Rather odd find - pics added

kjohn

kjohn

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
173   0   0
Location
SE Sask.
I had tables at the Assiniboia show this weekend. When there was a bit of a dull spot, I wandered over to a fellow's table and spotted a refurbed (new wood, etc.) No.1 Mk3. After a while I went back and made a deal with the fellow. I took the rifle back and tended to business for a while. I looked down the barrel. Oh oh! BIG time corrosion. Took it back to show him, he was horrified. He offered to take it home and put a new barrel on it. I suggested he just refund a bit of money and I'll take it home and clean it. He did, and I managed to get it cleaned a bit today.

Interesting rifle. It was originally a 1937 GRI No.1 Mk3 (no star), then it was redone into a .410 in 1942 at RFI. Now it is a .303 again. :)
 
Last edited:
My friend picked up one like that last week. The .410 markings cancelled out with P marking added and fitted with a .303 barrel. Rifle is fully matching also, so its an Arsenal refit.
 
JP said:
My friend picked up one like that last week. The .410 markings cancelled out with P marking added and fitted with a .303 barrel. Rifle is fully matching also, so its an Arsenal refit.
Click to expand...

Yes, this one has a "P" on the barrel, but the 410 RFI 1942 still clear on the left side of wrist socket.
 
JP said:
.410 is still visible, but with diamond cancellation marks on both sides of it.
Click to expand...

By golly, it does have diamonds on each side of the .410 stamp. Thanks for pointing that out. I wonder when that took place. It was made into a .410 in 1942, so it would be after that it was put back to .303 configuration.
 
It is shame on some sellers,but....
Since i found that maaany guys bring theyr guns to shows with really dirty barrels and internals,I always have bore light and small cleaning kit with me.
 
The book "India's Enfields" covers the Indian Pattern, Indian made, conversions and rebuilds of LE rifles well.
 
It never ceases to amaze me that vendors often have dirty, damaged incomplete items on their table when a little work would increase the value of their items. It is also a pet peeve that sellers do not know how much they want, are not there, have items on there tables that are not for sale etc etc. A little prep can go a long way.

The other lesson is to always examine anything you buy and check out barrels, missing, non matching parts etc

Habits, manners, bathing sense of many sellers and buyers at shows could be greatly improved!!!!!
 
To quote "Riflechair."

Type 1941 Indian SMLE: These under went a Factory Repair (or rebuild) at some point
(perhaps several times). This was done to supplement new production. This has been
referred to as a "Salvage Program", since many of the rifles returning from the jungles of
Burma were no longer serviceable but were a good source of parts. Many of these rifles
have gone through the Indian FR program more than once and are comprised of Australian,
British and Indian manufacture components.

A total of 150,000 Type-41 variants were manufactured between 1941 and 1975 (This
program overlapped the transitional period from British rule to an independent India). It is
important to note that the ‘Salvage Program’ is reported to have continued past 1975.
These are considered common SMLE variants in the global sense. That’s over 4,400
refurbished rifles per year over a 34-year window. I think that’s a pretty significant
allocation of resources during a difficult war-torn period in India. All weapons were
renumbered to match between 1941 and 1975 and marked with FR stamps on the left side
of the wrist.
 
Okay, here's a couple of pics of what's on the wrist socket. The .410 side doesn't really make sense, since they supposedly didn't start using "RFI" until 1948. Maybe we can flush out some of the more knowledgeable people here to help. The whole rifle is probably as close to a hump special as you can get. I bought it to play with, to shoot, so I don't care about the collector value.
 
I took old "Odd Find" out to my friend's range today. Fired 5 rounds Winchester factory, rang the 100 yd. gong four times. One miss was my fault. I am not going to complain at all. Casings look good, not overly stretched. Considering that it has been manufactured in .303, switched to .410, the switched back to .303, then re-stocked just lately, plus had a rusty bore, the old rifle did just fine. :)

View attachment 160692
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom