British 303 enfield mfg. in 1916 by BSA Co.?

Recently I acquired a british 303 enfield mfg. in 1916 by BSA Co. SR#35493 with an A above the #. I'm not sure if the A is part of the SR# or not. From comparing it to the pics you have posted it is 1 inch shorter overall. it has a 25 1/2 barrel with a sporterized stock. it has the same marks as shone on your posted one except. under the crown and letters G R yours has enfield, mine has BSA Co. and then they are again marked the same with Sht LE and under that III *, but mine has a 6 point star also yours does not. I have been trying to find a magazine for it. and in doing so I have discovered that these guns were made by several different manufacturers and while basically the same there are subtile liittle differences. there are a couple of different magazines for starters. I don't know how to tell if mine is designated a sniper rifle or not. Can you help me find a magazine for it and can you help me find if there is any history that would make it special.

thank you for your consideration

Posting a few photos would help a lot, friend. These rifles are covered with cryptic little stamps.... and we have people here who can read them like a book for you!

There are three different 10-shot magazines which will fit your rifle. The earliest has a 2 on the backside and is very rare. The second as a 3 on the backside and it also is quite scarce. The CORRECT magzine for your rifle has the back-rib in 3 sections (like the others), a tiny spring rivetted onto it and it has a number "4" stamped into it, quite plainly. This is the most common magazine and they interchange between manufacturers, so you should have no trouble. A good magazine sells for about C$35 these days in this country (Canada: I don't know where you are). Whatever you do, don't be like some guys and throw away a pile of your hard-earned money on buying spare magazines for your rifle; it only needs one and only one was issued. This is because it is MUCH faster to reload the magazine which is on the rifle, using CHARGERS, than it is to change mags. You can find Chargers around for about a buck each and they last forever. Each one holds 5 shells, so you don't need many. There are 4 types of Charger, too, just to make life interesting! There is a little trick to loading them, but that has been discussed here previously.

Yes, you are quite right: that "A" IS a part of your s/n.

The oly way to identify a proper sniping rifle is by the telescope brackets. If your rifle does not have original telescpe brackets, or the holes, then it was not a "proper" sniping rifle. On the other hand, there was a LOT of sniping done in that War with ordinary iron sights. I shot with a World War One sniper from the tiny Newfoundland army. He was a wonderful shot (certainly cleaned ME despite the 50-year age difference) but he used the factory iron sights exclusively. They ARE very good if you know all the tricks.

If you rifle is an inch shorter, it means that you lkely have a Short butt. There were FOUR butt lengths made for this rifle: Long, Normal, Short and Bantam. They are generally marked on top of the butt, just forward of the buttplate, with a single letter L, N (sometimes not marked), S or B. Because of my height, I should use a Normal but for some reason I have always felt better with a Short, so that is what I use on my pre-war rifle, which is a 1907 which I rebuilt from scap parts. Everything else I leave as it left the factory.

You can have a lot of fun with these rifles. Just a couple drops of oil on the bolt-shank, work it a couple of times and you have the fastest bolt rifle ever made. Serious. And if you take a bit of care, the barrels can be made to last halfway to forever.

Something you should really do it head on up to the top of this page and download yourself a manual.

Any more questions, just post again in this thread; it will pop to the top automagically and we have people here who just love questions..... just that the questions are easier to answer if you can post some pics.

Have fun with the new toy! You now own the roughest, toughest rifle EVER built.
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