Australian issued 1916 Enfield SMLE III* receiver with battle damage

[LNM]

Australian issued 1916 Enfield SMLE III* that has some major damage in the area of the safety catch.

It looks to me to be shrapnel. However, it may also have been a bullet.

The butt socket has been bent to the left, as has the stock bolt. The charger bridge has been sheared off and the receiver wall is way out of spec on the right hand side.

The receiver has early and later govt ownership markings (Arrow inside D) and (D Arrow D). It was re-serialed in service and was at one stage in the 1st M.D. It has a Lithgow 7 '45 barrel. There are no FTR markings.

The sear and stock bolt are Lithgow made.

The barrel has been hacksaw cut an inch forward of the chamber and it has been blued over the cut.

Interestingly it has sold out of service markings on both the receiver and the barrel.

My hypothesis is the the rifle was carried by a soldier in Korea where the rifle sustained the damage. The unserviceable weapon was sent to the battalion armourer and converted to useable components. The wrecked receiver and cut barrel were then stamped as sold out of service and presented to the soldier who carried the rifle as a memento of a close call.

But, of course that is just a guess. If it could talk, I wonder what it would say...

Information

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[chosenman]

With such damage I doubt the soldier carrying it would have been unscathed of injury. Not sure I’d want the thing back to remind me of that crap day.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

"I wonder what it would say... "

"OUCH!"

At the very least.

[Paul S.]

That flat (and drilled hole) milled into the left side of the receiver and missing charger bridge raise a few suspicions. The most obvious suspicion is that the damage is not battle damage. The flat could be for a scope base of some sort. The missing charger bridge lends some credibility to the probability that a scope was fitted.

Now, the big question is, what caused the damage? It's really anybody's guess. One possibility is it was caught in something, machinery perhaps, and suffered a some type of sheering or crushing damage.

Mind you, that's just my, the resident village idiot's, thoughts.

[LNM]

That flat (and drilled hole) milled into the left side of the receiver and missing charger bridge raise a few suspicions. The most obvious suspicion is that the damage is not battle damage. The flat could be for a scope base of some sort. The missing charger bridge lends some credibility to the probability that a scope was fitted.

Now, the big question is, what caused the damage? It's really anybody's guess. One possibility is it was caught in something, machinery perhaps, and suffered a some type of sheering or crushing damage.

Mind you, that's just my, the resident village idiot's, thoughts.

You could very well be right. It’s only speculation on my behalf. Having said that, the sold out of service marks are not in what I understand to be the usual positions (the position they would be applied to a whole rifle) and the barrel has been blued where it was cut. The bluing to me says that somebody went to the trouble of saving it.

[CINDERS]

Well we can all agree I guess that this receiver is a definite "ZF" candidate....................!

[LNM]

You could very well be right. It’s only speculation on my behalf. Having said that, the sold out of service marks are not in what I understand to be the usual positions (the position they would be applied to a whole rifle) and the barrel has been blued where it was cut. The bluing to me says that somebody went to the trouble of saving it.

Just had another look at the receiver. There are no holes that are not supposed to be there anywhere on the receiver that might have been drilled for a scope. The only non spec hole is the one from the damage!

On the left hand side of the receiver, the ejector screw is in place. One of the charger bridge rivets is missing (with and elongated hole like its been torn out) and one is still in place (its been sheared off flush). The only other holes on the LHS are the gas escape holes, the safety catch screw and the rear trigger guard screw.

[LNM]

Here are some extra pics to show just how bent out of shape this receiver is. An open bolt will fall out of it!

Originally, I was considering restoring it by adding the missing parts, new barrel etc as an example of a rifle with battle damage. However, there are safety concerns to this as it's so out of spec it would be dangerous if someone in the future tried to use it. Further to that, I have no way of accurately replicating what the damage to the stock and other parts of the rifle may have looked.

[Peter Laidler]

I'm the eternal pessimist regarding battle damage and all that palava. I'd say that it was sold on as WD surplus and damaged somehow in the outside world afterwards, just as Paul says. Generally speaking, unless there are/is a specific reason otherwise, damaged kit deemed 'V&A' is scrapped and replaced PDQ. Most quartermasters don't look at sentimentality. To them a damaged bit of kit is just a waste of space. In action it is destroyed under what was called 'CO's or QM's powers of. emergency write-off'. In normal times a replacement is issued immediately(?) and the damaged stuff is returned via the usual channels on a one-for-one basis. Sorry, but that's how it is as the sharp end.

[englishman_ca]

If that was battle damage, would not the safety lever etc be munched up and still in there? I dont see how the lever and catch could be removed with that deformation, no signs of burrs and blebs from it being taken out after the damage was done. So that suggests to me that damage with safety stripped out.

The fact that the barrel is cut suggests to me that the rifle was decommissioned. Maybe the grunched safety squished on a brake press was part of that process?