This One Has Me Scratching My Head

[SpikeDD]

1947 BSA.... The rifle looks to be in pristine condition from the rest of the photos. All wood is WWII coded, as far as I can tell. Never seen anything like this...

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Information

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[browningautorifle]

Has it been assembled somewhere along the way by an individual and numbered to meet spec for market? The polished receiver flat makes me think, as well as the shuffled number on the butt socket... Perfect finish on rifles like this always make me suspicious.

[Roger Payne]

I've seen one (but only one) exactly like it, only it was a Y prefix serial. It was shown to me by the owners of World Wide Arms here in the UK a few years ago. They buy surplus weapons in bulk & deactivate virtually all of them. Sadly it had been chopped before anyone noticed it was a little unusual! I don't know but I suspect a small quantity of rifles were perhaps assembled by BSA from pre-existing WW2 parts in the immediate post war period.

[Peter Laidler]

I agree wholeheartedly with Roger. It wasn't unknown for BSA - who were a purely commercial gun making company, contracted to produce weapons for the MoS when the need arose - to make use of their over production for commercial gain - as and when the need arose! They certainly did with over production of No8's when they 'mistakenly' sold quantities of new ones to NZ and South Africa (although some say it was Rhodesia) in the 50's. Who's to say that they didn't filter in new-build No4's, made from old stocks, while they were doing their huge 1950's commercial FTR's for the export market. I mean......., with the quantities involved, who'd be any the wiser?

[Lee Enfield]

1947 BSA.... The rifle looks to be in pristine condition from the rest of the photos. All wood is WWII coded, as far as I can tell. Never seen anything like this...

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Look on the rear flat to the left of the bolt race for a D6E inspectors marking.

I had an identical gun (M47C - 1947 ) which I bought because it had the inspectors marking.

My theory was that it was possibly a rifle set aside for shipping to H&H which BSA retained after the closing of WW2 contracts...

[SpikeDD]

Interesting observation, Lee...

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[Peter Laidler]

I don't know if Roger smells one, but I smell a rat. The D6E mark was the MoS examiners mark put on the rifle after completion as the government examiners mark. The letter S was also a mark put on the rifle at H&H by their in-house in-inspection team to warn/advise those further along in the conversion process line that it required some adjustment or change or something else to do with the original sighting*.

*Quite what this was has never been properly explained and probably never will be now.

[Roger Payne]

I was under the impression that the 'S' on the cut-off block was indicative of the rifle having been sighted in with its iron sights & that this would not therefore need to be done/repeated after the conversion process (as would be the case with rifles lacking the 'S' that had replacement Mk1 (modified) rear sights fitted). Certainly I have always believed that it was applied at H&H, although over the years I have seen all sorts of permutations of markings & lack of them, that are not supposed to exist, like D6E on the bolt guide way of rifles not converted (such as the one in this thread), D6E on the knocks' form of early H&H 4T conversions, S51 in smaller than standard lettering on early conversions.........& so it goes on. As Peter intimated, we'll never know it all.

[Lee Enfield]

Interesting observation, Lee...

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I'll have to call the fellow I sold it to, to see about the "S" as I don't recall mine having it.

[browningautorifle]

I don't know if Roger smells one, but I smell a rat.

And what did I say?