Porter Baldridge Page 12
remember who made them, and act accordingly. It is no fun getting
hurt, or going to the doctor to have pieces of metal removed from your
carcass. As a minor point, it would be a shame to destroy a
historically significant rifle.
Some of the early NO.1 rifles had volley sights. These are mounted
on the left side of the forearm, and on the safety and were calibrated
to well over 2000 yards. This was used when mass fire was a tactic.
Reliable machine guns obsoleted volley sights, and they were
removed during re-work.
I remember when these rifles were $9.95 from Kliens Sporting Goods
in Chicago in the mid 1950's. They were popular then, they are
popular now, and aside from the 98 Mauser were the most produced
bolt action battle rifle. Remember, The Americans had a target rifle
(1903 Springfield), the Germans had a hunting rifle (K-98 Mauser),
and the Brits had a BATTLE RIFLE the NO.1 MKIII, and the NO.4 MKII*,
and II, and the NO.5 Jungle Carbine.
You will note I have talked on nothing older than the NO.1 MKIII. The
previous rifles are a can of worms, with hundreds of sub species,
marks and mods. These rifles are rarely encountered anyway, and
are out of the grasp of us "poor boy" collectors. Rifles Of The World,
The Book Of Rifles, Small Arms Of The World, and many other
sources will list the myriad of pre-NO.1 MKIII models.
Those of us who have been around for awhile call these rifles
SMELLYs. We do this affectionately as that is what Tommy Atkins
and his "Thin red line of 'eroes" called them. They served in all
corners of the world from the Boer War to Korea, and on into
Afghanistan and the rest of the sub-continent (though not with the
Brits). All in all the smelly is a high capacity (ten shots), fast operating
battle rifle that is hell for stout. Jeff Cooper, of Gunsite fame, has said
"If you want a real rifle, one you can depend on, get a NO.4 Enfield."
At least Washington and the thugs and thieves in Congress have not
noticed them yet. Incidentally, Brit Soldiers are called Tommys
because Tommy Atkins is the British version of John Doe, and is used
as the example on all British Army forms. Thus, Brit Soldiers came to
be known as Tommy, or more formally, Tommy Atkins.
© Porter Baldridge 1996 All rights reserved.