1904 BSA MkI *** Bound for Ireland

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:

I love the old bone inlay on the slider:




















I guess the fore stock is an early MkIII unit made by Enfield. This, the upper handguards (maybe not the rear upper but surely the front upper), rear band and the front cap are what I figure are the restoration parts. They look to be NOS parts nicely installed:









The bore isn't too bad. It's nothing to write home about but it looks serviceable. I don't really plan to shoot it anywho.

Here's a bullet rambo'd into the end:



It's pretty funky looking prior to any cleaning:







But with just a minimal amount of work it's looks quite a bit better. I only ran a bristle brush through it about 5 times and swabbed it until it was semi-clean. With a little focused attention, it might clean up pretty good:





Last picture shows 50 years of development. A 1904 and a 1954, both bound for Ireland:


Okiedokie, that's my restored Mk I ***. It's as obsolete as me just prettier. Thanks for taking a look!

Ever think about making a blog or YouTube channel? You could be the next MAC or Mishaco.

I've been asked that before....most often by my honey. I'd break the camera lens. I have thought about doing E-Books and even planned to but a new house got in the way and I haven't gotten back to it. Maybe I should.

Did you flip the Unit disk? It might surprise you.

Hmmmm…...that's intriguing but the screw slot is so shallow I'm afraid of bunging it up. I'll leave that a mystery but thanks for implanting that question into my head! LOL

Combloc said:

I've been asked that before....most often by my honey. I'd break the camera lens. I have thought about doing E-Books and even planned to but a new house got in the way and I haven't gotten back to it. Maybe I should.

Click to expand...

New house bigger collection at the rate your going. What did Honey get ? Very nice sir love that snub nosed look unfortunately mod1 mk 111* SMLE got a coat made of plastic couldn't beat the price thought I could find some furniture for it. One day

God that is so cool.

Thanks for taking care of a piece of history; and sharing it with the rest of us.

I'm not sure you understand what you have so forgive me if I misunderstood what you wrote. It looks to me you have a #1 Mark I***, it is not a mark III. Also as you have said the fore end has been replaced, but I think a Mark III fore end was used, the Mark I is a little different in that the rear sight protector is part of the rear hand guard. Each * represents a change to the original Mark I,but I will have to look up what each meant as I can't remember. I do think each was a minor change. Good find, congrats and it looks like the SMLE bug has bitten you pretty well.

You are correct on every point sir. It was a MkI and upgraded to a Mk I*** which is roughly equivalent to a Mk III. I'm assuming the sporterized stock had the volley sight and whoever wanted to restore the rifle wanted to keep it but couldn't find a Mk I fore stock so had to settle for a Mk III one. He then modified that fore stock (rather crudely) to accept the volley sights and resemble the Mk I original. Apparently, they did sometimes use a Mk III stock when upgrading these from Mk I configuration so it is still "accurate" just not "correct" (because...well.... it's been restored).

For what it's worth, I do seem to recall seeing a photo of a Mark I with an attached charger bridge to make it closer to a Mark III. Of course the sliding charger guide was gone and a Mark III bolt head was used.

-Nice save! What's really needed is a No1 MKI rear handguard. But those are damned hard to find. The only folk I can think of who make world class repops are the fellows at EFD Rifles in the UK. I'm pretty sure that's where the stripper guide came from. I've seen bubba'd No1 MKVs restored with bits from EFD and they do fantastic work.
-I think the forestock was a MKIII* and someone did an outstanding job of inletting for the volley sights. The clue is that the volley disc screw should be recessed and the head flush with the stock. She's got the correct MKI nose cap which is unobtanium. The ER prefix points to an Irish issue rifle. The British gave away a pile of "obsolete" SMLEs, older marks, to the Irish government. All that I've seen have ER or CR prefix SNs. I've owned two of them over the years. One I sold to a MDS member and the other I still have. A No1 MKI*** converted to grenade launcher with an ER prefix that was cancelled when converted to launcher and got a new "G" prefix . Some photos to illustrate what I've been alluding to...

Thanks for the link!

As an addendum to this thread...…

While I have no plans to ever remove the action from the stock, I figured I could at least remove the rear handguard to document the markings and do the same with the volley sight inletting. So here is an addendum:













Lastly, I seem to be missing the screw behind the band. Does anyone have a spare they are willing to part with? Thank you!

Combloc, I think that screw you're looking for is to attach to the band that goes around the barrel. The tension on the screw would help the rifle shoot more accurately and tightening or loosening the screw would affect the overall "harmonics" for the barrel and the fore end. Since it looks like you have the handguards loose you ought to look to see if the band is still on the barrel. And as Mawkie said the screw holding the dial sight on should be counter sunk to be level with the stock.

That would be the inner band screw. If you check out the SMLE MKIII schematic on Numrich it's listed as part #39. There's a coil spring that goes with it so if the screw is indeed missing check to see if the spring is still there. This puppy is buried way deep in the forestock so it could still be there, hard to see.

Checked my bound book and yes, this No1 MKI was mine at one time. I bought it from another collector many years ago, in the early 90s, when I was just getting started in Enfields. I vaguely remember the charger head was missing and EFD had just gotten off the ground, offering mostly screws unique to Enfields. This was one of their first offerings of a more complex nature. Fit well and worked just fine. Originals were impossible to find even back then. Wish EFD had offered HGs at that time, but they only did metal work. Handguards and other wood restoration bits came years later or I would have replaced the MKIII HG too. It was a nice starter in the collection that fit a beginner's budget since it was a restoration. Glad to see it's found a home with another friend!

mawkie said:

That would be the inner band screw. If you check out the SMLE MKIII schematic on Numrich it's listed as part #39. There's a coil spring that goes with it so if the screw is indeed missing check to see if the spring is still there. This puppy is buried way deep in the forestock so it could still be there, hard to see.

Click to expand...

Finally got curious enough to dig my Mark I out of the safe and I thought I recalled that on the Mark I stock the screw is underneath the bottom of the band and the hole is not visible when the band is on the rifle. Sneaky Brits.

So Combloc, now that you have a second one, you thinking about letting go of the first one?
Pretty sure I know the answer, just throwin' it out there.

LOL. I'm keeping the first one and letting this one go. The fact that it's a resto is eating at me.