My First Enfield

[dbb1776]

Please help me identify my first enfield.
On the right side of the band under the bolt it is marked with a crown, G.R below that,BSA Co, 1916, Sht Le, III*.
U on the bolt
A 11XXX serial number, same number on the stock
England under the safety.
FTR 1953 electropenciled on left of reciever
JOB or JQR or JOR with a long number after on left of reciever
Any help would be great.

 

[bigedp51]

The 1953 FTR (Factory Through Repair) or overhaul in American English was the last batch of No.1 Enfield rifle assembled from remaining parts and never issued and were sold off as surplus. My Enfield below had all new parts other than the 1916 dated receiver and was a beautiful rifle but never carried in combat as overhauled.

The No.4 Enfield rifle was the main battle rifle at the time and I believe BSA was cleaning house to sell off remaining stock of of No.1 Enfield parts and rifles. I have heard that this was a government program to keep these factory worker employed. (busy work)

G.R. - Georgius Rex (King George V) 1911 to 1936
BSA - Birmingham Small Arm Company
1916 - Year made
Sht Le - Short Lee Enfield, later changed to SMLE Short Magazine Lee Enfield
III* - WWI modification to speed production, magazine cutoff and volley sights removed.
"U" on bolt head - Type steel bolt head was made from
Serial Number will be on right side of receiver

JOB, JQR or JOR not sure without photos, could be proof marking, inspector stamps.

 

[Ro1911]

i have one just like that from 1917

it is a Lee Enfield Mark three*

the star means that it is the model that they produced for speedy mass production, the earlier mark 3's had a magazine cutoff (so you could fire it single shot) and they had volley sights on the left side of the gun

the crown over gr is the mark the gun got when it was made, marking it as property of the king of england

the sht Le is a very early mark (they stoped doing it in 1918) and it stands for short magazine lee enfield. this was replaced by the now common SMLE.

BSA is the manufacturer and they made alot of things in england at that time and still do today ithink

the u on the bolt was put there when the rifle was made enfield bolts are not enter changable so the barrel it was made for probably has or had a u on it at one time as well

the a 11xxx was the original serial number

jqr xxxxxxxxxxx was put there by the importer when it came into the US

the ftr 1953 is factory through repair

Anything else that you wanted to know?

oh and your rifle probably has marks stamps into the buttstock like 4/44, 3/18, or etc
these were put in every time the gun left the arsenal, they are issue dates(unless it was never issued).

 

[mister2]

Wasn't it Factory Thorough Repair?

 

[madcratebuilder]

Wasn't it Factory Thorough Repair?

No, FTR=Factory Through Repair. India used FR for Factory Repair.

 

[dbb1776]

Thank you very much. I traded a gun I didnt like for it straight across, the store had it marked at 119.00, it is very near the same condition as bigedp51. How'd I do?
Also, what bullets and powder do these guys tend to like?
Thanks again fellas.

 

[DougW]

Mine like 150gr to 180gr bullets, IMR4895 and IMR4064 on the powders.

 

[Ro1911]

Mk VII Ball ammo if you can find it, I scored 5000 rounds the last time I found some I don't figure i'll need more for quite awhile.

 

[dbb1776]

Where can I find decent priced ammo for it. So far I've only found 20 bucks or more for commercial ammo. Great for hunting, little heavy for coke cans. I plan on reloading for it but first I want to see if I like it.

 

[Ro1911]

this stuff is plenty good for plinking, its serbian i think and cheap at 70 cents a round

http://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8773&dir=18

As for true brittish suplus try going to a gunshow if you can't find it there and can't find it online then the supply has dried up for now. every now and then some one finds a cash of british ammo in one of the former colonies and they sell it off cheap, like $5 a 32 rd box cheap.

so if you see it buy it, the last time i found some i bought the guy out if he had more i would of bought more. right now that $5 box of ammo is worth $25-$50

the priv partisan is pretty good though

 

[Ignition Override]

Ro1911:

When I bought my first Enfield in April '09, the only distributor for low-price ammo was SAMCO, in Miami.
The ammo was made in England in 1943, and the price was about .20/round. It sold out about two weeks later.

The only available surplus (which I could find on the Internet) appeared about a year later, and was at So. Ohio Gun, and one other place.
It lasted about two weeks.

There seemed to be no reason to buy corrosive, mostly Pakistani surplus ammo for almost the same price as nice Prvi at about .60/round, which is reloadable.

This single issue was the exact motivation to buy my first reloading gear over a year ago.
If any shooters want to now pay about .50/rd. (how was it stored?), for what is probably "click-bang" Pakistani, good luck.

Considering how many bozos expect you to buy a gun which has a dirty bore (are they intelligent enough to 'figger out' how to use a moist patch?), do you want to buy ammo from similar type characters?

 

[Ro1911]

The stuff i got was Australian and boxer primed, but it is corrosive.

All of it i have tried to shoot has shot, no failures.

Oh and all of it is dated 28 dec 1947, and I don't reload I've thought about it but it never seemed worth while.

all of is headstamped MS 1947 VII

 

[bigedp51]

dbb1776

If your planing to reload then all I would recommend buying is Prvi Partizan .303 ammo and cartridge cases. Prvi Partizan cartridge cases are built like a tank, they have thicker rims, a larger base diameter and thicker case walls than "ANY" other brand of currently made commercial ammunition.

 

[mister2]

Checked the wideners link: out of stock.

Here's the next best I found:

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.a...vi+Partizan+PPU+.303+150gn+SP+20rd&groupid=25

I always prefer the lighter ball in bolt guns. Less wear on ancient shoulder.

 

[BrocLuno]

I shoot Prvi Partizan in my Enfield and it does very well. Once you get used to the "British" way, it's a fun rifle

And I think you did just fine on the price/trade thing