This great example of a rare 1919 G.R.I. Ishapore SHT LE III (Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III) was manufactured at the Rifle Factory Ishapore in India during the reign of the British King-Emperor George V with G.R.I. (Georgius Rex Imperator) on the wrist, correctly.

There are some who believe the Indian No.1 MkIII’s were of inferior quality which is simply not true & actually the opposite. All rifles made at the Rifle Factory Ishapore underwent stringent quality control & construction was overseen by experienced managers from the Motherland.

After World War I ended in 1918, millions of rifles were suddenly surplus to immediate needs. The best, most complete rifles like this example were set aside for strategic reserve storage.

Uniquely, this rifle retains the magazine cut off, as the British military officially ordered the deletion of the magazine cut-off in late 1915 (creating the Mk III* configuration) to speed up wartime production. The Ishapore factory in India famously lagged behind these changes & continued to manufacture rifles with the cut-off slot & plate well into the interwar years.

Finding one intact, rather than retrofitted with a flat plate or missing entirely, is a major plus for collectors who seek historical accuracy.

During regular maintenance or arsenal re-bored/re-barreled programs (often marked as F.R. for Factory Repair on Ishapore rifles), parts like bolts, nose caps & wood fore-ends were routinely swapped.

The absence of wood stamps or heavy arsenal refurbishment marks suggests this rifle escaped being extensively refurbed during the extensive post-WW1 & WW2 Factory Repair (F.R.) programs that drastically altered most Ishapore Enfields.

Interestingly, the “RF” over a broad arrow and the date 1926 on the left wrist solves a major piece of this rifle’s puzzle. On Indian-contract Lee-Enfields, “RF” stands for Rifle Factory (often paired with an “I” underneath for Rifle Factory Ishapore, or structured as an oversight stamp, just as this has).

This 1926 wrist stamp tells us exactly why this rifle survived in such pristine, matching condition. There is a 1926 Re-Inspection & Storage Theory among historians regarding the Ishapore rifles. Rather than a standard “F.T.R.” (Factory Through Repair) or overhaul mark, a dated “RF” stamp on the left socket usually signifies an official factory reinspection or re-proofing.

The 1926 Check: 1926 was a year known as a year rifles in India underwent inventoried inspection & this rifle was pulled from deep storage, inspected at the factory, found to be in pristine mechanical order (which explains why no parts were replaced or mismatched), stamped on the left wrist to certify it passed inspection & likely went to a Unit or back in a crate.

Because it was deemed operationally acceptable in 1926, it completely avoided the typical heavy stock-stamping, sanding & later modifications, remaining original & intact.

This 1926 marking adds a documented layer of military history without taking away from the rifle’s original 1919 manufacture. It acts as an official “time capsule” stamp proving the rifle was preserved in its early mechanical configuration by the arsenal itself & the 1926 stamp provides a logical, highly desirable backstory for why it is still fully matching. It was at this time we assume the only part changed was the rear sight. You can see this was changed over with N8034 lined out & 22955B stamped to match, see photos.
Nicely, it is stamp 17 over 33 on the stock, which potentially gives us an insight to which unit it went to. This stamp beautifully ties together this rifle’s journey & goes a long way toward explaining its outstanding, all-matching condition. Because the unit kept it safely locked away in rack number 33 rather than dragging it through heavy frontline combat in WW2, the parts were never broken, swapped, or modified.

Unit rack numbers on the wood are highly prized by collectors of Commonwealth military firearms because a nice rack number proves the rifle saw genuine military tracking through its service, rather than sitting completely forgotten in a warehouse.

Because the rifle has avoided common arsenal modifications it would make an excellent addition to any serious No.1 MkIII collection!

For many, many, more photos, visit: https://scgunshop.com.au/product/matching-original-1919-gri-ishapore-sht-le-iii-s-n-22955b/