AUSTRIAN ???? ENfield what is this

[tankerman]

Really unusual Enfield ay local pawn. Dated 1916. Stamped on barrel flat just forward of chamber is (sic) OSTREICH over GENDARMIE. I know this means Austrian Police but what is this doing on an Enfield?

Wood has been sanded or whatever as no markings remain. metal finish about 50%. Priced ridiculously at $600.

Alright 303 guys...what about this?

Information

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[Badger]

Here's a couple of older threads I found on the site using our new Google CSE (Custom Search Engine) and searching on the phrase "austrian enfield" …

Osterr Gendarmerie No1 Mk3

German marked SMLE (real or fake?)

For DEEP searches, try our new Google CSE (Custom Search Engine) which is located at the top right corner of the forums, just under the standard search box. It's a piece of custom code from Google that just searches Milsurps.Com posts and threads, including the archive.

To be honest, I've never been thrilled with vBulletin's built-in search capability, particularly the 4 character minimum and the fact that it often behaves "quirky" with certain characters such as periods and slashes etc.

I find Google's capabilities much better, plus they don't have any problems with either the number of characters being searched on, or the special type of characters I mentioned above.

So, give it a try and you might find some really interesting old threads like these with content about topics you either never knew about or had forgotten.

Hope that helps …

Regards,
Doug

[breakeyp]

Post WWII Austrian police were armed with allied weapons. No. 1 MkIIIs made in England, Australia and India can be found with the Osterreich marking. There are also ex-Briitsh Smith and Wesson Victory model revolvers with the marking as well.

[Beerhunter]

OSTREICH over GENDARMIE. I know this means Austrian Police

Not really. It means Austrian Gendarmerie which is not quite the same thing. A Gendarmerie could be thought of as para-military force. Many European countries have Police Forces and a Gendarmerie - France being the archetype. Not all Gendarmeries have the title Gendarmerie however e.g The Carabinieri in Italy and the Guardia Civil in Spain are both Gendarmeries.

[Peter Laidler]

Same as in England. We have the real Police and the traffic police

[tankerman]

Thanks to all for the info. Sort of what I was surmising. While "interesting", for $600 I believe I will pass. Again, thanks to all for the time to reply.

[lngstrt]

I don't know what they are really worth but I paid $200 a couple months ago. It was a good clean 1942 No. 1 Mk III* with the Österr. ...etc. The mark is so small I couldn't see it without magnification

[limpetmine]

Mine was a tad north of $200 USD, a 1918 BSA IIRC. I need to find a nice revolver to go with it.