No.1 Mk lll* musket

DOUGLAS D

DOUGLAS D

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Just picked up one of these single shot .410 coversions.
It's a 1917 British built that's been reworked in 1948 and stamped over with Ishapore markings.
Otherwise 100% complete and with very decent wood and metal.
Magazine well is infilled with a wooded block.
Shoots and ejects perfectly so it's going to be a real fun chicken gun this fall.

How rare are these?
I've heard of them many times but this is the first one I've ever come across.
Likely paid more than it's worth but as they say "It spoke to me."
 
You can find them listed for sale in Gunrunners during the 90's. Most were in so so shape according to the dealer ads.
 
There are two versions
1. uses an un-necked 303 case (original)
2. Chamber reamed out to accept a standard .410 round.

Using NEW unprimed brass, you can fireform .303 cases to work.
6 gr of unique, fill rest of case with cornmeal, and a bit of tp to keep everything in place.
Load, fire, and you have it. This will be as LOUD as a blank round.
 
John Sukey said:
There are two versions
1. uses an un-necked 303 case (original)
2. Chamber reamed out to accept a standard .410 round.

Using NEW unprimed brass, you can fireform .303 cases to work.
6 gr of unique, fill rest of case with cornmeal, and a bit of tp to keep everything in place.
Load, fire, and you have it. This will be as LOUD as a blank round.
Click to expand...

I must have the second version as it chambers Winchester 2 1/2 inch with no problems.
Fired hulls come out fine without any hint of stickyness.
Lil bugger has an 18" pattern at 10 yards so it goes to say they didnt attempt to choke them down any!
 
They were designed to be fired with a single round ball.

Yes, a military shoulder arm utilising a load of a single round ball is, by definition, a MUSKET.

The .410 conversions properly are referred to as the LEE-ENFIELD MUSKET.

They were/are the very last MUSKET accepted for military service.

You have a chunk of history..... that you can hunt with. Just wait 'til the game warden gets a look at that full wood: he's sure to think you're using a rifle. Then you get to tell him what YOU have. Go ahead: make him jealous.:cool:

Mine looks like recycled garbage but it's a lot of fun.
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Thanks Smellie.
I've heard that they were built as prison guard guns for colonial troops.
Is that true or just another bit of folklore?
 
Ganderite said:
A CGNr told me of a family member who was armed with a 410 SMLE as a guard at a Canadian concentration camp for japanese canadians.
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That's the same fella who told me of the .410 Enfields in the first place! I soooooo wanted to post that grim bit 'o' Canadiana! Internment Camps for folks who had been here for generations!
 
DOUGLAS D said:
I dont know about that.
The 1948 Ishy stamp places it after the end of the war.
There's likely earlier ones though.
Click to expand...

The "local" one was also an "Ishy" with a '48 stamp and, "wood blocked" bottom (Typical of the Ishy's). I took lots of pics...

You are absolutely correct about "other ones" and, I wish one of the Guru's would chime in here...
 
I picked up a nice 1948 one a little while ago.
I was sort of wondering what for at first.
Makes a good companion for my MK II Martini Henry .577/.450 smooth bore.
Shoots 2.5" slugs better than I thought it would. Lots of fun.

A guy was telling me he let the Game Warden write him a ticket for carrying a high power without a licence for big game during the season. Then showed him it was a .410.
 
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I just sold a 1940 dated conversion of a 1908 (or 05, I can't recall) British Mk.III so they do come earlier.
 
I remember seeing a commercial conversion SMLE on the EE a coupe years ago from the UK that was chambered for 2.5 inch commercial. Something about UK firearms laws? I wonder if anyone ever made any No.4 muskets. Maybe the Indians with some of the captured Paki No. 4 Mk.2's?
 
.410" musket was officially introduced in 1927 but may have been in production earlier since Skennerton lists one as a 1925 conversion.
Service ammunition was ball, segmented (square) shot, buckshot, blank and dummy.
Issue of this arm was confined to India also Pakistan after seperation.
 
mbogo3 said:
They didn't trust the locals with real rifles ?
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Used for riot control and prisons,

Now the really rare variation is a single shot in .303
The brits didn't quite trust some of the local militia.
Two versions
1, built as a single shot, the trigger guard extended from the king screw to the rear trigger guard screw. (No mag well)
2. conversions, Same wood block in the mag well with a metal loading tray rivited in place. Was lucky enough to find the second version.
 
In 1923 Indian Army troops opened fire with .303" ball on a demonstration in Amritsar India killing 300. This incident is often cited as beginning of the end of British rule. Musket in .410" introduced shortly thereafter.
 
They were introduced into the prison ervice BECAUSE they were just about useless. If you had the bayonet fixed, it was an awful thing to face in a riot. If you were a guard and had to fire the thing, you shot the guy in front of it and not the 6 guys behind him. The old Mark VI Ball cartridge would blow that 215-grain slug through FOUR FEET of seasoned pine and the Mark VII had its own nasty habits at close range. With the special ammo, use of the weapons could be controlled by controlling the ammunition at SOURCE. Very smart idea.

BTW there is another active thread on Muskets right now, too. Good info there.

My Musket is a 1946 on a 1918. It's fun!
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