Plenty of scopes w/o the "W" or "B" floating around.
Aside from the scope and -possibly- the pads and other parts there's nothing good here!
Alteration or obliteration of a firearm's S/N is a federal offense, (US) guys.
Printable View
Plenty of scopes w/o the "W" or "B" floating around.
Aside from the scope and -possibly- the pads and other parts there's nothing good here!
Alteration or obliteration of a firearm's S/N is a federal offense, (US) guys.
I have seen the S51 mark going across the knuckle of the butt instead of the more normal along the butt on a genuine rifle. Genuine because it was still attached to an Army L42! Ironically, I have the original 51 stamps from H&H but couldn't find the letter S. So if he needs the '1' stamp, I'm your man!
Not all Mk3 telescopes have the red W/waterproof or B/Bloomed lens marks. The blooming was easy to remove during normal cleaning and especially when we polished the lenses with jewellers rough polish. When the blooming was removed, we simply rubbed away the letter B. The actual W relates to the type of DRUM. If the drum has a fibre or neoprene O ring between the index plate and the bush, it is a W telescope (supposedly (?) ) waterproof and marked with the red W. But if it has drums without the O ring, then you'd never get it waterproof in a thousand years so it wasn't marked.
The W saga got quite complicated in Malaya/Far East where they ALL had to be waterproof to the extent that even the Mk2's were waterproofed by modifications. The little desiccation screw on a Mk2 was a good indication of its W status and Malaya origins. Does anyone have such a beast?
Maybe this is the sign of another forum article to come....... after the butt thread patching and rectifying the fore-end tie bolt hole.... There's not enough hours in the day.......
While whatever I could have added has been written, and more, there was one stamp on this rifle I have a question about. It's the ENGLAND stamp. In my notes I have "Question a (T) with the ENGLAND stamp?". This must have been concerning a remark I read that I wanted to research, but haven't. Any thoughts?
BTW, it may have to do with when the stamp was used, 1968 and earlier and when the (T)s were SOS, or at least the bulk of them.
TIA, Brad
Most all of mine have "ENGLAND" unless they have the weird little cipher stamps that is also on the receiver ring (RH side) of the rifle in question.
PLEASE, please, please, a thousand times, DO NOT let a different makers magazine, backsight or whatever put you off because, as I've said a zillion times, Armourers didn't care what parts they used or re-used. It went back into circulation working. In fact, Armourers that I talk too cannot believe what they're hearing when I tell them what I read about having all the 'correct' parts or questioning them. Listen.......... in the Armourers shop, the parts that are suppled by Ordnance or are on the shelf are ALL the correct parts. So if it's a BSA rifle and it's got a Savage magazine and it works properly, then that's the way it left the Armourers shop.
In this case, the rifle is a real one, the telescope is real but the bits that join the two together are fake
Its the rifle's serial number that's not real!
Looks like someone got busy without doing their research. IF the butt is original, the real serial number might be found on the tongue, but in view of the obviously bogus S51 or S5 in this case, that's probably hoping for too much.
Too bad, looks like it was a genuine rifle at one point.
He'd best part it out and hope for the best.
A good police forensics lab could probably recover the original serial number.
phosphate bluing?????????????? Nuf said.
Looks like he may have done a bit more than "Oil the stock to maker it look shiny." Then again I am no expert, I defer to those that are.