Description

• A commercially-made Martini-Enfield Carbine in .303 British used by the Loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (U.V.F.) in Northern Ireland. The precise manufacturer of this Martini-Enfield is unknown, as the left and right-hand side of the receiver bare no markings at all, while the barrel only has commercial proofmarks from the Birmingham Proof House.
• This Martini-Enfield Carbine is one of an estimated 6,580 Martini-Enfields that were purchased on the private market in Britain prior to 1914, and smuggled into Northern Ireland to arm the Ulster Volunteer Force. The U.V.F. were a Protestant and pro-British Loyalist paramilitary group who were opposed to Irish Home Rule.
• The right-hand side of the rifle’s butt stock is stamped with a small oval marking featuring the Red Hand of Ulster, along with the text “U.V.F. For God And Ulster” inside.