Markings on 1919 BSA SMLE

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Originally Posted by Jack Flat Cap

Do you think a civilian owner did it?

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Well possibly, its the eternal case of how longs a piece of string really after 100 years unfortunately, its all extremely subjective, as these rifles have travelled far and wide, various official use's by many different countries, club ownership and private ownership etc etc.

It looks pretty honest to me. Is that a Century Arms import mark on the right side of the body? That means it was imported post 1986. Curio and Relic military surplus rifles were banned from importation from 1968 until 1986 so it certainly came from someone's reserve stores. Some might say that it was cobbled up by the importer but I seriously doubt that's the case. It's more likely to have seen service in post war Europe, the Middle East or possibly India. It looks a lot like SMLE rifles I've had here that came from Greek reserve stores. You bet it's been worked on by Armourers too during it's 100 year service career. Replacement parts of any manufacture might be found. The "Z" stamp signifies that it was culled as beyond local repair at some point. Possibly for excessive body wear and/or many other reasons. The gauges don't lie.

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

various official use's by many different countries, club ownership and private ownership etc etc.

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I figured as much, that's why the Lithgow mark made me think it could have ended up in Australia at some point after 1919, possibly for WWII? :dunno:

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Originally Posted by Brian Dick

Is that a Century Arms import mark on the right side of the body?

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It is actually; I should have posted that pic before but it completely slipped my mind since they were generous enough to make it minuscule, unlike my Mosin. :lol:

Here's the import markings:
Attachment 100346

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Originally Posted by Brian Dick

The "Z" stamp signifies that it was culled as beyond local repair at some point. Possibly for excessive body wear and/or many other reasons.

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That makes sense, both the front and rear handguards look to be replacements.

From what I can gather, I'm thinking it was put together at BSA in 1919 and inspected there, sent to Australia or some other theater of service or nation, and then re-inspected and "fixed up" at some point. Or just hobbled together at some point.

I just found a very odd inspection mark on the front sight base that I believe to be an RSAF Enfield inspection mark. This old gal has certainly got around I assume :lol:

Attachment 100347
Muzzle is to the left, this is just below the front blade.

Thanks for sharing, it's always nice to see good quality images of close up markings, it all adds to the group knowledge base.

The font of the serial number stamp on the nose cap and magazine appears to be similar; yet the magazine appears to have served on 4 other rifles before this one; which would suggest that the nose cap and mag were maybe fitted at the same time. The font of the barrel date is not the same and unfortunately cannot compare to the serial numbers on the receiver and barrel as no photo.

Thank you very much gentlemen for all the help, though markings 1 and 3 are still a mystery to me and I fear I'll never figure them out since they're so obscure. :lol:

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Originally Posted by 30Three

The font of the barrel date is not the same and unfortunately cannot compare to the serial numbers on the receiver and barrel as no photo.

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Good point, here are some photos for comparison!

Attachment 100384

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

Adding to this, the numbering on the Nose cap is a little hap hazard, not "armourer neat"

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I've known a lot of armourers. That looks "armourer neat" to me;)