I have an 1917 SMLE which I am not allowed to fire very often as my son does not want me to wear out his inheritance.Ovenpaa wrote:There seems to be a lot of snobbery in some circles when it comes to Battle rifles such as the SMLE and I do wish people would just accept them for what they are, along with many others such as the 1903A1 or the Schmidt-Rubin 1896/11 and enjoy them instead of bigging them up or knocking them down dependant on which camp their foot is placed.
All of a sudden people are talking of sub 2MOA accuracy being the norm for such rifles at distances that the average club shooter seldom considers, when if truth be known a lot of shooters here in the UK are probably buying them to enjoy at distances out to 200 or so yards or so and for this they are tremendous fun when kept in the black. What they are not, is accurate by modern standards and I can personally only think of a small handful of such rifles/people who are shooting true MOA at 300 yards with such rifles. So Snayperskaya and I are definitely in agreement :)
BTW, a P14 although far less sexy is an inherently more accurate rifle by way of design before you even start to think about increased sight radius's and aperture sights.
Not all the numbered parts are the same,it was at some point in time South African probably after the WW1 and eventually ended back up in the UK probably after WW2.
No doubt the rifle has had a fair bit of history, this is what make it so special they are all different and you as the owner are part of the rifles history.
Coming back the rifle in question if it shoots all right and at a fair price then go for it and own and fire a piece of history.
I have another slot for an other 303 so my theme is a WW2 version whether that is an SMLE or an Number 4 will depend on 1 my son (inheritance again) and 2 what comes up that take my fancy