Anomolies appear rather frequently, especially where they
On No. British service firearms during the period prior to 1925 had a different
The most common of these were: XP was used for the Shortened and Lightened Australian Lithgow (No6 Jungle Carbine) rifles, A was used for No1 MkVI trail rifles, BS was used on the British No7 small bore rifles, and T1 for the No5 small bore rifles. the securing pin (a la M.H.
Over the past several months, Enfield Rifle Research has received dozens of questions about the spate of "new" and "rare" Lee-Enfields that have been showing up lately at gun shows and in pawn shops. Mk1* rifles, but they have an "L" in their S/N. 'F' prefixes before the last rifle F40580 was manufactured in 1953. number. The volume of serial number inquiries has prompted me to fashion this page together and try and explain how best to identify a particular rifles manufacturer. was that on the barrel rather than the action body.
- The Golden Century by John Knibbs.
I cannot imagine an importer taking the time and going to the trouble of scrubbing bolt numbers from several/many rifles' bolts rather than just selling them with mismatched bolts; a mismatched bolt is a definite thing, a scrubbed bolt is anyone's guess. 19 posts 1; 2; Next; Trace by Serial Number Trace by Serial Number. The importer would not generally go to the trouble to match the proper bolts and/or magazines with their respected rifles. 4 specs and the 'A' became a suffix to indicate the fitting of some
On the same vein, unless an importer had a very large number of rifles to deal with, it seems that the effort to match the rifles and bolts might well be worth charging a few extra dollars.
& M.E. It is interesting that different rifle
I'm not a 'businessman', I am a potential buyer willing to pay a little more for 'matching'.This website uses cookies for functionality, analytics and advertising purposes as described in our ParallaxBill's Curio & Relic and Military Surplus FirearParallaxBill's Curio & Relic and Military Surplus Firear CraigM. The Lee Enfield Forum > Trace by Serial Number.
An example would be: rifle serial number 52C2689 would be the 522,689thrifle produced by Savage Stevens.
Such rifles would have 5-digit serial numbers with either an “E” or an “F” serial number prefix, and the serial number would be stamped on the rear of the bolt handle and on the bottom of the fore-end, as well as on the receiver ring. model, so it is possible to find carbines/rifles of different Mark designations
with the same serial number.
,On the top of the front barrel cap it has “JB”letters. Truth be known about Enfield serial numbers is simply, the serial number was used more for production counting than any other reason. Post Jan 24, 2012 #1 2012-01-24T16:32. firearms including the Snider, Martinis, Magazine Lee-Metford
These specific letter prefixes were assigned to ROF Fazakerley and BSA Shirley, the only two manufacturers of the No5 rifle, this ensured that there would be no duplicate serials during the production run of No5s.
Originally these would all have matched - often when rifles have been repaired or FTR'd (Factory thorough refinished) these do not match or have been renumbered to match. number, from Army Inspectorate records.Canadian post-1956 small arms utilized a 'C' rather
Enfields are a lot of fun to research. service. production ceased with F39580 and the 1,000 rifle run during the Korean War ran
number engraving progression, is reported to have had at least one duplicated
designate Canadian production and/or issue.C3 rifle 7.62mm Parker Hale M82 Sniper Rifle in Canadian
Find Members Posts. My recently acquired 1917 SMLE has a four figure number. There are more but again I would suggest reading either Skip Strattons or Ian Skennertons books on the subject.Serial Numbers, Model, Mark and Manufacture IdentificationSerial Number and Manufacturer Information LocationsSerial Number and Manufacturer Information Locations position covered by the closed bolt handle. Replies: 14 Views: 352; Rating0 / 5; Last Post By. rifles of the period. itself, usually atop the receiver ring. Yet again, once the sequence of numbers caped out letter prefixes were used to start the sequence over. A serial number of 84C62** implies that your rifle was the 846-thousandth rifle made at the Savage plant. An example would be: rifle serial number 52C2689 would be the 522,689No5 rifles (Jungle Carbines) serial numbers consisted of a sequential 4 digit number starting with 0001 running through to 9999, the numbers were preceded by a letter prefix. Members Profile. Create New Topic. non-interchangeable. programs.
barrel or front inside of the body can damage wood furniture, especially if
Lee Enfield Markings Identification . Yes some Indian forestocks were indeed numbered (I have several). &c.) however the numbers stamped on the butt or even on action bodies
1 Mk VI and No. The prefixes were assigned as follows:A, B, C, D, E, F, G, L, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T ,U, V, W, Y ,Y, Z, AA, AB, ACSeen in the picture above are the normal spots to find the serial number and manufacturers information on the No4 and the No5 rifle. than 'L' prefix. SMLE and previous MLM & MLE rifles & carbines initially had the action body
Moderator note. on serial numbers will also be found in the new book, numbers on
It is an Enfield manufactured rifle. ? CraigM. Send Private Message. are a good guide and indicator in the study of rifles, carbines, pistols and
So mismatched bolts and magazines are not always the result of rebuild or repair.He who lives by the sword, should go out and get himself a really nice sword.I am still puzzled about an apparently small group of Lithgows (I believe that they were likely a batch of 'cadets') offered a few years ago by a well-known U.S. seller who showed a rack of maybe 8+ of these rifles in a posting done in response to a forum poster's question about those rifles having their bolt numbers scrubbed.