No.1 Mk.III ID and Information Sought

Drachenblut

Drachenblut

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Dear Gun-Nutters

I have a lovely No.1 MK.III that has unsual markings all over her I can't find anywhere. I've taken pictures and tried to describe as best as I can. Any ID help would be great! An additional picture I forgot to take was a marking of a Broad Arrow that had been stamped on the reciever fore of the safety and is not in the pictures.

http://s1013.photobucket.com/albums/af259/Drachenblutt/Lee Enfield No 1 Mk III/

Please Enjoy Responsibly, any information would help alot as to what I have.

Yours,
Drachenblut
 
Hmm. Well, on the right side of the butt socket, we see it's a No1Mk3 made at the Enfield arsenal in 1917. No "*" is visible though; Is there a magazine cut-off plate on the right side of the receiver, or a slot for one to be inserted?

Not sure why there are letters and numbers stamped on the left side below the safety lever - that's not the serial number because it doesn't match the one at the "usual" spot.

The "broad arrow" is a British government acceptance mark.

The bayonet is obviously a Wilkinson-made pattern 1907 made in 1919 I suppose; the D -arrow - D mark means Australian Department of Defense.

Sorry I can't tell more...
 
Your correct on the bayonet Lou. The 7 in a star looks like an Aussie proof, possible Aussie proof for MKVII ammo..? The HV is high velocity, the S.C. means the barrel chamber is cut for a short lead from chamber to rifling for Mk VII ammo.

The M36083 is the serial number, The serial number should be on the bolt, receiver, barrel, rear sight, the stock behind the nose cap underneath. and of course the nosecap.

You have windage adjustments for the rear sight, does it work or is it pinned?

I have seen many Lee Enfields with a variation of the AL 15698, I think this is an Algerian usage number of rack number.

Hope that helps.

Pete
 
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Thank you so far. They Bayonet is a nice touch, I am always interested in Australian equipment. There are fixings for a magazine cut off, lou. However, the bolt matches and the bolt cocking piece is of the slated type for a No.I Mk.III *, though there is no star visible, only two sideways dashes one above the other. The rear site is not matching to the rifle, and the windage does not seem to be "pinned" as I can move it, but not by much. As for the markings, looks like she's been to Australia and possibly Algeria. Anyone else can help me out here?
- D
 
"...only two sideways dashes..." Minor damage. May have been dropped or otherwise whacked sometime since 1917. Thoses aren't standard markings. Might be a crossing out of a previous marking though.
Mag cut offs were long discontinued by 1917. Wartime experience prooved how useless they were. Mind you, some rifles had them put back in after W.W. I.
The picture you have labeled as the front sight is the rear sight. Nothing unusual about it. No windage adjustment with any No. 1 rear sight. Windage is done with the front sight only.
Check the headspace before shooting it. If it's bad, fixing it is easy, but not cheap. You need a handful of bolt heads to try with proper headspace guages until you find one that the bolt closes, completely, on a Go guage, but not on a No-Go. If it closes, completely, on a No-Go, try a Field. If it closes completely on a Field, the headspace is excessive and the rifle is not safe to shoot with any ammo.
 
Hi, I have already shot it and it shoots like a dream, great groups using Winchester Super X Ammo, store bought. the bolt head seems to be the proper one for the rifle, I've had no issues with the 60 + rounds I've put through it. The dashes are not scratched into the metal, they are stamped in, and not overtop of anything, thus is why I am wondering if it was a non star mark that was made into a star and they labelled it differently? Pictures can be found on original post.
 
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