G.R.I. 1944 No.1 Mk III

Casull

Casull

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Hi all,
I just recieved an SMLE marked on the butt stock socket "G.R.I. 1944 No.1 Mk III". It's a bubba'd #1, nothing special except that it has a beautiful bore and finish is still greal on metal.
Is G.R.I. Ishapore? And did they make #1s as late as 1944? I would have thought that they's have been making #4s by that time. Could it just be a rework in 1944? The letters and numbers look original.
Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob
 
AFAIK, Ishapore never made the No.4. They made No.1 till at least the 1950's if not the 1960's, I'm sure someone here knows for sure. Your GRI is an Ishy.
 
GRI stands for
Georgious Rex Imperatore.
(in other words) King George

GRI was the wartime factory in India which was renames RFI (Royal Factory Ishapore) after the war. RFI is still in production today.

Incidently the Indiand did not embrace No4 tooling to a gtreat extent. They did develop their own No4Mk1T off of the No4 frame. Here is an example

By the way, the Indians often refurbed shot out SMLE's and manufactured their own. Either way they are fine weapons and extremely reliable. GRI and RFI are common manufacture for enfields found in the hills of Afganistan (even today). Who would have thought .303's would eventually be fired at Canadian soldiers?

Hope this helps.
Merry Christmas

Richard

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- Some Ishapores No.1 MKIII* in .303 Brit. have shown up in the USA dated as late as 1969.

- India never made new No.4, but they did rebuild many British issue one by scrubbing all markings and remarking them with Ishapore markings.

- Pakistan bought ex-British arsenal machinery and jigs and manufactured their own No4 MKII rifles.
 
RFI = RIFLE Factory Ishapore. It's not "royal" as the switch to RFI coincided with Indian independance.

Ishapore made the SMLE in .303 until at least 1987, believe it or not. I've personally seen half a dozen made in that year. Not sure why they made the .303 concurrently with their 7.62 version, but they did.

Also, the No.4T that Riflechair posted is NOT an RFI made 4T, though they did refurbish it. The other pictures at JoeSalter clearly show the H&H remanufacturing proofs on the receiver, so this wasa brit sniper before India got a hold of it.

4T's actually converted at RFI are actually pretty rare - reconditioned brit snipers such as this one are much more common.
 
I think it is "Georgius Rex Imperator". After the independence of India, it became GR; the Emperor portion was dropped, the British monarch having been Emperor (or Empress, - VRI - Victoria Regina Imperatrix) of India. King or Queen of the rest. Also Defender of the Faith, etc., etc.
 
To say that they returned to "GR" after Indian independence isn't exactly correct, I dont think:
The "I" for Imperator was only used in India, but shortly after independence, which was in 1947, as India became a republic, it royal references were dropped and RFI is used. The king or queen of Britain was also Emperor or Empress of India. So, ERI or GRI mean it has been stamped in India. Georgius Rex, Imperator = King George, Emperor, for example.

In the UK, it was simply VR, GR or ER, as the case may be, because there title there is simply King or Queen so-and-so, so Victoria Regina or Georgius Rex in Latin.

Why Latin I don't know, other than just in keeping with being snooty.
 
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