Enfield .22 trainer

[nhetzer]

Hello all,
I'm totally new to .22 trainers and was hoping to get some guidance. I was recently given an old No.1. It's certainly not perfect but as it was a gift from a friend it has great value to me. My question is this: it has a Williams peep sight on it that I'm all but certain was placed on later in life. It is marked "LE" which I assume is for Lee Enfield.

I began to second guess my certainty and decided to ask here. Was there any time that a peep sight would have been placed on these by the military for training? Let alone a Williams? My thoughts were strictly after market but stranger things have happened. Better to ask. Thanks!

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[Roy]

You got some pics there? There is a sticky thread on the Lee Enfield forum with some good info on .22 trainers. I rebuilt a 1913 SMLE .22 trainer which is great fun, the .22 rounds have been kind on the barrel and its still busts bunnies quite well. I wouldnt expect the military back then to put a non issue sight on for training but perhaps there was a special competion team or similar. Unitl recently NZ Cadet forces had No. 8s and remember a cadet officer saying he had one set up with some sort of precision sight. he also said that he would be keeping it as there was the impending disposal of the NZ Cadets ex military arms. sold at auction to the public, which was surprising.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Was there any time that a peep sight would have been placed on these by the military for training?

I doubt it very, very much.
The purpose of a trainer was to simulate the real rifle at lower cost (e.g. using cheaper ammo, 25 yd indoor ranges). An add-on would have contradicted that intention. So a civilian after-market sight would not have been fitted by the military, and forbidden for military-rules competitions. But trainers were also used by CCF cadets in non-military rules competitions, and could then be fitted with peep sights. The choice would overwhelmingly have been something from one of the Parkers (AG Parker, Parker-Hale) or BSA.

Let alone a Williams?

I would guess that a Williams sight would be a very late add-on by a private citizen, hardly a CCF (not British, y'know!!!), and even less so a military unit.

BTW, there were several different versions of SMLE-based .22 trainers over the decades. Post some pics and we'll find out what you really have!

[jmoore]

I've seen several NZ marked .22s with added sights. But a Williams sight seems highly unlikely to have been installed prior to US importation.