My New 1915 SMLE No.1 Mk III (PICS ADDED)

Smitsauce

Smitsauce

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Just got this. A 1915 Lee Enfield No.1 Mk III made by Enfield. Anyone know what the markings mean on the butt? Volley sights and cut-off are still intact. Bore is minty fresh and the metal retains a surprising approximately 95+% blueing! The forestock and front handguard look original, or very old replacement and are walnut. The rear handguard and butt stock look to be replacements and perhaps coachwood?

The Bolt serial matches the receiver and is very low at R457. No serial markings on the forestock. The nosecap seems to have been well used and there are no markings left that are decernable.

The Butt stock is marked with 11/17 72620 above III HV. Then beside that is CMF over 3MD 50570 and then next to that is R over MA over 3/46.

It came with an excellent condition 1907 Aussie bayonet as well but I forgot to pull it out of the safe to take pics.

I can't wait to try her out!

Any comments or information is very welcome. Enjoy!

Ian

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Some more pictures of various areas:

1907 MA 4/42 Aussie Bayonet in excellent condition

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Rear of receiver

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Nose Cap

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Side of Cocking Piece (MA'41) with the little star

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Serial number on bolt handle

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Rear left side of receiver

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Front left side of receiver and barrel shank

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Front right side of barrel shank

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Right side of barrel shank and receiver

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Nice SMLE! Love the tigerstripe on the forend.

Love the intact volley sights!

If I had to guess, I'd say it was an Aussie buttstock. That HV and MA tend to be Aussie things. The rifle itself is Enfield though.
 
From the buttsocket, the rifle was made as a III, converted to III*, then reconverted to a III. You can see the lined out *.
Is the barrel original to the receiver? Remarkable for a rifle that has seen that much service to have a minty fresh bore. Just pop off the rear handguard to check.
No serial on the end of the nosecap's bayonet boss? Or on the underside of the forend just behind the nosecap?
HV and MA on the stock certainly would seem to be Australian. Does the cocking piece have any Australian marks? A round cocking piece would be expected for 1915.
 
Tiriaq,

The barrel doesn't seem to be original as there is no serial number on it under the rear handguard. The bayonet boss is well worn at the front and nothing remains as a number. I checked the regular location for the serial number on the underside of the forend, behind the nosecap and there is nothing there either. I will have to check the cocking piece and take a few more pictures.

Thanks for the info.

Cheers,

Ian
 
woodchopper said:
I don't think that is Austrailain, not a Lithgow

MA that you see is some other unit marking not a manufacure mark
Click to expand...

But HV...I have only seen that on Lithgows. It's like a High Velocity proof test they do for later ammo.

It was made in England but as for where it was issued??

At any rate, I'm not sure but guess it's from Aussie service.
 
if you look close at the right wrist scraping over the Enfield there are some deep marks but none in the wood. The woods may not be original either. it may be a pieced together rifle .
 
Winnipeg Toymaker said:
if you look close at the right wrist scraping over the Enfield there are some deep marks but none in the wood. The woods may not be original either. it may be a pieced together rifle .
Click to expand...

If tiriaq has it right, the wood is a replacement as it was changed from a Mk III (with cutoff and Volley sights), to a MkIII* (without the volley sights and the cutoff was probably removed), back to a MkIII with the cutoff and volley sights reinstalled requiring a new forend.

After I took the rear handguard off to take some pictures, I looked really carefully and you can actually see the serial number on the barrel shank that matches the receiver and bolt!!!!! There are all of the nitro proofs over top of it but if you look carefully you can see the R over 457.

How the hell did this thing get all the way through from 1915 with an almost mint bore???!!! As you can see from the muzzle picture, the crown seems to be very old. Did they ever re-serial number the replacement barrels?

As far as the butt markings go, I took a look at my 1943 Lithgow and the markings III* HV seem to be very similar and it really looks like Coachwood.

Now to find out what the CMF/3MD stands for with those numbers.

Cheers,

Ian
 
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Barrel is 1928 dated. The cocking piece is WW2 Australian. Commercial British proofs on barrel; would have been applied after the rifle was surplussed.
 
That makes a bit more sense. I just found out through google that CMF over 3MD is an Aussie marking meaning Citizens Military Forces/3rd Military District - Victoria. It was their version of an army reserve.

Wikipedia has some cool info. Maybe this old girl has been to New Guinea? If only she could talk.

From Wikipedia -

"Despite being the main focus upon which Australian defence planning was based, since Federation Reserve units have primarily been used in the role of home defence and to provide a mobilisation platform during times of war. During World War I Australia's contribution to the fighting came from forces raised outside of the citizens forces that were in existence at the time, and although many citizen soldiers enlisted in these forces, the Citizens Forces units remained in Australia.[5] With the outbreak of World War II a similar situation evolved, with the establishment of an all volunteer expeditionary force,[6] however, with the entry of Japan into the war the threat to Australia became more direct and a number of Militia units were called upon to fight in New Guinea and other areas of the South West Pacific."

Ian
 
You may have just answered one of your own questions. For the first 20ish years of the rifle's use, it probably didn't see a lot of hard use, then it had a spat of ferverish use and back to easy life post war.
 
Wow!! That old girl has some real character! Gotta love those old beasties with all the various stampings and variations. Nice find indeed!! :)st
 
On the 11th picture down looking at the right side of the receiver it is marked MA 41 (Munitions Australia, 1941) and what appears to be a Lithgow star. If it went in for repairs in 1941, wouldn't they have removed the volley sights?
 
Did anyone notice the amount of wear/use of the rear sight? Somebody has been doing a fair bit of distance shooting, 800 yards or better by the wear on the sight by my estimation. Perhaps gauge the barrel. (re cut? Did the Aussies ever do this? New barrel is certainly easier but...?)
 
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