1917 Dated SMLE With Magazine cut off

[john Brandon]

This is probably a really stupid question, and I am sorry if it seems that way, but I have just been granted my RFD ticket, and as I have a bit of a thing for Lee Enfields I bought a couple of shootable SMLE's ...... one is BSA the other Enfield, both are dated 1917, and both have magazine cut off's.............I know they " re-introduced" the mag cut off, tail end of 17, beginning of 18, my question is.....how uncommon are they? I've never seen one before, only read about them, and now I own 2

Thanks for your help

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[Roger Payne]

They are really quite common. IIRC the lack of a cut-off was never popular with the Royal Navy in particular, & so many Naval issue rifles were retro-converted in the inter-war period. Many of the tidy SMLE's that are on offer in the UK currently are from the ex-Italian Navy rifles that were recently released. I gather they probably went from the RN or RCN direct to the Italian Navy & many of them bear the 'N' Naval ownership mark on the L side of the butt socket just below the safety banjo spring. I bought about a couple of dozen of them - had a red letter day sorting through 500 of them at one of the bigger UK dealers'!

ATB

[john Brandon]

Thanks for that. They are actually quite nice rifles. virtually untouched. I'm hoping they will make a nice little project for somebody. We have quite a few enfield nuts over here