I thought I'd share this one, even though many will see it as "just another one of those" No.4 FTR rifles.
For those who aren't Enfield affectionadoes, No.4Mk1/2 rifles are wartime No.4Mk1 rifles that were later upgraded to No.4Mk2 standard. This was done by silver-soldering a mechanism onto the receiver socket to mount the trigger directly to the receiver, modifying the old trigger guard to preclude the trigger mount, and either altering or replacing the forestock. This did away with the issue of trigger geometry changing is the wood shrank or expanded and made the rifle generally more reliable and consistent. The No.4Mk1/2 and No.4Mk2 pattern guns first appeared in 1947.
A LOT of people look down on post-war Enfields from a collection or interest standpoint, though many people do like a nice minty N.4Mk2 as a range rifle. These FTR No.4Mk1/2 (And No.4Mk1/3 rifles, which are the same thing except converted from a No.4Mk1* rifle) sit somewhere in between, in that the rifles ARE WW2 guns that saw service, but received significant post-war alterations to improve reliability after 1947. The British army used, as much as possible, the "better" No.4Mk1/2 and No.4Mk2 rifles in lieu of the less reliable No.4Mk1 variants from 1947 up until the adoption of the FN SLR. The SLR may have been adopted in 1954, but Enfields were not totally replaced for some time afterward as it took years to make the switch.
For all of these reasons, most No.4Mk1/2 and No.4Mk1/3 rifles show significant signs of use. The brits could not make new No.4Mk2 rifles fast enough, the FN SLR had not yet been invented, and it was much faster and cheaper to convert WW2 rifles than to build new ones, so these guns were the Army's backbone rifle for a good many years.
I personally find these 1/2 and 1/3 conversions interesting. They usually show a mix of parts from their FTR, and because the UK was as broke as broke gets when they were made, you often see interesting efforts to keep these rifles going that the brits would never have contemplated during the war, or after the SLR was introduced. You'll see what I mean below, because I find this example particularly interesting owing to the lengths the UK armorers went to keep this rifle in the field.
Most of the No.4's you see for sale at dealers are recent imports that spent many years in countries other than Canada or the UK. The Commonwealth had millions of these rifles and gave them as foreign aid to allies for years after WW2 - particularly countries who were conquered during the war and needed to rebuild their militaries quickly in the late 1940's. Most of those guns have a mixed bag of history and, generally speaking, aren't representative of how Enfields left British service. Places like Italy, India, Pakistan, Greece, etc. had their own ways of maintaining, repairing and overhauling enfield rifles. While they were likely effective at doing it, the repairs differ depending who did them - for example the "ishapore forestock screw".
The below rifle came out of an estate this week. It is a 1960's era import from the days when people bought these rifles to cut up into deer guns. This one, I'm told, was bought at a hardware store and put away until the owner passed away and his son sold it to a dealer who is a friend of mine. I ended up buying it the day it came in. The previous owner had never taken it apart to clean it, likely because he didn't have the right screwdriver to remove the forestock retainer screw, so the rifle is still in the condition it was in when it was sold as surplus by the Brits. Like all brit surplus guns of that era, it is ENGLAND stamped on the receiver and has old-school UK proof house markings stamped near the muzzle. The rifle was FILTHY under the stock with sand, grease, dirt, old pieces of vegetation, etc. in it. No rust though, so it cleaned up nice.
It has an interesting mix of parts, some highlights include a Savage trigger, Maltby trigger guard (converted to Mk2 pattern), a BSA band, an early lightened No.1Mk6 sear, and a Faz mag body with a repaired BSA follower (i.e. one of the spring rivets is an armorer replacement). It's also got a No.2 bolt head, so the rifle likely saw a lot of rounds in its life. The rifling while a bit worn, isn't pitted up and it should still shoot OK.
The gun was originally a July 1943 produced Fazakerley No.4Mk1. It was converted to No.4Mk1/2 in 1949 and has matching serial numbers. It appears that it still has its 1943 era bolt body, magazine and forestock. With the exception of a beech front handguard, the gun is stocked in WW2 era walnut and the forestock was significantly re-worked into a No.4Mk2 pattern forestock. You see this pre-1950 as the army tried to save money as much as they could during the conversion program. Later, they just seemed to change the wood out for newer beech stocks. I do like the look of converted walnut better though.
7/43 Faz markings (faint) - at one time Suncorite would have completely obscured these markings, but this gun definitely saw use after FTR.
1949 FTR markings indicating conversion to No.4Mk1/2:
ZF stamped butt, meaning it definitely saw at least one major field repair by a unit-level armorer:
Now we get to the interesting part, showing the lengths the armorers went to keep using the forestock on this rifle instead of just fitting a new beech stock. There are no less than 8 major patch repairs to this stock, all of them neatly fitted, dovetailed, glued and hardwood dowelled. This includes changing the wood shelf where the knox form is bedded, changing the draws by neatly fitting and pinning in walnut blocks, patching where the old Mk1 tie plate was fitted on each side of the wood, and dovetailing in and dowelling multiple areas around the receiver and magazine to restore the contour of the stock to areas that had likely seen field damage. It really is quite a showcase of armorer finesse.
Take a look at these repairs!
https://imgur.com/Gi###ul.jpg
For those who aren't Enfield affectionadoes, No.4Mk1/2 rifles are wartime No.4Mk1 rifles that were later upgraded to No.4Mk2 standard. This was done by silver-soldering a mechanism onto the receiver socket to mount the trigger directly to the receiver, modifying the old trigger guard to preclude the trigger mount, and either altering or replacing the forestock. This did away with the issue of trigger geometry changing is the wood shrank or expanded and made the rifle generally more reliable and consistent. The No.4Mk1/2 and No.4Mk2 pattern guns first appeared in 1947.
A LOT of people look down on post-war Enfields from a collection or interest standpoint, though many people do like a nice minty N.4Mk2 as a range rifle. These FTR No.4Mk1/2 (And No.4Mk1/3 rifles, which are the same thing except converted from a No.4Mk1* rifle) sit somewhere in between, in that the rifles ARE WW2 guns that saw service, but received significant post-war alterations to improve reliability after 1947. The British army used, as much as possible, the "better" No.4Mk1/2 and No.4Mk2 rifles in lieu of the less reliable No.4Mk1 variants from 1947 up until the adoption of the FN SLR. The SLR may have been adopted in 1954, but Enfields were not totally replaced for some time afterward as it took years to make the switch.
For all of these reasons, most No.4Mk1/2 and No.4Mk1/3 rifles show significant signs of use. The brits could not make new No.4Mk2 rifles fast enough, the FN SLR had not yet been invented, and it was much faster and cheaper to convert WW2 rifles than to build new ones, so these guns were the Army's backbone rifle for a good many years.
I personally find these 1/2 and 1/3 conversions interesting. They usually show a mix of parts from their FTR, and because the UK was as broke as broke gets when they were made, you often see interesting efforts to keep these rifles going that the brits would never have contemplated during the war, or after the SLR was introduced. You'll see what I mean below, because I find this example particularly interesting owing to the lengths the UK armorers went to keep this rifle in the field.
Most of the No.4's you see for sale at dealers are recent imports that spent many years in countries other than Canada or the UK. The Commonwealth had millions of these rifles and gave them as foreign aid to allies for years after WW2 - particularly countries who were conquered during the war and needed to rebuild their militaries quickly in the late 1940's. Most of those guns have a mixed bag of history and, generally speaking, aren't representative of how Enfields left British service. Places like Italy, India, Pakistan, Greece, etc. had their own ways of maintaining, repairing and overhauling enfield rifles. While they were likely effective at doing it, the repairs differ depending who did them - for example the "ishapore forestock screw".
The below rifle came out of an estate this week. It is a 1960's era import from the days when people bought these rifles to cut up into deer guns. This one, I'm told, was bought at a hardware store and put away until the owner passed away and his son sold it to a dealer who is a friend of mine. I ended up buying it the day it came in. The previous owner had never taken it apart to clean it, likely because he didn't have the right screwdriver to remove the forestock retainer screw, so the rifle is still in the condition it was in when it was sold as surplus by the Brits. Like all brit surplus guns of that era, it is ENGLAND stamped on the receiver and has old-school UK proof house markings stamped near the muzzle. The rifle was FILTHY under the stock with sand, grease, dirt, old pieces of vegetation, etc. in it. No rust though, so it cleaned up nice.
It has an interesting mix of parts, some highlights include a Savage trigger, Maltby trigger guard (converted to Mk2 pattern), a BSA band, an early lightened No.1Mk6 sear, and a Faz mag body with a repaired BSA follower (i.e. one of the spring rivets is an armorer replacement). It's also got a No.2 bolt head, so the rifle likely saw a lot of rounds in its life. The rifling while a bit worn, isn't pitted up and it should still shoot OK.
The gun was originally a July 1943 produced Fazakerley No.4Mk1. It was converted to No.4Mk1/2 in 1949 and has matching serial numbers. It appears that it still has its 1943 era bolt body, magazine and forestock. With the exception of a beech front handguard, the gun is stocked in WW2 era walnut and the forestock was significantly re-worked into a No.4Mk2 pattern forestock. You see this pre-1950 as the army tried to save money as much as they could during the conversion program. Later, they just seemed to change the wood out for newer beech stocks. I do like the look of converted walnut better though.
7/43 Faz markings (faint) - at one time Suncorite would have completely obscured these markings, but this gun definitely saw use after FTR.
1949 FTR markings indicating conversion to No.4Mk1/2:
ZF stamped butt, meaning it definitely saw at least one major field repair by a unit-level armorer:
Now we get to the interesting part, showing the lengths the armorers went to keep using the forestock on this rifle instead of just fitting a new beech stock. There are no less than 8 major patch repairs to this stock, all of them neatly fitted, dovetailed, glued and hardwood dowelled. This includes changing the wood shelf where the knox form is bedded, changing the draws by neatly fitting and pinning in walnut blocks, patching where the old Mk1 tie plate was fitted on each side of the wood, and dovetailing in and dowelling multiple areas around the receiver and magazine to restore the contour of the stock to areas that had likely seen field damage. It really is quite a showcase of armorer finesse.
Take a look at these repairs!
https://imgur.com/Gi###ul.jpg
