Harry,
It takes a great man to admit a small mistake! 

GP,
I'm just off to bed in my part of the world, I have to be up very early in order to get to hospital early in the morning for 7 hours Chemotherapy. I'll get back to you tomorrow evening.

Lefty 38.55,
In English terminology 'Ball ammo' is standard issue live loaded rounds for shooting at the enemy. As opposed to blank rounds or shot shells which may be used for civilian riot control.

Harry

Bad_Ass_Wallace wrote on Mar 13^th, 2014 at 5:03pm:


Hello BAW,
Long time no see here, nice to have you back. I wasn't criticising GP, but merely chiding him jokingly and I hope he took it that way. I doubt if many Americans could (off the top of their heads) name the last ten kings and queens of England. Likewise I doubt if many Englishmen could name the last ten or twenty US Presidents. They come and go with monotonous regularity. If GP is upset by my comments then I unreservedly apologise, no insult was intended. A little harmless banter doesn't do any harm, it's called humour over here.

Regards,

Harry

Quote:

Harry, not offended at ALL !!
If that's the worst I ever get accused of, well then, I'm not doing doing my job ! 
Regarding my regal faux pas earlier, I honestly KNEW it was Victoria; but for some reason I got Elizabeth in my brain.
And I do know a little Martini history too.
I have read about O'Rourke's Drift where that small band of brave troopers held off the attacking African natives with their Martini-Henrys.
I believe it was  that same fellow-  Sergeant O'Rourke who played next to Corporal Agarn in that historically accurate US TV series F-Troop back in the 1960's

Regarding US presidents, some should be readily identifiable as we like to put their mugs on our currency. And since we are so good at throwing it around all over the world, the likes of Grant, Lincoln and Jackson should be familiar even in the remotest of outposts !

Those M-E Mk II Artillery Carbines appear to be more widely distributed than I ever imagined.  I have one, picked up about 1998 in wretched condition.  My specimen is marked 1893 on one side and 1897 on the other.  No DP or other markings, only a Broad Arrow.

My late friend & I took it out with some mild hand-loads, hard-cast 200 grain bullets at some 1800 fps.  Our target was a cardboard box some 15 yards away.  3 test shots all went through the box sideways.  We took it back to my friend's shop and took it apart.  Buttstock was rotten, punky with saturated oil, forearm not much better.  Barrel was hopeless, like a sewer, with a couple of bulges. Trigger pull was ghastly, 18 lbs.  The only redeeming feature was the breech block, which had been bushed and fitted with a smaller firing pin back in 1897.  Then we discovered the secret to M-E restoration.

My friend had a SMLE in pieces in his shop.  We thought the buttstocks were similar, so we tried parts replacement.  A perfect fit.  Just needed to have a hole cut out for the end of the lever and the little brass cup installed.  Looking in more detail, we found that all the SMLE parts could be fitted to the Martini action with very little effort.   

The SMLE wood for the fore-end went into a miter box.  We cut it just in front of the magazine well.  After that, it was just a matter of installing the original fore-end hanger.

Lee-Enfield barrels are the same as Martini-Enfield barrels, a screw-in fit, requiring only a file cut to allow the extractor to fit properly.  All the rest of the SMLE parts, the rear sight, hand guard and all the iron mongery, fitted properly.   

My friend worked over the trigger, glass bedded the upper wood and we took it to the range.  Results were amazing.  We had a couple of boxes of Winchester 1980s vintage military ammo.  Off sandbags, we got a couple of 4-inch groups at 100 yards the first time out.  The message here is that some of the mountain of SMLE parts will fit easily.

Harry- Here is a link to the firearm that I borrowed the photos from:
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

My own M-H .303 Artillery carbine has "D.P." stamped on it as well as "N.Z."
I would guess that it was issued to a facility in New Zealand, and was used for drill purposes. And judging from the condition of the wood and poor bore, they must have drilled the Hell out of it ! [/quote]

Hello GP,

Your correct about the DP and NZ markings. The other proof markings are pretty much standard looking
the British Army and Colonial Drill Sergeants loved the crunch of metal rifle butts hitting the parade ground in unison. That's what knocked the heck out of them. The chances are the interior of the barrels weren't cleaned for years and at best an oily rag was wiped over the exposed exterior metal. No need to clean the interior as it hadn't been fired.

They were still doing this drill with all issue battle rifles until our troops were issued the 5.56 mm SA 80 which is simply not long enough to reach the ground.

I do wish that sellers of firearms would take a little time just to rub a piece of blackboard chalk over the proof marks then wipe the surplus off leaving a contrasting colouration which does show up the markings a lot more clearly. A quick rub with a small brush will remove the chalk instantly with no harm done. It's a pity it wasn't better cared for in the past rust on the top of a breechblock is rather hard to ignore even when the rusting is stopped. I do note that he didn't comment on the 'Not For Ball' stamping which must be the most obvious of them all.

Harry

It has been awhile since the rifle was put together, but I don't think a chamber reamer was necessary. The barrel used on mine came off a SMLE in the parts pile. Headspace gauges of some sort would be necessary.

If you bought a barrel that had not been on a rifle, the chamber reamer might be necessary.