Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 * Savage

[Damiano]

Hello

Recently picked up my first Lee Enfield rifle, Would like to know specifically what the N 2176 stands for, and the N 49 under the butt stock. If anyone knows anything, would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards,
Damiano

[Alex W]

Im not sure but I've had a look through "The Lee-Enfield" and here are a few possibilities:

N49 was a wartime code for British manufacturer H.Morris but this doesn't explain the N2176. I don't know what H. Morris produced but in the top pic the butt looks like a different colour to the rest of the stock, so perhaps a replacement - Any other Savage S marks on the butt?

N was used to denote a normal sized butt length but from what I've seen this was near the buttplate and without a number.

[08SMLE48]

Savage rifles are marked "U.S PROPERTY" on the left of the receiver where the No.4 mk1* is. So its interesting that the receiver is not marked with this. Also I believe most war time parts made by Savage were not painted in the " wartime finish" (black paint), and as Alex inquired, parts were stamped with a blocked font "S".

[Damiano]

Thank you for the reply's, I'm stumped on what they mean. There are no more markings on the Butt stock unfortunately, I have seen many Savage made no4 mk1* without the "U.S PROPERTY" mark, I know they were producing them before the lend lease.

[Narcis]

Hi,
I think that perhaps the N2176, on the butt, like the F17836 on the magazine are related to other rifles, where they come from. The real serial number of the rifle is the one with the C, like all Stevens produced N°4 rifles.

[Damiano]

@Narcis that's what I think too, guess the N2176 will remain a mystery. Also does it look like the metal parts have had like another coat over it or something? lots of patchy areas that have been peeled of with use, post war maybe?

[08SMLE48]

After looking around I found that a number of Savage make No4s that stayed in British use after the war had the "U.S Property" mark ground off by machining. If you look on the top left side of your receiver where the stamp would usually be you can see the remains of some machining marks. So I believe your rifle was refurbished after WWII sometime probably in the latter part of the 1950s. During this refurbishment it most likely received its current stock (and the coat of black paint finish and micrometer sights) and the markings denote the time and place of this. Cant quite figure out what exactly they mean yet but im intrigued so I'll keep looking. Perhaps one of the members already knows and can enlighten us all.

Are there any barrel markings you can post? and how many rifling groves does she have?

[Damiano]

@08SMLE08 It is a 5 grove barrel.

[08SMLE48]

I believe Savage only made 2 and 6 groove barrels. This would add to the probability of it being rebuilt while in British service. Your stock markings are more than likely a stamping of a replacement stock that doesnt mean much and will probably be very difficult to find anything about. Or it may be a rack number simply noting which spot in the armory the weapon was stored. But there is probably someone still out there that has the answer to the riddle.