Irish Lee Enfield's

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cruisedub

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Hi guy's , I'm new to this forum and I'm doing some research into the sale of Lee Enfield rifle's by the Irish Government . I believe that a quantity of these rifles were sold to a Canadian company who resold them on the Canadian market .
If anyone bought one of these rifles I would appreciate any information you could give me such as serial number and any distinctive markings , also pictures would be appreciated .
 
"Irish Contract" Lee Enfields were never delivered to the Irish Government, they were produced during the 1953-54 time period. The order was eventually cancelled and the rifles were sent directly to British War Stock. The Serial Numbers start at PF318###. All of these rifles were No4Mk2 made at Fazakerly. The quality of these guns is outstanding, entirely apart from the fact that the majority were sold on to the surplus market new, still wrapped and greased. Apart from the serial number range, there were no special markings on these rifles. All rifles have the Mk1 rear sight and were fitted with brass but plates, they are normally found with serial number matching Number 9 bayonets. Some of these rifles were fitted with short stocks and sent to cadet organizations, so they may also be found with 'ding'ed stocks and external wear to the plate and metal finish, but internally as new (they didn't give the cadets ammo - just rifles).
 
this has been on the net for a while, just found it.

It is believed that the first batch of 100,000 MK2's were numbered :
PF 118000 PF 217999

Following on from this initial batch were three fairly small batches :
PF 218000 PF 219799 (1800)
PF 219799 PF 275947 (56,148)
PF 225948 PF 250947 ( 25,000)

In 1951/52 they started producing the 'contact rifles' - there is a huge list of
rifles by country but here are the first few (including the infamous 'Irish Contract')

PF 250948 PF 301547 British Army
PF 301548 PF 304047 Sudanese Order
PF 304048 PF 309347 N/Known
PF 309348 PF 359347 Irish Republic (50,000 rifles so why all the interest ??)
PF 359348 PF 359747 N/Known
PF 359748 PF 359817 Zambia

If you really want a 'rare one' forget the Irish contract and get one of these :
PF411462-PF411471 Hong Kong (10 rifles)
 
actualy some DID get to Ireland but the majority went into storage in the U.K.

Now the exception to the rule is the No1Mk3. It should have a FF on the knoxform (Finna Fail) the gaelic name for ireland and i do have one of those.
 
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