magazine for No.1 Mk.3 rifle

[Peter Laidler]

There was a miscellaneous instruction in the UK Military EMER's (EMER SA&MG C-309) that when stocks of No1 magazine were exhausted for those No1 Cadet, Reserve and EY rifles still in stock, then those rifles will be fitted with the No4 rifle magazine.

It goes on and on a bit but the gist of it is that the these magazines will require a higher degree of hand fitting due to the lower(?) working tolerances of the rifle against the No4 (I don't understand that bit either.....) but this will be well within the capabilities of working Armourers. No relaxation will be permitted and the same feed and functioning criteria will still apply.

So there it is. I don't remember ever fitting a No4 magazine to a No1 but it was sanctioned - as was the fitting of many other semi interchangeable parts such as butts, loops, screws etc etc

[Simon P]

Also BSA were contracted to convert 136,237 No1 magazines to fit the No4 in 1942/43

[Peter Laidler]

I wonder what the conversion consisted of. Is anyone aware of their interchangeability as a general rule. I ask because the EMER doesn't actually state what would/might/will require altering to fit AND function perfectly.

[vintage hunter]

As far as a no.1 mag fitting in a no.4 rifle goes, a friend bought a BSA no.4 a few years ago that was missing it's mag. He ordered one from numrich and they either sent the wrong one or else he did'nt know there was a difference but when the mag arrived it was for the no1, after a bit of fiddling with the feed lips it works fine. I don't recall him doing anything else but I'll see him later today and I'll ask.

[Peter Laidler]

On the subject of No4 magazines, the fit was that when fitted into the body, there was to be NO vertical movement of the magazine whatsoever. It will be impossible to disengage the front of the magazine from the rifle. Some examiners really got on their high horses about the rear fit and the 'no vertical movement' thing........... But so long as the magfazine wasn't loose as such and the feed and fuction test was perfect, it made little difference in practice.

When the back straps were worn down or rounded at the catch end, we'd put them all in a box and when a big pile had been collected in, one of the Armourers would spend a morning milling 3/8" or so of the back strap away, silver solder a new section in place and contour the rear of the strap to suit a pattern.

When you needed to fit a new magazine, the old loose one would be put into the box and one of the repaired ones taken out and correctly fitted and renumbered. Once the rifle (plus magazine of course.....) had gone through the stsytem it looked as good as new. It was a pretty slick operation and not many were scrapped.

Numbering, according to the EMER was always across (?) the magazine with 5/64" stamps and read from the butt end. But don't take this as gospel because some workshops would number them to be read along the base, front to rear so that it was just a flick of the eye to read the magazine against the serial number and certainly in a size that was a) readable and b) available!

[Brian Dick]

It's usually the back strap of the SMLE magazine that needs adjusting to get them to work in a No.4. I've had plenty of original SMLE mags over the years that were modified in service by milling off the bottom half of the backstrap and refitting the catch end.

[rondog]

But, back to my original question......

Where can I buy a correct magazine for a No.1? Rifle's date stamp is 1917.

[Peter Laidler]

Well, according to the UK Military who, after all, were prolific users of the No1 rifle and their instructions, then you can use both the No1 AND the No4 magazine providing that both are properly fitted. We didn't worry about such niceties as the date either!

[S-A-M3]

Rondog, Springfield Sporters is a good place to start looking for the correct Mag.

[Brian Dick]

I've got them in stock. Email directly to bdlltd@bellsouth.net if interested.