No 4, Mk I with a barrel marked ''Surry'' or ''Surrey'', what does that mean?

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dauph197

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Hi guys,
Don't have any picture yet but will go to have a look at a sporterised No 4, Mk I with the barrel stamped with ''Surry'' or ''Surrey''. It appears that the receiver as no more marking. The serial number is 29 L 410391.

Anyone has any clue about the ''Surry'' markings? Information is very different when googled!

Thanks.

Martin
 
Do we know why? New barrel? The place it was sporterized? The barrel still has the bayonet stud and the protector for the front sight (still don't know how the name this part on No 4, Mk I?). My guess it was made in England.
 
I believe Surrey was a company in England (NOT BC) that produced commercial sporters from military No 4 Mk 1 and Mk 1* rifles. With a serial number of 29L410391 it could be a Long Branch originally, but would have only had a 4-digit serial number after 29L- , so that may be a red herring. Post some pics and let us have a look :)

I had one marked Surrey , it seemed to be a mild sporterisation (wood cut down, but barrel with bayonet lugs intact.)
 
Probably done by Interarms in Birminghan in the UK they converted thousands of military Enfield into sporters. Anywhere from just cutting down the wood like your specimen to completely converting them into commercial sporters. Century International Arms when they were operating out of Montreal in the 70's was listing them in their mail-order catalogue. I still have a copy, where they listed several variations of these conversions.

- The Canadian
- The Surrey
- The Sussex
- The Custom
 
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JP is right, the Surrey brand was from a now long gone importer (Interarms) of surplus arms during the heyday of cheap and plentiful surplus firearms (1950's to late 1960's), I have seen and owned both sporters and full wood LE rifles with the ''SURREY & SUSSEX'' barrel stamps (they could have been restored). They all also had British proof markings, usually at the front in front of the bayonet lugs on the uncut rifles from the Birmingham proof house, so they were imported from the UK.

 
The "Surrey" marked No4 MkI rifles were sold by Eatons of Canada Ltd/Sears/SIR etc. There were three grades of Lee Enfields that were converted to sporting lines.

The "Surrey" if memory serves was the higher end model but still wore the milspec butt and had a rounded off forend. that was aftermarket Maybe it was just cut off at a point where no other holes would show. The other grades were the "Sussex" which was a No1 MkIII* in similar style. Then there was the bottom of the line but still in mechanically excellent condition "Essex" model which was also a No1 MkIII sporter.

JP's list as well as mine is quite short but representative of what was brought into Canada under different names which were stamped on the barrel.

Whoever Interarms hired to do the work did a pretty good job. Better than most attempts by bubba with his hatchet, hacksaw, file and rasp.

As mentioned, some of the No4 rifles still wore milspec barrels. All of the No1 rifles I remember seeing had uncut barrels as well.
 
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Many of the "Surrey" marked rifles I have seen had the last couple of inches of the fore ends dipped in black paint. They also had fabricated a small sheet metal ramp that was often attached to the front sight to give more of a sporter appearance.
 
So, here are few pictures of this ''Surrey'' rifle. It is in fact a Lee Enfield No 4, Mk 2 (F). I don't see any mark of ''FTR''. The marking are fading away but with few minutes of looking at it, it becomes a bit clear. I can also see 9/54, so I guess the rifle was upgraded or made in Septembre, 1954. Does the upgrade could have been made at ROF Fazakerley? Does it make sense to you?

Tried to get more info about it by looking in the British Service Lee but there is no mention at all about SURREY marking. So here are the pictures a made of the rifle and which I will try to correctly restore. If you see any markings taht give more info, please feel free to share it here. The meaning of the big ''29 L'' is something I would like to understand?

Thanks.

Martin



























 
Surrey is a civilian commercial marking that was applied after the rifle left military service, so Skennerton will not deal with this type of marking.
 
I don't know if "restore" is something that can be done to this rifle- looks to have a fair amount of rust or has been heavily sandblasted. Clean it up, lube it well, make sure it's safe to fire- and enjoy it as a sporter.
 
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