I bought a Enfield No 1 Mark III

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

I am clueless about these, but it looked nice and was cheap enough. It is dated 1918 on the right under the bolt handle, and the bore is almost perfect, and no corrosion anywhere.

How do I find out who made it?

[Vladimir Berkov]

Welcome to the club! These are sweet rifles with the best-feeling action of any bolt gun I have shot.

What does it say around the date? There should be more stamped there.

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

There is a crown, then
G.R
B.S.A.O(illegible character)
1918
SHT. LE
III

I must say, the bore is really nice, but I noticed the rifling runs opposite every other rifle I have ever owned - guess the Brits do everything differently than everybody else lol.

I have not shot it, yet.

[NC_Rebel]

GR = "Georgius Rex" or King George V
BSA Co = Birmingham Small Arms Company, Birmingham, England. BSA made more No.1's than any other arsenal. What you have is a No.1 Mk.III*. Has to be. BSA didn't make any Mk.III's in 1918. Look closely there at the big "III" and you should see a star there too.

Mind if we ask how much you paid for it?

[zouavexx]

Ahhh! My Favorite Rifle!!!!


Good for you HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin!

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

Originally posted by NC_Rebel
GR = "Georgius Rex" or King George V
BSA Co = Birmingham Small Arms Company, Birmingham, England. BSA made more No.1's than any other arsenal. What you have is a No.1 Mk.III*. Has to be. BSA didn't make any Mk.III's in 1918. Look closely there at the big "III" and you should see a star there too.

Mind if we ask how much you paid for it?

Yes, there is a * after the III.

What does that mean? I also noticed the barrel and receiver match, but little else. The CAI stamp is on the gun as importer, and I believe it came from SOG.

I paid $120 for it, full of cosmo, from a local dealer. I went to buy a mint #4 he had, but found out he sold it already, and since my mind was set on getting an Enfield, this one was the next best one.

Are there any other marks which might tell me a little more history on the gun?

[NC_Rebel]

Okay good. The asterisk designates the final revision to the No.1 Mk.III. It just means that a couple frivolous extras (the volley sight and magazine cut-off) were removed to streamline production.

There are proof marks all over the thing. You will see, if you look very closely, the broad "ordnance arrow" mark the British stamped on all their military equipment. The BSA proof mark is a German scharfes S, like this ß. It would be on the bolt, receiver, trigger guard, nose cap and other places. Since yours was made in 1918, chances are your rifle doesn't have a brass disc set in the butt stock. If it did (war production rifles have them) then it would tell you the unit this rifle was issued to. That's pretty much all the identifying marks you're going to find. Now the bayonets on the other hand, they're very interesting. If you buy one of them, you will find all kinds of proofs and things stamped all over them.

Sounds like you got a good deal there. :)

[srv656s]

I would like to buy a pretty nice example of one of these. Anyone know of a distributor that carries them? Also, what do you guys think of the "jungle Carbine"?

Shawn

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

Originally posted by srv656s
I would like to buy a pretty nice example of one of these. Anyone know of a distributor that carries them? Also, what do you guys think of the "jungle Carbine"?

Shawn

I almost bought a No 5. NC or Schuetz posted that they had a inherent wandering zero problem, so I opted to get the No 1 or No 4. Plus some places like NavyArms cuts down No4's and sells them as Jungle Carbines, I hear.

You can get a decent No 1 Mark III from SOG, or have your dealer order it, like I did. Ask for hand select if you can.

[HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin]

Originally posted by NC_Rebel
Okay good. The asterisk designates the final revision to the No.1 Mk.III. It just means that a couple frivolous extras (the volley sight and magazine cut-off) were removed to streamline production.

There are proof marks all over the thing. You will see, if you look very closely, the broad "ordnance arrow" mark the British stamped on all their military equipment. The BSA proof mark is a German scharfes S, like this ß. It would be on the bolt, receiver, trigger guard, nose cap and other places. Since yours was made in 1918, chances are your rifle doesn't have a brass disc set in the butt stock. If it did (war production rifles have them) then it would tell you the unit this rifle was issued to. That's pretty much all the identifying marks you're going to find. Now the bayonets on the other hand, they're very interesting. If you buy one of them, you will find all kinds of proofs and things stamped all over them.

Sounds like you got a good deal there. :)

Thanks for all the info. I will search the rifle and try to see all these marks and analyze them. No, it doesn't have the brass disc, and only the receiver, barrel and rear sight match. The bolt, stock and front cap do not. I wonder if these came from Britain or India? Is there anyway to tell if it was in WWII?

[NC_Rebel]

Originally posted by HerrdoktorSchuetzengruvin
Thanks for all the info. I will search the rifle and try to see all these marks and analyze them. No, it doesn't have the brass disc, and only the receiver, barrel and rear sight match. The bolt, stock and front cap do not. I wonder if these came from Britain or India? Is there anyway to tell if it was in WWII? No problem. I doubt any of the parts on your rifle came from India. If any of the parts did come from Ishapore rifles, it would have been done by Joe Blow, amateur gunsmith. Indian nose caps aren't exactly the same as British nose caps, and as such, British bayonets won't attach to a rifle with an Indian nose cap. You can imagine the trouble it would cause if a bunch of soldiers ended up with the wrong bayonet!!

As for questioning if this rifle saw action in WWII, that's tough to say. If it was an Indian or Australian or Canadian I'd say you could bet your bottom dollar on it. No.1's were still being made at BSA even after WWII began, and thousands of No.1's saw action in the early days of the war as the Nazi army rolled into Belgium and France. If you see pictures or film of the Dunkirk evacuation, you can spot the occasional Tommy with a No.1. Even as the new No.4 Mk.I was being produced and issued to front line troops, many reservists and Home Guard units still carried the No.1. So, we'll never know for sure if your rifle saw action in WWII, but you can bet that it didn't sit in a warehouse somewhere, at least not during the first couple years.