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Thanks for posting those wonderful pics Geoff - sorry for the delay in replying - been away all weekend (shooting!!) and just got back
I just love those rifles, particularly the SMLEs - they are just dripping with history and quality - those up-grade stamps tell a real story,
How many other rifles survived so long in service and can tell such a story?
Not many I should think.......
Beautiful rifles I've got a Sparkbrook MLM II - ConD II* - SHT .22 - III - iV (NZ) in the restoration department. Ive got a couple of questions. Did they shorten and reshape the original MLM woodwork (with clearing rod channel) and add the barrel tension ring under the barrel band? I have a range patten MLE wood set which I plan to graft another nose cap inlet onto. Also I trust they received a SMLE trigger setup. my one tuned up as bare action and barrel.
page-BQuote:
'B.S.A. & M. Co.' was used to signify the 'Birmingham Small Arms & Munitions Company' from 1873 until 1897, when the company reverted to its original name.
page-BQuote:
Birmingham Small Arms & Metals Co. Ltd [The] (or 'BSA&MCo.'); Armoury Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. This 1873 vintage successor to the original Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd (above) retained the Small Heath factory, though a sales office was also maintained in London at 6 Great Winchester Street from 1885 onward. Though BSA&MCo. enjoyed comparatively little success in the 1880s, its fortunes were partly restored by the adoption in British service of solid drawn cartridge cases and the Lee Metford magazine rifle. However, in the middle of frantic War Office work, the company once again sought voluntary liquidation for the purposes of reconstruction (in 1897) and emerged in 1901 to trade once again under its old name.
:ugh: