Does anyone know whether or not it is rare, and subsequently more desireable, for a No.4 Mk1 Lee Enfield to have a zinc butt plate vs. the brass plate?
Mike
Mike
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butt plate
I don't know if it's more desirable to some collectors, but my understanding of the alloy butt plates, is that they were a wartime expedient because brass was scarce. -
Grey Butt plate
I do not think they are super rare. The grey (gray for our American friends) buttplate on my 1943 BSA Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. I (T) had cracked badly. I asked a gun smith friend if he could supply me with a replacement and he pulled one out of his parts box. Just in time too for when I unscrewed the damaged one, it fell apart in about six pieces!
Colin
Originally posted by Carl Spackler View PostComment
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Not particularly rare. There were brass, zamak (yours) and blued steel. Zamak and steel were war time expedients and so would be most appropriate on war time dated rifles. However, remember that when rifles went in for repair the armourer simply grabbed the needed part out of a box of parts and put it on. Rifles recovered from the battlefield were repaired and reissued. Rifles too damaged for repair were stripped of usable parts. The parts were were just thrown in a box of like parts, buttplates in box 1, triggerguards in box 2, rear sights in box 3 etc. Parts were grabbed out of a box as needed. No one was thinking about collectors 70 years in the future.Comment
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