Another Old Newb With Questions

[ZGrand]

Hi, all. I've owned a few guns over the past 50 years or so, but never really been what I would consider a "gun person". And I certainly have not been into vintage firearms (until now).

Back in the '60's sometime, my father, who was in the Army Air Corps in WWII, bought a surplus Enfield from an Army surplus store. I'm not sure how many times he fired it, but I do recall he took me with him to the range one time when I was 12 years old. He even let me fire it a couple of times. We shot up all the ammo he had, and as far as I know, this was the last time the rifle was fired. After cleaning, it went in his closet in 1965 and stayed there until I pulled it out in 2012. It has resided in my closet ever since.

I decided to pull it out recently and put it back into service. I cleaned the bore (quite a few times as it had some surface rust), all the hardware, and cleaned the furniture with Murphy's Oil Soap followed by a rub-down with linseed oil, and ordered some ammunition online. Although I have not fired it yet, I have checked the headspace (seems OK), and the end of the barrel with a live round (still have a little over 1/4" of the projectile showing) so I think it should be safe to fire.

As you can tell from the pictures, I believe it to be a 1942 No. 1 MKIII*. You can also tell it was well used before my father acquired it. (It even has a few "notches" on the top of the rear stock. Yikes!) The serial numbers on the barrel, forestock, endcap, and bolt all match. All the wood (birch?) appears to match except the rear handguard, which is darker. I assume it would have been common for this piece to have been replaced at some point in the past.

I would appreciate it if anyone could tell me if any of the markings indicate where the firearm was manufactured, and the significance of any of the other markings on the barrel or other hardware, and the meaning of the "331" stamped into the rear stock.

Thanks in advance.

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