Well I'm not much of a photographer, and my snapshot camera isn't really up to the task but heres my No.1 Mk III as it is so far.


I'll probably replace the Beech butt stock with walnut later on, as is its distinctive but its always nice to have correct and matching wood.
The fore end is a new condition English walnut transitional.
I put a new condition cut off plate and a good used replacement windage adjustable rear sight on it.

The original windage adjustable sight was buggered, and probably not done as a MkIII* "upgrade" it looked more like it had simply gotten stuck and the knob broke off. If I can I'll use parts from the replacement sight to repair the original numbered sight rail later on.

The handguards are nicer than the photo suggests. The rear guard is an unfinished Indian of an exotic wood that looks much like walnut, probably Sheesham, It was grease soaked and had never been fitted or finish sanded, rough as a cobb. The front guard was one a neighbor's son found in the basement of a house he rented nearly ten years ago, he realized it was from a military rifle so he gave it to me and I put it aside for just such a project.
It has a brass cross pin repair/reinforcement that was exceptionally well done, and I think it adds to the looks of the finished rifle.
Strangely the handguards though made decades apart on different continents and of different species of wood match perfectly in color and the grains match end to end where the legs meet.

Ed Novak wrote:

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Temperflash: That is a very nice SMLE. You've cleaned it up very well. Arsenal?

Thanks, it took some doing but the bluing was near perfect when I got it, better than 98% for the barrel and receiver and about 80% of the bolt, so I figured it deserved the best wood I could afford.
The bolt head is probably a replacement, theres no visible wear to the bolt face , and no ring arond the firing pin hole from corrosive primers. No over turn to speak of but a hair of side play.
Its a 1915 Enfield ShtLE MkIII with no * nor any sign it ever had one.
The previous owner had brought it to me many years ago after he'd first got it. The fore end on it them was the worst warped piece of wood I've yet seen on an Enfield, and though very clean and new looking it was very light colored and weak Indian wood. The butt stock which is still on it was black and grey with no finish and as furry as a kitten.
Since the fore end was useless he asked me to cut it down so he could use the rifle as a sporter, replacement wood for an Enfield was something I hadn't even known was available back then. I saved the matching numbered nosecap and other metal figuring I'd find a fore end sooner or later. The handguards were not worth saving, I still have the rear guard that was on it, broken and repaired in four places and brittle as glass.
I tried to buy the rifle then but he didn't want to sell. Last year I finally talked him into selling it to finance a lever action Henry .22 he wanted.
So 16+ years after having sportered this rifle against my better judgement I rescued it and restored it as best I could.

This is probably the last Milsurp rifle I'll own, and definitely the last I'd part with.
Bore is very good to excellent, it slugs .303-.311 atypical for a Enfield bore.
I suspect the barrel may be a target grade replacement, but its numbered to the receiver and from the patina the rifle looks to have borne its finish for more than fifty years so it may never have been refinished, no FTR markings either.
The Butt Stock has a South African U marking, and is probably not original to this action.
I've read that BSA sent some target grade barrels to South Africa after WW2, but the barrel looks to have only Enfield markings.
I figure the barreled action was restocked by an Importer using odds and ends laying about.