.303 British Markings

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greyman441

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Wasaga Beach, ON
I have a 1917 Lee Enfield .303 british and I am wondering if anyone could tell me what the marking mean. One is

F.T.R 1953

Band says

G.R
B.S.A.Co
1917
SHTLE
III*

Anyone know what these mean? Are they useful?
Thank you

Sorry if this is in the wrong category.
 
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Markings

FTR is Factory thourogh Repair done in 1953. It was made by Birmingham Small Arms Company in 1917, and is a Short, Magazine, Lee Enfiled, Number 1 Mark 3 * rifle. The GR is military ownership (King George).
 
Sounds like you have a 1917 Lee Enfield rifle chambered in .303 British. They are nice rifles, wish I had one. Someone else who knows more about them other than not referring to a firearm by its chambering can tell you what the other markings mean. I'm off to shoot my 9.
 
Thank you for your help. I haven't really looked at the rifle for a while and when I looked at it, I was really curious about what they meant and wondered if they made it "rare".This is one of my four .303 Lee Enfields so I need to make some room in the safe. Thank you for clearing it up.
 
greyman441 said:
Thank you for your help. I haven't really looked at the rifle for a while and when I looked at it, I was really curious about what they meant and wondered if they made it "rare".This is one of my four .303 British so I need to make some room in the safe. Thank you for clearing it up.
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You best go to the gun store and pick up more .303 British cartridges for your Lee Enfield/other rifles. 4 rounds isn't much fun at the range.
 
Rare or not, it is a fine piece of history which was through TWO World Wars and possibly even Korea just to top things off; it certainly was in Service until Korea was history.

Are there any other funny-looking markings on it anywhere..... such as up on the receiver ring or on the back end of the barrel.....? A stamp with D/!\D will indicat that it was used b y the Australians, C with the arrow (/!\) inside it means that it was used by Canada, N/!\Z means New Zealand, a U with the arrow inside is South Africa..... like that. These rifles were everywhere, did everything. A 1953 factory rebuild should have a REALLY decent barrel.

Just four .303s? Not enough, not enough. Obviously, you need more.

Have fun.
.
 
.303 Markings

The * (asterisk) means that this is an SMLE No. 1 Mk III which is somewhat different from the original. During WW1, for reasons of ease of manufacture and from battlefield experience, the volley sights and magazine cut-offs were taken out of the manufacturing process for SMLEs and the result was the No. 1 Mk III*. The rifle you have may also have an oval cocking piece or a slab sided piece depending upon where and when it was made. The oval cocking piece was with the original SMLEs, but this was changed to the slab sided cocking piece, again for ease of manufacture. Keep in mind that the oval cocking pieces were used until the supply was exhausted. My No. 1 Mk III* has an oval cocking piece. Mine is also a BSA made in 1916, but did not go through an FTR.

Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Enfield#Short_Magazine_Lee-Enfield_Mk_III
 
It seems so unreal to have a brand new 1916 Enfield rifle that is as tight as a................

IMGP6641.jpg


IMGP6638.jpg


IMGP6633.jpg


A brand new barrel that never fired corrosive ammunition. :D
 
desporterizer

I'm just an American rookie Enfield novice who was lucky one Christmas when my wife bought a silly British rifle for me that I knew absolutely nothing about. This bothered me so much I went looking for every book and manual on the Enfield I could find.

All the information in the world is written in books, and all you have to is read.

Therefore a revised statement, Everything is brand new except the receiver and to be honest I would swear that it was re-manufactured to like new. Meaning it is tight, no looseness in the bolt raceway and the headspace is below .067 and the bolt head is not marked with a "S".

The poor old girl has only one fault, she has a big large butt :eek:

IMGP6541.jpg
 
I do not think you will see many SMLEs that are FTR in the 1950s and then sold out of military service. She would have been right alongside the No 4s in training, drill, and, perhaps Korea ??

In any event, it is a very interesting find.
 
smellie said:
Are there any other funny-looking markings on it anywhere..... such as up on the receiver ring or on the back end of the barrel.....? A stamp with D/!\D will indicat that it was used b y the Australians, C with the arrow (/!\) inside it means that it was used by Canada, N/!\Z means New Zealand, a U with the arrow inside is South Africa..... like that. These rifles were everywhere, did everything. A 1953 factory rebuild should have a REALLY decent barrel.

Just four .303s? Not enough, not enough. Obviously, you need more.

Have fun.
.
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I check for the arrow and all I could find on the barrel near the receiver was
(/l\)
98

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I am working on getting more lee enfields. I have a full wood #4 mrk 1*, a sporterized #4 mrk 1 and 2 sporterized #1 mrk 3
I like the lee enfields there great rifles and lots of history behind them.
 
greyman441 said:
Thank you for your help. I haven't really looked at the rifle for a while and when I looked at it, I was really curious about what they meant and wondered if they made it "rare".This is one of my four .303 Lee Enfields so I need to make some room in the safe. Thank you for clearing it up.
Click to expand...

Not rare. If you are selling it pm me when it goes on the EE...if it is resoreable that is.
 
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