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Unit marks more or less ended in 1916, probably due to the very high turnover of rifles through the salvage and reinforcement systems - ie statistically, each infantry rifle may have been reissued dozens of times to men from different units.
Some post-W1 rifles do seem to go back to unit marks on the disk, probably in stable home service units such as the household division or RN.
There are a few marks on here that I cannot ID. One, on the trigger, looks like a crown on top, then below that, BU, and below that, a script B. Another, on the receiver, is a C (or G) then R, then a P on the bottom with crossed keys in the center of all of them. The others I found on the gun near the back of the bolt, so I removed the bolt to take those photos.
Does anyone know what any of those markings mean?
The mark on the trigger is a Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) factory proof. The mark on the left front of the action body is GB over crossed pennants P showing that the receiver passed proof. Not sure on the ones on the back, but the one on the left side above and just to the right of the Y is EFD an Enfield factory proof.
Thanks! This is an interesting gun.
Don't want to split hairs but it's important to differentiate the factory or batch examiners marks from the Government proof marks.
The crossed flags with a crown on top and P underneath are the PROOFS (applied to load or pressure bearing parts such as body, barrel, bolt's breech blocks and bolt head etc etc) and the others are just examiners or inspectors marks