A few questions to help a newbie

[Seaspriter]

It's a language problem betwen us here in England and those wild Colonials in the Americas!

Yes, we Colonials dishourably belaboured the slaughter of the Shakespearian tongue, changing spellings and meanings. We call the muzzle end (nose) the "front" of a rifle, and the butt (anal sphincter) the "rear" because that where they belong on the animal species. And we think that a "scheme" is an insidious plan by an evil conniver, and cannot engage in "secondment" (cross pollination across organizations) because the brilliant Webster decided to leave the word out of the American dictionary.

Imaging the poor plight of our neighbors in the Dominion of Canada -- caught in the cross fire between the Queens English, Quebec French, and street-sloppy American English. It's amazing the Commonwealth still tolerates us. Maybe having stepped into breech in WW I & II has kept America in the Commonwealth's good graces. And I suppose the fact that we love Enfields is our most endearing quality.

[Patrick Chadwick]

FAT 73 means that the rifle was given a complete inspection and overhaul by Terni in 1973.

"4. There are two tiny stamps just above the trigger on the wrist/rear band....does anybody know what these are ? These might also be on the very end of the barrel...it’s hard to tell because they are tiny."

I see 3 stamps

a) The first appears to be the proof stamp of the Gardone proof house (see Wirnsberger P.147)
b) The second appears to be CIP over N. Which probably means nitro-proofed to CIP values.
c) The third is CN. This is the date code for 2015. (Thinks: can that be true? Proofed this year?)

CIP over N is also the second stamp on the muzzle. The first ought to be the Gardone stamp again, but it really is illegible.

This all seems to indicate a reproof when the rifle was released by the military for sale on the civilian market.
- Take a microscopically close look at the bolt to see if you can find anything there as well!

So you have a No.4 Mk1* that was not only fitted with a replacement receiver post-1955, but was given the Italian equivalent of an FTR in 1973, and was proofed again this year after being "civilized"! There cannot be many No4s that have been so thoroughly tried and tested. It really ought to work flawlessly. Just check that the headspace is not wildly out of spec because of a possibly mismatched bolt!


(Of course, if I have misinterpreted the stamps, the whole glorious theory falls flat on its face.)

[Patrick Chadwick]

And we ... cannot engage in "secondment" (cross pollination across organizations) because the brilliant Webster decided to leave the word out of the American dictionary.

Well, it's certainly in my unabridged Webster's International. You may be using a cheapo version

[sumway]

FAT 73 means that the rifle was given a complete inspection and overhaul by Terni in 1973.

"4. There are two tiny stamps just above the trigger on the wrist/rear band....does anybody know what these are ? These might also be on the very end of the barrel...it’s hard to tell because they are tiny."

I see 3 stamps

a) The first appears to be the proof stamp of the Gardone proof house (see Wirnsberger P.147)
b) The second appears to be CIP over N. Which probably means nitro-proofed to CIP values.
c) The third is CN. This is the date code for 2015. (Thinks: can that be true? Proofed this year?)

CIP over N is also the second stamp on the muzzle. The first ought to be the Gardone stamp again, but it really is illegible.

This all seems to indicate a reproof when the rifle was released by the military for sale on the civilian market.
- Take a microscopically close look at the bolt to see if you can find anything there as well!

So you have a No.4 Mk1* that was not only fitted with a replacement receiver post-1955, but was given the Italian equivalent of an FTR in 1973, and was proofed again this year after being "civilized"! There cannot be many No4s that have been so thoroughly tried and tested. It really ought to work flawlessly. Just check that the headspace is not wildly out of spec because of a possibly mismatched bolt!


(Of course, if I have misinterpreted the stamps, the whole glorious theory falls flat on its face.)

Ahhhh......that explains everything.

The RFD said it had only recently been proofed.....I thought that the CN was a Canadian mark so I just presumed that there were old stamps from when it was made at LB.

Looking at them with a magnifying glass...they do look a tiny bit "fresher" compared to the other stamps.

I had heard about head spacing and I did ask if I needed to check when I bought it...the RFD said...."No....its fine....We don't sell them if they are not safe to shoot"

I will ask the guys at the club for their opinions on Sunday just to get the final "double check" before I fire it. They are quite experienced fellas and lot of them shot .303 back in the 50s/60s/70s for competition. I have heard lots of great stories from them...sometime we don't shoot....we just sit and chat with a cuppa

I'm so glad I decided to give shooting a try.....you meet some great, passionate people and it's such a shame that here in the UK...as soon as you mention guns or rifles or anything shooting related...people seem to think that "you've got a screw loose" or something.

So far my experience has been fantastic.

[WarPig1976]

cannot engage in "secondment"

What'd you mean? I engage my secondment everyday and twice on Sunday's....Emerica.!!!....

[Seaspriter]

Well, it's certainly in my unabridged Webster's International. You may be using a cheapo version

Glad Webster started to help you folks Internationally, because he's left us Yanks with gaps on our speech, thus in our thinking. That's why, when you type "secondment" into this post ( or in Word docs) it comes up with a red underlining. If you think this is bad, the Romans did worse things to the Greeks, stripping entire concepts out of the Latin language. That's why there is no word for the Greek "philotimo" which means "love of honour," a term indicating the highest form of commitment anyone can have for "the love of their country and the integrity they hold for doing the right thing." Alas, but I digress ..........