1915 Enfield update.

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Woftam
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1915 Enfield update.

Post by Woftam » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:42 pm

Took a punt on an Ebay listing for 6 SMLE butts the other day. From the pictures one was a sporter type - pistol grip, recoil pad etc, one was a bubba'd MkIII, 2 were MkIII's, one was a bubba'd MkIII* and the last was a MkIII*.

Well for $85AUD I got the lot.

The sporter was as expected, although interestingly it was made in 2 halves. When I got the 1915 Enfield there was a bubba'd fore end with it, very nicely done with a schnabel type tip. With some staining and matching this could go well on my pig gun.

The MkIII* bubba job has had the pistol grip well and truly sanded and is probably only suitable for cutting up to patch other rifles.

The MkIII bubba wasn't a MkIII at all but a MkI with just the single screw hole for the rear swivel. The pistol grip has been cut through in line with the bottom of the butt. Damn :evil: only good as a patch donor.

The MkIII* was a 1943 Lithgow butt, salvagable with a bit of work.

The first MkIII (the one I was actually wanting) is a very nice walnut butt with the usual wear and tear. Should clean up nicely.

The surprise package was the second MkIII. Walnut, in fair condition, brass disc hole plugged, some sort of plasticised filler over the disc hole and an area above it, with more on the right side. A fair bit of elbow grease later, some fiddly work with a scraper and it's a Lithgow, stamped 2/16 plus what is probably a rack number - unfortunately just about unreadable. Not being happy with the match of the original butt on the 1915 Enfield with the rest of the woodwork it got tossed and this one goes on instead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/w ... nes004.jpg[/pic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/w ... nes005.jpg[/pic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/w ... nes006.jpg[/pic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/w ... nes008.jpg[/pic]
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Post by DuncaninFrance » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:37 am

Looks good G.

That unreadable number; If you take a very high res closeup shot of it, open it in Photoshop and invert it (turns it to a negative) them play about with the contrast you MIGHT just get something out of the pic. I have used that technique on some difficult to read war grave headstones and it can produce a result. PM me if you want more info.
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Post by A square 10 » Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:40 pm

very nice , well worth it
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