303 no4 mk1

[vabeachman]

Hi, I got one of these 303 British No4 Mk1 that my wife bought for me back in the 1980s. There are matching numbers on everything: bolt, magazine, and the wrist metal. On the magazine there are two sets of numbers. What is the deal with the two sets of numbers and what does that mean. thanks

P.S.: I enjoy shooting it and it does shoot very well.

[Multigunner]

Is one set of numbers lined out?

Its fairly common to find force matched parts on an Enfield.
Even bolts are sometimes renumbered, and rifles have some times been completely renumbered including the action body.

If the parts were fitted by an armorer and renumbered by that armorer I would not worry about it.

Magazines wear out and salvaged magazines from damaged rifles might be substituted and renumbered to match. Being re numbered suggests some attempt was made to be sure the magazine fit properly and fed properly.

The British were frugal when it came to spare parts. If a part no longer fit the rifle it left the factory with it might work fine on another rifle.
They usually tried to use up good condition old parts before using new replacement parts.
This made good sense because the old part had stood the test of time and previous use.

Badly worn parts or out of specification parts were set aside for assembling drill rifles.

Substantial parts to be renumbered would have the old number ground off if it did not compromise the strength of the part. The sheet metal of a magazine was too thin for that so it should have been lined out in some way.
Renumbered receiver rings are usually scrubbed but I've seen some Australian rifles with several previous serial numbers lined out.

Till 1925 the Receiver serial number was not legally the identifying number. The number on the barrel was the official number. The action body was considered to be a replaceable part.
If an action body was damaged but the barrel still good they'd replace the action body and number the replacement to match the barrel number.
I have an SMLE sight rail with five previous numbers lined out and another very long number besides the serial number stamped in a different font.

[vabeachman]

Thank Multigunner, None of the numbers has a line drawn through it. Date on wrist is 1944. Apparently a Maltby. thanks.

[bob208]

does it have a f.r. or f.t.r stamped on the receiver? that means factory repair or factory through repair.

[Hardcast416taylor]

The No.4 Mk1* that I bought back in 1961 had no numbers on the magazine that was in the rifle.Robert

[Multigunner]

I don't think they originally serial numbered the magazine to the rifle, at least not when it left the factory.
When I ordered a NOS replacement magazine for a friend it of course had no number of any sort that I could see.
That was one of the later clamshell construction mags with split floor plate. An excellent magazine BTW.

[vabeachman]

no f.r. or f.t.r. on receiver. Just noticed a number on the wooden stock up near the front barrel band and it matches the numbers on the bolt, wrist, and one of the numbers on the magazine. The number is 16573. Would this be considered a matching numbers rifle? Will be keeping rifle and learning how to use cast boolits with this rifle, I like the peep sight and 10 round magazine. Plus it shot pretty good with some factory ammo back in the day. Thanks.

[enfieldphile]

Here's another tidbit about Brit MilSurp rifles.

Often, (alot) rifles from one maker will be seen with parts form more then one manufacturer. Part of that was many small parts were contracted out.

But another thing was if a maker had 80 rifles ready to go, except say, they didn't have 80 rear sights, the War Armament Office would see which other maker had 80 rear sights. If they found another maker had 80 rear sights, they would order them shipped to the other maker, so the rifles could be fielded.

So an "all original" Brit rifle may not be all from one maker.

[dromia]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/adamsutherland/Smilies%20FB/FB%20UK%20Smilies%202/this_thread_is_useless_without_pics.gif

[Multigunner]

But another thing was if a maker had 80 rifles ready to go, except say, they didn't have 80 rear sights, the War Armament Office would see which other maker had 80 rear sights. If they found another maker had 80 rear sights, they would order them shipped to the other maker, so the rifles could be fielded.

Also to speed production they aproved a number of substitute non standard parts, such as cocking pieces with no half bent notch.
When supply caught up with demand those rifles with the substitute parts were often sent to a depot and those parts replaced with the standard parts.
The substitute cocking pieces and similar parts might be minor collectors items in their own right, since these were replaced whenever possible.

The L type rear sights were also replaced when possible, either with new made sights or sights salvaged from damaged rifles.

Also while much is made of proper fitting of the fore arm wood to rest evenly against the butt socket, they found that when kiln dried beech and birch were substituted for walnut that rifles properly fitted up at the factory often lost their bedding by the time they reached the front.
To avoid this they began leaving a slight but even gap between butt socket and the rear of the fore arm.
After running across a few like that I had at first thought it was due to shrinking of the wood, and sometimes that is the case, but Reynolds book on the Lee Enfield answered that question.
In other words no contact was found to be preferable to uneven contact.

When these rifles were in service for many years the wood seasoned in place and no further shrinkage would occur, then they might be bedded properly by an armorer when time permitted.

[vabeachman]

94940 Pic of rifle I hope.

[vabeachman]

94941 Pic of the magazine. the 16573 number matches the bolt handle, wrist metal, and wood stock numbers. The other number does not match anything. Could this be a matching number rifle. thanks

[vabeachman]

94942 number on stock

[vabeachman]

94943 number on bolt

[vabeachman]

94945 picture of wrist. Is that the right term? If it is called something else, please let me know.

[Multigunner]

94941 Pic of the magazine. the 16573 number matches the bolt handle, wrist metal, and wood stock numbers. The other number does not match anything. Could this be a matching number rifle. thanks

If that's a C prefix on the lined out number that may be a Savage magazine salvaged from a Savage rifle.
A non matching number magazine is no big deal. Magazines were expected to wear out or be damaged long before any major parts wore out.
It was very likely fitted to the rifle and re numbered while in service.

Actually its just as likely that the entire rifle was re numbered at some point. So long as the parts replacements and numbering look to have been done while the rifle was in service you can consider it forced matched at the very least.

PS
Wrist is okay but most call this the butt socket, some called it the action strap because from the outside it looks like a strap.

[vabeachman]

Thanks, Multigunner, the number on the magazine looks like C13-9-2-100 when I am looking at it in my hand. It looks like dashes between the numbers more than a line through them to me. I very much appreciate the information. Thanks.