No4 Mk2 Rifle

History

After World War II Great Britain continued to trial new self-loading rifles (SLR's) and a new service cartridge. However, nothing as yet was near troop trial stage. For now the No4 rifle would continue to serve as England's service rifle.

The Mk2 version of the No4 was approved in late 1947, this change addressed an accuracy problem discovered during the war. It was found that stock warpage, due to changing weather or climate conditions would adversely effect the trigger pull of the rifle.

As in all previous Lee-Enfields the trigger was hung from the triggerguard and the triggerguard rested on the underside of the fore-end independent of the receiver. A modification that moved the anchor/pivot point of the trigger from the triggerguard to the receiver was used to correct this problem.

In conducting this modification the fore-end was altered slightly to accommodate the addition of the mounting bosses to the receiver. The reinforcing strap and the center piece of wood was removed from the fore-end and a tie screw installed in its place. This screw readily identifies the Mk2 at a glance. With this modification current issue No4 MkI and MkI* rifles could be retrofitted to the new design.

This resulted in the No4 Mk1/2 (No4 MkI's altered to Mk2 configuration), No4 Mk1/3 (No4 MkI*'s altered to Mk2 configuration) and the No4 Mk2 (new manufactured).

Approved in late 1947, production continued until 1955. With these dates in mind, all No4 Mk2's were produced post-war from new billets making them free of any wartime economies. Many of these rifles were confined to storage until being released for surplus and can still be found in excellent repair.