SSA Peddle Scheme conundrum

So I bought this 1918 SSA from a few grainy photos. It was a bit of a gamble, the seller was a business, but not a firearms business. Photos weren't great, and getting the guy to describe it to me might as well have been asking my grandma to explain rocket science. I took a gamble, paid more than I should have, and well... what showed up has issues.

To be fair, the rifle was filthy and assembled with the filth still on it, it looked OK and the bore was decent. The guy was iffy on serial number descriptions so I assumed it was mismatched. It turns out the nose cap, sight and bolt are all mismatched. Oh well.

Then I got to disassembling for cleaning... oh boy. This thing is in way rougher shape than I imagined. Thick scaly rust under the woodline, mostly on the barrel and inside the receiver socket. Bore is not that bad, surprisingly. And the bolt does not fully close on a Saami NOGO and does close on GO, with acceptable lug contact, so there is that bit of positive, at least.

So now I need to decide... do I clean this thing up and re-assemble it to have as a representative 1918 SSA? Or do I scavenge all the good parts, scrap the barreled action, and use the rest on a better gun when it comes along? Is a 1918 SSA uncommon enough now to give this one a pardon? I suppose hunting down a better barrel or rear sight base is also an option, but it won't fix the cosmetic pitting on the action. The deepest barrel pitting is out close to the muzzle, so I don't think safety is a real issue... but.... despite being under the woodline, I will always know it's there.

Stock set its a decent bit of late war walnut, so that at least is a bit of silver lining. Even came with an original piling swivel.

What would you guys do?

By the way, receiver got a 1917 BSA barrel and most small parts are 1918 era BSA, but for some reason, the receiver rear ledge has an Enfield acceptance mark over the SSA stamp. I guess Enfield lock would have inspected, gauged and accepted this receiver before it was shipped over to BSA?

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...pCaIjpeg-1.jpg

serial is R21341.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...7fKUjpeg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...umD3jpeg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...2oJ7jpeg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...9d7Vjpeg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...GmJwjpeg-1.jpg

how the receiver pitting looks with wood on...

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...m1nYjpeg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...8MvMjpeg-1.jpg

Not terrible, but not great. The barrel exterior pitting looks awful, but it would be under the woodline (mercifully).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Claven2

What would you guys do?

---

Ask for a partial refund.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Flying10uk

Ask for a partial refund.

---

I don’t think that will work, and I’m ok with that.

But I do need to decide what to do next with the rifle and/or its parts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Claven2

I took a gamble, paid more than I should have

---

This raises concerns....

happens to all of us, I suspect!

Putting aside the condition - you need to remember that the SSA rifles are 'Bitsas' by design - they were built using the peddled scheme that never worked, and by 1916 SSA were instructed to produce four items; body with charger guide, bolt, bolt head and trigger guard. the remaing parts need were to be taken from the 'rifle pool'.

The peddled scheme was revised in 1916 and became known as the Rifle Components Pool, taking every component which the 'Big Three' could make in excess of their complete rifle production as well as all that Standard Small Arms could turn out, and those produced by the 'peddled scheme' firms. Ordnance could also draw on the pool for repair parts. A considerable stock of components was built up so that any of the Big Three could draw on it if short of some item, and this was done continuously by LSA, and occasionally by BSA, and by Enfield (the pool being on the spot). Standard Small Arms did not attain an output of 2,000 bodies a week until April 1917 and two years after the start of work only 5-6,000 had been produced. By this time SSA were in financial difficulties and a government loan had to be made to keep them going. On June 1st 1918 the factory became National Rifle Factory No.1


So an SSA rifle could have parts from SSA, BSA, LSA or Enfield and still be "All Correct"

It's rare enough that I would keep it intact as you bought it to have an example of a Peddled Scheme rifle. Don't know if I'd ever shoot it though.