My favorite Milsurp Early M1 SA. Trying to show it off to you guys.
Printable View
My favorite Milsurp Early M1 SA. Trying to show it off to you guys.
Very nice! I like the British proof marks. I guess the just didn't really trust us! At least they didn't insist on rechambering it to .303. The rear sight looks like a combination of lockbar & T105E1 parts.
The rear sight is the correct one. They had gone from two checkered knobs to one checkered and one knurled. The next step was the short pinion lock bar. I can't remember if it had any remnants of red paint when I first got it but I don't think so. I don't think these saw much if any use in the UK. The muzzle shows very little wear using the .30 bullet check. I don't have gauges.
Any firearm sold commercially in England had to be proofed before being sold, even their own military weapons. The British proofed M1 Rifles I have seen are all post 1955 proofed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kirk
That's correct. It had nothing to do with their service, just before they could be sold they had to pass testing. Thus the BNP marks. Some are so indistinct that until I was made aware of what they were, I barely noticed them.
I bought this Lend Lease rifle many years ago. British proofed BNP under the op rod and barrel dated S-A 11-41.
Attachment 18898 Attachment 18897
I have 327580 which is very close. Mine has all the same parts as this one although mine is not as nice.
Is yours BNP Bill?
Why are so many of these rifles equipped with 8-41 barrels? Mine is, the one I sold was..the only others Ive heard of are 11-41..Nice rifle!
My SN is 308806, and my barrel revision is 7, heat lot REP26B, date 8-41, but my receiver number is 20K earlier than yours...no BNP's anywhere
I guess if I had my druthers I'd have a non LL. I had a large offer on this rifle from a US citizen, and if it hadn't been an LL it would now be residing in the US. It just feels like this rifle and I are family, we go so far back together. Then I would only have an ugly old Danish rebuild to thunder away with...Pics on that another time.
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.
In regards to the "BNP" mark on the receiver ring under the hump of the op-rod, the following is from an article by Scott Duff in the Apr. 2002 American Rifleman.
" In addition to the barrel proof marks, the Rules of Proof stated that both the receiver and bolt be marked. Birmingham used its BNP proof to mark the top of the receiver ring directly above the chamber; London used a crown over intertwined GP to mark the right side of the receiver ring under the hump of the op-rod. Both houses stamped the right lug of the bolt.
The proofing dies however, were no match for the hardened steel of the M1 Garands receiver and bolt and wore out in short order. Only a small fraction of Lend Lease rifles show these proofs or parts of them: most carry only a dent or smudge. Many show no evidence at all, suggesting that both houses eventually gave up the attempt."
Mine has the dent or smudge. On both.