Hello, I just picked up an early Lee Enfield dated 1905. It has been sported, but it is still one of nicest enfields I've seen. It is marked with the Canadian acceptance mark and is made by Enfield. The wood is in great shape. The barrel is stamped EY then restamped DP. DP is stamped on the stock too. There is an "S" underneath by the magwell. I assume that this means Emergency Use and Drill Purpose or something like that. Any idea why it would be so marked? The wrist band says "1***" only. No MK. It came with all the parts like mag cutoff and brass butt, long range rear apperture sight and windage adjustable front and the bore seems good. My question is the rear brass circle on the butt stock. Is this a regiment or battalion designation. The one on this rifle is still visible and I was wondering if more info can be found from the numbers on the disc? Thanks in advance. Cheers
1905 enfield questions
- Thread starter emmab
- Start date
- Location
- south stukely
pics?
bdft
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
DP means "drill purpose". They were not to be fired and to be carried for drill only. They could be stamped that way for any number of reasons. The bore could be shot out, the chanber could be out of spec or maybe the armourers were just tired of ####ing with it. Some "DP" marked rifle have a hole drilled through the barrel or chamber. I have owned and know of some DP rifles that shoot just fine. Have a close look at it before you shoot it. That rifle looks like a No 1 Mk 1 to me, with the dust cover missing.
Nice find!
I haven't seen too many Mk1 SMLE. Too bad it's sporterized...
IIRC, the first Mk1's came out in 1903 or 1904. I don't remember the modifications that were made when the "stars" were stamped.
And as the others said, good idea to inspect before firing.
I haven't seen too many Mk1 SMLE. Too bad it's sporterized...
IIRC, the first Mk1's came out in 1903 or 1904. I don't remember the modifications that were made when the "stars" were stamped.
And as the others said, good idea to inspect before firing.
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
And E.Y. meant it was at one time used for launching grenades. Given the date, it was probably used for launching rod grenades which are not exactly kind to the bore.
In effect the rifle was downgraded from a first line weapon to that use. It could, if necessary use ball ammunition but only if you absolutely had to. I should think after the war, it would again have been downgraded to DP since there were literaly millions of serviceable rifles in the inventory
Probably that's not the original forend since grenade launching rifles were cord or wire wrapped. Possibly someone could have sanded the forend to remove the marks from the wire wrapping.
In effect the rifle was downgraded from a first line weapon to that use. It could, if necessary use ball ammunition but only if you absolutely had to. I should think after the war, it would again have been downgraded to DP since there were literaly millions of serviceable rifles in the inventory
Probably that's not the original forend since grenade launching rifles were cord or wire wrapped. Possibly someone could have sanded the forend to remove the marks from the wire wrapping.
Important to note that the Mark I*** SMLE was NEVER produced as a rifle; they ALL were conversions of earlier Mark I, Mark I* and Mark I** rifles, done after the Mark III entered production in Januray of 1907. There are Navy conversions and Army cvonversions and not all were done to spec. This one wasn't, that's for sure.
The full conversion included removing the sliding bolthead-charger-giode and replacing the half-guide on the receiver with a solid bridge-type charger guide. These were done in Navy workshops and a lot were done in Army workshops. Some might have been rebuilt at Enfield after the War, or quite possibly at Birmingham Repair (the old Sparkbrook factory); you can tell by the inspectors' marks.
Quite a rare toy and one that will make heads turn. It really ought to be restored.
The full conversion included removing the sliding bolthead-charger-giode and replacing the half-guide on the receiver with a solid bridge-type charger guide. These were done in Navy workshops and a lot were done in Army workshops. Some might have been rebuilt at Enfield after the War, or quite possibly at Birmingham Repair (the old Sparkbrook factory); you can tell by the inspectors' marks.
Quite a rare toy and one that will make heads turn. It really ought to be restored.
