My favorite Lee Enfield No 1 Mark 111

[RCS]

I have had this for a very long time. a BSA Co 1909 Sht L E 111 serial number u over 5721 with
matching '09 barrel, nice bore too. Still with the volley sights, wood is still sound. I do have a
hooked quillon Wilkinson bayonet dated 5 '09 but the bayonet is in much better condition than
the rifleP1010012_0008_008.jpgP1010010_0006_006.jpgP1010011_0007_007.jpg

[bruce]

Beautiful rifle! You are most fortunate to have it in your collection. Sincerely. bruce.

[p246]

Awesome LE eye candy, thanks for sharing.

[JB White]

That would be a favorite in my stable as well.

[Merc]

Very nice. Is it a shooter?

[free1954]

nice. it's a wonder it survived so long as is.

[RCS]

early No 1 Mark 111

I have not shot this rifle in awhile with 303 cartridges but do shot it in the local pistol
ranges with the chamber adopter in 32 S&W/32ACP with my low number SA M1903's

No import marks but while the parts all appear to be period, not everything is matching.

The rear sight has a working windage screw which I think is not common to find and the
barrel has both the SC and HV stampsP1010022.jpgdscn1039.jpg

[JB White]

SC and HV are totally acceptable as an in-service upgrade. The lengthened small cone and the milling of the sight ramp were merely the upgrade to better handle the MkVII ball ammo in the supply system. Is there any evidence of the rear sight having once been pinned into place?

[RCS]

JB White, I am able to turn the windage knob so the sight will go all the way to the left on the
graduation scale then back past the center. I have heard of the early windage sights being pinned,
how did they pin them ? The sight leaf is not matching to the receiver.

Robert

[JB White]

The pinning was done from the under side to keep it staked into place. It was often undone by previous owners by very carefully drilling out the pin to free up the adjustment. Many sights were broken when owners tried to turn the windage adjustment thinking it was simply sticky and needed an extra nudge. That left the adjustment wheel free spinning and a scowl on the owners face. It also meant scrounging for a working replacement which were somewhat readily available for a short period of time.
So long as yours is working I'd say leave well enough alone because that's as good as it will ever get. This late in the game it doesn't matter who replaced the sight. The rifle has everything on board to represent an early and functioning MkIII. After a century of service in countries around the world (including cannibalizing for spares) those are tough to find in decent correct condition. I really don't think you can improve on it. Not without leaving outward tell-tale signs that it's been monkeyed with.

[RCS]

JB White, Thank you for your information. Robert

[RCS]

Wingage on Mark 111 rear sight

I took some photos of my BSA 1909 Mark 111 to show the rear sight and working
windage knob, the windage knob makes an audible sound with each click !

I have found two more Lee Enfield rifles with working windage knobs too,dscn2891.jpgdscn2890.jpgdscn2883.jpg also
shown in my photo

first is a Enfield 1903 Mark 1** I.P. rebuild in 1914 in India, the windage knob works
in this rifle too.

Second is a Mark 1*** Enfield CR 1283 with a Mark 111 leaf sight with windage in a
Mark 1 sight base on this rifle. Also this rifle has Mark 111 wood too. The windage
sight works very well on this rifle

[JB White]

The CR prefix MkI*** Irish rifles were all converted/upgraded to SMLE specs so yours is OK. It's all official and an in-service documented mod. For future reference, the ER prefix is pretty much the standard Mki*** while the GR prefix rifles had been mostly reinforced for grenade launching. This only applies to the Irish issue MkI* series rifles.

[RCS]

Enfield 1904 Mark 1*** G 839

I have a G pre-fix serial number G 839 while the bolt is G 837, stock disc is N. this action body is on its
third serial number now. This was a (I think) a wire wrap but the wire was removed and a Mark 3 fore-end
was used with the patches and plugs that were cut out for Mark 3 rifles. It was a rebuild job using a
Mark 3 fore-end. My old friend at Gun Digest bought in a pawnshop in GA years ago then sold it meP1010043_1_0039_039.jpg

[JB White]

That was originally reserialed as an ER then cancelled. Interesting. Have you added that to Fritz's list over on Gunboards?