1896 Long lee enfield/metford???? PIC HEAVY!!!!!!

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yestoguns

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So i posted this gun in general forum yesterday, I was advised that this thread is where it really should be to gather more info about it. I have taken some more pics of it so i hope they help. This gun was passed down from my grantfather who got it from his father. My grandfather says that his father used it in the boer war. I am not famililar with these older guns so i hope someone can shed some light on this one. Just wondering when and what i have here. I have had about 10 pms about this thing already. I am also wondering who i would get in contact with if i wanted to look for my great grandfathers military record so when i pass this gun down to my son he has a story to go with it thanks everyone in advance.

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i checked the bore and it looks flawless as far as i know this gun is original and complete
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a number marking on the buttstock
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some markings on the metal below the action

there is also a stamped mark on the wood buttstock on the side that has the following: m 8 d
i also found that there is little canister in the cubby hole in the buttstock it is made of brass i imagine that it is for gun oil
 
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You have a real gem there. The Boer War story may be true. Looks like a volley sight on the left side of the rifle. Some of the guys on here are real experts on Lee Enfields and will be along to fill you in. Be prepared to take more photos.
 
That would have made a lovely hunting rifle with a bit of work - back in the day!

The fact that it didn't get that treatment would suggest the story might be accurate.

No offence, but often times there's some confusion between the ACTUAL rifle that Dad or Grandad "used in the war" and and one that is only the SAME TYPE of rifle that he "used in the war". An easy misunderstanding when you have a few generations in between who aren't really listening that closely to what their elders have to say.;)

Great Granddad would probably be pleased that you're actually going to learn all about him, so as to learn about his rifle. Heck you owe it to him seeing as neither you nor the rifle would be here without him!

Remember to share with us, even if it turns out Great Grandpa never got past Halifax! (They had a LOT more volunteers than they could take for that war)

As someone asked in your original thread, what is stamped into the side of the butt? (Forget that, just reread your post)

For now, I wouldn't even clean it. Is the bayonet around too? What info have you got on GGF? Photos?

BSA&MCo. is Birmingham Small Arms & Munitions Co., otherwise know as "BSA" obviously.
 
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It is a Mark I Lee Enfield, commonly called a long Lee, which was the arm used by the Canadians in the Boer War.
The M&D stamp is Militia and Defence stamp showing that it was Canadian issue.
 
The Army called this the "Rifle, Magazine, Lee-Enfield, calibre .303", Mark I".

Mechanically, it is identical to the rifle it replaced in production, the Lee-Metford Mark II*, apart from the fact that this one has a barrel with Enfield rifling.

Enfield rifling has lands and grooves of equal width with straight-cut deep grooves and generally an odd number of them. In the case of your rifle, it has 5 lands and grooves. This rifling was designed specifically to overcome the terribly-erosive effects of the original Cordite ammunition, the stuff which destroyed the accuracy of the earlier Metford barrels in jig time. It was functionally identical to the ultramodern "5R" rifling, just left-hand instead of right-hand. It has a twist of 1 turn in 10 inches, left.

Markings on the Butt Socket tell you who made this rifle, where and when it was made, and its precise design type: Birmingham Small Arms and Munitions Company (yes: the motorcycle people!) built your rifle in 1896, in Birmingham in England, to the Lee-Enfield Mark I pattern........ and it was built specifically for the Government, making it the property of Queen Victoria. Right now, it is 117 years old.

It is sighted for the Cartridge, Small Arms, calibre .303", Cordite, Mark II, which uses the casing we now call the .303 British, loaded with (very hot) Cordite powder and a 215-grain round-nosed full-metal-jacket bullet which got 2060 ft/sec at the muzzle. Modern powders are far more merciful on the barrel. For plinking purposes, you can get pretty close to this performance with 13 grains of Red Dot shotgun powder and a 180-grain CAST bullet and your old barrel will last 5/8 of forever. There are NO replacement barrels for this rifle, have not been any for about 110 years.

Yes, this was our Number 1 rifle in the Boer War, in which it served alongside the earlier Lee-Metford rifles (which had sighting problems; this one had all the problems corrected).

MOST of these rifles had disappeared by about 1920, being made into Charger-Loading rifles, into .22s, into Converted Mark IVs... or sold off to the Trade and made into sporters...... or just sold off to get rid of them and subsequently butchered. Today, they are VERY few and far between. I have the wreckage of FOUR of these historic old pieces, but they ALL have been chopped.

You have a Very Nice Toy, friend.

Don't get too enthusiastic..... and be VERY careful cleaning it. Learn first, clean second. Get a bullet mould and start loading for Great-Grandpa's rifle.

BTW, "M&D" denotes a Canadian-owned rifle, done before the C-Broad-Arrow marking was designed. It was used from 1895 to 1904. There could be other markings on the wood which would pin the rifle down to a particular Regiment.

Very, very Nice Toy!
 
yestoguns said:
Just wondering when and what i have here. I have had about 10 pms about this thing already. I am also wondering who i would get in contact with if i wanted to look for my great grandfathers military record so when i pass this gun down to my son he has a story to go with it thanks everyone in advance.
Click to expand...

Check the MKL for a 137 pic photo montage and more details ..

1896 Mk1 MLE (Magazine Lee-Enfield) Long Leehttp://www.milsurps.com/content.php?r=180-1896-Mk1-MLE-(Magazine-Lee-Enfield)-Long-Lee
(Mfg by BSA&M Co. - Birmingham Small Arms & Machine Co.)
(Issued to the 37th Haldimand Battalion of Rifles)

Records searches and links ..


On-line Service Record Searches (Library and Archives Canada)http://www.milsurps.com/content.php...Record-Searches-(Library-and-Archives-Canada)

Regards,
Doug
 
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