Here is one I have been meaning to get some pics of, and finally did. In the 1920's the new Irish Army contracted with Britain to buy a bunch of Enfields to arm up. The Brits took a bunch of older, somewhat obsolete No. 1, Mk I rifles out of service to fulfill the contract. They were all renumbered with the new serial starting with either ER or GR...they were sent to Ireland, and in the 60's Ireland disposed them on the open market, many if not all coming here...

They seem to run a mixed bag as far as "originaless"...some are still basically in their full Mk I trim, some have been fully converted to Mk III standard, and some are in between.

The first one I had was a full conversion, new forend, handguards, rear sight...but still had the two piece charger guide and proper nosecap...I semi-restored it (the rear handguard with integral ears are pure rocking horse poop...). But alas I sold it off when I wanted something else more, and I got $1k for it as is....

When I moved to Texas, while we were on our house buying trip, I swung by a shop in Ft Worth. Loads of beautiful stuff, with stellar high prices. I saw the odd Mk I nosecap right away, and pulled this off the rack to discover it was a basically fully intact Irish gun, all (re) numbers matching, all the bells and whistles. He had it priced like his other No. I Mk III's....stunningly high for one of those at $650, but apparently they did not see the differences, so I took it to lay away until I moved. He pulled out the mag for it, and I was happily surprised to see the correct early mag too...

Picked it up a month later when we closed on the house, it was my first stop after obtaining my temp TX license.

There are a bunch of differences from the later Mk III's....the nosecap had differently shaped ears. The forearm was noit cut for the forearm mounted rear sight protector. The rear handguard instead had an integrally mounted rear sight guard. Rear sight was the early type with bone inserts on the elevation slide, and was windage adjustable. The charger bridge was two piece, with the bolt side part mounted to the bolt head. Early style cocking knobs on bolt, and early pattern magazines.

I was thrilled to finally find one in all original trim...

Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File

Some more...You can still faintly see the BSA stock roundel....

Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File

Some more...and trust me, these are all correctly oriented in my file, still don't know why ARFPICS randomly orients them....sorry...

Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File

Last of them...

Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File

Love the volley sights and cut off plate. Very nice rifle.

What shop did you pick this up at?

Wish I was that knowledgeable about...anything.

I’ll have to post up my Enfields one day, so you can tell me what I’ve got.

Winchester Gallery....like I said, lots of really nice (old) guns, but mostly I can't afford it....

But I knew this one was worth probably twice what they had it marked, so I jumped on it...and I was sad I sold my other one....

I went by there on Friday and was disappointed. I agree that their wall of older guns has some nice rifles but they’re all too pricy. I didn’t see any Enfields when I went.

Yeah, this was a little over 3 years ago...haven't really been by since, so don't know what current inventory looks like....

But every once in a while a blind squirrel finds an acorn...

I actually stopped there on my way back from Military Gun Supply which was very disappointing....

Very nice.  I have an old Enfield also used in Ireland by the RIC, and LEC I, but its only a barreled receiver.  Nice catch.

Oh, yeah, a RIC Carbine has been on my wish list for a long time, they are awesome, and every Enfield collector really needs one!

I love their shortened mags, they just look so cool....

Your's is a beauty.  Good purchase!

Niiiiiice.