DP marking on Lee Enfield

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bowie bill

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I have a couple of Lee Enfields, one beautifully restored and the other a more sporterized version. The second one has 'DP' marked on it, and I only recently discovered that that indicates that the firearm is for drill purposes only. I took it back to the dealer, who poo-pooed the drill purpose only, fired off a shot without blowing off his face to prove his point and handed it back. Does anyone know if these things are really not safe to fire, or what other reason might have given the DP designation.
Thanks
 
DP is not necessarily related to safe to fire status. A DP firearm may have been relegated to training status for various reasons, including obsolescence. You might want to check for bore condition, headspace, etc.
 
I would not worry too much Bowie Bill. If you want to be certain, have a gunsmith take a look, but as tiriaq says, "DP" can be stamped for may reasons.

My personnal experience is only with one "DP"-marked rifle though, but still everything was perfect with it and it shot decently.

I also had one marked "EY" which should be cause for even more concern (EY stands for Emergency), and still that one worked very well too.

Lou
 
Doesn't Skennerton's book definitively answer that DP guns are not "drill purpose"?

FWIW, I've got a DP enfield that I use for hunting, it's the roughest piece of junk that I've ever seen, but the damn thing shoots like a target rifle! Don't worry too much about the safety of the thing. Check the bore for obstructions. Bad headspace won't cause your Enfield to explode-the receiver vents prevent gas from shooting back at you/blowing up catastrophically, but of course, always wear safety glasses. An easy check for acceptable headspace is to wrap a piece of white paper around the breech area, then fire a round. If there's a lot of soot and junk on the paper, you should investigate the headspace issue further, but if it's mostly clean, enjoy your new rifle, spend the cash saved on a gunsmith on some ammo.
 
I have a DP SMLE I*** built in 1907 that I have been shooting since 1967; I still have all my fingers and both eyes.

Went shooting 2 days ago with an 1897 Sparkbrook MLE I which was marked EY back when Noah was an apprentice in a shipyard. Worked fine.

I think, as far as the EY are concerned, that sometimes the regimental armourer would take in a few cases that he didn't have the equipment for..... so he would EY them...... then they got sold...... and repaired......

FWIW, all of the Costen-launcher SMLEs were EY'd for use with Mark VII ammo. But WHAT pressures were they generating, launching a 2-pound bomb out to 500 yards with a charge of Ballistite?????? I'm almost scared to think of it.

If you get either one, check it out carefully..... chances are there WAS a reason at one time. Just play it safe. It's pretty hard to wreck an old SMLE anyway; they didn't get their reputation by being fragile.
 
Remember that these days 'DP wood' may have replaced the original wood due to age and condition. DP wood was on rifles that were at least were stored in racks, and in-doors. That wasn't the case with 'active duty' rifles
 
bowie bill said:
I The second one has 'DP' marked on it, and I only recently discovered that that indicates that the firearm is for drill purposes only.
Click to expand...

We just received some 1945 Armourer's Reference material, kindly provided by Advisory Panel member Peter Laidler. We've just completed scanning these old notes and we're in the process of creating a new Knowledge Library entry for them. In the scanning process, I noticed this particular section which refers to "DP" marked rifles and distinguishes them fro "EY" marked rifles, as an example.


(Click PIC to Enlarge)

There's some really nice material in these old manuals, so watch the announcements thread to be advised when the full manuals will be released and available for download.

Regards,
Badger
 
Doesn't Skennerton's book definitively answer that DP guns are not "drill purpose"?
Click to expand...

I've dealt with one of the biggest Enfield Colletors in Canada (been collecting since the early 60's) and he mentioned one day that Skennerton's book was good, but had more that it's fair share of mistakes... ;)
 
Agreed but in this case there is no chain of evidence to prove that the weapon was condemned for being uneconomical to repair and then restored to serviceable after disposal. In this case there is no reason that it cant be fired but also no excuse not to get the rifle checked out for dodgy welding etc.
 
BadgerDog said:
We just received some 1945 Armourer's Reference material, kindly provided by Advisory Panel member Peter Laidler. We've just completed scanning these old notes and we're in the process of creating a new Knowledge Library entry for them. There's some really nice material in these old manuals, so watch the announcements thread to be advised when the full manuals will be released and available for download.

Regards,
Badger
Click to expand...

:dancingbanana::dancingbanana::dancingbanana:

Thanks Badger, great news!!!!!
 
I have a DP .303 Martini carbine. Nothing wrong with it except it was obsolete and relegated to square bashing.

On that Douglas Haig quote,he also stated in the mid 1920's that,

"There will always be a place for the well trained horse in modern warfare"

apparently he was still not sure that machine guns were going to be a problem :rolleyes:

But what can one expect from a cavalryman. The brightest went to the engineers, the next went to the Artillery, and then the infantry.
The dumb ones got a horse.
but when he was a subaltren you needed a private income to to pay for your uniforms and the officer's mess. Plus you were expected to have more than one horse in order to play Polo.
 
louthepou said:
:dancingbanana::dancingbanana::dancingbanana:

Thanks Badger, great news!!!!!
Click to expand...

:cheers:

With thanks to Advisory Panel member Peter Laidler, a new set of Armourers training notes has been added to the Technical Articles for Milsurp Collectors and Re-loaders (click here)http://www.milsurps.com/forumdisplay.php?f=25.

1945 Rifle & Pistol Armourers Training Notes (click here)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=4087

1945 Miscellaneous Armourers Training Notes (click here)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=4087

As Peter describes it … Here are 1945 copies of some Armourers training notes that list hundreds of snippets of good info. It is very old and the paper is a bit thin and torn. I use it for some of the info I get. The only problem with this info is that everyone soon becomes a theoretical expert! But the practice is a whole new ball game. You can only get that by doing it. Not just once or twice........., but HUNDREDS, if not thousands of times for years. ...... Kind regards, Peter Laidler

The MKL article also includes initial remarks under the “Collectors Comments and Feeback” section.

I also want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Peter for his many contributions to the collector community, unselfishly and graciously sharing his accumulated knowledge based upon real world experience!

Regards,
Badger
 
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