South African contract SMLEs
I'm in the process of buying a SMLE made by BSA, it has the mag cut-off, button cocking piece and windage rear sight. It has no Crown or date stamps but has the South African "U" stamped on the knoxform, the serial number has no letter prefix which again points to SA issue. According to the Stratton book, because of the lack of letter prefix, this rifle was sent/issued in 1916.
Does anyone have information if this was common to SA rifles to 1916 only, or were they sold to SA post-WW1 minus the prefix letter, and how many SMLEs were sold to South Africa.