Combloc
Stop Negassing me!!!!!
The other night, I was talking to a friend of mine about the No4 Mk2 I had recently posted and he happened to mention that he had a 1904 model that had been upgraded for Ireland. I asked if I could take a look at it and he said "Sure, I've been thinking about selling it and I'll let you have it for what I paid for it if you want." Well.....to cut to the chase, the following pictures are the result. He told me the stripper clip guide on the bolt is a reproduction but the rest was good as far as he knew. After spending hours on the net researching these damn things, I'm certain this rifle is a typical BSA MkI that was more or less upgraded to a MkIII configuration using a combination of the original BSA parts with a liberal sprinkling of Enfield parts and a new serial number applied for sale to Ireland in the 1920's. Then, in the 1960's it was sold as surplus on the US market. Unfortunately, I'm also pretty certain this old clunker was sporterized at some point by cutting down the stock as was common back then. I still remember well my uncle Gerald bragging back in the 1970's about how nice and handy an Enfield he had was for hunting once he got rid of all that extra walnut and bulk. Even back then as a kid I knew he was destroying History but he didn't care. He had "built" himself a "reel nice huntin' riefell purdy cheep!".....ugggghh. Anywho, at some point somebody took pity on this old relic and restored it by replacing all of the wood in front of the stock socket, bringing it back to an approximation of what it would have looked like back in the 20's after the rework. I say "approximation" because there was some variation in these depending on what parts were used and those parts were sawed off long ago and likely burned up in a stove for heat. I love the smell of burning History in the morning; smells like...….stupidity. So, it very well could have looked like this or just a bit different. Whatever the case, the restoration bits used are original parts so, while it has little monetary value, it still makes for a nice looking representative example of what would have left the rework armoury bound for Ireland back in the 1920's. It's kinda' neat holding a little piece of the once Mighty British Empire in your hands.
Let's take a look:
I'm not going to bother with descriptions of every photograph as I'm sure you know what you are looking at more than I do but I'll interject some drivel where I think it's appropriate.
Unit disk has been scrubbed and you can still faintly see the old stock cartouche in the walnut:
Repair:
Serial number on bottom of sight matches the original stuck out one on the receiver:
Let's take a look:
I'm not going to bother with descriptions of every photograph as I'm sure you know what you are looking at more than I do but I'll interject some drivel where I think it's appropriate.
Unit disk has been scrubbed and you can still faintly see the old stock cartouche in the walnut:
Repair:
Serial number on bottom of sight matches the original stuck out one on the receiver: