Smle wire cutters - original ?

[Enfield trader]

Well I finally bought one of these and while there is some rust they are in pretty good shape. Being in such good shape makes me question if original but then thought not cost effective to try and make a repro of them.

Well here are the pics

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Mk VII]

A numbers of these have appeared via Europe in recent years. They were made in Vietnam for a Belgian dealer who brought them into England via the Beltring show.

[Enfield trader]

between a repro and an original ? So mine is a repro ?

I compared it to pics of one on here and other then the markings on mine are on the front I couldn't tell a difference between them.

[Kev G]

A numbers of these have appeared via Europe in recent years. They were made in Vietnam for a Belgian dealer who brought them into England via the Beltring show.

Probably the very same dealer who was selling the 'geniune' Welrods

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

Mine is marked;

Decimals Ltd
Selly Oak
No1MarkII
1917
And it was aquired many years ago. (No rust) but it looks EXACTLY like yours
Now while this one requires that you push the rifle forward, there was a similar one that required you to pull the rifle back!

The REALLY RARE one is a small stamped sheet metal piece the fitted in front of the muzzle and was held on by the bayonet. You shoved it against the wire and the notch centered the wire in front of the bore, You then pulled the trigger. Accomplished two things., 1. broke the wire and 2. sent a bit of hate in the direction of the hun

[Peter Laidler]

The trouble with wire cutters, just from the 'bleedin obvious' perspective is that a) there's a LOT of wire to cut, regardless of what type you have and b) if you're up there cutting wire, it meand that someone else up there isn't going to like it and c) while you're up thgere cutting wire, crapping your pants at the same time, you're stood still which aint a good thing to be doing as an advancing Infantryman.

There are probably one or two other things that aren't too good either!

Reminds me of the reports concerning the original BREN tripod that doubled up as an AA mount. One wag wrote in a report that the trouble with it was that once you opened up on a marauding ME109 with Bren gun fire, they immdiately turned round and by definition, they were up there looking for trouble. So when they came back, they a) did look for trouble and b) you got it and c) got it with cannon fire from a longer distance!

The AA tripod idea was abandoned shortly afterwards as a result!

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

For an abandond item, how did I manage to get three? Two without the AA leg and one with.
I would think the real reason they stopped using it was it was too much of a bother to carry around.
Just like the handle that fixed on the butt of the Bren. Just a pain in the arse. However they did find a use for all those handles, They put them on 2 inch mortars where they were far more useful

[Tom in GA]

I have a set of Decimals Ltd. 1917 wire cutters. Pretty neat on my 1916 all original BSA.

[Peter Laidler]

For an abandond item, how did I manage to get three? Two without the AA leg and one with.
I would think the real reason they stopped using it was it was too much of a bother to carry around.
Just like the handle that fixed on the butt of the Bren. Just a pain in the arse. However they did find a use for all those handles, They put them on 2 inch mortars where they were far more useful

Believe me John, but in the military that I know, things aren't withdrawn because they are a bother to carry around. They were withdrawn because while the idea was good(?), in practice, you were an immediate target.

If the section commander says something will be carried................. guess what happens ........, even today?

[Badger]

With thanks to ~Angel~ and wheaty, there was an interesting entry from 2007 about these rare wire cutters, added to the England - Milsurp Knowledge Library (click here)

1917 No.1 MKII Wire Cutter for ShtLE Rifle (click here)

This MKL entry includes on-line videos demonstrating how the wire cutter works when mounted on an Enfield Rifle, as well as feedback from MILSURPS.COM member "wheaty", who describes its operation in detail.

Regards,
Badger