I recently stumbled upon this late war 1945 pamphlet - Jungle Jottings. I noticed at the bottom of one of the pages "An extra yielding (EY) rifle is a rifle that has been strengthened so that a 36 grenade can be fired from a cup discharger fitted to the end of the barrel." I have never heard of an EY rifle being described as Extra Yielding.
Every reference I have seen says EY is Emergency use onlY
A grenade firing rifle is marked GF
Mine are not the best, but they are not too bad. I can think of lots of Enfields I'd rather have but instead of constantly striving for more, sometimes it's good to be satisfied with what one has...
Nigel
Which country is that book based on.
I agree with A d E though many EY rifles were converted as a ready stock of rifles at hand. I haven't seen a EY rifle with a GF stamp even though it is a GF converted rifle. Neither have i seen a GF stamped rifle with a EY stamp. Both doing the same the same job coming from different starting points.
Nigel
Which country is that book based on.
I agree with A d E though many EY rifles were converted as a ready stock of rifles at hand. I haven't seen a EY rifle with a GF stamp even though it is a GF converted rifle. Neither have i seen a GF stamped rifle with a EY stamp. Both doing the same the same job coming from different starting points.
But there are EY rifles 'out in the wild' that are not GF rifles, so my thinking is that EY could not mean it was a GF rifle.
My understanding is that the EY rifles had already been designated as 'second grade', probably because of wear and inaccuracy, so using them for conversion to GF 'saved' front line rifles being used for something that did not need a top quality rifle.
The fact the booklet quotes the 'War Office' and 'Crown Copyright' would suggest it is a British publication.
Last edited by Alan de Enfield; 02-22-2025 at 03:29 AM.
Mine are not the best, but they are not too bad. I can think of lots of Enfields I'd rather have but instead of constantly striving for more, sometimes it's good to be satisfied with what one has...
Interesting that in 1918 permission was given for the conversion of 'some' of the already existing EY rifles to GF (grenade firing)
Reynolds 'The Lee Enfield' (pages 120-121)
Last edited by Alan de Enfield; 02-22-2025 at 05:44 AM.
Mine are not the best, but they are not too bad. I can think of lots of Enfields I'd rather have but instead of constantly striving for more, sometimes it's good to be satisfied with what one has...
I'm not sure, in my time, that there was ever a difference between EY rifles and GF rifles according to the EMER's, our bible.
EY indicated EmergencY and the last of these grenade firing No1 rifles I recall were all strengthened to be fitted with the old cup dischargers - which we didn't have - to throw the old No36 grenade!!!!! They were refurbished for war reserve stocks in the late 60's and we never saw them again. A lot of these rifles were clearly drawn from stocks of what were known as SUB STANDARD....., with silver band around the butt and fore-end. The EY's and SS's differed only in that the barrel gauging criteria was more relaxed and the fore-emnds could have more than 3 patches. Don't quote me as that is from memory of seeing them being overhauled
These rifles had the usual wire wrapping, put on by a fantastic simple method, using an old lathe bed and motor set to very slow and a matt khaki band around the butt with EY stencilled on the band in 1" markings. Not dissimilar to the DP rifles of the time
I didn't see specific GF or Grenade Firing rifles except for those No4's, No5's and L1A1's fitted with grenade dischargers. And these grenades were anti-vehicle Energa grenades
I recently stumbled upon this late war 1945 pamphlet - Jungle Jottings. I noticed at the bottom of one of the pages "An extra yielding (EY) rifle is a rifle that has been strengthened so that a 36 grenade can be fired from a cup discharger fitted to the end of the barrel." I have never heard of an EY rifle being described as Extra Yielding.
What is the context of the comments? Part of a collection of informal "after-action" reports? The chatty style is not typical of official publications.
Cancel that: I've flipped the photo.
Last edited by Surpmil; 02-22-2025 at 12:25 PM.
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
To add to pile but Skennerton noted and I confirmed an unpublished manuscript refering to the EY marking as Edward Yule who was involved with grenade launching. For whart it is worth. I remember it because it did not make sense then or now.
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
PM
Originally Posted by Bindi2
