1904 BSA MkI *** Bound for Ireland

[Combloc1]

Last night I was talking to a friend of mine about the No4 Mk2 I had recently posted and he happened to mention that he had a 1904 model that had been upgraded for Ireland. I asked if I could take a look at it and he said "Sure, I've been thinking about selling it and I'll let you have it for what I paid for it if you want." Well.....to cut to the chase, the following pictures are the result. He told me the stripper clip guide on the bolt is a reproduction but the rest was good as far as he knew. After spending hours on the net researching these damn things, I agree with him. It's kinda' neat holding a little piece of the once Mighty British Empire in your hands. To me, it looks like a typical BSA MkI that was more or less upgraded to a MkIII using a combination of the original BSA parts with a liberal sprinkling of Enfield parts and a new serial number applied for the Irish. However, I'm generally clueless about Enfields so I'm sure you guys can tell me what is what. I would like that.
Let's take a look:

I'm not going to bother with descriptions of every photograph as I'm sure you know what you are looking at more than I do but I'll interject some drivel where I think it's appropriate.










Unit disk has been scrubbed and you can still faintly see the old stock cartouche in the walnut:



Repair:

























Serial number on bottom of sight matches the original stuck out one on the receiver:

 

[Combloc1]

I love the old bone inlay on the slider:




















I guess the fore stock is an early MkIII unit made by Enfield. It's been taken care of for sure. Note the general lack of dings:










The bore isn't too bad. It's nothing to write home about but it looks serviceable. I don't really plan to shoot it anywho.

Here's a bullet rambo'd into the end:



It's pretty funky looking prior to any cleaning:







But with just a minimal amount of work it's looks quite a bit better. I only ran a bristle brush through it about 5 times and swabbed it until it was semi-clean. With a little focused attention, it might clean up pretty good:





Last picture shows 50 years of development. A 1904 and a 1954, both bound for Ireland:



So, tell me what the hell I'm looking at here if you don't mind. I know generally what I've got but give me some details please if you're so inclined. Also, let me know if you need any other pictures. I'd like to tear it down but I think I'll just leave it in one piece. Thanks for any insight you may have!

 

[Robert]

What did he pay for it?

 

[C.R.]

it looks like a hole in the receiver in the 13 th picture, has it been demilled is it safe to shoot? why would it have a hole there ?

 

[Combloc1]

What did he pay for it?

$500

 

[Combloc1]

it looks like a hole in the receiver in the 13 th picture, has it been demilled is it safe to shoot? why would it have a hole there ?

That hole is normal. I think it's a vent hole in case of a ruptured case.

 

[tark]

"ER" is (King) Edward. The myriad of serial # stamps and Xed out numbers are usually found on the Irish guns. Here is mine, dated 1905. You have a very nice piece there. All of the early features are present, including that stupid magazine cutoff which works in reverse order to the way it should work. When feeding rounds from the magazine, the cutoff is sticking out the right side of the gun, where it can inadvertently bumped against something. This cuts off the magazine at a time when the soldier needed it the most. The Tommies routinely removed them and threw them away. The feature was omitted entirely on the later marks.

 

[tark]

That hole is normal. I think it's a vent hole in case of a ruptured case.

That is exactly what it is. Mine has an identical hole.

 

[Robert]

it looks like a hole in the receiver in the 13 th picture, has it been demilled is it safe to shoot? why would it have a hole there ?

That's the gas vent.

 

[Robert]

If he only wants $500, buy it now.

 

[Combloc1]

I did.

 

[tark]

The actual serial# of the gun, the one recognized by the ATF , is the original one, which is found on the right side of the receiver ring, about a half inch up from the wood.It should have a line through it. The number on mine is 75189

 

[milemaker13]

Wow. That is very interesting. I am thoroughly unfamiliar with this rifle. Can you guys explain some of whats going on there? Whats the slide out thing below the bolt? How about the selector dial on the side? Some of the levers and such at the breech end? Again, very cool.

Ok, slide out thingie- mag cut off. I thought so but it didn't seem... uh, right... but tark's explanation makes sense.

 

[tark]

The Tommies considered the magazine cut off a curse. It was the first thing they removed from the gun and discarded. Much like the Japanese soldiers threw away the dust covers on their Arisaka's, because they rattled. The volley sights on the left side of the gun were usually left alone, as they wouldn't get you killed if you bumped them into something. The brown, plastic looking inserts on the rear sight elevation adjustment are actually..... horn! Don't know why, but that's what the book says! They were checkered when new and wore smooth with use.

The Brits are a bit quirky.... I should know....I are one!!

 

[Combloc1]

I need to do a little update here. It turns out that this rifle was sporterized at some point and subsequently restored. Rather than try to explain all that, I'll just provide a link to Gunboards where some very knowledgeable people have helped me out. Additionally, if I just revise my post here, it will make the follow up posts seem strange since they will no longer pertain to what was originally posted. Anywho, here's the link and sorry if I confused anyone:

https://forums.gunboards.com/showth...I-***-Bound-for-Ireland&p=9508045#post9508045

 

[If1HitU]

Thanks for sharing the link.