Unknown Enfield

joe n

joe n

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This is another Enfield rifle I have, but don't know the first thing about it. Can anyone tell me exactly what it is? Thanks very much
Joe







 
Makes you want to chunder. Bubba really got to that.. It is possibly restorable with a replacement forend and removing the doo-hicky on the barrel I did have a LE carbine with a butchered forend and someone in Canada made a replacement for me. Even found a nosecap.

By the way, that WAS a carbine. Worth a LOT of money if it had not been buggered The bar on the buttstock was where you would attach a carbine sling.
 
Under the paint(!) and the grunge, the markings all are correct.

Lee-Enfield Cavalry Carbine. None made after about 1901, very few before that.

Clean it very carefully and gently, restore it perfectly and you are looking at about a $2000 toy.

You definitely hit it RICH!
 
Magazine Lee Metford Carbine. The first carbine built on the Lee action. Originally these had a sling loop on the butt socket below the Royal Cypher and date, but the loops were ground off after only about a year of service. Not sure why, but probably because it made no sense to have a sling loop on the opposite side of the butt as well. The loop is why the markings are so high up on the butt socket.

That rifle has been carried for decades from the wear to the butt around the sling loop! The barrel is not original as you can see from the serial numbers. Looks to be a cut down Lee Enfield MkI barrel. There is what looks like a sleeve around the muzzle as well; never seen anything like that before.

I'd strip the paint off, but leave the wood alone. It's one of those rifles that is old enough and rare enough that even as severely bubba'd as that, it is best left as is, unless you can do a complete restoration. It oozes history; just too bad so much of it is lost. Could well have served in the 2nd Boer War.

Not sure why the proof marks on the receiver were barred out like that. You can see the "sold out of service" mark just above that: two broad arrows, tip to tip, so it was sold as surplus early on, as most of the carbines were.
 
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Magazine Lee Metford Cavalry Carbine Mk1
Here's what it would've looked like originally.
isuc.jpg

ppy2.jpg
 
This has been very informative thank you gentlemen. Just a group of sporterized rifles I found in an estate grouping. Thanks again gentlemen!
 
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And thanks Fugawi! Just when you think you are out, they drag you back in lol! Truthfully I've moved on and just trying to deal with some loose ends around the house. Take care!
 
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