This rifle was an unusual and exciting find. A dealer in B.C. Canada was commisioned to dispose of an estaste. Included in this estate sale was a total of ten, yes ten new in the box Savage made Enfields. There has been a recent import of No4Mk2 Enfields, the so call "Irish Contract", and even these are now extremely hard to come by. This rifle is probably one of very few new wartime dated Enfields that exist outside of a museum. The rifles included a corrugated fiberboard box, serial numbered by hand to the rifle. The box certification is correct for the time period and shows that the box was produced at a plant in Natick, Massachusetts. Indise the corrugated box was the rifle in cosmoline, and the bolt for the rifle was contained in a separate small cardboard box printed with the drawing number of the bolt, and again hand numbered to the rifle! The only thing that has been modified on the rifle is that at some point in arsenal storage, the magazine has been stamped with the rifle's serial number. Savage rifles as they left the factory had un-numbered magazines. The purists out there will probably berate me for removing most of the cosmoline from the rifle, but the rifle is so beautiful that it was a shame to keep it covered in grease. Also, there was nothing to indicate that it was the original cosmoline. However, the rifle will stay as it is, unfired.
Overall view of the rifle. Note the nice coloration of the birchwood stock.
A bit closer view of the action of the rifle. I left enough cosmoline on the metal to help preserve it, while removing it from the wood to prevent the wood from soaking up more.
This stamp on the box in the same color as the box certification stamp, possibly indicating the contract number for the box order.
Here we see the hand numbered serial number on the box, and the stamp indicating the muzzle end of the box.
Here is a picture of the inside of the box, showing the extra cardboard reinforcement for the butt end of the rifle.
To the left are the butt socket markings of the rifle. Top is the serial number, 38C53XX, followed by the Savage squared S, then the date of 1943 and then the ordanance flaming bomb stamp.
This is a shot of the foreend showing the "low wood" version. The foreend is also still inletted for the bolt release of the earlier No4MkI series rifles.
A close up of the serial number on the magazine. Again, this was added at some point by the armourer.
Here is a picture of the separate box that the bolt came in. Hand lettered in pencil with the rifle's serial number.
