1933 Trials sniper

I'm sure you've seen more than me but on all I've seen the old numbers were simply lined out and still readable.

Er........ what are we looking at? Surely, those you show are barred out and still readable aren't they? Just as they should be - and as we generally did them.

Surpmill,
Sorry I have to disagree. I have had several Lee's with scope mounts ie 4T/Enforcer and now an L42, all of which have either had two or more numbers stamped on the mounts.
It is also a "clear" data trail of the previous numbers, as armourers don't stamp x's on old numbers on the scope mounts they simply put a line through them.
Hope that clears that one up
Gil

I think the official directive (as Peter indicates) was to bar through, so as to make it clear that the number was no longer relevant, but not to obliterate it totally. Of course, we live in the real world & if the armourer just happened to have a 'X' letter stamp in his left hand & a hammer in his right.........!
........And of course, scopes/brackets were not just swapped over in British/Commonwealth service; many of the rifles that we see have been quite well travelled in the post-WW2 years. The possibilities for variations in marking under these circumstances are considerable. What I'm saying is that one might reasonably see different variations on 'genuine' refurbished/rematched rifles. I have seen serials obliterated with a punch, XXX'd out, as well as lined, & all on weapons I believed to be un-messed about with by civilian tinkering. Most were lined out.
ATB

Roger,
Agreed, but solely in terms of scope brackets, I think there must have been a "universal" policy in lining, as I don't remember ever seeing one xxx'd out at all, would the alloy take, surely by wacking it several times, all you need is to find one flaw in the alloy processing for it to produce a crack?.
You probably saw more than me so I bow to your judgement

Gil,
Yes, I was talking in terms of scope brackets on 4T's. Are you referring to any item specifically when you mention alloy, or are you just referring to more modern kit generally?

ATB

Roger,
Just modern kit generally
Gil

Well I stand corrected on the bracket numbers! I'm wondering why it was thought desirable to be able to read the previous numbers? Not great psychology to issue a soldier a rifle that looks like it was assembled from used parts IMHO, but...

The numbering on the case still looks too much like someone being clever to me; but I'm willing to be proven wrong there too! ;)

I must admit I can see where you're coming from on that one Rob. It does look rather uniform & neat. But then again, I don't think anyone is ever going to be able to say categorically one way or the other (unless it HAS been faked & the faker comes clean - ha! ha!). I'm open minded on it, but if I were interested in buying the rifle it wouldn't be a serious minus for me.

ATB.

Attachment 51671Attachment 51671Here is a pic of a sniper case with the same writing.It was a all matching legit FTR rifle.