A Deactivated 1944 dated WW2 issue ‘Dispersal Factory’ .303” No1 MkIII* Short Lee Enfield bolt action service rifle with 1938 inspected Pattern 1907 sword bayonet and canvas sling.
£850
A deactivated 1944 dated WW2 issue ‘Dispersal Factory’ .303” No1 MkIII* Short Lee Enfield bolt action service rifle with 1938 inspected Pattern 1907 sword bayonet, 10x Drill Rounds in stripper clips and canvas sling. Enfield bolt action with charger bridge to the top is stamped to the right side with a Crowned GR over 1944 SHt LE III* without a factory or makers name as is correct for these late war dispersal weapons. 10 shot magazine to the underside and safety catch to the rear left. Stock with regulation pattern iron furniture has brass butt plate with oil bottle and pull through compartment beneath the spring retained butt trap cover, the WW2 plastic ‘utility’ bottle and pull through both present. Modern replacement marker disc of incorrect pattern fitted. Old armourers patch to the right side head of the butt and a strengthening screw to the forend on the left to the front of the magazine, a common post war modification to improve accuracy when used as a target rifle. Barrel is fitted with a tangent rear sight graduated to 2000 yards with windage driftable foresight, the nose cap with protective sight ‘ears’ and bayonet boss to allow the fitting of a pattern 1907 sword bayonet. Regulation issue brass ended canvas sling fitted. Complete with a WW1 dated (1918) Pattern 1907 bayonet in scabbard by Wilkinson’s with 1938 inspection stamps to the blade. ’07 grip with wooden scales and release catch to the left side is struck with issue number 58 to the cross guard. Fullered ’07 blade is stamped to the right side with a Broad Arrow over Crown and an X bending test mark next to ordnance inspection stamps. The left side with Crowned GR over 2 ’18 WILKINSON for manufacture in February 1918 by the famous Wilkinson Sword company and a 1938 armourers inspection stamp showing the weapon was still in front line service a year before the outbreak of WW2. In its WW2 period steel mounted black leather scabbard marked M44 for manufacture by J.B. Brooks & Co. Ltd of Birmingham, probably a replacement for the original scabbard changed during the 1938 refurb / inspection. First issued in 1907 the SMLE was still the standard issue service rifle of the British army on the outbreak of WW2. While replaced by a cheaper and easier to manufacture No4 rifle largely based on the SMLE the need for weapons was such that the MkIII* was produced to more or less to the end of the war. It saw wide service, particularly in the Desert Campaigns of the early war years and then in the Far East (Burma), the Pacific and the Italian Campaigns. These late dated weapons stamped (as in this case) as late as 1944 are often referred to as ‘Dispersal Weapons’ mostly manufactured by BSA’s sub contractors, local companies set to work by the War Office, to manufacture arms for the duration of hostilities from salvaged components fitting new parts and stocks as required to meet the never ending requirements of the army for weapons. It appears that 1944 was the last year that this practice continued making this one of the very last SMLE’s manufactured for the British Army some 37 years after it was first adopted. In good condition with good bore with a nice WW2 issue bayonet. A scarce late version of the famous First War SMLE issued in the closing stages of WW2.
C/W EU spec deact certificate.
