Did any other manufacturer besides Long Branch and Savage produce the MK1 Button cocking piece ? I have never seen one on a early Brit made rifle except for trials rifles.
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Did any other manufacturer besides Long Branch and Savage produce the MK1 Button cocking piece ? I have never seen one on a early Brit made rifle except for trials rifles.
Yes, Singer Manufacturing Company made them. They were one of the main subcontractors for smaller parts for the UK No4 manufacturers & their parts can be found on BSA, Maltby & (IIRC) Faz No4's. But as with North American production, only the very early rifles are found with the button cocking pieces.
Here's an early cocking piece marked "SM" for Singer Manufacturing. I have a 1943 No4T, and it too is wearing a button-headed piece. That one is marked "SM41".
Thanks for the replies. While my 1L and two 5C Long Branch and savage rifles have LB and S marked button cockong pieces I had never seen one on a Brit rifle until I came into possession of a 1941 B mrked BSA rifle and it has no makers mark on the cocking piece that I can find.
I have one of those "mystery manufacture" cocking pieces. I scrounged this back in 1992 from a No4 bolt I found in a gun show parts bin.
I suspect it is a LB/Savage/SM piece that was scrubbed and refinished for Indian/Pakistan service. The bolt was a renumbered Maltby piece that had heavy, block serial numbering, indicative of either POF or Ishapore.
Comments/theories welcome
I never did figure it out. Looks like three "E" s. Also has an X and another smaller E on the opposite side.