DP marked Lee Enfield
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maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
There is considerable debate on why the British condemned rifles to Drill Purpose. Was it damaged beyond economical repair? Was it out of specification after a time in service? Was it simply old when new rifles became available? Was it needed more as a drill implement than a battle rifle? Who knows.
However, unless you are possessed with all the necessary armourer's gauges and inspection dimensions, it is probably safer left as a non-firing non firearm. You don't need a PAL to have it, store it, transport it, show it off, etc.
There is a British deactivation model that has a big machine cut in the receiver (or under the barrel?) that was made with non arsenal strength steel. It is a different colour, IIRC. There was a story circulating about a fellow who succeeded in chambering and firing a round which blew the (replacement) stock off and he got a big splinter collection in his arm.
However, unless you are possessed with all the necessary armourer's gauges and inspection dimensions, it is probably safer left as a non-firing non firearm. You don't need a PAL to have it, store it, transport it, show it off, etc.
There is a British deactivation model that has a big machine cut in the receiver (or under the barrel?) that was made with non arsenal strength steel. It is a different colour, IIRC. There was a story circulating about a fellow who succeeded in chambering and firing a round which blew the (replacement) stock off and he got a big splinter collection in his arm.
By rebuild a shootable rifle you mean you have a sporter that needs the wood etc. From the DP?
If it were mine, I would just keep the DP barreled action tucked away incase someday it does become valuable and use the wood on a rifle I can shoot and enjoy in the interim ��
Be sure to post pics of your upcoming project
If it were mine, I would just keep the DP barreled action tucked away incase someday it does become valuable and use the wood on a rifle I can shoot and enjoy in the interim ��
Be sure to post pics of your upcoming project
It could very well shoot just fine and is stamped DP. Ive had a few over the years but I have shot low pressure cast rounds in them.
Personally i wouldnt shoot it with factory ammo. It could have been in a fire so all the heat treating may be gone. Although that would be easy to test
Personally i wouldnt shoot it with factory ammo. It could have been in a fire so all the heat treating may be gone. Although that would be easy to test
About 30 years ago I received a heads up from Tony, warehouse foreman at International Firearms. Nice guy.
He told me they had just received a partial pallet of mixed No4 MkI, MkI*, MkI/3 and MkII rifles that looked like they had been FTRed before being stamped "DP"
There were just over thirty rifles on the pallet and I guess they didn't want to strip them for parts. Tony gave me a very good price "if you take them all."
When the rifles arrived, after shipping/taxes, I paid around $70 each. There weren't any with original matching numbers.
All of the rear side of the bolts had been ground and stamped with the same number as on the receivers, which were electropenciled with the FTR dates.
Everything else was new old stock. Fit and finish were pristine
The furniture was unissued, as were the magazines and all of the stock bands/ferrules, sights, butt plates. The barrels were new, other than the initial testing at the FTR facility. Headspace on all of them was just about perfect.
These rifles were a mix of Canadian Longbranch, Savage and Maltby. Obviously some had gone through more than one FTR.
All had large "DP" stamps as well as "England" and other pertinent stamps.
I pulled the actions from every one of those rifles and had them magnaluxed and hardness tested. All were fine.
It was about that time, or shortly after, that milsurp collecting was starting to take off. I sold off all of the components at gun shows. They went very quickly and the proceeds usually paid for the cost of travel to the show, accommodations and tables.
I had all of the tested receivers in a box and some fellow from Vancouver Island purchased all of them for $10 each. He was going to use them in a sculpture.
I did retain one of those rifles for my own personal use. I shot thousands of rounds of surplus MkVII and MkVIII through it.
I'm not sure about the procurement of the training equipment for the bases or even warehouses to have on hand, to cover a request.
I suspect that some facility put in an order for a certain amount of rifles for Drill Purposes and the warehouse just went an grabbed a bunch of FTRed rifles that were considered obsolete, or maybe not. These rifles were all very clean, some even had grease in them. Surprisingly they all had functional firing pins.
There are all sorts of stories out there about how and why a rifle gets a DP stamp..
I'm sure some here still remember the P14s out of the UK with the red and white stripes painted all the way around them, over the bolt and mag floor plate, then a hole drilled through the stock, just ahead of the receiver at the chamber mid line and a piece of drill rod welded into place, without removing the stock furniture. Most of those were in excellent condition as well. I turned a couple of those receivers into some decent magnums, after making sure they looked good during a magnaflux.
He told me they had just received a partial pallet of mixed No4 MkI, MkI*, MkI/3 and MkII rifles that looked like they had been FTRed before being stamped "DP"
There were just over thirty rifles on the pallet and I guess they didn't want to strip them for parts. Tony gave me a very good price "if you take them all."
When the rifles arrived, after shipping/taxes, I paid around $70 each. There weren't any with original matching numbers.
All of the rear side of the bolts had been ground and stamped with the same number as on the receivers, which were electropenciled with the FTR dates.
Everything else was new old stock. Fit and finish were pristine
The furniture was unissued, as were the magazines and all of the stock bands/ferrules, sights, butt plates. The barrels were new, other than the initial testing at the FTR facility. Headspace on all of them was just about perfect.
These rifles were a mix of Canadian Longbranch, Savage and Maltby. Obviously some had gone through more than one FTR.
All had large "DP" stamps as well as "England" and other pertinent stamps.
I pulled the actions from every one of those rifles and had them magnaluxed and hardness tested. All were fine.
It was about that time, or shortly after, that milsurp collecting was starting to take off. I sold off all of the components at gun shows. They went very quickly and the proceeds usually paid for the cost of travel to the show, accommodations and tables.
I had all of the tested receivers in a box and some fellow from Vancouver Island purchased all of them for $10 each. He was going to use them in a sculpture.
I did retain one of those rifles for my own personal use. I shot thousands of rounds of surplus MkVII and MkVIII through it.
I'm not sure about the procurement of the training equipment for the bases or even warehouses to have on hand, to cover a request.
I suspect that some facility put in an order for a certain amount of rifles for Drill Purposes and the warehouse just went an grabbed a bunch of FTRed rifles that were considered obsolete, or maybe not. These rifles were all very clean, some even had grease in them. Surprisingly they all had functional firing pins.
There are all sorts of stories out there about how and why a rifle gets a DP stamp..
I'm sure some here still remember the P14s out of the UK with the red and white stripes painted all the way around them, over the bolt and mag floor plate, then a hole drilled through the stock, just ahead of the receiver at the chamber mid line and a piece of drill rod welded into place, without removing the stock furniture. Most of those were in excellent condition as well. I turned a couple of those receivers into some decent magnums, after making sure they looked good during a magnaflux.
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Here's a few links to threads where Peter Laidler and others have discussed the pitfalls of DP and ZF marked rifles ...
ZF marking on Enfields?
DP Stock Marks Queryhttps://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=18143
DP Rifleshttps://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=18005
Hope that helps ....
Regards,
Doug
ZF marking on Enfields?
DP Stock Marks Queryhttps://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=18143
DP Rifleshttps://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=18005
Hope that helps ....
Regards,
Doug
I had a DP No.1 with no immediately visible reason not to shoot it, bought from a fellow who shot it. The rifle was having incipient case head separations due to excessive headspace, a new bolt head was able to bring it into 'FIELD' spec.
I retired that action and barrel and used the furniture to stock up my grandfather's sporterized C-Broad arrow No1 for use at the range. The DP was numbers matching but this rifle is sentimental to me and therefore is a good use for the wood in my opinion.
DP marked rifles are not viewed as collectible and generally have considerably less value than those that are not marked. Stripping parts is a matter of personal choice and depends on where you start and where you end up. A restored sporter/shooter may or may not have more value than a matching original rifle even if it id DP marked.
Here's a few links to threads where Peter Laidler and others have discussed the pitfalls of DP and ZF marked rifles ...
ZF marking on Enfields?
DP Stock Marks Queryhttps://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=18143
DP Rifleshttps://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=18005
Hope that helps ....
Regards,
Doug
The OP could write to Peter Laidler. He has lots of time to spare, though at the moment he has limited access to his collections and records.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50562122
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Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
DP rifles are a scary thing. You don't know why the rifle was made into a DP. Could have been the rifle was damaged or beyond repair. Could have been it was in a fire. Could have been a non-standard arm being relegated to training. Could have been they placed a order for 100 DP rifles and the armourers only had 40 that were in terrible shape so they pulled serviceable rifles off the shelves and stamped DP on them. This is why I have a bit more respect for how the Bulgarians did their drill rifles with their M95s. They made it so you couldn't shoot it again thus getting rid of all possibility of someone doing something they shouldn't with them.
