Identification help and opinion of value please!

Hawkman

Hawkman

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Newmarket, ON
I am not much into military stuff myself, but have just "rescued" a reasonably nice Lee Enfield and so far my research about it is not being as fruitful as I'd like it to be!
It is a .303 because ammo came with it yet no markings on the barrel to indicate that.
Has an F (FTR) and a "D" which I have figured out the meanings of - I think.

Does not have the full stock so it is a sporterized version.
It is stamped: ENGLAND.
Has not been cleaned since EVER, but somehow it appears to be in great condition!

Has numbers 60C9667 on the wrist strap where that "D" stamp also resides.
On the side of the receiver it has the same numbers with a 52 before them. Can be the year maybe?

The model is No4 MK I/3 (F)FTR
Below that there us line through the pre FTR
modifications (?) which reads No4MKI*

I got the original canvas sleeve with it as well and looks good as new!

Pictures are always challenging to post here so I can email you more images if you have any interest in helping me.
Thanks in advance! :)

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A sporterised LE typically fetches in the area of 200$ yeah, they're not very collectable as they're no longer in military configuration.
Yours does seem to have retained its original barrel length which could make the rifle restorable if someone tried and did it properly!

Hawkman said:
Thank You! I was wondering about the big S.
Click to expand...

S is for Savage made rifles. Britain contracted Savage to produce No.4 rifles during ww2
 
You have a 1943 Savage that was FTR'd by the Brits in 1952. The "D" is actually a "B". It was converted to hung trigger as shown by the 1/3 and has a new 5 groove Brit barrel. It's in great shape and worth $350 with the case, ammunition and the full length rifle. It's a prime canditate for restoration. Get yourself a set of MK2 matching wood set and bands and you'll be all set. Ron
 
Savage made more No.4 rifles than any other factory. The No.4 Mk 1 has a spring catch on your right side just behind the charger bridge to allow the bolt head to be rotated so the entire bolt can be removed from the rifle. Most Savage and Long Branch rifles were made after Long Branch came up with a modification to make manufacturing easier, deleting that catch and allowing the bolt head to be similarly rotated just behind the breech, and these are designated No.4 Mk 1*, like yours. Post WWII another modification to the design improved the trigger attachment and was designated No.4 Mk 2. After that change, any No.4 Mk 1 that was refurbished (Factory Thorough Repair, FTR) had modification to the trigger attachment and was re-stamped to reflect this. (There were many FTR before this, including during the war, they have their original trigger attachment.) A No.4 Mk1 with the modification became a No.4 Mk 1/2, a No. 4 Mk 1* became a No.4 Mk 1/3, which is what you have. This work was done at Royal Ordnance Factory Fazackerly, ROF so that's why yours is stamped No4Mk1/3 (F) FTR

The first and easiest part of making a "sporter" was to cut the forestock shorter and remove the rear and front upper handguards, which is what has been done to yours. This is the easiest modification to restore and makes such rifles most valuable to buyers looking to restore them to the original configuration. Drilling and tapping for scope mounts can be cosmetically covered up, not ideal for a real collector but still of interest to someone who wants to shoot the rifle as is was used by the soldiery in the wars. The point of no return is the common shortening of the barrel, e.g. lopping off the bit beyond the foresight with the bayonet lugs.

Yours is still intact, so I think it's worth $250. Any higher than that and it seems to become too expensive for most people to restore. But they aren't making them anymore, and governments and the banks are making up money out of thin air so prices will adjust accordingly.
 
AWESOME information!
Thanks a lot for all the responses and I do appreciate the education that I am receiving about this rifle. :)
I might clean it up and do some test firing in the coming weeks. Who knows, maybe I will like it enough to KEEP.

Be safe gentlemen!
 
Your 303 savage ammo is not for this rifle BTW. The Lee Enfield is .303 British or 7.7x56r

All you need is a No4Mk2 forestock, front, and rear (Groved would be ok, but the FTR would not have grooves) handguards, + front and rear stock bands + screws and swivel.
The buttstock looks good, but you need the rear sling swivel assembly..
 
Pblatzz said:
Your 303 savage ammo is not for this rifle BTW. The Lee Enfield is .303 British or 7.7x56r

All you need is a No4Mk2 forestock, front, and rear (Groved would be ok, but the FTR would not have grooves) handguards, + front and rear stock bands + screws and swivel.
The buttstock looks good, but you need the rear sling swivel assembly..
Click to expand...

Hmmm.... Thanks a lot for those tips Pblatzz.
This thing has been handed down from a now departed father to a now elderly son who never fired it.
All he knows that the rifle and the ammo has been kept together for decades, sitting in one closet or another.
I will be careful not to stick the wrong ammo in it and I appreciate your input very much! :)
 
It's a nice example, and a candidate for restoration to military spec. For what it's worth, I wouldn't pay more than $200; simply because I've priced out what it'll cost to get all the required bits and bobs... And that's with reproduction wood, not NOS - although you can much more easily find NOS Mk.II forends.

The "problem" with restoring any milsurp is that you have to be doing it as a labour of love; because there's no possibility of returning the item back to it's former value - well, no way of doing it in a morally acceptable manner. :nest:
 
The loose bolt is worth at least $50, the magazine at least $50, the ammunition is $1 a piece, the butt is probably $20, the sight about $25 and the innards for $50 all in. So, despite the low-ball idea that you've got a worthless POS rifle, you have at the very least an assemblage of valuable spare parts.

Fair warning, the work to restore a hunting rifle to a full-wood No.4 will be a challenge. There are only a few extra pieces needed, but the supply is very sparse. Full wood stocks are probably the hardest single part to locate - and finding a Mk2 cutaway, and in worthwhile condition.
 
Thanks again for all your input gentlemen! :)

As I said at the start, I "rescued" this item from going to the slaughterhouse, and since I am not a MilSurp guy myself, I thought I might be able to trade it for a hunting shotgun or rifle later on.
I should mention that there was also a nice .22 Cal included in that "rescue" although I have to buy a clip for that nice Cooey!
Now, with the info provided here, it would appear that I have not made too much of a spectacular deal for these items after all.

Regardless, I am happy to have saved stuff from getting needlessly destroyed. Someone somewhere will use and enjoy them another day.
They don't call us Canadian Gun NUTS for nothing, eh?!
 
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