It has had replacement wood so has lost butt disc and volley sight parts,rear sight protectors are flat sided,sight picture below.Having pointed out that its a salad of parts i wont bust my buns to correct its faults but as and when bits come up i can replace them,thank you for pointing it out Harry.
It is a lovely rifle, and it would be fine left 'as is.' Rifles were often modified or had parts changed in their working life. Sometime through breakage or even battle-damage or rebuild. But for the benefit of wrecker, my own SMLE is a 1912 example. I did restore it to its original appearance as well. Here are some pictures of the parts which I refer to. I've also included a shot of the lug on the side of the early type of magazine.by Martin Bull
Some good advice and information there, but I still reckon it's a very nice-looking rifle !
I forgot to add... I wish I had a wife who bought me guns for Christmas - you lucky sod!
Top flight illustration,i know what to look for now,thanks Harry.
Quote; I forgot to add... I wish I had a wife who bought me guns for Christmas - you lucky sod!
Shes got a lot to put up with me and my collecting disease but at least im not down the telly and sofa shop blowing my cash on Chinese furniture thats worth nothing,this stuff is appreciating by the minute and its a tribute to all our solders through the ages.Colin.
I would just clean this up and leave it in it's currant spec. It would appear to have undergone a FTR at some point and that part of it's history. Under all that dust and little patches of rust I think there is a really nice condition rifle waiting to blossom. I would estimate that you would need approx. £205 of parts to put it back to original and it's just not worth it. If you ever decided to get an original then save the money of changing parts on yours and put it towards another.
I've also got a 1917 BSA Mk3 but mine was converted to Mk4 at some point and had the cut off removed. They're not actually too rare, they're scarce but certainly not rare. It's possible to find 1915 dated BSA and Enfield manufactured Mk3*s and it's quite easy to find 1917 dated Enfield and BSA Mk3 bodies which were built to Mk3* spec. LSA never went to the Mk3* production, they were such a small manufacturer that they most probably had enough parts in store to continue building the Mk3. Lots of the 1916 and 1917 dated BSA and Enfield guns also got the leftover Mk3 forwoods with the swollen section for the Fwd Volley sight (But not fitted).
Love my 1911 SMLE. Impossible to upgrade... excepting for the 1911 dated web sling a fellow collector in England got for me years ago.
nice detail on the rear volley sight,found a trigger guard with swivel mount for mine so its on its way.
A very nice looking example - especially the early bayonet. Is the front volley sight complete? Sometimes they have the arm missing.
It's all there harry. I took these pics year ago using my sony mavica. Great camera. Now that floppy's are no longer supported my wife has a considerably smarter than me digital camera that cannot be made to take good pics by me for life or money. With a myriad of programs and options it's about as useless as a knife in a gunfight !.
Update
Fitted butt disc from stock and a trigger guard with earl swivel for £10,so its coming along nicely.
Similar Threads
Posting Permissions
.
Bookmarks