Savage No.4 Lee-Enfield: A 1943 Rifle Cut to an SBR

Why Savage built Lee-Enfields in Massachusetts

In 1940 Britain needed rifles faster than its own factories could make them. American Rifleman explains that the British contracted with Savage Arms Corp. to build 200,000 Enfield No. 4 Mk I rifles at the J. Stevens Arms Co. factory in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. The United States was officially neutral, so the deal started out on a “cash and carry” basis.

That changed in March 1941, when Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act. Under its terms, according to the same article, the U.S. government took over existing British contracts for arms made by American companies, and arms provided to an ally had to be marked to show that they were technically the property of the United States. The first few thousand Savage rifles were made before that rule and do not carry the mark.

So the rifle in our photos is an American-made British service rifle. American Rifleman notes these rifles were not intended for issue to American troops; the U.S. PROPERTY marking was there to satisfy the technicalities of Lend-Lease.

How to read Savage No.4 Lee-Enfield markings

Three stamps on our rifle identify where and when it was made.

On top of the receiver, ahead of the bolt, it reads U.S. PROPERTY. That is the Lend-Lease marking.

On the left side, on the butt socket just above the trigger guard, is the serial number, then a squared S, then the year. Wikipedia’s table of Lee-Enfield maker codes lists “Squared S and US property” for Savage Arms, so the two marks together are the Savage combination. The year on ours is 1943.

The model marking on ours reads No4 Mk I*. Wikipedia describes the Mk I* as a wartime simplification introduced in 1942: the bolt release catch was replaced by a simpler notch on the bolt track of the receiver. Only two makers built it, Small Arms Limited at Long Branch in Canada and Stevens-Savage in the United States. A No.4 Mk I* with U.S. PROPERTY and a squared S was made by Savage in Massachusetts.

What Bubba changed

“Bubba” is what gun people call the anonymous home gunsmith who takes a saw to a military rifle. Here is the rifle as it is now.

The buttstock is gone, cut off at the wrist. In the cut end you can see a hole that looks like the old stock-bolt hole.

The barrel has been cut way down, to 12 inches. A standard No.4 Mk I barrel is 25.2 inches long, according to Wikipedia, so more than half of it is gone. What is left ends in a plain tube with no front sight on it.

The woodwork up front is short too. The stainless hose clamp around the handguard is not Bubba’s, though. One of our guys put it on.

What we can show is the result next to a complete one.

The No.4 and the mad minute

The No.4 fires the .303 British cartridge from a ten-round box magazine, loaded from the top with five-round chargers, as Wikipedia describes.

The Lee-Enfield is known as a fast rifle to work. Before the First World War, British riflemen trained for the “mad minute”: under the Musketry Regulations of 1909, Wikipedia notes, the drill called for 15 aimed rounds at a target 300 yards away within one minute. Our owner’s own number is not that drill. In his words: “With a full-length No.4, though, I once fired ten rounds in under ten seconds.” That was a different rifle, not this one.

Why this cut-down Lee-Enfield falls under the NFA

For a weapon made from a rifle, federal law defines the category by length. The National Firearms Act definition in 26 U.S.C. § 5845 covers “a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length” and “a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length.”

Ours is 24 inches overall with a 12-inch barrel, under both lines. That puts it under the NFA, and ours is registered as a short-barreled rifle. State law can add its own rules on top of the federal definition.

What it is like to shoot

In the opening shot of our video, the rifle fires from a sandbag and the upper handguard lifts off, clamp and all. Our owner describes shooting it like this: “When I shoot it, it stings my hand. If my other hand’s not on the handguard, the whole thing wants to fly up.”

For a short bolt-action rifle built that way on purpose, see our piece on the DARPA XM3 sniper rifle. For American wartime bolt-action rifles, see the Saving Private Ryan sniper rifle scope swap.

Specifications

Item	Our cut-down rifle	Standard No.4 Mk I (Wikipedia)
Model marking	No4 Mk I*	No. 4 Mk I
Maker	Savage Arms, J. Stevens plant, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts	Several British, Canadian and U.S. makers
Year	1943	No. 4 mass production from 1941
Markings	U.S. PROPERTY, squared S, 1943	Varies by maker
Cartridge	.303 British	.303 British
Magazine	10-round box	10-round box, loaded with 5-round chargers
Overall length	24 inches	44.45 inches
Barrel length	12 inches	25.2 inches
Buttstock	Removed at the wrist	Full wooden stock
Status	Registered short-barreled rifle	Standard rifle

On the floor at OSA

The cut-down Savage in this article is part of our own collection, and it stays there. We do not have a Lee-Enfield on the floor right now, but these pieces in our case are close relatives in time and place:

• 1943 Springfield Armory M1 Garand: made the same year as our Savage, in Springfield, Massachusetts, the city next door to Chicopee Falls.
• 1943 Standard Products M1 Carbine: the same year again, and a factory answer to the idea of a short, handy shoulder arm.
• 1937 Portuguese contract Mauser Kar98k: the Kar98k was Germany’s standard bolt-action rifle of the Second World War; this one was made in 1937 for Portugal.
• 1943 SAKO Civil Guard M39 Mosin-Nagant: another bolt-action rifle from 1943, made in Finland.

The grid below updates by itself as pieces come and go.

The short version is on our Instagram. Watch it on Instagram.

General information for collectors, not legal advice. Federal and state firearm laws change; check the current rules where you live. Historical details come from the sources listed below.

Sources

• American Rifleman, “Rifleman Q&A: Did Savage Arms Make Lee-Enfields?” — https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2020/4/14/rifleman-qa-did-savage-arms-make-lee-enfields/ (British contract for 200,000 No. 4 Mk I rifles at the J. Stevens factory in Chicopee Falls, cash and carry, Lend-Lease Act of March 1941, U.S. takeover of British contracts, U.S. property marking, first few thousand unmarked, not intended for issue to American troops)
• Wikipedia, “Lee–Enfield” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee%E2%80%93Enfield (Squared S and US property maker code for Savage Arms, Mk I* simplification in 1942 made only by Long Branch and Stevens-Savage, No. 4 Mk I length 44.45 in and barrel 25.2 in, .303 British, 10-round magazine with 5-round chargers)
• Wikipedia, “Mad minute” — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_minute (Musketry Regulations 1909, 15 rounds at 300 yards in one minute)
• Cornell Law School LII, 26 U.S. Code § 5845 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5845 (NFA definitions: rifle with barrel under 16 inches; weapon made from a rifle under 26 inches overall or barrel under 16 inches)