Hi guys
This is my first post, and I thought I would share my little tale of woe, concerning a N01 Mk3* that I have had in my collection for some time now.
I've always loved Lee Enfield s, and have 4 that I shoot regularly. The one I am going to talk about is a No1 Mk3* Enfield manufactured Lee Enfield
I used to do a lot of "battlefield archaeology" in France/Belgiumicon. This basically means going anywhere that the tourist would not know about, and scouting the ground for little treasures. This particular week-end I was in a former trench system just outside Ypres scanning over a field in October can be pretty cold and muddy, but this time the ground would reveal something quite remarkable. All that was showing was a part of the nose cap, and I expected to find “just another beat up rifle”. Imagine how it felt to remove the whole rifle, minus the stock, magazine and for- end from the ground. The rifle was almost complete, encased in mud but complete. This was just after the Hungerford shootings, and customs were still a bit twitchy, so I declared it at Dover, and was told “de-activated by other means” I must admit it did look a sorry state. To cut a long story short. I spent 4 months stripping and cleaning, and sourcing the missing parts. Taking it onto some private land, and shooting some proof cartridges (behind a wall) Then taking it to my RFD who had it proofed and it now sits on my ticket. It’s not in the best condition, but, it has seen war service, and it shoots pretty well for an old girl. I hit a V bull at 600yrds at Bisley a few years ago. She doesn’t come out that often, as she is a tired old girl, but it is something I would never part with. Although the serial number can be seen quite clearly, I know it's an impossible task to trace it's history, it would be good to actually know who the former owner was. But I guess I'll never know.The Pictures are before and after.
Hope you enjoy.
thanks
John
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