WWII & the No.1 MkIII* vs. No.4 MkI*

[P-07ShortLee]

Has anyone heard of a preference for either the No.1 MkIII* or No.4 MkI* over each other during WWII?

Were No.1 MkIII*'s even in common usage by 1944 in France?

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[Beerhunter]

When I was kid there were still many "old sweats" around who swore by the SMLE. They just did not like the aperture sights on the No.4 (1 or 1*).

I prefer my SMLEs to my No.4s and No.5 bit that is just because they are blued not painted.

[Thunderbox]

The few No1s that appear in northern Europe post D-Day appear to be mostly from non "front line" units - naval beach party, RAF ground crew, etc. Although there are tales of No1s circulating amongst the fighting troops, its hard to see how this can have occurred: the divisions of the British 2nd Army had all been equipped with No4s and other "new" equipments during 1943-44, and in any case the majority of the troops were wartime volunteers/drafts who had probably hadn't even come across the No1 rifle. No1s were used in Italy, as the British eighth and first armies had not completely re-equipped with No4s before the invasion of Sicily.

[P-07ShortLee]

Thanks Beerhunter & Thunderbox for the responses.

Good points on the older guys wanting the ramp sight over the aperture sights Beerhunter.

Thunderbox, I hadn't thought of the fact that many of the troops later in the war may never have seen the older rifles.

[peregrinvs]

There's a nice picture here taken near the end of the Burma campaign of two British soldiers: one has a No.1 rifle and the other a No.4:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._town_Bahe.jpg

[GDU]

As far as I am aware the Kiwis stuck with the MKIII*(mostly WW1 made as well) right through WW2.
We did have the No4 but they stayed home,which is why good condition NZ marked No 4 rifles are so common today.
In fact the Army still sells spike bayonets direct to the public,I just bought 10 yesterday.