No5 MkI, legends, truths or bs?

flying pig

flying pig

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I bought a 1945 BSA No5 MkI recently. Its in excellent shape, aside from a mismatched bolt and stock, but its a perfect shooter.

The seller told me a few stories on it. He said that it was issued in Malaysia and that's why the fore end has varnish on it, and that they often removed the fore end cap and rounded the wood there, like a sporter. Any truth to this?

The fore end looks super dry and has twisted, so if it wasn't done in service I want to strip it and give it a good soaking in RLO before I try to fix the fore end so it doesn't make contact with the side of the barrel. Kind of hoping its just drier than a popcorn fart and has twisted from it. Front band is loose too so I hope things swell up and go back how they should be.

I can post pics tonight.

Thanks
 
You are sure that it is indeed a No. 5? Take down the rifle and examine the receiver and barrel. There should be a a great deal of milling done to the rifle to lighten it up. Many "No 5s" are actually No. 4s in disguise.
 
Yes it has the cuts on the barrel and proof stamps in the right spot, and milling on the receiver wall. 1945 dated and if I remember right the serial was BF69xx on the receiver.
 
Get a book called the Lee-Enfield Story, No 5's actually had 3 different forend caps, if I was at home I'd scan the page for you and send it to you.

It's a hard book to find but will worth it if you have an interest in Enfields!

Scott
 
EARLY Number 5s hd the open-wood fore-end.

The metal piece came later.

Check out what Captain Peter Laidler says about them; he was an Armourer in Malaya during The Emergency.
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Blastattack said:
You are sure that it is indeed a No. 5? Take down the rifle and examine the receiver and barrel. There should be a a great deal of milling done to the rifle to lighten it up. Many "No 5s" are actually No. 4s in disguise.
Click to expand...

m39a2 said:
Get a book called the Lee-Enfield Story, No 5's actually had 3 different forend caps, if I was at home I'd scan the page for you and send it to you.

It's a hard book to find but will worth it if you have an interest in Enfields!

Scott
Click to expand...

I recall reading in my copy of that book that sometime armourers would take to No5 to the workshop and swap out the No5 receivers with No4 receivers. It was an off the books practice to rectify rifles that may have been less the adequte to shoot commies. This would explain some of the receiver hichups but not all. There are a lot that bubba built.
 
here it is. Serial is BF69XX, bolt serial is G67XX and has the lightened knob. Stalk is G6598. All proper lightening that i know how to find is present, barrel, receiver, bolt, etc. Rear sight looks to be off a Faz but is the right graduations.

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Not a perfect example, but true and I think, worth having. No metal on the end of the forestock is a correct variation and mismatched parts is possibly authentic as it could occur in repairs in service, especially if it was at the end of a long supply chain as Malaya was. An authentic bayonet is itself a find, and if yours is just a reproduction it's still a nice accessory to have.
 
The bayonet is real, its a later variation No5 MkI. It has definitely been there, done that. Its actually the reason for my buying the rifle. I'm fine with mix matched parts as long as an armourer did it in service. I like as issued pieces, I only have one unissued rifle and frankly it bores me.
 
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