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Thread: Boer War Firearms
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26-08-2019, 20:26 #11
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- Jun 2015
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- South Africa
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Re: Boer War Firearms
Tom, whoever modified and carved your carbine did an excellent job and your theory concerning its origin fits very well. In respect of the Lee Metford Mk I*, I can confirm that until relatively recently these rifles were not too uncommon in South Africa. I suspect the British never bothered to recover them! I still have two, the other being in better condition, but not so interesting as the example shown.
Attachment 30846
Perhaps some viewers will be interested in the rest of the Boer War Magazine Lee Metfords. Top to bottom: Rifles, Mk II, Mk II* & Cavalry Carbine Mk I.
Manufactured over the period 1894/96 the Lee Metford Mk II was the main rifle on issue to the time-serving British Regulars at the commencement of the Boer War. It remained in service throughout hostilities though mainly on reissue to colonial volunteer units such as the Natal Composite Regiment, Imperial Yeomanry and Cape Mounted Rifles. This rifle’s most significant improvement over its predecessor, the MkI*, was a 10-round double column magazine in place of an 8-round single column.
The Lee Metford Mk II* was only produced in limited numbers during 1895/96 and is now not generally encountered by collectors. It was basically a transitional rifle which is externally identical to its successor, the Lee Enfield Mk I, having a similar bolt with safety catch, but retaining the earlier 7-groove Metford rifling. Although a contemporary of the other British magazine rifles, its direct Boer War links cannot be confirmed. Photographically it is identical to the Lee Enfield with surviving examples (as in this case) generally being marked to the Royal Navy.
The Lee Metford Mk I Cavalry Carbine was specially designed to equip cavalry regiments and as such is of reduced length and weight with a flattened bolt and more streamlined 6-round magazine to facilitate insertion into a saddle bucket. Like the Mk II* rifle it is equipped with a bolt mounted safety catch. It was manufactured over the period 1895/97 and as in the case of the Lee Metford Mk II was in general issue at the commencement of hostilities. As the war progressed it was similarly replaced by the equivalent Lee Enfields and reissued to colonial units such as the National Scouts and Black Scouts. This example is marked to the Transvaal Constabulary, a body of police recruited following the capture of Pretoria to assist in the local maintenance of law and order.
Note that by the commencement of the Boer War, none of these rifles would have retained their clearing rods which became unnecessary and obsolete through an improvement in the metallurgy of the .303 cartridge cases.
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26-08-2019, 20:31 #12
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- May 2011
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- GP, but in my mind, hunting for Ivory in the 1930's
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Re: Boer War Firearms
Thanks for the info. I’d love a Lee Metford as part of my collection.
Don’t take life too seriously, no one gets out alive.
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26-08-2019, 23:00 #13
Re: Boer War Firearms
This is a great thread, please keep the contributions coming.
Sent electronically, thus not signed.
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27-08-2019, 00:02 #14
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- Sep 2014
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- 49
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- 141
Re: Boer War Firearms
Terry , thank you for such knowledgeable contributions. My main focus is on the firearms used by the Boers but no ABO collection can be complete without the Colonial firearms. I will certainly turn to you for guidance. I have recently aquired a lee metford cavalry carbine which I am super stoked about. I will post some pics as I am sure you could offer you expert advice.
I thought my next post should be an OVS revolver.
The information relating to the official purchases of handguns by the OVS is extremely limited. We do know that there was a need to arm the police and artillerists and as such, 20 handguns were officially ordered in 1858. We are however unable to establish what the 20 handguns may have been.
Fast forward almost 40 years, the Jameson raid had come and gone and there was still a lack of will and urgency to order handguns for the OVS. Webley made several attempts to secure orders from the OVS but were unsuccessful. It can be said with reasonable certainty that the OVS did not purchase any Webleys after 1896.
It can be assumed that very small batches of Webleys had been purchased prior to 1896 and that these would have been issued to the police and artillery units.
It was known that there was a Webley no 5 revolver in the pattern room at Enfield lock and that this revolver was stamped with the markings OVS.
Another example was known to have been in the Police college Museum in Pretoria at some point.
I was extremely lucky to come across this extremely scarce revolver. I aquired it from an elderly gent who was a German child soldier during the final stages of ww2. He had aquired it many years ago from relatives of the original owner. Unfortunately he could not provide names or further details.
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27-08-2019, 00:04 #15
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- Sep 2014
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- 49
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Re: Boer War Firearms
The carving ( burnt into the grips ) had me guessing for weeks what it could have been until I saw it at the correct angle and realized it was the OVS orange tree.
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27-08-2019, 06:28 #16
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27-08-2019, 07:20 #17
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- May 2011
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- GP, but in my mind, hunting for Ivory in the 1930's
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Re: Boer War Firearms
@pegasusdion. You have just made me green with envy, I would give my left nut for an OVS No5 as part of my Webley collection. Beautiful
Don’t take life too seriously, no one gets out alive.
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27-08-2019, 07:47 #18
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- Jan 2010
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- Pretoria
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- 34
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- 843
Re: Boer War Firearms
Awesome! Keep the pics coming.
Pegasusdion, I believe you bought my Lee Enfield Mk1* some time back.
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27-08-2019, 07:49 #19
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27-08-2019, 08:42 #20
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- Oct 2017
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- The Vaal Triangle
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- 35
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- 3,138
Re: Boer War Firearms
Its amazing to think that these weapons were actually used by the Boere commandos to fight the British Empire and they gave them one hell of a fight!
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