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Attachment 18905Earliest barrel that I have seen to date is S-A 8-40 and not a Lend Lease. Also found a data sheet in the GCA Newsletter from some years back. This was s/n 7860 with a S-A 8-40 barrel and the London NP proof, my barrel in the photo also has the London NP proof
I don't think mine is an LL rifle. It has a 9-41 barrel. I've had this for many years but I have put a few correct parts on it. Most of it was correct.
With that serial and Brit proofs in the barrel date area, it's dollars to doughnuts that it was part of the original Sam Cummings imports. IMO he requested the marks in that odd location to minimize collector distaste for them. They are hard to mark there and hard to see, later imports went to the top of the barrel between the rings of the gas cylinder. BTW, they all looked that nice when they came in, and some were just flat new.
Bill Hollinger, check your receiver ring and the top right side of your bolt by the lug for a stamping. At first the small BNP stamp was easy to read but as the stamp became worn,
it was difficult to read.
Lend Lease bolts are polished on the bolt face and in the area behind the locking lugs, these are both rev 2 bolts J9A and RE2Attachment 19001Attachment 19002
The LL marks on my bolt and receiver ring looked more like a ding than a marking. I saw them in the 70's and didn't understand what they were. Same with the small mark on the rear sight cover spring, it looked like a ding but was pointed out on this forum as a manufacture mark.
Here are a few selections from an old GCA survey put together by Tony Giacobbe. This shows the date and the type of rear sight cover mark -
8/41 2 or 7 8/41 B 9/41 J 10/41 F 11/41 ^ 11/41 ? 11/41 * 11/41 F 12/41 X 1/42 3
2/42 J These are just some samples there are alot more
The marking on the sight cover is just a line. It could be a 7 or a ^ but it's incomplete. According to the barrel date it should be a 7. As you pointed out the bolt face is bright which never really occured to me before. Also the rear of the bolt cam lug which I guess I thought was wear on the camming surface.
I have this one. 11/41 barrel date.
To a previous poster, note the knurled and checkered sight knobs.
Emri
What I always thought was neat, was the way they took fine files and broke the sharp corners of the finished product before hardening. The marks remain. They aren't everywhere but they ARE there.
I looked mine over and I don't see where the face or lug of the bolt were polished. Again, mine has had parts replaced over the years. The bolt is correct though with a heat lot of RE1.