A Maltby a bit odd

[Giove]

A 1942 Maltby with a 1941 Long Branch S.N.?

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[Roger Payne]

I may be wildly wrong Giove, but I think what could be a letter L is in fact a 1.

[Alan de Enfield]

I may be wildly wrong Giove, but I think what could be a letter L is in fact a 1.

Would a Maltby have a 6 digit serial number ?

Could it be prefix with letter "O" and then the 5 digits with the 1st prefix number being 1 to denote Maltby manufacture ?



No.4 and No.5 rifle serial numbers can readily identify manufacturers. British No.4 rifles have five numbers, usually after one or two letter prefixes. The same letter prefix(es) were used by Maltby, Fazakerley & BSA Shirley, A to Z then AA, AB to AZ, then BA to BZ, CA to CZ &c.
Maltby rifle serial numbers commence with a number '1',
Fazakerley with a '2' and
Shirley with a '3',

e.g. 1xxxx for Maltby, 2xxxx for Fazakerley and for Shirley, 3xxxx, after the letter prefix.

Late Shirley numbers then supposedly ran A4000 to A7999 and with PS prefixes at the very end of production. Post-war Fazakerley No.4 rifles had PF letter prefixes. The only exception to the 5-number sequence for No.4 rifles was the initial BSA Shirley production which ran from 0001 to 9999 then went with A to Z prefixes (A0001 to A9999 to the Z prefix) and some early dual letter prefixes (e.g. AT 0303), but then went over to A30001, &c. So early M47C No.4 rifle numbers could be confused with the Jungle carbine in having four rather than five numbers.

[GeeRam]

Would a Maltby have a 6 digit serial number ?

Could it be prefix with letter "O" and then the 5 digits with the 1st prefix number being 1 to denote Maltby manufacture ?

Would they used the letter O though?
In my old engineering days, we never used the letters I, O & Q as prefix's because they could be misread as zero, one and zero.

[CINDERS]

There is no gap at the wrist where the butt joins as PL pointed out there needs to be a small gap otherwise the recoil will start to splinter the wood as you can see how little pieces have started to split off from the wrist wood, PL said it was a wedge fitment for the butt to the wrist socket.
Certainly in a hurry to stamp it perhaps it was end of shift on a week end!

[Roger Payne]

Sorry Alan. Yes, I should have been more specific. I think after the first run Maltby did use a letter prefix, & of course, the serials started with a '1'.

[Giove]

Yes, thanks, you all are right.

I was deceived by what the Italian depot (PMAL) stamped:

[Roger Payne]

I have a WW1 era SMLE that has a 'O' prefix, & whilst I cannot be 100% I'm pretty sure I've heard of at least one 'O' prefix 44 BSA 4T, although I agree it's potentially confusing.

[desperatedan]

I have a WW1 era SMLE that has a 'O' prefix, & whilst I cannot be 100% I'm pretty sure I've heard of at least one 'O' prefix 44 BSA 4T, although I agree it's potentially confusing.

Yes me too. My LSA SMLE is ‘O’ prefix (I had to spell out to my local firearms licensing dept that it was ‘oh’ not ‘zero’). In regards various SMLE production across the types and years, LSA used an ‘O’ and I believe Enfield used ‘I’ and ‘O’ serial prefixes.

I believe Maltby were particularly untidy in how serials were applied by hand. The person who stamped my No4 must have had bad eyesight and been standing on a slope!

[Lance]

I have a WW1 era SMLE that has a 'O' prefix, & whilst I cannot be 100% I'm pretty sure I've heard of at least one 'O' prefix 44 BSA 4T, although I agree it's potentially confusing.

From my records I only have ONE "O" No. 4 T, they do exist.