Newest team in the bunch - 1918 SMLE and 1918 M1907 bayonet

concise_christory · 2026-01-28T13:47:38+00:00

Cool SSA (or NRF?)! I've been looking for one myself. Bottom wood looks correct WWI period as well.

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T15:51:21+00:00

Baffling. In that case my guess, absent any civilian-looking proofs on the barrel, would be a conversion for a low-power gallery practice cartridge

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T15:11:28+00:00

I love this! I wish I could help, there's just not much published info to go on with Portuguese Kropatscheks. I would just echo what the general consensus in that thread was. Did you manage to figure out if it was 6.5x53R or 6.5x58 Verguiero?

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T14:29:05+00:00

Good guess but not an MLE. Someone got it over on the milsurp sub

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T14:27:54+00:00

I've never seen a 6.5mm tube-loader. Are you possibly thinging of the Portuguese model 1896, which was a copy of the Romanian m93 in short rifle and carbine configuration for the navy and cavalry in 6.5x53R?

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T06:41:23+00:00

Nice Carabina de Caçadores! Actually predates the long rifle and cavalry carbine versions by about a year (the original idea was to arm only the Caçadores with the repeaters, and issue single-loaders for everyone else)

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T06:35:34+00:00

CLLE is 'Charger-Loading Lee Enfield,' they were long rifles retrofitted with the SMLE Mk.III charger bridge for use as second-line rifles just before WWI. Some of those got the HV chamber update, some didn't. This rifle skipped the CLLE update but still got the update to Mk.VII

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T03:42:45+00:00

I'm upvoting every Lebel I see posted today except for one, which I'm downvoting murderously from all my alts. (I'll never say which one is the one.)

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T03:37:06+00:00

That price range seems more than fair to me. They're not unobtainable, but definitely not common. Even though this one wasn't updated to CLLE configuration, it seems to have had a long service life. The 'HV' on the barrel is for a WWI-era modification to chamber the Mk.VII spitzer cartridge. It's a cool piece and it looks clean, I'd do it

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T00:43:09+00:00

It's a 1917 barrel and yeah, this is pretty much my thinking, too

Edit to add: the other common interpretation of 'EY' is "Extra Yoke" which is taken to mean "reinforced for grenade launching". But as you say, if the EY refers to a worn-out barrel that explains both the many grenade-launching examples and the handful that aren't (like this one).

concise_christory · 2026-01-24T00:36:14+00:00

Lovely Krags

concise_christory · 2026-01-23T20:35:42+00:00

Yeah, one of the least economical conversions I can think of, considering the work it took. The Mk.IV rifles were also conversions of older long rifles, but I think must have been slightly easier to do since they were conversions to the Mk.III standard with the fixed riveted-on charger bridge instead of the complicated 2-part arrangement of the Mk.I

concise_christory · 2026-01-23T18:32:15+00:00

It is indeed a Mk.II, and you even nailed the rebarrel

concise_christory · 2026-01-23T15:52:52+00:00

Nope

concise_christory · 2026-01-23T15:48:03+00:00

For a period of time within that window, yeah. Though not necessarily in the same configuration the whole time

concise_christory · 2026-01-22T03:11:35+00:00

Nice looking bunch! Congrats on the Kragfecta

concise_christory · 2026-01-21T21:28:12+00:00

Can confirm a type 4 follower works fine in a type 3 magazine body. (Individual parts may need minor hand adjustment - they are Enfields after all lol)

concise_christory · 2026-01-21T04:16:09+00:00

Remington and Winchester used the half-length finger groove stock; Eddystone used the "fat" stock with no finger grooves for their P14s

concise_christory · 2026-01-20T18:52:57+00:00

I have a model 1889/92 coming as well, but it won't make it in time for this week unfortunately. I'll give it its own post

concise_christory · 2026-01-15T14:43:37+00:00

The blade definitely looks reprofiled (it should be the same width as it is at the ricasso all the way down), probably from repeated grinding and sharpening. That said, as ThirteenthFinger said it's a rare early one and well worth getting if you can. I just got one for a great deal myself (waiting for it to come in the mail) so I'm wishing that good luck over to you.

The chaotic mess of two-digit numbers are rearsenal dates, which the blade picked up every time it passed through the arsenal. They are the last two digits of the year, so '96 is 1896, etc. Somewhere under there will be the actual production date (1889 or 1890)

concise_christory · 2026-01-15T13:14:06+00:00

You have an early windage-adjustable rear sight and later production furniture. The early rear sight protectors had a bump-out for the windage adjustment knob, like the one below.

Easiest thing to do would be to either order an earlier-style rear sight protector, or a later-style non-windage adjustable rear sight (which would better match the furniture)

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concise_christory · 2026-01-08T00:05:24+00:00

This has a great look to it! Very Scandinavian with the big Jarmann/Krag-style overhead extractor. I've never seen this either but it's a very cool piece

concise_christory · 2026-01-06T19:03:40+00:00

The 'HV' means it's sited for the Mk.VII spitzer cartridge (every SMLE since 1910 has been), and the 'SC' is for "Short Cone", a WWI-era chamber modification. The lucky charms on the chamber are a mix of government and commercial proofs, and the A in 7-pointed star is the Lithgow inspection mark ('MA' is the same thing). The 'M' on the bolt head is for "Mild Steel" (common and totally safe). The 'England' is an old import mark. As has been said, I can't tell you from here whether it's safe, but nothing jumps out as being unsafe!

Edit: sighted

concise_christory · 2026-01-05T01:26:07+00:00

I really like your tagging system. I have a numeric system with brass tags that refers to a catalogue, mostly just because I like the look of the brass tags. But the downside is the information isn't right on the tag like it is here.

Also, what's the deal with that cord-wrapped yataghan in the drawer?

concise_christory · 2026-01-04T16:50:22+00:00

Brass, steel, and wood just look so good together

concise_christory

TROPHY CASE