1941 Lithgow

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Corripe Cervisiam

I think ERA is for Eddystone/ Remington/ Arsenal but I can't recall where I read it.

It was originally a locomotive manufacture and repair facility (Baldwin Locomotive Works?) converted for firearms manufacture.
I think there was an Eddystone Ammunition Plant there as well.

The book "United States Rifle Model of 1917" by C.S Ferris contains a detailed history of the Eddystone Rifle Plant and the involvement of Baldwin Locomotive Works. It is an excellent reference for the Model 1917.

I have an Eddystone Model 1917 made in October of 1918. The war ended in November of 1918.

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Corripe Cervisiam

Let's see (I had a group shot, but sadly lost it when imagecave went down)...

-SMLE No. 1 Mk. III* BSA 1918, no import marks (not cut for a mag cutoff, no import marks, and is a bit worn in terms of finish)
-SMLE No. 1 Mk. III* Lithgow 1943 (in near mint condition without import marks; this is probably the best Enfield rifle I have)
-Remington P-14 "Enfield", 1917 (All-matching, has the volley sights AND THE ORIGINAL BOLT! Looks like new, no import marks.)
-No. 4 Mk. I BSA serial number is from 1943 (All-matching, import-marked, but in jaw-dropping condition)
-No. 5 Mk. I BSA serial number is from 1945 (All-matching, no import marks, a little beat-up regarding the wood but has a tight muzzle and shiny bore)
-Ishapore 2A1, 1966 in 7.62x51 (Terrific condition, early Century import. Great shooter that looked a million times better once I cleaned off the caked-on cosmoline!)
-L59A1 Drill Rifle (British Conversion, import marks are under the wood and I think it was imported via request. VERY nice shape and I teach people gun safety with this one since it's literally impossible to fire a round. Very tough to find these without "billboarded" import marks. As I understand it, the sling is original to the rifle, as well, and it was obtained from a British military school. It's a complete mismatch, but so are all L59A1's.)

I am enjoying this thread. I remember wanting one, but by that time, they had gone up to around $80, I thought that was just too high.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

$80 for what and when? A Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. I(T) Sniper Rifle will set you back well over $1,000 on average if it's all original.

Also didn't know we were counting non-.303/non-Lee designs. I have a 1918 Eddystone M1917 with WWII replacement barrel to add to the list in that case. Sling apparently came with the rifle. He said it had a bayonet, too, but sold it seperately two years before I could buy the rifle. Oh well!

the GR marking stands for George Rex, not George Regina. If it were VR, it would be Victoria Regina.

Many of us remember when almost any foreign bolt action milsurp was less than $50. Heck, even Springfields were.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Great rifles. I have five, including a professionally sporterized No. 4. Mk 1. That was done by Golden State Arms at some point, maybe the 1960s or even earlier. New barrel, stock, and sights. Essentially built around the receiver and bolt.

The others are a No. 4 Mk I by Savage, a No. 5 Mk I, a No. 1 Mk III BSA "Dispersal Rifle", and a No 4 Mk II.

At some point I hope to get an "Ishy" in .308.

When I was much younger ( mid -late1950s) we had a very large Army-Navy store in our city. It had a real big gun/hunting department on the second floor. Going up the long creaky stairs to the second floor they had a rack with gun holder slots along the inside wall. That rack could easily hold 100 guns.

They used it for surplus military rifles. Even at that young age I knew a bit about guns and I recognized a lot of them. They had Mausers, Brit Enfield’s (including a few carbines) Brit P Models, American Ps, Springfield’s, Arasakas, Carcanos and Mosins. You had to go by this rack to go up and the prices back then were super low about $12 -20 dollars would buy just about anything off that rack.

Upstairs in the locked glass case they always had a few “surplus Lugers” and P38s for sale, occasionally some Brit Webleys and Jap Nambus
Man would I like to have a time machine now and a few thousand dollars and go back to that era and make a bunch of purchases!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Hence why I asked what and when, not just when. Just a few years ago, you could buy a Lee-Enfield (SMLE or No. 4) that was m/m with an Ishapore screw driven through the forend for about $80 or less. As in, within the past 10 years. By the same token, though, the British-imported rifles had already gone way up.

Here's one of mine, a MLE (Magazine Lee Enfield) Mk I*. It's identical to the Magazine Lee Metford except for the Enfield rifling that was shown to last longer with the highly erosive cordite ammunition: when first introduced the percentage of nitroglycerin was 58%,later reduced to 35%! The * was for a modification deleting the clearing rod. The bolt has a dust cover; the receiver had no provision for clip loading, and the sights were regulated for the 215 gr round nosed bullet. The rifles were much valued for rifle competition as the barrel was heavier than the whippy Mk III SMLE, and more acurate. Often these barrells were removed from MLEs, shortened and fitted to SMLEs for target shooting. The pictures show the long range "volley fire" sights, with the rear aperture sight in the raised position.

This rifle has its history written on it. It was made by Enfield and is marked ER 1903 for Edward (VII) Rex. This model was the New Zealand rifle at the start of World War even though the British trooops had the SMLE Mk III; New Zealand and probably the other colonies were pretty much 'taking their nourishment from a hind one' as Elmer Keith once said, when it came to dealing with the British War Department. The New Zealanders went ashore at ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, carrying the these MLEs. They didn't get the MK III* until they were on the Western Front in 1916. Canada had a different situation: their service rifle was the Ross Mk III, and the reserve rifle the Ross Mk II. In 1914 Canada sold 10,000 MLEs to New Zealand: this rifle is one of them, It's marked on the buttplate C 14 (the date of the sale) and N/I\ (nearest I can come on my typewriter for 'broad arrow')Z. It evidently remained in New Zealand and stayed in service for quite a while: the receiver ring is marked HG 9/596 which indicates the 596th rifle in District 9 of the Home Guard in WW II, pretty good life span for a rifle made in 1903.

The bayonet is the Pattern 1888; this one was made by Wilkinson Sword. It's dated 10, 92 and is marked VR for Victoria Regina (Latin is gender specific).

The cartridge belt is the Bandolier, 50 Rounds, 1903 Pattern, Mk II. It's stamped Leibowitz Bros. JHB.

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Here's my other one; a SMLE Mk III*. The * indicates a wartime modification; to speed production they deleted the long range sights, the magazine cutoff, and the windage adjustment on the rear sight. This one was made by BSA in 1918 and is marked GR for George (V) Rex. The bayonet is the No I Mk I, made by Wilkinson Sword and dated 1907

The little gadget is the British tool for adjusting the SMLE front sight for windage. It's marked with the broad arrow.

I fitted the rifle with the Parker-Hale rear sight shown. It can be mounted using the screw holes already on the rifle, to comply with British rules for service rifle competition. The barrel on mine wasn't too good so I had Brian Dick, the SMLE guru, fit another barrel; brand new with the preservative wax still on the threads and bed it correctly. After all that, it still doesn't shoot for beans.

My father carried one of these in World War I. He enlisted in the 7th Regiment, NYNG, which became part of the 27th Infantry Division. He was a corporal, squad leader of a Lewis Gun machine gun squad. At the end of the war he was a sergeant with a Purple Heart (grenade fragment in the cheek) and Silver Star. His diary entry for August 4, 1918: "We shot on the range today & I scored pretty good considering I was using the Lee-Enfield". I guess he didn't like it much, but the Lewis was much better than the Chauchat the rest of the US Army was using.

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No4 MkI Savage, early lend lease rifle given to me by a friend. Check out the early style cocking knob.

No1 MKIII

No2 MKIV .22 trainer