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216

British Lee-Enfield Mark I .303 Sporter Rifle

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 600.00 USD
British Lee-Enfield Mark I .303 Sporter Rifle
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You are bidding on a British Lee-Enfield Mark I .303 Sporter Bolt Action Rifle. The rifle features a 25" barrel, one 10 round magazine, hardwood stock, rear volley sight, adjustable rear sight, leather sling, and blue'd finish. The earliest Enfield rifles were the Lee-Metfords, loaded with black powder cartridges, which went into British service in the late 1880s. These lacked stripper clip or “charger” guides and soldiers of the Empire found in their combat with the Dutch Boers in South Africa that rapid reloading was nearly impossible. The change to Cordite smokeless powder necessitated a change in the style of rifling and new barrels and sights were fitted, along with the elimination of the sheet metal action cover. The original Mark I barrel had an appropriate twist for the older Mark VII 215 grain, round nose bullet. More importantly, the engineers at Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield Lock, fitted the earliest form of charger guide, to allow stripper clip replenishing of the 10-round magazine. This took the form of a half-guide fitted to the left outside of the receiver’s bolt raceway and a peculiar sliding guide fitted to the usual removable bolt head on the action’s right side. When the bolt is drawn back, a milled projection on the rear of the split bridge rear receiver pushes the bolt head charger guide forward, aligning it with the fixed guide on the left receiver, thus allowing for insertion of the 5-round stripper clip. One of the interesting things about this rifle system is that the detachable magazine is supposed to be left in place and replenished with strippers and only one spare magazine was issued per soldier, in case the original became lost or damaged in combat. This first attempt at providing charger reloading capability was overly complex and the later Mark III rifles had the usual U-shaped charger guide fitted over the action, featured by the vast majority of No. 1 rifles. This Mark I has been sporterized, but retain a good majority of the original hardware. The rifle is in good condition, handling wear and wear to the finish. The mechanics are in good condition, but are stiff. The bore shows slight darkness in the grooves and strong rifling. This rifle was manufactured in 1905. This is a Curio & Relic firearm. FFL transfer or NICS background check required. The serial number is ER3409
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