'7.62 - BLANK ONLY' Stamped on the receiver

[Badger]

Peter/Ian (or anyone) ...

I saw a post on another site that I thought rang a bell to something here, but I did a serach and couldn't find it, so I guess I was wrong.

Anyway, I thought the subject was fascinating and perhaps useful to Lee Enfield collectors in general, so here's the main question paraphrased about a receiver marking on an Enfield.

1943 Long Branch
Brass Butt Plate
Canadian wood.

"7.62 - BLANK ONLY" Stamped on the receiver

Came with a Sterling 10 round mag.

It fires 7.62mm Blank quite well from the magazine.

I've never seen anything like it, so is this an official use marking, or something stamped for some other purpose. ie: theatrical usage etc ...

Regards,
Doug

Information

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[limpetmine]

Neat. I wonder if there were any barrel mods to cause "issues" if firing a live round.

[Surpmil]

25L SN from 1945 must be a replacement receiver as well.

[limpetmine]

Looks like 1943 to me. That serial # would be correct for '43.

[Peter Laidler]

I wonder if it's something made up for the film industry to use. The .303" crimped blanks were difficult/impossible to feed from a rifle but crimp nose/bullet shape 7.62 are simple. In Australia the main workshops at Bandiana were inserting 7.62mm chambers from shot-out M-60 barrels into old .303" Bren barrels. That way we could use yellow painted old redundant .303" barrels to shoot 7.62mm blank from our L4A4's during training, that we were using in Malaya (and SVn but I could be wrong there. Were they only on the tanks....... but anyway!)

It certainly doesn't look to be an officially sanctioned conversion but it'd be simplicity itself to bore out a chamber and press in a 7.62mm chamber section, even without unbreeching.

[Surpmil]

Looks like 1943 to me. That serial # would be correct for '43.

I do believe you're right, it is a 3. And I should have twigged to that as a 1945 receiver would have the straight shoulder rather than the concave one.

[Ian Skennerton]

The style of marking and fitting of a Sterling mag don't appear to be service, except perhaps in some third world or African country. Many theatrical and movie ordnance firearms are fitted with restrictors screwed inside the muzzle, rendering them 'safe' for blank fire only. Does this rifle have such a restrictor at the muzzle? There don't appear to be any official / service 7.62mm conversion markings either, so a movie gun is another possibility.

For our 'Sparrow Force' armoury and action sequences we are not using movie guns either. Ridiculous muzzle flash and wrong sound signatures make a mockery of reality. Such films lose credability with ex-servicemen viewers too. Even uniforms and accessories in our re-enactment scenes are original, courtesy of Mike Warwick, Brian Labudda and other friends. We have commenced production filming, it is such a joy to record the 'real' thing.
Ian

[bouletbill]

I remember being shown (20 yrs ago) a superb Swedish Mauser which had been smooth-bored , but not to a shot-gun calibre although acceptable on a S/G certificate and it would obviously chamber blanks . Don't expect it was done in those days for re-enactment , esp. as a Swede (no offence intended) but it would have made a very attractive wall-hanger in the days when individual smooth-bores did not have to be registered .
I suppose the question is ... has this Lee-Enfield got a smooth bore , or has it still got its original .303 bore ? Neither would be lethal (to the user) if chambered with a live 7.62 round . But if it has an obstructed barrel ..... nasty .