SMLE Find

[Missing Something]

So I found this on Ebay.... touted as a Bren gun training item.. Made by Parker Hale in the UK.... Picture of its use is in The Lee-Enfield Story by Skennerton (pg. 190). Looks to be a Home Guard or non-sanctioned item.



Any additional info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[y2k]

Cool VERY cool

 

[Gibbs505]

Interesting, .... waiting for more info on this one!!

 

[smellie]

You're gonna have to change your screen name now, pal, because you've got them ALL!

VERY impressive.

I have heard of these but this is the first I have actually seen a photo of. They were used for tactical training of squads and companies 'way back when there weren't enough Brens to use for training.

Now that we can't take our Brens out an shoot them any longer in our Free Country, maybe we should get another batch made!

Absolutely FINE catch!

 

[smellie]

I have about a thousand questions about this critter.

What markings on the rifle?

Anything stamped on the rifle to indicate the mod?

What did it cost?

997 others that I can't think of right now, but they will come.

Great catch, really!

 

[Missing Something]

I have about a thousand questions about this critter.

What markings on the rifle?

Anything stamped on the rifle to indicate the mod?

What did it cost?

997 others that I can't think of right now, but they will come.

Great catch, really!

Thanks,

The rifle was not included in the sale (I had it previously)... All I got was the carry handle and the bipod.

Rifle is a 1918 Mk III* and was made by Enfield. Its C /|\ marked and has a 67 Bty RCA brass disk in the butt.

The bipod attaches by removing the sling swivel and band and putting the bipod on. The carry handle attaches by a screw band fitting infront of the rear sight.

The only other one I have seen was on the Collector Source web site and was listed at $1500. I paid 1/10 of that and it came out of the UK.

As far as I have gathered it was used after Dunkirk for Bren gun training because of the lack of Bren guns. At that point there were 30,000 Brens in service and 27,000 were lost in service up to that time (June 1940).
According to Skennerton they were not an Official issue item. The only markings on them are the Parker Hale logo.

 

[smellie]

Thanks for the info.

It sure looks good, all put together like that.

The British lost huge amounts of equipment in the pullback and evacuation from France. Hitler sent his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, to Dunkirk after the pullout, to take some pictures. Hoffmann (who was Eva Braun's former employer) was experimenting with some of the early colour film and shot several rolls of colour. At the end of the war he buried the negatives and kept them hidden for a long time. About 20 years after the war, when he felt it was safe, he dug them up and sold prints to the British papers for publication. That's where I saw them, in the Sunday supplement to The Times. The beaches were an unimaginable tangle of wrecked and abandoned and purposely-destroyed equipment (including nearly ALL the Triumph Speed Twins in the world) but what stuck me the hardest was the endless numbers of Lewis Gun drums..... in 1940.

At that time, Monty's Seventh Division and the Canadian First, and the RAF, were all that stood between England and total defeat. Hitler offered peace at that time, we are told. I HAVE Hitler's 'peace' proposal in a book; it amounted to utter subjugation.

Your new find was certainly NEEDED, even if it wasn't 'official'.

 

[Mr Wolverine]

Thanks for the info.

It sure looks good, all put together like that.

The British lost huge amounts of equipment in the pullback and evacuation from France. Hitler sent his personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, to Dunkirk after the pullout, to take some pictures. Hoffmann (who was Eva Braun's former employer) was experimenting with some of the early colour film and shot several rolls of colour. At the end of the war he buried the negatives and kept them hidden for a long time. About 20 years after the war, when he felt it was safe, he dug them up and sold prints to the British papers for publication. That's where I saw them, in the Sunday supplement to The Times. The beaches were an unimaginable tangle of wrecked and abandoned and purposely-destroyed equipment (including nearly ALL the Triumph Speed Twins in the world) but what stuck me the hardest was the endless numbers of Lewis Gun drums..... in 1940.

At that time, Monty's Seventh Division and the Canadian First, and the RAF, were all that stood between England and total defeat. Hitler offered peace at that time, we are told. I HAVE Hitler's 'peace' proposal in a book; it amounted to utter subjugation.

Your new find was certainly NEEDED, even if it wasn't 'official'.

They were great colour pictures in the Sunday Times Colour Supplement, this was a thin colour magazine put out every week. I kept that copy for years but sadly it has disappeared over time along with another copy on WW I battle fields with (what was then) current photos and a copy on the "Six day war". As far as I know those photos have not appeared anywhere else.

Great find Craig!

 

[Dryzen]

Very interesting!

 

[Timberlord]

Collector's Source has these attachments for sale on thier Militaria page
Cool find !

 

[OEM]

That's one cool SMLE!

 

[Dawg]

Yes, very nice!

 

[stencollector]

I have a set of these somewhere in the gunroom. As I recall they are also is in that odd green.

 

[John Sukey]

When you think about it, thats not actualy a modification as the rifle can easily be put back to its standard form by just exchanging parts and removing others.