Mark identification on 1896 Enfield
- Thread starter versarious
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- ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Vancouver Island
The E means it had an Enfield barrel. The large C and one of the arrows is the Canadian c broad arrow military acceptance mark and the double arrows pointed to each other means sold out of service. The military would have added the second arrow when this rifle was surplus to their needs.
Canada purchased 40,000 long Lee service rifles in 1896. They served well through the turn of the century. 10,000 were sold off surplus to New Zealand just before WWI. Many of these years later ended up on the world surplus market to be imported back into Canada.
Canadian marked rifles sometimes have markings that suggest an interesting history. That is a Canadian Sold out of Service marking over the top of the standard Enfield rifling barrel mark.
There are some variations on Cdn SoS markings used, this is a new one to me. Surplussed Canadian rifles generally as a rule, do not get the SoS markings unless there is a reason. Not saying that this is anything special, but it would be interesting to find out what you have there.
Canadian marked rifles sometimes have markings that suggest an interesting history. That is a Canadian Sold out of Service marking over the top of the standard Enfield rifling barrel mark.
There are some variations on Cdn SoS markings used, this is a new one to me. Surplussed Canadian rifles generally as a rule, do not get the SoS markings unless there is a reason. Not saying that this is anything special, but it would be interesting to find out what you have there.
