Educational
Zone #28 - Refinishing a US Savage Enfield
Mk1 #4 SMLE - Page 1
I
recently obtained a US Savage Enfield Mk1
#4 SMLE from Phoenix Distributors for the
good price of $124.00, through my C&R
License.
It arrived on the Brown Truck of Happiness.
I
opened the package like a kid on Christmas
morning and removed my next project.
Here it is.
It
was a little rough, but looked like it would
clean up just fine.
We
had read that these rifles had been used
in Turkey and it had about the ugliest rifle
strap on it that I've ever seen. I removed
it with a razor knife and threw it away.
I told my lovely wife, "I just hope
it has good rifling". I went into the
garage and removed the bolt and looked down
the barrel. I said, "Oh, no"!
She asked, "What's the matter?"
I said, "There isn't a sign of rifling
in the barrel."
But then I sprayed some WD-40 down the barrel
and ran a patch down the barrel. I then
scrubbed the bore with Shooter's Choice
and Kroil, and patched it again.
I looked down the barrel and smiled. The
rifling was deep and perfect, just like
it had never been shot. It had only been
cosmoline covering the rifling in the barrel.
The
rifle had most of the bluing worn completely
off.
But
the receiver was clearly marked, "U.S.
Property".
I understand that these rifles were so marked
to be used in the "Lend Lease"
program in the early part of WWII to get
around the United States being a non-combatant
at that time.
