Rare 22

[Enfieldlock]

One of our club members recently passed me an Enfield for perusal.

After a few minutes mulling over it, I deduced it was a .22 Short Rifle MkII. It had been converted from a Lee Metford. Skennerton's first edition has it on page 415. It is a prettry little rifle in A1 condition.

I have never seem another one. It was bought many years ago for pennies. The reserve, if it is put on sale, makes it far too rich for me.

Information

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[Son]

It's really surprising as to how little interest there is in the earlier trainers. There were only a thousand of the Sht .22 II N made in 1912, yet I picked mine up for much less than the going rate for a No2 MkIV. I suppose not many people know the signifigance of them....
I agree they are a very attractive and distinctive design, even though mine is a little rough. It certainly raised some eyebrows at the range, especially when I pulled the trigger and it went "pop" instead of boom! Here's a pic of it with my Patt14 No1- both you will note, with Aussie rack numbers painted on the butts. Is a pic possible of the one there?

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

Well, mine is prettier than yours Bought it a looong time ago when the Great Western gun show was still in L.A.

[PrinzEugen]

The guy I bought my .22 Long Lee off had one of those as well - I only had one slot on my ticket, and there was a problem with the barrel (it had somehow been damaged internally).
I was interested to see Alan's recent report at the Scott Arms junction and saw a .22 long lee only went for £550ish - I thought it might have gone for more so possibly Son is right - the less well known or rare something is can sometimes work against it value-wise.

[PeterN]

I bought a .22 Short rifle Mk II at the Trafalgar Meeting at Bisley a couple of years ago. It is converted from a Sparkbrook LE Mk I* dated 1901. Mine has no naval or conversion marks on the left butt socket. It is a great little shooter and shoot it often. The next table had a Short Rifle Mk I for sale but I didn't have a slot or the ready cash for two.
Regards
Peter.

[Alan de Enfield]

From what I've found out / seen / heard it seems that pretty much every model & mark of Enfield has been converted into a .22 trainer at some time - all in relatively small numbers when looked on the world-wide scale of things.

The following is a summary from
Enfield_Smallbore_Trainers

22 SHORT RIFLE MK III
Approved 9th August 1912 (LoC 16291) for Land Service, this rifle was made up from Converted Mk II and Mk II* SMLE rifles (which were themselves either "long" Lee-Metford or "long" Lee-Enfields converted to "short" Lees). About 11,000 conversions were done by BSA, LSA and RSAF Enfield.

.22 RF PATTERN 1914 SHORT RIFLE No. 1
A wartime trainer approved 24th May 1915 (LoC 17320) for Land Service, this rifle was also made up from Converted Mk II and Mk II* SMLE rifles (see above) by boring out the .303 barrel and inserting a .22 caliber liner inside the barrel. Conversions were done by A.G. Parker & Co. Ltd. and Wesley Richards & Co. About 427 conversions reported.

.22 RF PATTERN 1914 SHORT RIFLE No. 2
Approved 28th April 1916 (LoC 17755) for Land Service, this is the first rifle made from up from an original SMLE Mk III. Again, the .303 barrel was bored out and a .22 caliber liner inserted. Conversions were done by A.G. Parker & Co. Ltd. and Wesley Richards & Co. Some 1,743 conversions reported.

.22 RF SHORT RIFLE PATTERN 1918
Approved 10th July 1918 (LoC 21675) for Land Service, this rifle is unique in that it used a dummy .303 cartridge as a holder or conveyor for the .22 rimfire cartridge. The .22 barrel liner was soldered into place after the chamber. About 975 conversions done by W.W. Greener Co.

.22 SHORT RIFLE Mk IV
Approved 19th November 1921 (LoC 24909) for Land Service, this rifle starts out with a used SMLE Mk III or Mk III* (like the 1914 Short Rifle No. 2, above) but uses a solid, not tubed, barrel. Total number of conversions done by RSAF Enfield unknown.

RIFLE No.2 Mk IV*
Same rifle as above; just a change in nomenclature adopted in 1926. This rifle was the principal trainer for the next thirty years and was widely produced by in Britain, Australia and India. Issued in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and India, a variety of issue and ownership marks can be found on these rifles. At least 30,000 conversions made by the various factories.

The next grouping consists of trainers from the Rifle No.4 family of rifles:

RIFLE C No.7 Mk I
The first Enfield built from the ground up as a .22 trainer and not as a conversion or retro-fitting of an earlier rifle - albeit built on a No.4 body and intended to mirror the Rifle No.4 as closely as possible. About 20,000 made at Longbranch, Ontario 1944 - 1950's. Unknown number of wooden transit chests also produced.

RIFLE No.7 Mk I
Although a No.7 Mk I, the British version is very different from it's Canadian counterpart (above). This rifle was a conversion of an existing No.4 and is interesting in that a BSA five-round commercial .22 magazine was welded into a SMLE Mk III* magazine to produce the only Enfield .22 repeater. These rifles were a special contract and produced exclusively for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1948. Total production 2,500.

RIFLE No.8 Mk I
An interesting hybrid, a .22 caliber trainer intended to be also be used in smallbore rifle competitions, this rifle was introduced in the late 1940's. About 15,000 produced at Fazakerley. Another 2,000 were produced by BSA Shirley in the 1950's specifically for New Zealand.

RIFLE No.9 Mk I
The last of the .22's, these are No.4 rifles sleeved in a manner similar to the WWI Pattern 1914 Short Rifle No. 1 (above). The work was done by Parker Hale in Birmingham 1956 - 1960. 3,000 rifles made specifically for the Royal Navy.


Maybe we should have a 'sub-section' on the Enfield forum for 'trainers' - what thinks you lot ?

Would be interesting to see what variants CSP Forummers have so to start it off I am the custodian of :

No2 Mk4* (Ishapore)
No7 Mk1 (BSA)

[Son]

Not a bad start info- wise. There were three more Short Rifle .22s before those and a few Long Rifles as well. To get the full list you need to go to the rifle description section of one of Skennerton's big books. "The Lee Enfield Story", or "Lee Enfield".

I only have the two, but one is one of a thousand and the other one of 427, both almost 100 years old, and both aquired for less than half the price of a No2 MkIV Trainer.
I have evidence of several Patt14No1 trainers being scrapped to provide parts for restoring .303 Short LE MkI rifles here. Talk about false economy!

[Terry Hawker]

My little assortment of Enfield smallbore trainers ranges from a .22 SHORT RIFLE Mk II converted from an 1897, L.E. I made by B.S.A. & M. Co., to a B.S.A. NO. 8, but I think my favorite, historically speaking, is a .22 PATT. 14 NO. 1.

This rifle started out as a 1900 Enfield L.E. I*, converted to a Sht L.E. COND. II in 1905, then later converted again by A. G. Parker in Birmingham to a .22 RF PATT. 14 No. 1, then given to Australia with a bunch of old trainers in the early fifties where it was re-parked, fitted with new Coachwood furniture and property-stamped in 1955, but never used again, so 112 years later it looks like a freshly made Lithgow. Four different configurations and two governments later, it looks like the bean counters really got their money's worth out of this old trooper!

Those guys could teach our present administration a bit about economics, couldn't they?

[PrinzEugen]

Four different configurations and two governments later, it looks like the bean counters really got their money's worth out of this old trooper!

Those guys could teach our present administration a bit about economics, couldn't they?

A friend told me that every US soldier going to Iraq or Afghanistan gets a new rifle, which doesn't seem in the spirit of the recycling highlighted by Terry.

For me there is just such a huge array of completely boring and characterless .22 rifles out there, that to have something as interesting and fun to shoot as a Lee Enfield trainer is a joy. I just can't believe so many people at my club are delighted to shoot their modern .22s which look so synthetic.

Mine is the commercial version of: Rifle, Long, .22-inch, RF, Mark I manufactured by BSA.

[Enfieldlock]

I suppose part of the fun is the ability to shoot all day without breaking the bank or your shoulder. I get a lot of pleasure from my small bore Enfields:

Pattern 1914 Short Rifle, cond from a LSA Mark I. (Clearance item from a local gun shop, complete with '07 bayonet).

No2 Mark IV, comes with a Hiscock-Parker magazine.

No7 Mark I, with two numbered magazines. Absolutely mint.

No8 Mark I, if you miss, it's your fault. Great little rifle. Spotless and pristine.