A naked SMLE

[PeterN]

About 16 years ago I bought this SMLE at the Trafalgar Meeting at Bisley. It looked nice and the butt disc was marked RAF Leuchars so as an ex RAF chap I took a liking to it. However, the first time I took it to the range the fore-end started to fall apart. It turned out that someone uneducated in taking the woodwork off a Lee Enfield took the butt off before removing the fore stock. The result of this was the metal keeper plate in the fore stock was spread and split the wood. I was a tad annoyed about this. I posted about this on an online forum, the old Gun & Knife forum I think, and the dealer I bought it off saw the post and made contact with me. He was upset that a rifle he had sold me in good faith was faulty. He arranged for me to send the fore stock back to him for repair which I did. When I went to collect it, he had repaired the original fore stock but also prepared another fore stock to match the colour to fit to the rifle. While I waited, he fitted the new fore stock. That has proved OK over the following years. I still have the original repaired fore stock. I took a few photos whilst the rifle was semi naked. One annoying thing about the rifle is that it was made as a Mk III with a cut off but someone has ground off the part the cut off screws to so I can't install a cut off plate.

More pics to follow.
Regards
Peter

[PeterN]

More pics.

The broken stock.

nice rifle

A nice rifle that I am glad to have. The dealer in question has now retired though his previous partner is still trading.
Regards
Peter.

[Ovenpaa]

I really enjoy breaking a rifle down to inspect,clean, research and document and currently have a Ross mk3 and a Lithgow No1 Mk3*from 1920 that looks to have seem action in Korea. Both will be stripped and checked during the Christmas break.

[bradaz11]

One annoying thing about the rifle is that it was made as a Mk III with a cut off but someone has ground off the part the cut off screws to so I can't install a cut off plate.

would that not have been done as an armoury upgrade?

so out of interest, what is the correct way to strip out an SMLE?

[Rearlugs]

About 16 years ago I bought this SMLE at the Trafalgar Meeting at Bisley. It looked nice and the butt disc was marked RAF Leuchars so as an ex RAF chap I took a liking to it. However, the first time I took it to the range the fore-end started to fall apart. It turned out that someone uneducated in taking the woodwork off a Lee Enfield took the butt off before removing the fore stock. The result of this was the metal keeper plate in the fore stock was spread and split the wood. I was a tad annoyed about this. I posted about this on an online forum, the old Gun & Knife forum I think, and the dealer I bought it off saw the post and made contact with me. He was upset that a rifle he had sold me in good faith was faulty. He arranged for me to send the fore stock back to him for repair which I did. When I went to collect it, he had repaired the original fore stock but also prepared another fore stock to match the colour to fit to the rifle. While I waited, he fitted the new fore stock. That has proved OK over the following years. I still have the original repaired fore stock. I took a few photos whilst the rifle was semi naked. One annoying thing about the rifle is that it was made as a Mk III with a cut off but someone has ground off the part the cut off screws to so I can't install a cut off plate.

SMLE naked.JPG

SMLE butt socket.JPG

SMLE action.JPG

More pics to follow.
Regards
Peter

Nice rifle. Actually quite significant - among the very last No1 MkIIIs built as a standard service rifle. In 1940 BSA switched to building "dispersal" rifles (rifles made from any bits to hand, and to wartime finish) and changed the "BSA&C0" to just "B".

In fact your rifle must have been built as they were transitioning, because it has a non-standard "40" overstamping what was probably "1939".

Shame about the cut-off boss being removed. Thats definitely a recent modification, and not any sort of military refurbishment.

[PeterN]

Bradaz11, when taking the wood off a SMLE, the fore stock has to come off first and then the butt. The end of the stock bolt is squared off and it sits in a metal plate inset in the end of the fore stock. This is to secure the bolt so it will not easily come loose. Undoing the stock bolt with the fore stock in place spreads the metal plate and splits the wood.

Rearlugs, I have a dispersal Mk III* SMLE with just the B marking dated 1942. The last two digits of the date are stamped with a different font as per the 1940 rifle. Most dispersal rifles I have seen seem to be stamped this way.
Regards
Peter.

[Rearlugs]

Bradaz11, when taking the wood off a SMLE, the fore stock has to come off first and then the butt. The end of the stock bolt is squared off and it sits in a metal plate inset in the end of the fore stock. This is to secure the bolt so it will not easily come loose. Undoing the stock bolt with the fore stock in place spreads the metal plate and splits the wood.

Rearlugs, I have a dispersal Mk III* SMLE with just the B marking dated 1942. The last two digits of the date are stamped with a different font as per the 1940 rifle. Most dispersal rifles I have seen seem to be stamped this way.
Regards
Peter.

Yes, whats highly unusual about yours is that it is clearly a commercial rifle that has been given "proper" military markings instead of the dispersal "B" code.

It must have been assembled from commercial work-in-progress parts just at the point that they were switching from "proper" military rifles to "dispersals".

The last production "proper" military No1 MkIII rifles have a 5-digit number with an "L" prefix and are mostly 1939 dated. The "dispersals" then come along with 5-digit numbers "M" and then "N" prefixes. Very few repurposed commercial rifles seem to have retained their original number as yours has.