What does the red stripe mean???

[Griff Murphey]

Weren’t a lot of commonwealth DP rifles demilled by drilling holes in the barrel? It might be worth it to take the wood off and look it over.

[fguffey]

Mr. Murphy,

demilled by drilling holes in the barrel?

Yes they were, the white stripe painted over the red stripe incicated a DP P14 303. I had friends that pruchased the DP rifle in stacks. The last surviver had just under 50 left. A friend swore off of the P14 because of the differense between it and the M1917; of course I suggested he give the receivers to me, it was about that time he wondered if I knew something he did not know.

And then there are those that wonder ‘where is the savings?’ At the time there were many fine barrels available for $10.00, the last four I purchased cost $20.00 each.

F. Guffey

[fguffey]

It might be worth it to take the wood off and look it over.

Mr. Murphy, They did not go to that much trouble when they drilled through the barrel; they did not miss much, all of my DP type rifles were drilled through both pieces of stock (wood) and the barrel. And then there was the hole they drilled; some had a rod welded to the barrel on both sides, some were not welded nor did they have a rod that served as a stake.

And then a few of the receivers suffered.

F. Guffey

[JB White]

Some rifles had the firing pins nipped. Some had the pin nipped and the bolt face welded shut. Others were simply marked DP. All depends upon who, where, and when. “Why” is most times anybody’s guess.

[Johnny P]

The current issue of the Rifleman (pg.26) has a photo of a No.1 MkIII with the stock and magazine painted with a red/white/red stripe around the stock and magazine. According to text they have been decommissioned into drill rifles.

[clintonhater]

Surprising that wasn't explained. Suspect it's just to distinguish them from fully operable rifles. In scenes of street riots shown on TV news (usually caused by Muslim agitation), you still see police armed with Mk IIIs.

[JB White]

Not all DP rifles were decommissioned as there are plenty out there which are fully operational. DP is a downgrade. Very often due to excessive wear which cannot be repaired.
The red and white DP rifles are from India and they beat the crap out of them before dumping them on the surplus market.

Not only are they still using the SMLE, they were still producing them at RFI as late as 1988. If there are any newer, they haven't been surplused off yet. We were surprised to find 1970's dated rifles. Surprised again years later with the 1980's ones. None were DP'd though.