There's a question we've heard before, and we all know the answer! But occasionally something turns up and while doing some research on a Canadianicon battalion from WWI I found in the collection a notebook listing rifle numbers and the men to whom they were issued.

I'm not going to mention the unit or list the numbers for the obvious reasons, (fakery) but what I did notice was that they were generally serial numbers with two letters and three digits. I'm not an expert on SMLE serials; can anyone conclude from that information which factory these rifles might have been from?

The notebook dates from 1915/6 and from the similarities in the numbers, I'm guessing these were issued in one or more shipments to the battalion in question. I may be able to nail down the date more accurately when I check the records for some of the men listed.

The other question is, to what extent were serial numbers of that type duplicated, and if we can isolate these rifles to one factory's production, obviously in 1915/6 or before, will we be dealing with unique numbers or numbers duplicated several times before 1916/7?

I don't yet have a complete spreadsheet, but when I do, I'll post some of the letter groups from the serials and anyone with a SMLE, presumably bearing a "C Broad Arrow" mark, is welcome to send me their number and I will check for a match.
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