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Savage-Made Lend Lease WWII No.4 Mk.1* Enfield Rifle


Niner

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The lend lease Enfield rifles made as lend lease were modified for war time expediency.  The sights were an L shape two aperture sight instead of a ladder graded sight.  The worst thing was that way the bolt track was modified for bolt removal. This made the bolt sometimes stick in the track opening.   The troops were instructed to work the bolt briskly ..... as though that would lesson the problem.   

 

The US property marks were proudly shown on the rifle so the British would know who to blame for messing with  something that didn't need fixing. 

 

In the photo of two rifles the top rifle is a standard 4MK 1 and the bottom the Lend Lease 4MK*1. 

US property.jpg

Savage.jpg

DSC04398.JPG

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Charlie Flick

Both are nice looking rifles.  

 

My own Savage-made No.4 Mk.I* appears to me to be a very well made rifle.  Despite owning it for years I have never gotten around to shooting it.  Not because I am reluctant to do so but because when I have the opportunity to shoot rifles I tend to shoot my USGI rifles.  My Savage rifle apparently ended up with the Canadians as it has a Canadian /|\C property marking.

 

Thanks for the post.

 

Regards,

Charlie

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I've fired mine a few times as well as 4MK1 of the standard British made versions.  The standard version, for those that aren't that familiar,  has a bolt that has to be pulled all the way back and a latch lets you pull the bolt head into the up position and then pull the bolt body out of the receiver track.  On the Lend Lease that rear latch isn't there and the rail that the bolt head follows is cut out at the front breech end so the bolt head can be swiveled up to remove the bolt by pulling the bolt body back out of the rifle.  This missing piece of track, done as a short cut in manufacturing,  will sometimes cause the bolt head to fall slightly and jam in the open track. If you work the bolt briskly every time this is less likely to happen....but.... not a good feature.  I'll see if I can add a couple photos.  One is of the proper rifle rear bolt head release and the other of the cut out track on the Lend Lease. 

better bolt lock up.jpg

other bolt open.jpg

DSC04408.JPG

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  • 1 year later...
Brian Keith

A 2nd cousin of mine's dad had one of these Savage made "British" rifles. It really confused me when I first saw it as a 13-14 year old kid. We fired it a bit at their farm. I guess it's OK to say this now, as it was so many years ago, we were walking across a small country road bridge and going to shoot the rifle "back in the hills". We saw a great big carp swimming in the river...well, he soon went "belly up"! I guess I don't know if we actually hit him or just close enough to stun him. I don't think it is actually "legal" to "fish" with a rifle-or shoot into water. But, I suppose after about 40 years, it's OK to talk about!

I always thought "Lend-Lease" items had an interesting history. A Savage No.4 Mk.I* is on my "bucket list". But, I do have a very long "bucket list" of items. One has to have goals!

BKW

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