303 info photos up

kamlooky

kamlooky

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Six shooters have crossed my path and one is a full stocked 303 with FTR 1953 stamped on the receiver.

Trying to sort out some value on these.

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I shed six little tears today.
Five of witch I kept.
There is a sibling to this one that has a bad boy sticker awner.
Dated back in 82.

I yews'd up ne'er arf a can of Flewid Film on these five I brawt home.
Some more werser than the t'uthers.
I'm hoping the 336 in 35rem is going to clean up somewutt nicely.

Man, wutt a fruck'in feeeazzkoe.

FN 22 r/f pump look'in like a redhead with extreem freckullzs.

Curious to know what all dem #'s mean.
I'm smartz like a post tertull awn these ker-pows.

Stay safe.
 
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your going to have to be a little more specific

I've seen a fair number of No1 MKIII rifles marked FTR 1953

there are also No4 rifles that were FTRed in the 50's

that will make a difference

as well as condition of bore etc....
 
A fully functional, non-matching, full wood, not-screwed-with No4 mk1 will start at $500 for and go up from there depending on condition. A quite good one will go for double that at least. A Long Branch is generally worth more than the UK rifles.

The No1 mk3 is roughly similar $, or a bit less than No4 rifles.
 
More specifics? - I am assuming you have No. 4's? - as I discovered, is multiple / many forearm wood - you say forearm does not match butt stock - so Savage? Long Branch? made-in-Britain? Ishapore? - some combos might be legit, but many are not - depends on buyer, perhaps, but then so does the price? Also, rifle maker, hand guards and forearm? Any accessories? like bayonet? Cleaning kit? Metal pieces on the stocks - butt plate, bands, etc. - do they match? Screw slots look okay? A book here by Charles Stratton lists 9 "action bodies" used at one time or other for No. 4 / No. 5. Seven makers. 9 variations of "back sight" that appear to go with various makers during specific years.
 
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jethunter said:
A fully functional, non-matching, full wood, not-screwed-with No4 mk1 will start at $500 for and go up from there depending on condition. A quite good one will go for double that at least. A Long Branch is generally worth more than the UK rifles.

The No1 mk3 is roughly similar $, or a bit less than No4 rifles.
Click to expand...

LOL. Go take a gander through Gun Post listings. There are sporterized LEs priced for more than $500.

There are VERY few full stock rifles priced less than $1000, with most being clustered around $1500.
 
Kamlooky - following the pictures that you put up in OP, you mentioned "Curious to know what all dem #'s mean." I can not "interpret" all of them - but a few, I think - maybe others can add to the story. That appears to be an SMLE - so "SHORT" (as opposed to LONG - when an Infantry man's rifle was normally like 5 feet long or more), "MAGAZINE" (It had a detachable one in an era when many fighting rifles were single shot), "LEE" - the American guy that mostly invented the action and "ENFIELD" - the British armoury that mostly invented the rifling profile. So circa 1920's, when British seemed to have renamed their various rifles, that one became the "No. 1".

Was a british thing, I think - that nothing got made except to a "sealed pattern" - so like a blue print - and no capacity to alter a "sealed pattern" - so when improvements required, the thing got a new name - new pattern - I think major modifications resulted in a new "Mark" version, and some minor modifications got a "*" - from the wrist stampings, looks like yours is a Mark III * - so was three major changes and a minor change since the original "sealed pattern" for that rifle. At some point, the markings got changed from latin "III" to arabic "3", but I am not sure what year that was done.

The wrist stampings start with a British crown, then "GRI" - George VI was British King in 1941, so "George Rex" - he was also Emperor of India, so "Imperator" - hence "GRI". I think the era of British crown being "Raj" kind of disappeared circa 1947 or 48. Ishapore is the name of the place in India where that rifle was made - for all I know, but I am not sure, they are still being made there today, like that one. The arrow shape with the broad head is the mark of British (military) ownership or acceptance - somebody else will have to say what the numbers signify. Somewhere I think that I read the tooling that was sent to Ishapore Armoury may have started at the Fazakerly Armoury in Britain, but I am not sure of that.

To really display what I am not sure of - was common, I think, that an Ishapore rifle would have an "Ishy" screw inserted sideways through the forearm as a reinforcement. I am reasonably certain that the woods shown on your fore stock and hand guards are beech - not sure that was used by Ishapore - but was quite common in Britain - I have a "beech" set that I bought for a No. 4 from eBay a few years ago.
 
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Bayonet is Australian

rifle is Ishapore, India production

seeing the rifle and wood I would say that is a put together, or re-wooded sporter.

Bayonet is worth $100-$150

Rifle, (no Mag??) $700-$800 someone will buy it (not me)


If I had it I would pull the wood off and use it to de-sporterize a more desirable rifle, I have a BSA 1916 that has a Fulton barrel, and I think I have something in my parts bin that matches that wood better.
 
I concur, been collecting Enfields for decade, the rifle is an Indian bitster, probably fun to shoot if it checks out and the bayo is an Oz, lots of them around, cool if you have a lithgow to go with it.
 
Hmm. Kind of depends on the buyer - I'd definitely look at buying something like that, and around here it would go for $8-900 ish. I'd buy it to have a place to put my new-in-the -grease Ishy barrel, and then I'd look at the bedding and decide from there. It does need a good cleaning. I'd put the Slazenger bayo with my Aussie, and move the Brit bayo I have to this. Like I say, it's all individual. Despite what some might say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Ishy Lees - they made them for a very long time (since 1904) under direct supervision until 1949, and last I heard you could still buy them new today, in a sporter configuration and chambered for 8mm. Like all L-E's, they aren't sniper rifles, but they work very well. The original machinery used to make Ishy rifles was originally from Sparkbrook.
 
woodchopper said:
Bayonet is Australian

rifle is Ishapore, India production

seeing the rifle and wood I would say that is a put together, or re-wooded sporter.

Bayonet is worth $100-$150

Rifle, (no Mag??) $700-$800 someone will buy it (not me)


If I had it I would pull the wood off and use it to de-sporterize a more desirable rifle, I have a BSA 1916 that has a Fulton barrel, and I think I have something in my parts bin that matches that wood better.
Click to expand...

Spent some time on it this mourn'in.
Bore and rifling is good.
Freed up the sliding sight.
Cocks and releases well.
Freed up the bayonet lock and slides on easily.

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And some numbers matching the serial number.

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