Another related question. How about the combined YF Fazakerley serialed No 4 FTR rifles? I have seen them running from 1950 (~8,500), 1952 (~17,800) to 1953 with final serial numbers in excess of 30,500. Why were these FTR rifles reserialed? I known the standard answer is that was done to rifles that had unreadable serial numbers. Were there really that many rifles returned on which the serial number was unreadable or is there another reason? Also it seems that unlike other serial number ranges, these rifles had a no year associated with the serial number number assigned, and did not rollover each year. Any details you could provide would be of great interest.

Thanks in advance