Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk I - Seeking Info

[Alan de Enfield]

Manufactured in 1942 at the Royal Ordnance Factory (RoF) at Maltby in Yorkshire.
Non-Matching numbered parts Body, magazine, & Bolt

It certainly would not have left service like that so I'm wondering if it is a rebuild of a sporterised rifle which is certainly one way to account for the assortment of parts and differing wood types.

Ideally you should have the FIT of the bolt checked for locking lug contact as the bolts are NOT plug & play and need actually FITTING (work needed - not just pushed into the bolt rails) The reason the bolts were numbered was that they are not interchangable between rifles.

Information

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[JeffreyJ5]

It certainly would not have left service like that so I'm wondering if it is a rebuild of a sporterised rifle which is certainly one way to account for the assortment of parts and differing wood types.

Interesting. So while parts may have been replaced while in service (overhauls, etc...), components that are marked with serial numbers (the receiver, bolt and magazine) should be matching if it were done in service vs. post service? For example, a bolt could have been replaced while in service, but the serial number would have been applied to said bolt? I assume the same goes for the magazine?

[Alan de Enfield]

Interesting. So while parts may have been replaced while in service (overhauls, etc...), components that are marked with serial numbers (the receiver, bolt and magazine) should be matching if it were done in service vs. post service? For example, a bolt could have been replaced while in service, but the serial number would have been applied to said bolt? I assume the same goes for the magazine?

Yes, all parts numbered MUST match the body (action) as that is the master component - all parts must be FITTED to suit that body.
Any mismatch will result in (as a minimum) poor or inconsistent loading, inaccurate to (at worst) being dangerous to use.

If an Armourer fitted replacement / new parts to a rifle they would be altered to fit the body and then numbered to match so they should never be separated.

Particularly in the US, when they were imported the bolts and rifles were separated and whe sold, young Joey (on his saturday job) was told "take one of those rifles out of that box, one of those bolts out of that box and slide it in, then wrap it up for despatch"

Only knowledegable dealers knew the importance of 'matching numbers'.

Once a rifle was out in the wilds of civilian life and as it only cost $12, it was cut up and sporterised and used as a truck gun, when old man Jethro dies his family just disposed of it not knowing where the extra parts (bolt and magazine) were.
It was bought by an Enfield enthusiast who decided to rebuild it back to its former military glory and sourced parts from all over and 'stuck it back together'.

Its a bit like the car Johhny Cash built "one piece at a time"






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