I had to look twice at the serial number.
Cool, I believe i know where there is another LE with the serial number 5004 but iirc no prefix or suffix, hopefully my mate still has it.
Small bore Lee-Enfield SHT 22 MKIV*
- Thread starter Brutus
- Start date
Cool, I believe i know where there is another LE with the serial number 5004 but iirc no prefix or suffix, hopefully my mate still has it.
The sights look, err, american?
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Has anybody seen one of these interesting SMLE conversion .22LR trainers before? -
Wow! I wonder how it shoots??
Thank you sir.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Please educate us!
Yes, Italy is the source, I thought someone would pick up on the PB (Beretta) marked front sight.
Here are some pictures I left out in the earlier post and a poorly translated from Italian text from a Italian book on them -
After the war, Italy was in a strange situation: on one side is a defeated country, the other has the status of co-belligerent with the Allies and has a occupying and armed English army.
Probably, the co-belligerence would not serve to make us appreciate that much by the victors, but it came in handy geographical position. When Europe went down the "iron curtain", our country (fortunately!) He was on this side, but immediately behind the edge of the "enemy", that is, with the areas of Istria and Dalmatia which, fallen into hands of Yugoslavia, were under direct Soviet influence.
It was therefore in the interests of the Western Allies to maintain and indeed strengthen our Armed Forces, no longer Regie but Italian. The Enfield, the P14 and BREN So they were on duty beside the different versions of 91, MAB, pistols, revolvers and several machine guns that fueled the confusion logistics of our stocks of that period.
In the early 50's began to arrive from the USA the first crates of Enfield Garand and gradually passed into the background. In the early 60's still plowing under some riflemen battalions, but only in the Navy remained in service until almost the 80.
In the early postwar years they produced several Italian factories so ammunition in caliber .303 and Terni were made specifically for Enfield No. 1 and No. 4 different types of bayonets, either from scratch that working out the old blades than those of '91. No gun of this type was ever built in Italy instead. However, there is a Enfield which is exclusively Italian: the object of this book.
For ancient practice, from the beginning of 900 Britons distributed, together with their rifles, the trainer in .22 LR, which from 1926 took the name of No. 2 Mk IV. The same was done with the weapons assigned Italians.
So far nothing new. But strange things happen in Italy ... Just the arrival of the Garand, which determined the beginning of the end of the story of the British guns in our country, led to the birth of what can be called the only Enfield "Italian".
Apparently, someone thought that the system aims of the new US rifles were too innovative for the domestic servant, requiring the creation of a dedicated trainer version. He then arranged to take a number of No. 1 Mk III transformed into .22 caliber (delivered as such by the British or realized in Terni from some specimens now too worn out to still use the original size) and step on it the pin and the viewfinder of the Garand, without any change.
The result was a totally unique gun. The number of units built is not known, and maybe it's better that way, not to get too upset thinking to waste ... The transformation was in fact laborious and no doubt well-executed, thus resulting in disproportionately expensive compared to the hypothetical benefits.
Leaving out the steps needed to transform into a .22 caliber .303 for recycling, to convert a regular trainer in arming we are describing was in fact necessary to make changes to the receiver (and particularly to the bridge in the Mk III serves as a guide to platelets loading), the socket of the viewfinder and the mouthpiece.
All this, without even considering the reservations you may have the idea to train the use of a semi-automated using a bolt-action single shot and not be aware that the best way to teach her to shoot a Garand is ... to shoot a Garand.
In addition, the examination of trademarks imprinted on the blades kicked of these guns appear to have been all made by the early 70s, before the Garand was now widely distributed, the soldiers had learned to use them and by then the Enfield was passed almost all between the reserves.
Yes, Italy is the source, I thought someone would pick up on the PB (Beretta) marked front sight.
Here are some pictures I left out in the earlier post and a poorly translated from Italian text from a Italian book on them -
After the war, Italy was in a strange situation: on one side is a defeated country, the other has the status of co-belligerent with the Allies and has a occupying and armed English army.
Probably, the co-belligerence would not serve to make us appreciate that much by the victors, but it came in handy geographical position. When Europe went down the "iron curtain", our country (fortunately!) He was on this side, but immediately behind the edge of the "enemy", that is, with the areas of Istria and Dalmatia which, fallen into hands of Yugoslavia, were under direct Soviet influence.
It was therefore in the interests of the Western Allies to maintain and indeed strengthen our Armed Forces, no longer Regie but Italian. The Enfield, the P14 and BREN So they were on duty beside the different versions of 91, MAB, pistols, revolvers and several machine guns that fueled the confusion logistics of our stocks of that period.
In the early 50's began to arrive from the USA the first crates of Enfield Garand and gradually passed into the background. In the early 60's still plowing under some riflemen battalions, but only in the Navy remained in service until almost the 80.
In the early postwar years they produced several Italian factories so ammunition in caliber .303 and Terni were made specifically for Enfield No. 1 and No. 4 different types of bayonets, either from scratch that working out the old blades than those of '91. No gun of this type was ever built in Italy instead. However, there is a Enfield which is exclusively Italian: the object of this book.
For ancient practice, from the beginning of 900 Britons distributed, together with their rifles, the trainer in .22 LR, which from 1926 took the name of No. 2 Mk IV. The same was done with the weapons assigned Italians.
So far nothing new. But strange things happen in Italy ... Just the arrival of the Garand, which determined the beginning of the end of the story of the British guns in our country, led to the birth of what can be called the only Enfield "Italian".
Apparently, someone thought that the system aims of the new US rifles were too innovative for the domestic servant, requiring the creation of a dedicated trainer version. He then arranged to take a number of No. 1 Mk III transformed into .22 caliber (delivered as such by the British or realized in Terni from some specimens now too worn out to still use the original size) and step on it the pin and the viewfinder of the Garand, without any change.
The result was a totally unique gun. The number of units built is not known, and maybe it's better that way, not to get too upset thinking to waste ... The transformation was in fact laborious and no doubt well-executed, thus resulting in disproportionately expensive compared to the hypothetical benefits.
Leaving out the steps needed to transform into a .22 caliber .303 for recycling, to convert a regular trainer in arming we are describing was in fact necessary to make changes to the receiver (and particularly to the bridge in the Mk III serves as a guide to platelets loading), the socket of the viewfinder and the mouthpiece.
All this, without even considering the reservations you may have the idea to train the use of a semi-automated using a bolt-action single shot and not be aware that the best way to teach her to shoot a Garand is ... to shoot a Garand.
In addition, the examination of trademarks imprinted on the blades kicked of these guns appear to have been all made by the early 70s, before the Garand was now widely distributed, the soldiers had learned to use them and by then the Enfield was passed almost all between the reserves.
Thanks for this, i would have just assumed it was some fanciful bubba creation otherwise.
