Hi Gents, Recently I came across this interesting No4 MkI. Enfield manufactured at ROF Maltby. I don't typically collect Commonwealth firearms so a few of the markings have me a little bit puzzled. The first aspect which is confusing to me is the presence of the. I was under the impression that the Brits only manufactured the No4 MkI? My second question has to do with the fact that the rifle.
Originally posted by TikiRocker.RIFLE No4 Mk1 MALTBY# - The rifle No4 Mk1 was approved for production in 1939 but did not appear on the front lines until mid 1941.# - While R.S.A.F (Royal Small Arms Factory) Enfield produced the No4 trials rifles during the early 1930's, it was R.O.F (Royal Ordnance Factory) Maltby that was the first of three factories to produce the rifle No4 Mk1.# - The three factories to produce the Rifle No4 Mk1 were ROF Maltby near Sheffield, South Yorkshire, ROF Fazakerley, Liverpool, in Lancashire and BSA Shirley M47/C on the outskirts of Birmingham in Warwickshire. The No4 Mk1 was produced exlusively within England, unlike the variant Rifle No4 Mk1. which was only produced in North America.# - Serial Numbers for Maltby and Fazakerley are 5 numbers with letter prefix, BSA Shirley retained a 4 number system with letter prefix. Rifles with an A letter suffix indicate downgrading of the standard by the fitting of some non interchangeable parts.
Many of these A suffix rifles were pulled from circulation and stored, some destroyed and others sent to Turkey.# - Factory markings are as follows. M and ROFM for Maltby. F and ROF for Fazakerley.
M47/C and B for BSA Shirley# - Parts - Maltby was nicknamed 'The Pool' because of its reliance upon parts from the many sub contractors during the war. It was also known as an assembly plant and it will be very common to see the names of these many varied contractors on the small parts of Maltby rifles. The larger factories like Fazakerley and BSA were able to produce their own small component parts and it is far more common to find these rifles marked with their own stamps.# - Model and Manufacture Markings - The Rifle No4 Mk1 is marked on the left side flat of the receiver with serial number most often found on the left side of the butt socket. There is some small variation between the factories, Maltby commonly has the model only engraved on the action whilst the date and serial number are engraved on the left side butt socket with the Maltby 'M'.# - Serial Numbers - are found on the left flat of the receiver, left side butt socket, rear flat of bolt handle and the underside of the fore-end. In some cases the base of the magazine is also stamped.# - Mk1 vs Mk1.
The (.) designation indicates the modification of the Mk1 rifles plunger type bolt head release catch, to a slotted cut out in the guide rib bolt retaining rail. Bolts from either rifle will still function in either model. (Note - Please keep the matching bolt in the rifle it belongs to)# - In some early rifles, the fore-end has what is termed a 'low wall' at the right side of the receiver.
A seeming vestige of the magazine cut off, it was perrhaps a 'just in case' provision included to satisfy the possibility of a future requirement.# - Rear handguards can be found as smooth and grooved on the Mk1; the grooved type were produced as such to allow for better grip. In this case, what was in the parts bin on the day went on the rifle. I have however seen more No4 Mk1. rifles with a grooved handguard than without and it is far more common to see the British rifle Mk1 with the smooth type than not.# - Back sights are of four varieties. Any of which may be found on a No4 rifle, though the most common wartime application was the MkII 300/600 on the Mk1.rifle.
A simplification below.Mk1 Singer, ladder sight with fine adjustment and aperture 1300 yards. Common to Mk1 rifles.Mk2 Dual aperture, 300/600 yards flip battle sight. Common to Mk1.
Lee Enfield Serial Number List
rifles.Mk3/C Mk II with MkII leaf (Canadian) Ladder sight expedient post war production.Mk4/C Mk III with MkIII leaf (Canadian) Ladder sight expedient retrofitted post war FTR programs.# - No4 Mk2 spike bayonets were produced in house by both Longbranch and Savage and both can be found with their respective factory markings with the MkII being the most common and MkIII spike bayonet being produced by Longbranch for a short period. The Mk2 was also produced by 'Singer' in England for the Rifle No4 Mk1 but the Mk2. was produced exclusively in England. The rare No4 Mk1 Cruciform bayonet was produced solely by 'Singer Mfg Co' in England with the Mk3 fabricated pattern also being produced in England by Lucas.
The No9 Mk1 was a departure from the spike bayonet design and featured a bowie styled blade retaining the socket in place of a handle. The No9 was made in England by Enfield and Poole, the blade follows the same pattern as the No5 Mk1 bayonet.# - Furniture - the rifle No4 Mk1 was stocked in Beech, Birch and in some early cases Walnut. The supply of good walnut within England had long been exhausted and so Beech and Birch were substituted and found to be satisfactory alternatives. Beech stocks are easily identifiable by the fish scaling pattern in the grain. Walnut is a generally darker wood that features large smokey swirls or waves in the grain whilst Birch, a light toned wood like Beech, has very little figuring in it at all, and a generally uniform grain.# - The rifle No4 also had a sniper variant produced, known as the No4T.
It is not within the scope of this guide to cover the details of the No4T, please see the work of Cpt Peter Laidler for further reading on the subject.# - The rifle No4 Mk1 is generally fitted with a 5 groove barrel in contrast to the 2 groove barrels of the No4 Mk1. Barrels with different numbers of grooves were produced post war and a 3 groove barrel was also produced (MkIII) - but these are less frequently encountered.# -Length overall -3ft 8.5' with normal butt# -4ft 4.8' with bayonet# -Barrel = 25.2'# -Weight W/O bayonet = 9 lb. 1oz# -With bayonet = 9 lb 8oz# -Rifling = Left hand twist, 1 turn in 10 ins.# -Groove depth =.005 in.# -Width of grooves =.0936 in.
VNS mark represents 'Viners Ltd. Sheffield, England' a subcontractor of Enfield parts.the below will aid you in answering your questions. Congratulations on buying a piece of British history.No.4 and No.5 rifle serial numbers can readily identify manufacturers.
British No.4 rifles have five numbers, usually after one or two letter prefixes. The same letter prefix(es) were used by Maltby, Fazakerley & BSA Shirley, A to Z then AA, AB to AZ, then BA to BZ, CA to CZ &c. Maltby rifle serial numbers commence with a number '1', Fazakerley with a '2' and Shirley with a '3', e.g. 1xxxx for Maltby, 2xxxx for Fazakerley and for Shirley, 3xxxx, after the letter prefix. Late Shirley numbers then supposedly ran A4000 to A7999 and with PS prefixes at the very end of production. Post-war Fazakerley No.4 rifles had PF letter prefixes. The only exception to the 5-number sequence for No.4 rifles was the initial BSA Shirley production which ran from 0001 to 9999 then went with A to Z prefixes (A0001 to A9999 to the Z prefix) and some early dual letter prefixes (e.g.
Lee Enfield Carbine
AT 0303), but then went over to A30001, &c. So early M47C No.4 rifle numbers could be confused with the Jungle carbine in having four rather than five numbers.Long Branch (Canada) serial numbers incorporate an 'L' in the serial number while US Savage numbers include an 'C' in a similar relative position amongst the numbers. Both of these No.4 rifle series commenced with 0L1 and 0C1 respectively.No.5 Jungle Carbines only have 4 numbers, the Shirley carbines have BB to C? Prefixes, last production was post World War 2. The Fazakerley jungle carbines ran from FE1 to FE1000 initial production, then with no letter prefix, followed by A1 to A9999 through Z9999.