Kamloops gun show- SMLE (first 6 pics)

[stevebc]

I got a very good deal on this SMLE, which came with the bayonet I posted about earlier:

It's a 1916 BSA Sht. LE III*, all matching (but not the magazine) the bore is bright and maybe a bit worn to my eye but I haven't slugged it yet. The headspace is fine, it won't quite close on the .074 gauge.
As you'll see, the numbers are not all stamped in the same way, and I get the feeling that the 22 was added later. I've been reading up on this in Skennerton, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I'll post another thread with 6 more to break it up a bit.

 

[smellie]

Well, she is all correct for what she says she is: a 1916 Short Lee-Enfield Mark III*.

She has been back to Birmingham Repair at some time, likely late in the Great War, for repairs. Likely that is when the S.S.A. (Standard Small Arms) triggerguard would have been fitted.

SSA was another rifle plant in Birmingham which had a huge amount of trouble getting machine-tools. It was set up during the Great War and got its very first parts out in 1915 but didn't have the tooling to make the complete rifle. First parts they made were Bodies and Bolts. Government wanted RIFLES but these were the hardest parts to make, so the completed SSA parts were sent to Enfield to be built into complete rifles. By the time SSA had enough machine-tools on the floor to make a complete rifle, it was getting on towards late 1917 and the Government was ticked..... so they simply TOOK ("nationalised" is the word they used, then as now) the entire factory, renamed it NRF (National Rifle Factory Number 1, which made metal parts and National Rifle Factory Number 2 which made the woodwork). NRF made rifles through to the end of the Great War, then the entire plant was closed and sold off.

Now here is the fun part: Enfield made about 60% of all rifles made in England during the Great War. BSA made about 30%. LSA (London Small Arms) made about 5%. SSA and NRF between them made the final 5%.

ANYTHING with SSA on it is scarce.

But the parts all interchanged, so there were no problems as far as the Armourers were concerned.

No, I have NO idea why the SSA parts were sent halfway across the country to Enfield (14 miles North of London) when there was a functioning plant right in the same town. Government!

Hope this helps.
.

 

[DOOK]

I love the look of that old wood. So warm, and so many stories of the hands that held her.

 

[stevebc]

Hope this helps.
.

It certainly does! Many thanks, sir.
So, there's nothing unusual about the serial numbers?

 

[TimC]

That SSA part could have been fitted by a unit armourer in repairs!