Age of Enfield Brass Oiler

[Steve762]

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[Roy]

There ya go Oiler Index

I'd say its Lithgow Australia made and they are less common, but .303 oilers are another collecting discipline.

[CINDERS]

Yes well and truly noted Roy they are a world unto themselves and no end of avenues one can go down your early WWI Lithgow oilers command a very good premium......

[5thBatt]

MA marking dates it to 1926 or later.

[Roy]

To expand the discussion subject. Would it have been possible for a new No.4 to have been issued with a WW1 era brass oiler? which are almost indestructible.

[Robert303]

Thanks for re posting the link. I had the original one which must have 'Died'. It is quite possible for early oil bottles to turn up in later rifles as they were never 'matched'. Also one has to consider what civilians have been doing ever since it left service.

[Peter Laidler]

No4 rifles were not issued with the oil bottle - or the bayonet or sling - or any of the other stuff associated with them. The rifle was issued from Ordnance to the unit as a rifle alone. The rifle was issued from the Arms Store to the crunchie along with any other accessories (or accoutrements/appurtenances(spelling?) in Military terms) as he needed it/them. So all this farce about numbered bayonets etc etc.........

[browningautorifle]

Our "Stuff" that accompanied was issued in a big plastic bag when initial issue of the rifle occurred. That equipment came from bulk boxes as Peter says. Nothing was serialized. As for older equipment, we were issued .303 slings for the FNs in 1974, long after the .303 had gone. I didn't get an FN sling until the battalion. We used things up.

[Beerhunter]

We used things up.

Reminds me of the explosives that we used for training - it mostly had WWII dates. I remember having to use stalks of grass to pack out modern detonators because they were of marginally smaller diameter than the hole in the gun cotton primers - happy days.

[Seaforth72]

I cannot speak to the issue of weapons from depots to regiments as I was never the QM. The many times I drew weapons from the unit QM, the rifle or SMG usually had a sling fitted. Breech block, bayonet with scabbard and frog, cleaning kit, blank firing adaptor were issued from a pile or box as needed. As I recall the QM had inventories e.g. Rifles FNC1A1 (by SN) 200, then simple quantities e.g. bayonets C1 198, slings C1 206, BFAs C1 176 etc. In theory the quantities should have matched. ;-)

The rifles C No. 7 .22IN MK.I that 583 Sqn Royal Canadian Air Cadets had were issued to us without their wooden chests and cleaning tools were minimal. No bayonets of course!

Our QMs had a tendency to not issue out a lot of weapons' accessories due to the work involved and the hassle when parts were lost or broken.

There have been times in the past when bayonets were serial numbered to the rifle. This was common in other countries but far less so in Canada. There are times we could have used it. Whenever a fellow lost his bayonet on exercise, he simply stole one from another soldier. The hapless smuck at the end of the line ended up paying for it as his stolen bayonet could not be identified.

In the old days (e.g. 1920s) Canadian regimental markings sometimes included a number on the bayonet and scabbard. I missed out in such an example from my regiment (SHC) at our most recent gun auction, but I do have a regimentally numbered one from another local regiment (1st Bn BCR).

The Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk. 2 apparently came with a serial numbered No. 9 bayonet (socket and blade design, with a scabbard but no frog). Of the two that I have owned in the past, one bayonet was mismatched (Irish contract rifle, Burmese contract bayonet as I recall) and the other one, RAF Contract, was left along with the rifle in its factory greased paper wrapping. Once in general issue I suspect a lot of bayonets would quickly become orphaned from their matching rifles.

Surprisingly the Soviets numbered their bayonets to their rifles in WWII. A year ago at a gun store I helped a fellow customer who was looking to buy a Mosin 91/30 rifle. Once he had decided to buy one, the clerk, instead of taking one off the rack, went into the basement and brought up a mint 91/30 rifle with matching numbered bayonet!