Did the No.4 Mk2 see service durring the korean war?

[PA_RIFLEMAN303]

just wanting to know if the updated Mk2 was fielded in Korea.

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[Mk VII]

Possible, I suppose, but probably not. 27 Bde was outfitted from stocks held in Hong Kong. 29 Bde arrived later but again likely the war reserve stocks were ample with wartime weapons (and ammo, which would have been cycled off the shelves in a few years anyway).

[Frederick303]

I seem to recall reading the first British army regiment to be equipped with the No 4 MkII “new 1950s rifles was the Ulster defense regiment in 1971 or 1972. Of course I could be wrong on this but that is why it sticks in my mind; it was so late I could not believe it. The RAF and Royal Navy had the No 4 MK II rifles from the 1950s, but apparently the regular Army did not issue these rifles for some reason, or so I recall reading. If the above was correct, the territorial regiments were not equipped with these rifle either as the Ulster defense regiment was a territorial unit.

No idea about the No 4 Mk I/3 and No 4 Mk I/2, a awful lot of them were converted in the early 1950s, one would expect them to be issued. In fact thinking about it, it seems likely that they were and if that is the case one would expect the No4 MK II rifles to have been issued as well.

Perhaps Capt Laider could comment and give us the true story.

[Ridolpho]

PA Rifleman: The No.4 Mk2 probably saw service with the Pakistani forces in wars with India. I have one built in 1960 (in Pakistan) that was later marked as Indian, presumably after being captured. Skennerton talks about this in his big Lee Enfield book.

Ridolpho

[Peter Laidler]

I saw Mk2 rifles right from the start of my service in 1963. They were certainly issued from 1959 because they're listed in the Ordnance parts list and if they weren't issued, they wouldn't be catalogued or provisioned for

[Frederick303]

That makes sense, I always wondered if that comment about the late issue of the No 4 MKII rifles to the Ulster defense regiment as very odd.

Just out of curiousity, is it possible that the new production rifles were kept in reserve and that the reworked 1/3 and 1/2 rifles were issued instead?

[Thunderbox]

I think every Korean veteran account I've read or who I have asked directly mentions that all draftees and war establishment reinforcements in UK mobilised units received rifles coated in cosmoline from store, which they had to clean and prepare in the units. I assume that these were all 1949 refurb No4 Mk1s from the war reserve.

Lots of stories related to cleaning these cosmoline'd rifles:

- cleaning the rifles with petrol and then setting the billet on fire;

- cleaning the rifles with un-named solvent and wrecking the woodwork;

- successfully cleaning the rifles with solvent, but then re-coating them with BLO (metalwork included) because they didn't understand it was for the wood only;

- cleaning the rifles, but then being rifted for getting the billet and kit coated in cosmoline;

- a platoon accumulating a huge blob of scraped-off cosmoline, and using it to grease up some unfortunate individual/ an officer's dog;

- etc...

[Beerhunter]

No idea about the No 4 Mk I/3 and No 4 Mk I/2,

They were common in my Cadet service at the time. We didn't differentiate between Mk.1s, Mk.1*s, Mk.1/2 and Mk.1/3s. They were all just No.4s. So I suspect that the powers that be did not differentiate between the various Mk.1s either.

[Peter Laidler]

Beer Hunter is right. Believe me, there was no difference whatsoever between the Mk/type of No4 rifles except for the Ordnance part number. It's like suggesting that Enfield L1A1's were issued before BSA's and those Enf or BSA made spare parts issued before Fazakerley spare parts. To the soldier on the ground, a rifle is a rifle is a rifle and it's absurd to suggest otherwise.

[gsimmons]

Except when you have gits like me who tried to get an IHC or H&R M1 rifle out of the rack in boot camp. There was no difference of course.