1895 Lee Cavalry Carbine - Update with detail pics

TehGunky

TehGunky

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I posted a gallery of this little guy last week. There were some requests for more detailed pics, so I asked the owner to bring it in again and I got some higher-res closeups.

DETAIL GALLERY IS HERE.

I'm pretty sure this is an Enfield barrel rather than a Metford. The rifle has been in the current owner's family for at least a couple of generations, and it has been a Newfie moose-gun that entire time. It has been dragged through Newfoundland marshes and used for target shooting for many decades - my guess is that the 125 year old barrel has had less than meticulous maintenance over its long career, and the rifling has more or less been shot and rusted out. The receiver stamps are difficult to read now, but I'm pretty sure that's an E on the barrel stamp, not an M.

Anyone who knows these rifles better, please check the photos and let me know what you think. And if anyone has an idea of value, that information would also be helpful.
 
Hi Teh. Its a Mark I Lee Metford carbine serial A 2359 made early 1895. Metford rifling has a vacant or plain knox form on the breech end of the barrel. Appears that the usual British upgrades are all date marked on the left receiver wall - '98 and '99. It is also possible that a dowel has been glued in the ramrod channel. Can't read well the bolt serial but it doesn't appear to match. Issued to the 1st Dragoons, B company, in Mar 1895 as marked on the disc. So its the 12,359th made out of an Enfield only production run of 18,686. Look up the history of that Brit unit and maybe it saw active service in South Africa. Rough shape - possibly may restore to some degree of respectability but the bore is gone. It is not one of the Canadian carbines. Collector's item for sure. JOHN
 
jtaylor said:
Hi Teh. Its a Mark I Lee Metford carbine serial A 2359 made early 1895. Metford rifling has a vacant or plain knox form on the breech end of the barrel. Appears that the usual British upgrades are all date marked on the left receiver wall - '98 and '99. It is also possible that a dowel has been glued in the ramrod channel. Can't read well the bolt serial but it doesn't appear to match. Issued to the 1st Dragoons, B company, in Mar 1895 as marked on the disc. So its the 12,359th made out of an Enfield only production run of 18,686. Look up the history of that Brit unit and maybe it saw active service in South Africa. Rough shape - possibly may restore to some degree of respectability but the bore is gone. It is not one of the Canadian carbines. Collector's item for sure. JOHN
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Thanks for the information, this is what my customer was looking for. It has family history for him, and now it has proper military history as well. Cheers!
 
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