Updated 24th September 2016— 

• NEW DVDs on show and sale at my tables... Melbourne and Adelaide gun shows in a few weeks. I will have a range of my current books in print too.

• Full On - Full Auto 1 - British & US Machineguns - 70 min. run time DVD
  Now available, $29.50 plus $5 p&p in Oz, $10 overseas. 'SLR, the FAL with Kevin Adams' out in November for the Penrith gun show; see our Gun Shows page.

• 30 Years - From piano & synths to film.
  Music CD by Ian Skennerton, $9.50 plus p&p. Run time about 80 minutes, mostly classical music on piano; some synthesisers near the end. Nice to have a record of my keyboard playing, copyright free too!

• .303 No.1 Mk III* HT sniper rifle sn. 28442 (likely Efd or BSA mfg, originally an ex-Rifle Club 'H' rifle) was issued to 4th Independent Coy sniper Trooper L.I. Wright VX123028. An AWM photograph of Tpr Wright is in Guns Australia article by Daniel Cotterill, Apr/Jun 2003. Les Wright is 92 years old, in Qld. In his twilight years, it would be nice if he could be re-united with his beloved rifle that served in the front line. So if any reader owns or knows of SMLE sn. 28442 (likely has a letter prefix or suffix) we can add some provenance to make it even more special. It may have been at Milne Bay and Lae, but was in action later in Borneo with the 4th Ind Coy. It is shown in Wahlert & Linwood's excellent 'One Shot Kills' book, published by Army History Unit, 2014. 

• Small Arms Series Live DVD trailer on the S.M.L.E., courtesy of Badger at the Milsurps Forum. Click your mouse on the film strip here... maybe a few mins to download for its 8 min. play time, but well worth the wait!
                                                             

• Brian Labudda, new shop... Bigger & better with even more militaria, parts, antiques & bric-a-brac. Now at Wondai Q.4606, main street (11-13 Scott St.). It is the last shop on the left heading north, and the first shop on the right heading south on the Bunya Highway (49) north of Kingaroy. Brian's postal address still the same, P.O. Box 770, Kingaroy 4610. Call 0400 625 366

•  'Girls with Guns' - Requests for another 'Woman at Arms' calendar sees a new DVD with 3 great clips, total run time of 51 mins...
  'Any Weekend in Arizona' (women at local MG shoots & events)
  'Woman at Arms' (historical from Queen Boudecia to Kurdish freedom fighters, an A-Z from Angelina Jolie to Zara Pithian plus others, guns, blades) 
  'Calendar Girls', an updated calendar with close-up action...
  of M16s, Comblock, Vickers, FAL, Bren, Scatterguns, Thompson, BAR, M1919A4, M60, Tactical, Sterling, Sten, Uzi, and German MPs & MGs.
  $25 plus p&p. Available from select dealers and gunshops (widescreen PAL format). Or e-mail me... idskennerton@hotmail.com

• Two Small Arms Series Live DVD & Computer Resources CD sets now... '.303 SMLE with Brian Labudda'. (1hr 24min DVD) and '.303 Rifle No.4 and No.5' (1hr 27min DVD) with history, models, safety, live fire, field cleaning, armourer stripping & maintenance, range shoots and collecting menus.
  The interactive Research CD has manuals & out-of-print books as .pdf files, marks & models photos, armourer charts & research material (manufacturing specs, &c.) The new 2-disc sets are A$39.50 plus $5 p&p in Australia.
              See our new DVD-CD page to order this and other DVD sets

• Next in the series, 'S.L.R., the F.A.L. with Kevin Adams', later this year. We are moving from printing to DVD & CD. A picture is worth a thousand words.

• More on serial number stamps on Lee-Enfields...
  When MLM, MLE & SMLE rifles left the factory, serials were usually stamped on the action body, barrel (knox form) and bolt handle. Base Ordnance Depots, workshops and armourers generally transcribed serials onto the underside of sight leaf, fore-end (not MLM, MLE) and nose-cap (not MLM or MLE). Such stamps are likely a different style/size.
  
  For MLM, MLE and early SMLEs, action bodies started with a progressive lot letter (no prefix then A thru' Z) prior to numbers being stamped, so the letter can appear as a prefix or suffix on earlier rifles. Letter prefix/suffix was often not recorded in factory records, such as the sniper rifle conversion lists at Lithgow. Details serial no. lists are in our Research CD for the S.M.L.E. 

• Lots of Enfield & Brit Military data in our Archives at Enfield Collector, go to www.enfieldcollector.com/archive.html  Also see the page on Serial nos. www.enfieldcollector.com/serials.html and other pages at Enfield Collector.

• Shortened SMLE rifles... We have seen a few shortened No.1 rifles from UK, described as 'jungle rifles' but not like the Lithgow Shortened & Lightened series (20.2-in. barrel) in official collections, converted or modified from earlier downgraded SMLE rifles. There is a reason other than 'jungle rifle' as they pre-date Far East requirement. Examination of Faris' collection lead us to believe they were modified at Base Ordnance Depots or by unit armourers when there has been a requirement. Some parts including bodies are unnumbered, drawn from spares; others were cannibalised.
  
  Some AFV schedules have rifles but fitting precludes a 44.5-in. SMLE. Pre-WW2, this only leaves a shortened No.1, by about 5-ins. Such a short rifle in the Faris collection with signs of being test fired lead us to conclude that the only requirement would be for AFV during WW2 when his was modified from a 1941 Lithgow.  'Tanker' models extend well beyond the British realm. After the word spreads, beware of fakes!

• Courtesy of Ian Kuring, ex-Singleton Army Museum curator, author of 'Redcoats to Cams' and friend of Herb Woodend. He sent us pics from the  Enfield housing estate. With original RSAF Enfield building preserved, this fitting tribute to Herb is now attached outside.

•   

• A New sniper record? Aussies this time. Delta Coy., 2 Commando Regt. in Helmund province. Two SAS marksmen fired simultaneously with .50 Barrett M82A1's at Taliban; GPS recorded 2.815km, killing the commander. Bullets were 6 seconds in the air; targets did not hear the shot. The 'Telegraph' story quotes 2 men firing simultaneously so unknown who scored the kill. From our experience, a little unlikely as the chance of having targets ID'd, verified and permission to engage, then ranging and confirmation by the spotter, and two troopers squeezing off at the same time is tall odds. Maybe SAS anonymity, not wanting to be named. But this beats an earlier British record of 2.47km.

• 40 Handbooks available now, rifles and pistols of various nationalities and origin. These are User Manuals which differ from our S.A.I.S..

• Check our www.enfieldcollector.com site; eventually there will be pages on .577 Enfield, Snider-Enfield, Martini, MLM & MLE, SMLE, Rifle No.4, &c.

DVD & CD set $35.00

DVD & CD set $35.00

DVD & CD set $29.50


DVD & CD set $35

DVD & CD set $35

DVD only $19.50

#23 L-E Parts Catalog

WinM1892

Ruger10/22

SchmidtRubin

NOW ~~~  Small Arms Identification Series   last series titles ... US$10.00 ea.
SAIS #22 British Empire Sniper Rifles with parts, line drawings, mounts & scopes.
New information on the Canadian, Australian & Indian conversions.
SAIS #23 Lee-Enfield Parts Catalogue shows MLM, MLE, SMLE, No.4, No.5 & .22 rifle parts by items. Side by side comparisons: bodies, bolts, sights, nosecaps, furniture, &c.
SAIS #24 9mm Sten Mk V, VI & II(S) to complement SAIS #11 on the Mk I, II & III Sten models. This is the final booklet in our Small Arms Identification Series manuals.