Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 1919 Lithgow Lee Enfield

I traded into a Lee Enfeild that says lithgow sht.le III on the band that goes threw the stock the This era of rifle I have no clue about and was wondering if any of y'all could help me. All the numbers match that I have seen an it seems like a solid rifle. Any thing that I can help to figure out what I have I will be happy to do just ask away.
Matt

Sounds like a No.1 MkIII SMLE (Short Magazine Lee Enfield) Manufactured by Lithgow, in Australia. Neat rifles, and the .303 Cartridge has lots of history. Good snag!

Is the year it was made going to be 1919? Sorry on the same part it has 1919 I forgot to mention that. Also right below the bolt handle it says nyny and tr number are all 52xxx

1919 sounds right for the year of manufacture.

Maybe this will help more

Trying to decide I I want to keep it or trade it off.
Matt

Take a look on Gunbroker.com at the comparable Lithgow SMLE rifles. You can see what they have been bringing and decide if you want to keep it or not.

Can you post a full length picture please?
Over here in good condition, still with the full wood, it would sell for around $400 - $600NZ

The BSA Enfields are the most desirable here in good condition.

got a Savage made No4Mk1* been sporterized some, paid $70 for it, one of the best $70 ive ever spent, doubt ill ever sell the thing cause its worth more to me than what its dollar value is....

Keep it!! The COOL factor on the old Smelly is off the scale and they are fun as hell to shoot!! I have a 1918 BSA Smelly and I have a riot with it!!

I have one too Jim! first big rifle I ever owned! paid 12.95 for it and my mother had to sign for it. I used to save my paper route $$ and buy bullets a few at a time. I still have it and always will.

The paper route? >grin<

Yup, in Miami Beach and I had a good one too! Pine Tree Drive and La Gorce Drive and one of my customers was Jackie Gleason. One year during the Chritsmas season he was waiting for me at the main gate and gave me a fifty dollar tip. Fifty bucks in 1963 was big money!

Love those old Lithgows, particularly the No 1 Mk III's

Does it have the brass "button" in the stock? Can't make it out in your photo. The button was a unit ID disc.
Does it have any markings indicating which unit it was issued to?

Look up some books by Ian Skennerton regarding the history of the Lee Enfields, if you're interested. You should be able to get info on proof marks as well.

I recently inherited a 1942 Lithgow SMLE No 1 mkIII*
I have somewhere a photo of my FIL when he was about 8 or 10 years old holding the very rifle I now have in one hand, and a fish he had caught in the other.

Enfields are just wonderful and fun rifles. The Brits were VERY serious about reliability in adverse conditions so you'll find that Enfield chambers tend to be VERY generous. It�s rare to find one that won�t close on a no-go headspace gauge, but rare to find one that will close on a field gauge. What that translates to is short case life for reloading. I strongly recommend a set of the Lee Collet dies for the Enfields, which only neck sizes, leaving your case a mirror image of the chamber, and saving all the stretching.

I have a #4 Mk1 - I am eyeing a #4 Mk 2, which were made after the war, and frequently are found with little actual use. The #4 has better sights, IMO for practical use.

The bolt head is also removable from the bolt body, and one can buy longer bolt heads, to tighten up the headspace.

Headspace gauges are your friend with SMLE's

The old saying about military bolt rifles of that vintage were - the Springfield was a target rifle, the Mauser was a hunting rifle, and the SMLE was a by God battle rifle

Wow. I paid $40 for my first one and got a cannister of 400 rounds thrown in on the deal.

Fo those that don't know, the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, decades gone, was located 100 miles west of Sydney in the Blue Mountains. There were an aweful lot of .303's produced there over 50 odd years.

John

I have a MK III BSA made in 1916, and a 1945 No MK IV made in Long Branch, Canada. They both shoot very well and are fun shooters. Have taken deer with each. The Long Branch is a tack driver.

I cut my centerfire shooting teeth on one same as some of you guyz.
My bro-inlaws Granpa gave me a box with 400 rds of surplus ammo.
Mine had been slightly Bubba'd.
I shot my 1st deer with that rifle too. One shot thru the neck at 75 yds iron sights. I was in single shot mode cuz my bro borrowed it and temporarily lost the clip.
The load was a Dominion CIL 180 Gr Sabre tip which was the forerunner of all the current plastic tip bullets now. IIRC it was a white nylon tip. That was 1967.
Whew wheres that damn time go anyways! LOL