WW1 Drill Purposes Dummy SMLE Rifle - WW2 Home Guard Issue
A interesting WW1 manufactured Dummy SMLE Mk111 Rifle produced for drill purposes and constructed in wood with alloy fittings.
These practice rifles were issued for training by the British in both World Wars I believe however this example to be of WW1 vintage due to the presence of the magazine cut off detail in the moulded metalwork, a feature that was discontinued on the real SMLE’s in 1915.
Although manufactured in WW1 I have no doubt it went on to be used again in WW2 by the Home Guard as period photos testify and will complete a Home Guard collection.
Made to look exactly like the real thing the metal work on these is cast in one block with the exception of the muzzle end piece which is from a real SMLE. This feature was deliberately kept to enable the easy fixing of the 1907 Bayonet when practicing Rifle Drill.
For demonstration purposes one of my images shows a 1907 Bayonet fixed to the Rifle, this is not included in this sale, it is however available from the previous listing .
My final image is of WW1 period advertisment for these dummy Dummy SMLE Rifles. At that time the Home Guard was known as the “Volunteer Training Corps” as seen there.
