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Lee Enfield No 4 MK 1


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Hi all, I was a lucky man on Friday, I was given two rifles. They are .410 calibre and on my shotgun license. First up is this Lee Enfield No 4 MK1. I have been told it is a 1943 rifle though I cannot find any date stamp

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Just to note the rifle came with just a battle sight, by chance I got hold off a flip sight for it (not sure of the right name for it) and that is now fitted. The question now is do I have then deactivated and the plates in the breech removed etc?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would leave them as they are , can they still fire?

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I would agree with Kenny, if you can legally hold them as they are, then keep them as such.

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Cheers guys they are .410 on a shotgun license, the only thing with that is I will never fire them as a .410, and they are stuck in my cabinet, if they are deactivated tastefully they gain their originality back in some sense and they can be displayed and I can enjoy seeing them displayed as they should be, Mmmm what to do!

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That's true if they are stuck in your gun cabinet and you have no intention of firing them then you might be better to get them deactiveated.

 

I get guys in the shop all the time who say they have Enfields on there shotgun licence but have never asked them the back ground to these guns. Is this the way they were made or were they originally 303's?

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I would love a firing Lee Enfield, my dad has a shotgun license. Are they hard to come by I presume?

I wish I could own a firing MG42 if I legally could but sadly such weapons would mean serious trouble in the UK, the closest I can get is a de-act or a gas one. :snipersmilie:

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That's true if they are stuck in your gun cabinet and you have no intention of firing them then you might be better to get them deactiveated.

 

I get guys in the shop all the time who say they have Enfields on there shotgun licence but have never asked them the back ground to these guns. Is this the way they were made or were they originally 303's?

 

Kenny they were originally full bore but at some point re bored to .410

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Do you know why this was done Ben? was it done by the army or were they for civilian use?

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interesting , I know very little about live guns , so is .410 the standard shotgun calibre ? i.e. the famous shot gun cartriges you see that are red plastic with the brass bit at the end?

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Yes mate, the guns are on my shotgun certificate, it is a smaller cartridge than the normal 12 bore carts

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12 bore that's what I was thinking about.I couldn't picture a 303 firing a 12 bore :-) Unusual item, I suppose the Army had more 303's after the war that they knew what to do with, so converting and selling for civilian use would make sense.

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  • 3 years later...

The No4 Mk.I has a BNP proof mark (nitro), postwar, and a date of 43 on the stock brace, slightly worn or rubbed.

I remember in the early 1970s when I got my first rifles, there were no deactivateds then, firms in the UK were offering smooth-bored military rifles for collectors purposes, so then these weapons were converted to smooth bore, under the condition that the collector has a shotgun license. So in those days you had to send your shotgun cert with your order. There were firms in Birmingham and Wolverhampton,etc., who had stocks of WW1, WW2 and earlier weapons under these conditions. Condition was, the barrel had to be a minimum of 24 inches in length, which was no good for K98s, etc.

 

We had rifles just like these in the drill hall of the A.T.C. in Chingford many years ago, these were drill purpose only for the cadets. Each rifle had a hole bored all the way through in front of the breech and with a broad arrow stamp DP ONLY

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