Because I am getting to the end of the German small arms I decided to grow my US & British groups. Luckily this one came past me as it kind of fits in with both countries. This rifle, made by the Stevens subsidiary of the Savage Arms Company was intended for supply to the British through the Lend-Lease program. It’s dated 1943.
A fairly simple bit of kit this, it’s a canvas action cover for the Enfield No4 Rifle. This particular example was manufactured in Canada by The Dominion Regalia Company of Toronto.
I have always had a wee hard-on for the Enfield No1 Mk3. It was the first rifle I owned as a child and I have always wanted to own one again. A friend of mine is a nut for Enfields and owns far too many. I asked him to sell me a no-issues wartime rifle to go with the No4 & No5 I already had. He came up with this one. Battle issued, made in 1941/42 by Lithgow in Australia. Sighted for high velocity MkVII ammun ition, this rifle went into New Guinea with the Australian Forces. It was returned to Lithgow in June 1945.
Two things are driving me nuts lately. One, the lack of German guns falling into my lap. Two, my need to complete sets. I had a No4 Mk 1* Enfield and a No5 Mk 1. So since no Jerry guns were showing up I decided to get a No1 Mk3 SMLE Enfield. I like to put bayonet with rifle so here is a Lithgow made P1907 Enfield bayonet. MA stamped for Lithgow Small Arms Factory. The broad arrow for military acceptance. An X for a hardness test mark and a couple of inspector stamps.
A few weeks ago I bought a sweet No5 Mk1infantry rifle. When I buy these things I try to make sure I get a small amount of period ammunition with them, just in case the urge overtakes me. This ammunition inner is Ball Mark VIIz ammunition loaded with nitrocelluose propellant. Manufactured byDefence Industries, part of Canadian Industries Ltd. The I.G. Canada means Inspector General Canada.
Simple little item, a ten round package of .303 rifle ammunition, intended for the Enfield infantry rifle and similar vintage weapons. This pack of ten is dated 1941 and manufactured by CAC, the Colonial Ammunition Company of New Zealand. This was the first ammunition company established in Australasia.
The Number 5 infantry carbine had a very short production run and basically came in too late to be taken into large-scale production. The impact on the number of bayonets produced for it was mirrored by this. There were four UK wartime manufacturers, one being Wilkinson Sword. The bayonet is marked on one side by the broad arrow and an x. The x is a bending proof mark. The other side of the blade is marked W.S.C. and with their dispersal code S294. Wilkinson made 188,354 of these bayonets.
Although I try to stick to Axis firearms, sometimes the pickings get slim. So when I slide off the true path I have to be careful because there’s a world of pain in store for my bank account if I go full retard. I have always had a sweet spot for Enfield rifles though, my first long arm centerfire was a Number 1 Mk 3. The Number 5 always held a fascination for me. Partly because of it’s late war nature and partly because when it was issued, the vast majority of them went to the Far East, a theatre I have read a lot on. This example is one of 81,329 produced by BSA. It’s fully matching, unmucked with and never got the Ishapore redo post-war.
I have a Canadian made Enfield No4 MkI* rifle here. These are the stripper clips and ammunition for this rifle. Additionally you can see a battle pack of 48 rounds produced by the Dominion Industries Company, part of Canadian Industries Ltd. The ammunition in the battlepack is all VIIz ball, made in 1943. The clips show both brass rounds and steel, made in 1944 and 1945 by the same company.
Kiwi Medals 