SMLE what is the wood ?

[Michael]

I'm boring the hell out of the family with my new SMLE so I'm now turning to you guys.

What type of wood is used on the rifle ?

Mick

[Peter B]

Hello Mick

Not sure what the wood is but try this site it may give you some help

http://www.enfield-stuff.com/regimentals/index.htm

All the best

Peter

[NIGEL]

Walnut was always and still is favoured for sporting guns, but being as it was mass produced perhaps they switched to a more common wood like Beech.

[bkristof]

this is what i found in "British Enfield Rifles, part1" ISBN 1-882391-16-0:

A lot of different kinds of woods were used, but..

Most used: English walnut, certainly pre WW1

In India (Ishapore) from +- 1915 on: teak or mahogany

In Australia (Lithgow): Queensland maple

In WW2 it changed again...

[Max Poilu]

As Nigel says, walnut has always been the preferred stock for British Rifles and sporting guns. This was indeed the usual wood on SMLE stocks. Beech and other hardwoods were substituted sometimes but most Great War SMLEs would have been made from walnut.

Consider that BSA, one of the principal manufacturers, was producing 135 Government contract rifles a week in the years running up to 1914. However at the height of it's wartime production this figure was increased to 10,000 per week...that's a lot of walnut.

Mass production of rifles was not new - these techniques were famously begun by the Springfield rifle factory during the American civil war.

[Michael]

Thanks for the replies, I would never have guessed walnut.

Mick