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

IMHO it is a rifle that sometime after 1928 was given to Australia by the Brits as reparation for the lithgows lent in WW1 or as WW2 war aid. The Australians subsequently issued it and FTR's it at some point, replacing the handguard and some parts.

The barrel IS matching - you can see 457 under the nitro-proof markings.

I suspect that butt is the original walnut butt, but has been heavily marked by the Aussies, as is common.

It's not uncommon to see early British SMLE's FTR'd in Australia after WW1.

Nice snag.
 
Hey,

My post got dug up. I was just about to add to it as I should be getting it back from Louthepoo tomorrow. He did some work to it and made sure everything was as it should for some shooting.

Hopefully I can take her out this weekend and put her through the paces. I will report back if it isn't too embarassing!

As for the markings on the rear sight, it doesn't match the serial of the gun and must be a replacement at some point.

Cheers,

Ian
 
Didn't see this when it first went up.

Very nice rifle, British SMLE III/*/= with a very strong Aussie background.

When War One started, everyone rushed to fill the recruiting offices; NOBODY had enough rifles. Entirely possible that British rifles were supplied to Australia which then became Aussie rifles. Lithgow only started very slow production in 1912; there just would not have been enough rifles, unless they wanted to start issuing Sniders again.

This one has had a rework in 1917, a British rebuild and new barrel in 1928 and further work at Lithgow in March of 1946. She has been around. She also has lovely wood.

Any luck at all, she's a shooter and a damned nice rifle.

You're a lucky guy, Smitsauce!
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Very nice rifle indeed! It was a pleasure to fix the forend and give her a bit of a workout at the range :)

Picture228.jpg
 
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