Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk1 *

[Lenny Warren]

Just in, a Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk1 * Long Branch 1943.

See the new square of wood, is that common for a factory repair? There is a stamping that says F 1-44 would that be a factory repair stamping?

[Ben Evans]

Very nice mate, I have seen this rifle before with that repair but cannot recall where I saw it?

[robin morley]

Nice rifle Lenny, I have one of these but with darker wood that I picked up from an ex sniper who lives on the North side of loch ness. I will try and photograph it when I get home tommorrow

[KradSpam]

I used to have one with that repair to the wood some years ago. I thought at the time it was to repair some damage done during deactivation, I never knew for certain. There is another on the top piece of wood, on the left just forward of the breech.

[guns ltd]

A Very nice looking Enfield.


John

[samnev]

I have seen that type of repair on a Mk V Jungle Carbine.

[crites1234]

on of my favorite designs of enfeild

[m3bobby]

You could say a repair but not due to damage but due to the wood being from a L54A1 DP rifle. The wood was removed in those areas to reveal the sections of action and barrel milled/cut away to weaken the action for DP use only. It was an official mod carried out in the 1970s so that if the IRA tried to steel them from cadet units they would have been of no use. Just make sure that your rifle is not a L54 too (If live) as it could well blow up in your face. I have seen a number of L54s in the UK that have been welded back together (It is obvious close up) as deacs which is a shame as a L54 would be worth more in my opinion.

They can differ slightly, many were carried out in a rush by unit armourers with drills and a hacksaw and others were carried out at base workshop level with mills etc. but the basics are the same. The unit armourers weren't really to fussed about the quality of work as they were effectively wrecking the rifle so the end result was unimportant. The hole that reveals the hole in the barrel is normally square rather than circular as shown in these photos. My own example is a unit butcher so looks as rough as.

[Lenny Warren]

You could say a repair but not due to damage but due to the wood being from a L54A1 DP rifle. The wood was removed in those areas to reveal the sections of action and barrel milled/cut away to weaken the action for DP use only. It was an official mod carried out in the 1970s so that if the IRA tried to steel them from cadet units they would have been of no use. Just make sure that your rifle is not a L54 too (If live) as it could well blow up in your face. I have seen a number of L54s in the UK that have been welded back together (It is obvious close up) as deacs which is a shame as a L54 would be worth more in my opinion.

That makes sense, thanks for that... So basically the woodwork is post war? I'd have thought they would deact them with original wood?

[m3bobby]

The woodwork could be of any age. They didn't care, unit armorers would use the wood on the rifle. Base workshops would have had a production line so the wood could be mixed up from wartime, post war or new.