Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Well The No.1 Mk III I mentioned earlier is now mine.

Don't have a suitable camera handy but will borrow one this week to take photos.

For now I'll post as much info as I can.

The serial number is low and theres no letter prefix. I'm thinking this would mean it was a very early 1915 production.

I think a collector that looked at it years ago said he thought it was actually produced at the end of 1914 and not proofed and marked till 1915 which could be why my friend kept refering to it as a 1914.

The markings on the action strap are

The Crown with GR marking
Enfield
1915
Large "S" then smaller underlined "HT" still in upper case only half the size of the other letters, followed by large "LE"
the III with no *. Another sign of early 1915 or late 1914 production.

The safety lever also has III stamped on it.

There are very few markings on the action and they are very lightly stamped as if the metal is harder than usual or the tools not as sharp.
There are two import markings, the one on the rear of the action body is also very light and barely readable as if the metal has a very hard surface, the marking on the right charger guide base is a bit deeper and plainer, the metal there not being as hard.

The left side of the receiver ring has crossed pennants on their sides with "G I" over them and what looks like "R" under them. the " marks are mine, not in the markings.

Below that, also laid on its side are what looks to be
C
26
a blurred stamp which might be a double struck D, hard to say.
Then what may be 18

The damaged rear sight slide is numbered to the receiver but has a struck through number above that, so I'm figuring it was a replacement force matched at a later date when the cut off was removed.
At least I can now feel better about replacing that damaged rear sight with a non matching part.

Its hard to tell if this rifle was refinished or not. The bluing is not shiny, nearly a matt black, but not like parkerizing. It looks more like its simply aged with little handling and hasn't been wiped down much if any.
It looks like dust settled on it and was dusted off but seldom really wiped down. I don't think its been in a damp environment much if any.
No sign that there has ever been any active rust anywhere, no pitting. Just a super fine patina of near microscopic marring on the upper surfaces of the action and charger guide. Like it had been hung up for display untouched for decades.

The bore looks very nice.
My friend doesn't know much about high powered rifles, this was his first, so he wasn't very through about cleaning the bore after firing. Luckily it appears he never used corrosive ammo in it.
Theres still some carbon build up in the grooves but the lands are mirror bright and sharp as the day it was made.
The powder fouling is coming out nicely and there seems to be no copper fouling build up at all.

The bright slick lands and lack of metal fouling make me suspect that this rifle may have received the Parker Hale "Ball Burnished Non Nickeling Target Barrel" treatment. Advertised as preventing any metal fouling.

My friend is a former industrial robotics technician so when I mentioned Ball burnishing he recognized the term. He said that the process at his factory compressed the surface by two microns hardening and sealing the surface. Not sure if its the same process, he may have meant some sort of bead blasting process for exteriors.

Anyway the bore is the best I've ever seen on any military rifle of any kind, and the rifle's proven accuracy bears that out.
This is why I plan to build this one up as a 1920's style civilian target rifle. With full military stocking of course.

As I mentioned earlier I have the properly numbered nosecap and all fittings, which are also in excellent condition just as the barreled action is.

With any luck I should have this one looking just as it would have at a British NRA match of the mid 1920's.

Once everything else is put together I'll start looking for a period Parker Hale apeture rear sight.

I figure on using one of the EFD Mk III Walnut fore ends, these come already cut for the magazine cut off.
New well seasoned wood should simplify bedding and give the best accuracy.

Later on I may obtain the necessary parts to add the Volley sights.

For now
I will be ordering
1. the EFD fore end
2. The replacement Mk III adjustable rear sight
3. a replacement cut off plate. I believe the rifle still has the cut off plate screw in place.

Can't wait to see some pics. It sounds like a keeper!

Yep this is going to be my best project yet.

When I saw how cruddy my friend had let the bore get I told him it looked like I'd rescued this Enfield from his basement in the nick of time.
He's been ill for some time and seldom gets out to shoot much, same here as a matter of fact. So he hadn't given the old girl the attention she deserved.
The bore is cleaning up nicely, no rust and showing bright as a mirror where the fouling has been ceared away.
He isn't too keen on cleaning a bore but at least he doesn't spare on the gun oil. I think he used Remoil with teflon. That should have prevented any air getting to any salts.
I'm pretty sure the only ammo he has fired through it is non corrosive.
From the looks of the bore at this point I don't expect any suprizes when I get the last of the crud out.
I'll need a new brush though, I wore my last two out on the Yugo. I had to use the .32 pistol brush today, which isn't really suitable for that much inner surface.

After getting a lot out with Sweets I swabbed it good with balistol to sit over night. I'll get some new brushes tomorrow and knock the rest out.

Looking at the oddly pretty buttstock I think it may be kiln dried Beech that got over heated. It has a very pretty flame grained look, sort of tiger striped.

please post if the cutoff screw was intact without the cutoff - that would be unusual ,

mid/late 1915 would be the switch from mkIII-III* [at BSA the omision of the cutoff was in september ] & ENFELD with a slow transition using up parts in stock , the cutoff was considered important after the war , the mkV and mkVI both had them , as did the first no4 prototype , the LOC was official jan 2 1916 ,

is the rear sight adjustable or pinned ? the forcematch would definetly indicate a replacement but by an official refurb id think ,

thats a shame - we need to see the photos , it sounds to be a very nice rifle and well worth refurbishing

First try at photos of the 1915
Couldn't find the firewire cable to download from my Sharp MiniDV so I picked up an el cheapo Digital snapshot camera, results are less than stellar.

I'll try to post better images soon.




This shows my modification to the buggered rear sight allowing opposed screw adjustment.
I've ordered a replacement Mk III rear sight it should be here in a few days.
The Parker Hale PH5A is here and it looks great, much nicer condition than I'd expected.

looks to be a nice one so far

I got the Mk III rear sight I ordered from APEX this evening and I've already mounted it on the 1915.
I may use the modified sight on a sporter one day, or give it to a friend to use on his Mk III* when testing handloads.