ID discs were removed and often the whole not filled. Such guns should also have a lot of history and should have UK export marks and commercial proofs.

all comes down to the details.

[Alan de Enfield]

If they have the ID disc missing, they generally have WWII overseas issue history, as the ID discs were removed and often the whole not filled. Such guns should also have a lot of history and should have UK export marks and commercial proofs.

If I may just clarify, the UK did not export mark its rifles, the markings such as 'England' which is commonly stated to be a UK export mark is in fact the 'country of origin' required IMPORT mark for the USA Pre-1968.
Not all rifles exported would have UK civilian (commercial) proof markings unless it had either been first sold into the UK civilian gun market, OR, at the request of the importer (buyer).