Such rifles would have 5-digit serial numbers with either an 'E' or an 'F' serial number prefix, and the serial number would be stamped on the rear of the bolt handle and on the bottom of the fore-end, as well as on the receiver ring. The British version of the shortened. There were 4 different.303 Enfield rifles made for the military, and others for civilian use. The link below will take you to an article of serial number blocks for different rifles. The Rifle,.303 Pattern 1914 (or P14) was a British service rifle of the First World War period. A bolt action weapon with an integral 5-round magazine, it was principally contract manufactured by companies in the United States. It served as a sniper rifle and as second line and reserve issue until being declared obsolete in 1947. The prime reference is 'List of Changes in British War Material', the monthly issues re-printed in 5 vols., 1860-1926. see Reprints. For WW2 production, 'British Small Arms of World War 2' lists makers and codes on small arms, edged weapons, MGs. An advantage to know more about your subject than other collectors.
- Lee Enfield 303 Serial Numbers
- 303 British Enfield Rifle Serial Numbers
- 303 British Enfield Rifle Value
- Enfield Serial Number Look Up
By Marc Cammack
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- Many famous firearms were used in World War Two. The United States produced M1 Carbine and M1 Garand.
The Germans had the K98 Mauser bolt action Rifle, the Russians used Mosin Nagant rifles, and the Japanese had the Arisaka bolt action.
The British Army's most famous rifle of the conflict was the Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle Mk 1 in .303 British. Fivenotes 2 2 2 0. The No. 4 Enfield was the evolution of an older design and was used in many famous battles such as D-Day and Arnhem.
Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle
The venerable British Enfield MKIII in .303 British performed well during World War One. This rifle's bolt design enabled soldiers of the British Empire to put out high volumes of accurate fire. The Enfield's 10 shot magazine was also double the magazine capacity of the German Gewehr 98 Mauser 8mm rifle.
However the MKIII Enfield had its faults, namely its sights. The MKIII had open sights, which were inferior to peep sights for use in combat.
From 1922 to 1924 a new rifle was produced, that had peep sights called the No. 1 Mk V. 20,000 of these rifles were built for troop trials by RSAF Enfield. The Mk V's rear sights did not stand up to heavy use and it was decided not to adopt the gun as the new infantry rifle. The No. 1 Mk VI rifle was prepared for testing in 1931, and was made in limited numbers by the Royal Small Arms Enfield Factory. Also in 1931, the Mk VI became known as the No. 4 rifle.
The No. 4 featured a peep sight that was more rugged than the Mk. V sights. It also had a heavy barrel and a spike bayonet. Further trials of the No. 4 were carried out to work out issues with the rifles, and the rifle was adopted for use by the British Army in 1939. Despite the adoption in 1939, mass production of the No. 4 rifle didn't begin until 1941. During World War Two the No.4 saw widespread use by British forces.
The weapon was used in all theaters of war in which the British fought. The weapon performed well, and was reliable just like the MKIII Enfield which it replaced.
The Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle Mk 1 was produced by a variety of different manufacturers in England. These included ROF Fazakerley, BSA, and ROF Maltby. Amandine 1 0 4 cr2 lithium batteries. Wartime guns all had letter prefixes, but each maker had a different number after the prefix to differentiate manufacturers. Maltby guns had a '1' after the letter prefix, Fazakerley guns had a '2', and BSA generally a '3'. Some BSA guns lacked an alphabetic prefix, and other BSA guns had dual letter prefixes that did not start with a '3'.
After the war ROF Fazakerley continued production of the No. 4 Mk 1, producing rifles as late as 1948. These rifles were marked with the month and year of production and ROF on the left side of the receiver. These guns' serial numbers began with PF prefixes.
Lee Enfield No 4 MK 1 Rifles were produced in both Canada and the United States during World War Two. The majority of these North American produced rifles were No. 4 Mk 1* rifles meaning that the bolt head was released through a slot that was cut in the rear of the receiver instead of a catch below the rear sight. The No. 4 Mk 1* was only produced in North America, and this change helped in simplifying production of the No. 4 Enfield rifle.
Canadian production of the Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle began in 1941 at the Long Branch Arsenal in Toronto. Wartime production of the No. 4 ceased in 1945, but the rifle was later put back into production from 1949 until 1950. Long Branch made over 900,000 No. 4 Enfield rifles in total. Savage produced the No. 4 Mk1* rifle in Massachusetts beginning in 1941. Savage made No. 4 Enfields were marked 'US Property' on the left side of the receiver, and they were also marked with an square S for Savage. Savage's rifle contract was cancelled in June 1944, with an estimated 1,236,706 rifles being produced.
A sniper variation of the Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle was used in World War Two, that used the No. 32 3.5x power scope and had a wooden cheekpiece. This model was adopted in 1942 and it was known as the No. 4 Mk 1 T. The earliest sniper rifles were converted from the Trials No. 4 Enfields at the Royal Small Arms Enfield Factory. Later that year Holland and Holland was contracted to convert select No. 4 infantry rifles to No. 4 Mk 1 T sniper rifles. British and Savage made rifles were selected for conversion. Somewhere between 23,177 and 26,442 rifles were converted by Holland and Holland. Long Branch made a small number of sniper rifles late in World War Two, in addition to those that were converted by Holland and Holland.
An improved version of the Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle was introduced in 1949, called the No. 4 Mk 2. The No. 4 Mk 2's trigger was mounted onto the receiver unlike earlier guns in which the trigger was mounted on the trigger guard. This provided for a better trigger pull. No. 4 Mk 2 rifles were produced by ROF Fazakerley for a wide variety of countries and organizations such as South Africa, Ireland, and the Royal Air Force. Many of these guns are found today in excellent or like new condition due to many of them having never seen action. Many No. 4 Mk 1 and No. 4 Mk 1* rifles were upgraded to Mk 2 specifications. These rifles are marked either No. 4 Mk 1/2 or No. 4 Mk 1/3. They will also be marked FTR meaning Factory Through Repair.
The Pakistani Ordnance Factory (POF) made both No. 4 Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 Enfield rifles in limited quantities during the 1950's and early 1960's. In addition to building new rifles POF rebuilt older No. 4 rifles. Many No. 4 Enfield rifles of all types were overhauled and rebuilt in India at the Ishapore factory. These rifles were often marked 'RFI' for Royal Factory Ishapore. Many of these Indian overhauled rifles also had a reinforcing screw on the left side of the stock.
A shortened and lightened version of the No. 4 Enfield was adopted in 1944 as the No. 5 Mk 1 Carbine. The No. 5 is better known as the 'Jungle Carbine' and was made by ROF Fazakerley and by BSA. The No.5 used a unique blade bayonet and today these bayonets bring a high premium over No. 4 bayonets. A total of 251,000 No. 5 Carbines were produced from 1944 until 1947. The No. 5 was used late in World War Two and saw widespread use during the Malayan Emergency.
No. 5 Carbines featured a flash suppressor, rubber buttpad, and rear sight graduated out to 800 yards. The Carbines also had several lightening cuts made to reduce weight, including in the bolt, barrel, and receiver.
Lee Enfield 303 Serial Numbers
The No. 5 was said to have been unable to be sighted in and this became known as 'Wandering Zero'. Because of this the No. 5 was declared obsolete in 1947, but the gun still continued to service in Malaya.
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In the United States surplus Enfields were modified by importers to resemble No. 5 Carbines, but real No. 5s are easy to tell. Real No. 5s will be marked No. 5, their rear sights will be marked out to 800 yards, and they will have a hollowed out bolt handle and lightening cuts made on the rear part of the barrel. Finally real No. 5s were only made by ROF Fazakerley, (Code ROF marked on left side of receiver) and BSA. (Code M47C on left side of wrist)
Today surviving Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle of all types including No. 4s and No. 5s are gaining value on the collectible market. Many Enfield rifles were sporterized or modified following their release on the commercial market. Today Enfields are found only on the secondary market. There are many collectors that focus just on Enfield rifles and their many variations. Sniper rifles and trial rifles like the MKV and MKVI bring a substantial premium over comparable infantry rifles.
Enfields are also popular in places like England, Canada, and Australia where semi automatic rifles are either banned or heavily regulated.
https://zsjufm.over-blog.com/2020/12/cleanmymac-x-4-4-6-x-5.html. ** Images: Rock Island Auction Company ( www.rockislandauction.com )
Resources:
- Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle For Sale
- Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle Books
- Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle Videos
- Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle Parts
Check Out this Video of Run & Gun Shooting of the Lee Enfield No 4 Rifle:
303 British Enfield Rifle Serial Numbers
About Marc Cammack
Marc Cammack has been collecting firearms since he was 14 years old. Backyard baseball 2003 download mac.
His interests are primarily military surplus firearms of the late 19th into the 1950's. He has studied these in depth, and currently volunteers at two local museums providing them with accurate information about their firearms.
He is a graduate of the University of Maine with a bachelor's degree in history. He has studied modern European and American history since the age of 9, and has been shooting since the age of 11. He currently resides just outside of Bangor, Maine.
Enfields at a Glance
Here is a simple shadow board depicting the 4 most common Enfields.
Over the years I have received many emails regarding serial numbers. The volume of serial number inquiries has prompted me to fashion this page together and try and explain how best to identify a particular rifles manufacturer. Truth be known about Enfield serial numbers is simply, the serial number was used more for production counting than any other reason. For official references, usually the finished and issued rifle was tracked by its rack number and of course these records have long since been destroyed or lost forever. This is not to say that Enfield serial numbers provide no information or that they are not an interesting subject. For those out there that want to get deeper into the serial number issues I would suggest purchasing either Skip Stratton's or Ian Skennerton's books. What this page will attempt to provide is a basic overview of the serial system and where to find them along with the manufacture markings and barrel date stamp that is common on most Enfields.
SMLE rifle manufacturers were given no serial ranges to begin or end production with, so it is possible that two rifles may exist with the same serial number produced at different factories. Some SMLE's may be found with as little as a 3 digit number and high as a 5 digit number. Once the initial range of numbers was maxed out a letter prefix was added and the numbering began again.
Seen in the picture above are the places where the serial number and manufacturer can be found. Along with the manufacturers name both the date of manufacture and the type and mark of the rifle is also shown. SMLE's will have serial numbers stamped on the bolt, receiver, barrel, nose cap and the underside of the rear sight. They may or may not have the serial stamped into the front part of the fore-end and in the case of the Australian Lithgow's it may be stamped into the butt as well. When reference is made to an 'all matching' SMLE the serial numbers must all be the same.
No4 rifles were given a starting number that may be used to identify manufacturers, but again there was no set serial blocks. British No4 rifles were set up with a 5 digit serial number system with 1XXXX being allotted to Maltby, 2XXXX Fazakerley, 3XXXX BSA Shirley. Yet again, once the sequence of numbers caped out letter prefixes were used to start the sequence over. In the case of Savage Stevens the serial numbers began with a 0C1 and for Long Branch 0L1, these serials progressed in sequence directly relating the serial number to the number of rifles produced. An example would be: rifle serial number 52C2689 would be the 522,689th rifle produced by Savage Stevens.
No5 rifles (Jungle Carbines) serial numbers consisted of a sequential 4 digit number starting with 0001 running through to 9999, the numbers were preceded by a letter prefix. When the number sequence reached 9999 the next letter assigned to the factory would be substituted in place of the former. These specific letter prefixes were assigned to ROF Fazakerley and BSA Shirley, the only two manufacturers of the No5 rifle, this ensured that there would be no duplicate serials during the production run of No5's. The prefixes were assigned as follows:
ROF Fazakerley
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, L, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T ,U, V, W, Y ,Y, Z, AA, AB, AC
BSA Shirley
BB, BD, BE, BF, BG, BH, BJ, BK
Seen in the picture above are the normal spots to find the serial number and manufacturers' information on the No4 and the No5 rifle. Places that will have the serial information is on the bolt, receiver and normally the barrel. They may have the numbers stamped into the front portion of the fore-end and on the bottom of the magazine. Manufacturers will be noted either on the left side of the receiver or on the left side buttsocket. The mark and type of rifle will be stamped onto the left side receiver wall. Like the SMLE an all matching No4 or No5 will have all the serial numbers matching wherever they are found on a particular rifle.
303 British Enfield Rifle Value
Certain serial number prefixes were reserved for trial rifles and specific rifle types. These prefixes can be used to authenticate these rifles if found in a gun shop or personal collection. The most common of these were: XP was used for the Shortened and Lightened Australian Lithgow (No6 Jungle Carbine) rifles, A was used for No1 MkVI trail rifles, BS was used on the British No7 small bore rifles, and T1 for the No5 small bore rifles. There are more but again I would suggest reading either Skip Stratton's or Ian Skennerton's books on the subject.
Enfield Serial Number Look Up
