varifleman Posted 1 November , 2015 Share Posted 1 November , 2015 (edited) Here for your perusal is my Lee-Metford 1895 Sparkbrook MKII* all-matching serial number 47870 (bolt; receiver; rear sight) which later during its life also served with the Royal Navy (WWI?) as shown by the "N" naval ownership stamp on the left side of wrist of butt. It was upgraded to take high-velocity MKVII .303 ammo as shown by the "HV" stamp in front of the sight base. Edited 1 November , 2015 by varifleman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varifleman Posted 1 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 1 November , 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varifleman Posted 1 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 1 November , 2015 (edited) Edited 1 November , 2015 by varifleman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 1 November , 2015 Share Posted 1 November , 2015 That's another nice one. Does it still have Metford rifling in it or was it rebarreled with an Enfield barrel? I still lack a Metford of any description in my collection. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varifleman Posted 1 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 1 November , 2015 (edited) That's another nice one. Does it still have Metford rifling in it or was it rebarreled with an Enfield barrel? I still lack a Metford of any description in my collection. Chris Hi Chris; it still has the Metford rifling which is still in good shape considering it served in the Royal Navy. Here's a .303 round in the muzzle. It still had the old pull-through in the stock compartment. Edited 1 November , 2015 by varifleman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shippingsteel Posted 1 November , 2015 Share Posted 1 November , 2015 Another interesting rifle ... I enjoy looking at all those fascinating markings (which are kinda my thing.!) There is a lot of history and background in every marking. I found the stamping shown above to be quite an intriguing one. P-H should be an identifier for Parker Hale Ltd of Birmingham and that date, is it 1946.? Very curious ... Cheers, S>S PS. Is that a later type magazine or has it simply had its chain loop removed.? Can't put a finger on it ... no visible chain loop, but with fixed lip restraining the floorplate.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varifleman Posted 2 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Another interesting rifle ... I enjoy looking at all those fascinating markings (which are kinda my thing.!) There is a lot of history and background in every marking. I found the stamping shown above to be quite an intriguing one. P-H should be an identifier for Parker Hale Ltd of Birmingham and that date, is it 1946.? Very curious ... Cheers, S>S PS. Is that a later type magazine or has it simply had its chain loop removed.? Can't put a finger on it ... no visible chain loop, but with fixed lip restraining the floorplate.? Date is 1940 so perhaps a Parker Hale replacement for WWII service. As far as i can tell magazine is an original type with the chain loop removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrylee Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Some More Lee Metfords: Mk.I* Mk.II Mk.II* Cavalry carbine Mk.II Converted to SMLE Mk.II* Mk>II Converted to Cadet Rifle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrylee Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Lee Metford Mk.II* Lee Metford Cavalry carbine Lee Metford Mk.II* Lee Metford Cavalry carbine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terrylee Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Lee Metford Mk.II Converted to S.M.L.E. Mk.II* Lee Metforf Mk.II Converted to Cadet Rifle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shippingsteel Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Date is 1940 so perhaps a Parker Hale replacement for WWII service. As far as i can tell magazine is an original type with the chain loop removed. Yes having the chain loop removed sounds correct, as your magazine appears to have those WD markings which are only found on the early components. The P-H mark is interesting as it would tie your rifle into the WW2 refurbishment programme. This was implemented after Dunkirk & subsequent rifle shortage. So your old Lee-Metford would likely have been taken out of storage in 1940 and 'refurbished' for more service. I wonder what work Parker Hale did to the rifle.? Have you checked the barrel for dates and inspection markings, as you would imagine a rebarrelling would have been on the cards.? See piece below from Wiki. "With the outbreak of World War II, the available resources of the gun trade had been mobilised to recondition a reserve of P14 rifles, and in 1940 the Parker-Hale Arms Company was founded. Additional premises were acquired "for the duration" and, under the management of Arthur Hale, a large reconditioning programme was rapidly carried through. A wide range of additional war contract work followed, principally with the manufacture of .300in and .303in drill cartridges in large quantities." Cheers, S>S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 3 November , 2015 Share Posted 3 November , 2015 Fantastic selection of rifles Terrylee. On the Parker-Hale WWII connection - they had also had contracts to manufacture CLLE MkI* barrels, CLLE and CLLM bolts and boltheads in addition to Foresights,rearsight caps, boltheads, cocking pieces, nosecaps and magazines for SMLEs They were also (as noted) one of the contractors for the Weedon Repair Standard on P 14 (No3) rifles (contracted for 21,264) and on conversion of SMLEs (in DP) rifles to .22 trainers (No2 MkIV) - there were various contracts to convert about 5000 rifles Apparently in July 1941 Consett Iron Co. supplied a MLM MkI*, 4 CLLE MkI*, 4 MLM MkII, 11 MLE MkI*, 10 Martini Metfords and 20 Martini Enfields. Intriguing that a private company should have 50 or so military rifles to supply! (data from Skennerton: British Small Arms of WWII) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varifleman Posted 3 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 3 November , 2015 Thanks to Terrylee (especially for his wonderful collection of L-M and early L-E rifles); 4thGordons and Shipping steel for their excellent contributions. My L-M hand-guard has a few minute cracks so I haven't removed it yet to check the barrel markings. I noticed in Skennerton's excellent Small Arms Identification Series book on the L-M & L-E a parts diagram which shows part 32 hand-guard removal tool; does anyone make a reproduction of this too or have an original for sale? Lacking this tool does anyone have any hints about safely removing the hand-guard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 3 November , 2015 Share Posted 3 November , 2015 I have never had any difficulty removing the handguards on MLEs - far more troublesome on SMLEs. The spring clips on my examples are not particularly strong and there are no long fragile fingers of wood or rear sight protecting wings to worry about. Mine lever off very easily. I use a thin piece of sprung steel (I think it was once a spring clip on one of those "frameless" glass photo frames). It slides under and gives just enough leverage with a broad surface to pop the handguard spring off the barrel. On a couple of mine I can grasp the hand guard firmly and pull gently upwards (avoiding putting levering pressure on any one point). I would imagine it would only be a problem if the wood were damaged. I suppose the one problem that could happen here is you could separate the wood from the spring clip if the rivets were not secure or the handguard were cracked as in your case, so upon reflection that is probably not the best approach here. Slipping a thin flat piece of metal (from the rear of the hand gaurd) under the clip itself (rather than levering the wood and trusting the rivetting to the clip) and levering gently upwards would be safer. Chris I think I have a spare hand guard somewhere which could show this -- I'll look! Chris Edit The aim would be to get the lever under the clip rather than to lever against the wood When I was retrieving these for the photo I found stored with them a very thin, flexible plastic shoe-horn that came free with a pair of shoes at some point which as I recall was useless for its intended purpose but with a but of shaping I thought could be used for this. I had forgotten this was my intention! BTW I think the SMLE MkI handguard shown here (at least the sight protector part) is probably a reproduction/crudely made replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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