My First Enfield (Pic Heavy)

wgamble89

wgamble89

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I decided to make the trip over to the Truro Gun Show today in Bible hill and I'm some glad I did. I've wanted an Enfield for a while now but just never got around to getting one. On one of the tables a gentlemen had two for 125 each, one with a good mag but d/t and the other with a franken-mag. I was looking them over and about to make an offer for the one with the franken-mag when another gent with a strong french accent came over and started inquiring. In the end we offered 150 for the two and I left happy with a Enfield for $75. I picked up some ammo while there also and fired her almost as soon as I got off the ferry (crown land about five minutes away) and I must say I really like it. I have no real clue about all the different types of Enfields but it says BSA on it and 1942 as well as SHT LE III* and fits nicely in the Enfield crate I bought last week at a yard sale.

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Just a wartime hurry-up rifle to go bang, but they did take some care and some pride in making this one.

You don't often see the nice "piled rifles" BSA trademark on wartime bolts.

There is what appears to be a LINE long the bottom of your mag. Check it very closely with a magnifying glass. If it says "MADE IN ENGLAND" in tiny, tiny capitl letters, it is a commercial mag, which makes it worth about what you paid for the whole rifle.

She has been refurbed in London; that "GP with the crown" is a London Proof House marking, not often seen on a Birmingham rifle.

You got yourself a whole big ball of questions there, but in awfully nice condition. You should come to some of the gun shows out here; I would love to follow around a guy as lucky as you!

If I owned this one, I think I would start slowly getting together the parts to restore it. It is a good example of a wartime emergency rifle, but with all its own parts. As a sporter, it will keep the freezer filled for another 200 years; as a military rifle, it could be the centrepiece to a small collection. That commercial front-sight ramp comes off easily: remove the sight blade, take off the ramp, put the sight blade back (hopefully!) in the same position.

Nice Toy!
 
smellie said:
Just a wartime hurry-up rifle to go bang, but they did take some care and some pride in making this one.

You don't often see the nice "piled rifles" BSA trademark on wartime bolts.

There is what appears to be a LINE long the bottom of your mag. Check it very closely with a magnifying glass. If it says "MADE IN ENGLAND" in tiny, tiny capitl letters, it is a commercial mag, which makes it worth about what you paid for the whole rifle.

She has been refurbed in London; that "GP with the crown" is a London Proof House marking, not often seen on a Birmingham rifle.

You got yourself a whole big ball of questions there, but in awfully nice condition. You should come to some of the gun shows out here; I would love to follow around a guy as lucky as you!

If I owned this one, I think I would start slowly getting together the parts to restore it. It is a good example of a wartime emergency rifle, but with all its own parts. As a sporter, it will keep the freezer filled for another 200 years; as a military rifle, it could be the centrepiece to a small collection. That commercial front-sight ramp comes off easily: remove the sight blade, take off the ramp, put the sight blade back (hopefully!) in the same position.

Nice Toy!
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Thanks for all the info, the mag does have "MADE IN ENGLAND". My intent was to get one with hopes of restoring as there's nothing to hunt here with 303, so it looks like the part collecting begins.
 
I don't remember seeing the BSA piled rifles logo on the bolt handle before. Does the bolt match?
 
RRCo. said:
I don't remember seeing the BSA piled rifles logo on the bolt handle before. Does the bolt match?
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I didn't notice at first but on the bolt there are very faint marking looks like MI 8404 or 6404, so I guess the bolt was a replacement.
 
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wd113 said:
Tell me about the crate you scored at the yard sale..... Sounds like another stroke of luck......
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It's in a well used shape as it was war issue then used by the PEI biathlon team, it's been painted white on the outside and has signatures and stickers on it from it's years as a biathlon case but at $5 I couldn't resist.

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$5 ..... You'd be crazy to have left it ! Are you gonna refinish it , or leave its 'history' on? ... and back to the original topic, I have a BSA , Just went and looked, 1940, no stamp on the bolt, but has the 'piled rifles' stamp on the top....
 
You are screwed now, enfields are a "gateway" gun. Your going to want every enfield you see, and it won't end at just enfields. Soon you'll find yourself wanting a mosin, K31, mausers and every other milsurp gun you find to try and feed your addiction. And all you'll hear from the wife is you have too many guns, what the hell you need that for and so on. Good luck!
 
I've never seen a BSA with the SA missing on the wrist. First time for everything, I guess.
 
Losing th "SA" from "BSA" was a part of an effort to "code" plant names....... as if the Luftwaffe did not know where Birmingham was..... or that it was the only SMLE factory left in the country.

Later, it got a LOT more complex, with parts being made in (literally) hundreds of different shops, each and every one with its own code markings.

Plants in th South were given S numbers, plants in the Midlands (Birmingham included) were given M numbers and plants in the North (including Scotland) were given N numbers.

So, next time you see a Number 4 marked M47C, you have a rough idea where it was made..... geographically, at least!

Now you can load up that Junkers 88 that Grossvater stashed in the back shed and you know where to bomb!

More or less, anyway......
 
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