Another Lee Enfield Identification help thread.....

hunterinthewoods

hunterinthewoods

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Nova Scotia
I purchased this NO.4 MK1 a few weeks ago and need some help. I did search online (google, CGN, and milsurps) but have found very little.

Just that it may have been sporterized over seas??

It has an uncut barrel, and delightful flaking black paint ( suncorite?)

The barrel is marked 'SURREY' , has EE22 stamped close to it, P 18919 with an A under the last 9

The wrist has M 1942 , AL 10239 (could not find AL info online?)

It also came with a stamped ' made in england' 5 round mag with a arrow 3 on the inside.

What do I have and where did it come from?
Is the 5 round mag a parker hale? Did the company install this, or was it just picked up along the way? Whats the mag worth?

Thanks in advance, HITW

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Maltby, 1942. Magzine is commercial. "Surrey" was stamped on some of the rifles commercially sported in the UK. Different serial on the barrel, so I assume it is a replacement. "England" was an export requirement.
 
SURREY, ESSEX, SUSSEX were different grades of sporterised rifles, depending upon the amount of "sportering" done to the poor critters.

You used to find them in every hardware store in the country, but they all seem to have disappeared into the woodwork.

GAWD! But I wish I had a couple tons of the parts they lopped off these!

Google British gun catalogues of the late 1950s and early 1960s for photos and prices.

Hang onto that Magazine, too! They are NOT common, never were.
 
smellie said:
SURREY, ESSEX, SUSSEX were different grades of sporterised rifles, depending upon the amount of "sportering" done to the poor critters.

You used to find them in every hardware store in the country, but they all seem to have disappeared into the woodwork.

GAWD! But I wish I had a couple tons of the parts they lopped off these!

Google British gun catalogues of the late 1950s and early 1960s for photos and prices.

Hang onto that Magazine, too! They are NOT common, never were.
Click to expand...
Thank you my friend!
 
The "AL####" on the left side of the buttsocket indicates Indian state ownership at some point in its career. So what happened when? Hunterinthewoods...is the barrel painted with the same black paint as the receiver? If so, that would seen to indicate it was taken on strength after being sporterized. The other Long Branch rifles with similar markings I've seen have all been full wood.
 
RangeRover said:
The "AL####" on the left side of the buttsocket indicates Indian state ownership at some point in its career. So what happened when? Hunterinthewoods...is the barrel painted with the same black paint as the receiver? If so, that would seen to indicate it was taken on strength after being sporterized. The other Long Branch rifles with similar markings I've seen have all been full wood.
Click to expand...

The 'AL' is Indian? interesting. I didn't come up with any info for that, just other letters.

Everything is painted black, the complete barrel is similar to my first photo of the 'Surrey'

Thank you, for the help
 
Al was originally attributed to Israel where the batch of rifles so marked first came from. However there is apparently some evidence that the AL sequence originated in India. There is a possibility that the rifles went from India to Israel and then to North America and the UK for the SURREY conversion. The only fly in the ointment with this hypothesis is that Surrey was active during the late 60's and early 70's. "The plot do thicken" as I don't think Israel was surplussing any Lee Enfields in the 60's.
 
I hadn't heard about the AL marking either, until I did some searching around when it showed up on a Long Branch I bought in 2011. Peter Laidler passed on that the "AL" as well as some other two letter prefixes on the LH side were Indian State ownership marks. Apparently this was uncovered by folks several years ago tracking down the provenance of a number of Thompson SMGs so marked.
 
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