US marked #4 Mk1?

[lavochkin]

Saw two of these in a local shop the other day. 1943 and stamped US PROPERTY on the receivers. Anyone know anything about these?

[pokey074]

manufactured by savage for the british under the lend/lease program of ww2

[Schuetzenman]

Yep what he said!

[lavochkin]

Cool. So just how rare are these? They're the first like that I've ever seen.

[Schuetzenman]

Not that rare really as we made so many of them for the gunless Brits. I don't have any stats on how many but I've seen probably a hundred in my state alone.

[Triangle 66]

About 1992 a ton of these were imported,in like new condition.I think I paid $90 for mine.

Mine has the two groove barrel.

[Schuetzenman]

Yeah, I think the 2 groove barrels are the originals put on by Savage. The one I have I believe is rebarreld as it has a 4 or 5 groove barrel. It also has South African cartouches on the stock.

[MrSkelington]

just to add to what has been said

"It was this rifle which eventually became the standard British Army infantry rifle during the Second World War. Another deja vu occurred in mid-1941 when (again) it was realised that accelerated rifle production was needed, and that (again) the Americans were the ones to achieve it. This time, though, a slightly simplified Lee-Enfield No.4 was produced, much the same as the British rifle. Savage Arms was the chosen company, and the American manufactured No.4’s were dubbed the Rifle, No.4 Mark 1*. Strangely enough, they were marked “U.S. PROPERTY”, although there was never any question of the U.S. Army using them."

From African Hunter.com