smiling tiger, smle for $800

[smle13]

i was wondering if 800.00 was a good price for this rifle?

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[Badger]

For reference in case anyone wants to compare something they find against all correct examples, check the article with 106 pic photo montage titled 1920 ShtLE (Short Lee-Enfield) Wild Tiger Corps No.1 MkIII* Rifle in the United Kingdom - Knowledge Library

They only made 10,000 of these and the one you show looks like it's in nice shape. In my personal opinion, every serious Enfield collection should have one of these and I think $800 is something I'd pay, as you don't see them often let alone in good condition.

Just my two cents …

Regards,
Badger

[smellie]

Bolt number in this one is mismatched, but so is every other Wild Tiger Militia rifle I've seen.

Badger pointed out that only 10,000 were made. Very true. To that, I would add that this rifle spent 40 years in the same climate as destroyed Colt 1911A1 barrels in a week, so it is pure providence that anything at all survived, much less something in as nice condition as this one appears. Try a live round in the muzzle; if the case stands out anything more than 1/8 of an inch, grab it.

Further on the production numbers: 10,000 rifles is only about 1/10 of 1 percent of SMLE production. They really ARE rare. I am very happy with the one I have, and it looks like last week's garbage compared to this one. Mine will swallow 8mm slugs, but at least it's on MY rack!

Oh, should have mentioned: they also stamped the serial number of the rifle in our numbers. You will find it directly under the receiver number, but you have to remove the forestock to see it.

Good luck!

[Badger]

Bolt number in this one is mismatched, but so is every other Wild Tiger Militia rifle I've seen.

Example in Knowledge Library is "all matching". Serial number is 6393 as shown under bolt arm and also translated from this document.


(Click Pic to Enlarge)

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Translated Siamese Script
"Rama VI Model 2462" (Buddhist Era or B.E. date). This is AD 1919 on Christian calendar.

Regards,
Badger

[smle13]

the 303 bullet sticks out 1/4 of and inch

[smellie]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

That's normally about what they stick out with a new barrel. This one should be a shooter.

One thing for sure: you will have the rarest rifle at YOUR range!

Clean carefully, use only ammo that you load yourself.... and be sure to have fun.

[smle13]

why only use ammo that i load myself?

[smellie]

Why your own ammo?

Because, friend, if you are loading your own, likely you will load perhaps 50 in an hour. A factory would be doing perhaps 10,000 in the same length of time. Whose powder charges are likely to be more accurate? Yours, of course.

The more consistent a batch of ammo is, the better it will shoot. Sure, guys will talk about their 'pet' loads. I do. So do most guys I know. But the one thing about the 'pet' loads which escapes just about everyone is that, when you are loading your 'pet' load, you are ALSO loading ammunition which is wonderfully consistent, simply because you are taking the TIME to try for perfection. Your 'pet' load may not give the BEST possible performance with your rifle; there MAY be another load which will do better. But you are so happy with the results that you ARE getting that you don't bother to look for that last quarter of 1 percent.

My pet load for the SMLE is very simple. I use Defence Industries brass (Canadian, WW2 Boxer-primed) with CCI or WLR primers (whichever I happen to have in stock) and I start at 37 grains of IMR-4895 and vary that upward to about 38 grains, depending on the rifle itself. I use a Sierra 180 Pro-Hunter flatbase bullet seated to the overall length of a Mark VII Ball round. Due to the differing ogive of the Sierra bullet, this crowds the rifling just a bit, but the rifles seem to like it. This load gives you about 2250 ft/sec at the muzzle: slightly slow, but right at the 1910 test results for the most accurate velocity for this rifle. I load the rounds as consistently as I can and the results are worth it; there is no factory ammo made which groups as tightly and as consistently as this.

Likely it is possible to improve on my 'pet' loading, but I am not a good enough shot, and my old rifles are not in good enough condition, to prove this one way or the other. All I will say is that half an inch out of an SMLE and touching bullet-holes out of a Ross..... REPEATEDLY..... is good enough for me.

But I really think that the consistency of this ammo is much more than half of the 'secret' (which you now have) to its success.

Have fun!