Enfield No 5 Jungle Carbine………..(f 568) SOLD

A good Enfield No 5 Jungle Carbine produced at Fazakerley

Produced towards the end of World War Two, Britians answer to fighting in the jungle; The Enfield No5 Mk I Jungle Carbine.  Chambered in .303 British with a detachable ten-shot box magazine, this sturdy carbine saw the British and Commonwealth forces fight their way through the jungles of the far east.  Designed as a smaller, more portable weapon for the infantry to carry in the restrictive environment of the jungles the carbine soon earnt a  reputation as a rifle with quite a kick.  So much so that the designers developed the hard rubber butt-pad at the rear of the weapon which was meant to reduce recoil.  However, they failed to realise at the time that the buttpad had a reduced surface area and actually did little to solve the problem.

Overall the carbine is 39.3/4″ in length.  The round blacked barrel is 20.1/2″ long to the front of the distinctive flash hider.  The trigger pull is approx’ 13.1/2″ in length.  Stocked in a dark walnut stock with an over barrel hand-guard.  This particular carbine was built at the Royal Ordenance Factory at Fazakerley.  The markings on the side are testement to this and are as follows: ” No 5 MKI  ROF (F)  / 7/45   P1728″  The serial number is repeated on the rear facing flat of the bolt arm.  The rear sights are carbine sights and thus only graduated from 200 to 800 yards.  They have also been marked with a “F” once again for Fazakerley.  The detachable Enfield bolt head is a No 1 fitting.

During the process of re-import from the USA this carbine was stripped down and examined for originality.  The action has the correct “lightening” cuts either side and an abcence of the side lug all normally concealled below the woodwork line.  The barrel has the correct cuts for the same function to the barrel knox form.  The bolt-head is also correctly hollow to reduce weight.  This is 100% carbine.  There are no signs of clumsey refinishing on any of the wepon and everything appears to be original.  Fixed to the muzzle is the classic Bren-like flash hider that makes the No 5 so easily distinguishable, with bayonet lug below.

This carbine is finished in the rather crude military black paint or military black.  Most of the finish is worn and chipped if not completely worn through.   There is a patch of pitting to the magazine..  There is a satisfying degree of originality to this carbine, in that most components are marked with the “F” for Fazakerley and have not been substituted the “M47C” BSA parts.  There are two War Department acceptance stamps on the wrist aswell as other Enfield acceptance stamps.  The action is mechanically good and the bore is very good with strong rifling and NO pitting, or misting.  The rifling is deep with sharp well defined edges to the lands.  This should be as good a shooter as any carbine of this type can be.  Freshly proofed upon re-import to the UK in 2016.

Stock No’  F 568

£ 750…. SOLD

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