help with Lee Enfield Carbine?

[kencox]

New to forum and and have questions regarding a Lee Enfield carbine that was said to be carried by a Wheeler in the Artillery during the Boer War. On the right hand side of the stock impressed into the wood is a circle within a circle with RM Enfield; and immedialely below that is an L and under that is a 1.
The regimental brass has 1.00 and under that is 2RDFP and under that is a 37. Can anyone tell me what regiment that might be? The chap who owned the gun originally shipped out to SA with the RNWMP before being assigned to the British Army.
On the other side of the rifle, on the strap between the triger guard and the bolt, there is a crown, under which is VR underneath which is Enfield and then the year 1899 under which is LEC and finally underneath that is a 1

The only thing missing is the leather sight cover, the saddle scabbard, and the Clearing Rod; I would appreciate any help in finding any of those.
For those of you more knowledgeable of the Enfield, I am adding a couple of pictures. (Didn't work, I am not sure how one adds pictures)

 

[kencox]

Hopefully this will allow pictures to be seen of this Carbine. As you can tell, I am not too good at this!!

http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1965808

I have more pics if these turn out. I just added 2 more pics of a sporterized Mk1*** and I am wondering if I should try to restore it.

Ken

 

[Dantforth]

Well Ken, I can't help with the history but you are lucky to have one which you have some idea of the provenance. Not all are as well marked and some had the marks removed. Someone here will be able to help. Good luck, Dave

 

[englishman_ca]

Nice one!

Very nice, what you have is a Mk.I Cavalry carbine. Looks to be quite complete and original. Front sight blade looks that it might be a modication, I can't really see from the pics.

As regards the markings on the butt, the Enfield roundel will have a roman numeral 'I' underneath (not an L) to denote Mk.I version of the carbine. The '1' under that is to denote a first class arm as issued to first line troops (as opposed to a downgraded arm issued to second line militia).

The brass disk shows 1.00 being the date when the carbine was accepted into regimental inventory, i.e. Jan 1900. 2RDFP is the regimental designation, I will research it and get back to you. 37 is the regimental rack number.

List of Changes in 1899 abolished clearing rods from all future manufacture, advancing the model to Mk.I*. The LOC also specified that all existing clearing rods were to be removed from service at unit level. That is the reason why why clearing rods are so hard to find, they were all tossed. So your carbine being in service post 1899 would actualy be incorrect if you fitted a clearing rod.