Lee-Enfield No1 Mk III* Manufactured by SSA

[Albayo]

I just received a 1918, Lee-Enfield No1 Mk III* manufactured by SSA Standard Small Arms. It is in VG condition with most of the major parts matching.
Is this a rare model, and how many were manufactured?
Is there any detailed information available?

Information

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[Alan de Enfield]

Standard Small Arms was formed by Mr S J Waring (later Lord Waring, 1860-1940) of the Waring & Gillow concern ,together with a Mr Peterson, who was a man of standing in the Birmingham gun trade. They believed that the skills of the Birmingham gun trade were being neglected and could be more fully utilised in the war effort than they were. They planned to make all of the action and the nosecap, less magazines, screws and pins, and organise eight small firms and a number of individuals in the trade (probably outworkers, of whom a great many worked in the trade at that time). The barrels were to be subcontracted to Westley Richards and the wood to be cut by Waring & Gillow and Rudders & Payne (both these firms eventually dropped out). They contracted to supply rifles at 75/- each, which was the same price that BSA was paid. After a year or so it became apparent that the factory would never produce complete arms and it was instructed to produce four items; body with charger guide, bolt, bolt head and trigger guard. The company was to produce 1500 sets of components a week, rising to 4,000 when new machinery was installed. Other firms were contracted to produce less specialist items, the sets of components being delivered to Enfield for assembly in the bayonet shop, production of which was shifted to Wilkinsons and Sanderson Brothers & Newbold.

The downside of this scheme was that it only allowed for the exact number of components needed. Thus assembly of rifles was held up for want of quite minor items which inexperienced firms were struggling to produce. The scheme was revised in 1916 and became known as the Rifle Components Pool, taking every component which the 'Big Three' could make in excess of their complete rifle production as well as all that Standard Small Arms could turn out, and those produced by the 'peddled scheme' firms. Ordnance could also draw on the pool for repair parts. A considerable stock of components was built up so that any of the Big Three could draw on it if short of some item, and this was done continuously by LSA, and occasionally by BSA, and by Enfield (the pool being on the spot). Standard Small Arms did not attain an output of 2,000 bodies a week until April 1917 and two years after the start of work only 5-6,000 had been produced. By this time SSA were in financial difficulties and a government loan had to be made to keep them going. On June 1st 1918 the factory became National Rifle Factory No.1 with Mr Peterson as superintendent and instructed to prepare for manufacture of components of the Farquhar-Hill automatic rifle, although NRF-marked SMLE bodies were made after this. SSA seem to have turned out 2,000-4,000 bodies a week, depending on the Ministry of Munitions' requirements at the time.

[jrhead75]

Excellent write-up.

[barbarossa]

Searched long and hard for it but recently had the opportunity to purchase a Standard Small Arms SMLE Mark III* dated 1916, serial number G4140. Classic Peddle Scheme rifle--L.S.A. '16 dated barrel with windage adjustable rear sight, S.S.A. mk'd triggerguard, B.S.A. made Mark III early lightened rear sight protector and nosecap, B.S.A. button head cocking piece, Linley&Son magazine and combo steel/brass buttplate, all other components RSAF marked with final assembly proofing at Enfield. Really a beautifully machined action, as good if not better quality control than contemporary production by any other SMLE manufacturer. Believe this rifle is pretty much as it left the factory in 1916. I think Skennerton states 13,000 S.S.A. SMLE component sets produced by the end of 1916. I believe the survival rate on these early S.S.A.'s was incredibly low as this is the first 1916 example I personally recollect seeing in 30 years of Enfield collecting.

For what it's worth, in my neck of the woods a S.S.A. marked SMLE rifle in nice shape dated 1917 or 1918 will fetch somewhere close to a 30 percent premium over the value of a similar condition SMLE produced by either B.S.A. or RSAF Enfield.

[smellie]

There were a LOT of rifles being manufactured for The War To End All Wars.

If you take British SMLE production in the period of the Great War as a whole at 100, ignoring Lithgow and Ishapore completely, Enfield comes out at about 60, BSA at about 30, London Small Arms at about 5, Standard at about 2 and National Rifle Factory at about 3. NONE of these last three factories made ANY rifles during the Second World War.

There were NEVER a lot of Standards about and they are a lot scarcer now than they were even in 1918. When I determined to assemble a "set" (one from each manufacturer), it took me 20 years to find an SSA which was within my price range. I bought it a week before I stumbled across the last one I needed, an NRF in completely untouched condition and with a really decent bore..... at about half what it was worth. "When it rains, it pours!", says the little girl on the salt-tablets box.

Yes, you have rather a scarce item there. Treat her gently and feed her only top-quality handloads and she will love you for the attention.
.

[barbarossa]

Smellie, if I remember correctly Skennerton once told me that National Rifle Factory production probably did not exceed 50,000 rifles before manufacture was terminated, give or take a few. Much rarer and harder to find than just about any other SMLE manufacturer, possibly as many as five S.S.A. made SMLE receivers for every N.R.F. ever produced . I have personally seen fewer than twenty examples made by N.R. F. in all my years of collecting and that includes the guns reported on Gunboards or offered for sale by various online milsurp dealers. An inordinate number of the S.S.A. or N.R.F. marked SMLE's seem to have ended up being shipped out to the colonies viz Canada, Aussiestralia, and India during the interwar period. Is it a mere coincidence that most of the SMLE's by the aforementioned manufacturers seem to have been imported over the past few decades from these three sources?

[rubadubi]

New to the sight. I was doing a search on SSA Enfields and came across this thread. So I registered to tell you I have a 1918 SSA that I bought 20+ yrs. ago at a Woolworths store Somewhere near Akron, OH. Paid 9 "BIG" ones for it. Big $10 bills that is. I have loved that rifle as long as I've had it.Finally got a Longbranch #4 Mk1*. Paid a "little" more for it. I'll try to post pics sometime. By the way...My SSA was in a barrel with a bunch of other SMLE's and I didn't know crud about them at the time. I just picked the one I thought looked in decent cond. I think we were meant for eachother... LOL

[Pablo]

I have the same sort of love affair with my 1918 SSA. It's all matching and all original and looks like it came out of the factory last week. It was the first rifle i ever bought and like you i just bought the best looking one for sale. It was sold to the dealer by the widow of a korean war vet and she told him it was her husbands rifle from the war and that hed stuck it in the closet and thats where it had stayed for 50 years. It was FTR'd at Lithgow in 1951, so i guess that makes sense if it was about to go back into service.
The dealer knew nothing about lee enfileds and thought it was an "crappy" (his words not mine!) indian made rifle because there was no manufacturers logo on the band. I knew enough to know it was brittish made and got it for cheap!
Will always be my fav rifle no matter what i add to the collection.

[rubadubi]

1918 SSA pics Plus some others I think. Not used to posting pics yet.

[jrhead75]

Searched long and hard for it but recently had the opportunity to purchase a Standard Small Arms SMLE Mark III* dated 1916, serial number G4140.

I found G2017 some years back...not as original as yours, it was given a WWII makeover and appears to have spent time in the CBI theater. Mine's Canadian marked as was the only other '16 SSA I've ever seen.