To Buy or not to buy - that is the question

[RobD]

Alan, my MLE Mk I has serial numbers on bolt and right side of receiver ring (not the rear side wall of the receiver where yours is numbered), and on the right of the barrel just fore of the receiver ring.
As regards negotiating with the dealer:
1. A good bore is hard to find in a miltary-marked MLE. Most of the MLEs I see in use at the range are commercial (private purchase) rifles.
2. What is the date on your rifle? Obviously pre-1902 preferable (Boer War usage).
3. Any unit designations on the buttplate tang?
4. The bolt dust cover has a couple of holes drilled in it which should not be there.
5. Need some better pics, but from what I can see, the nocks form has the BSA emblem. The military barrel would not have a BSA emblem, but the letter E (Enfield rifling). If a BSA emblem, this means the rifle was re-barrelled with a commercial BSA barrel, e.g. in South Africa in the 1930s. That would be a plus as regards shooting the rifle, but would bring the price down.
I would estimate around £650 - £750 for the rifle if the bore was very good.

I think this rifle might be from South Africa... partly because of the re-barrel (??), partly because the extra serial number would fit witha SA Weapons Register number, and partly because I wonder if there are some vague markings on the receiver ring seen in pic 5 which might be the South African U+broad arrow or U+diamond (?). If you can get some good-quality pictures of the receiver, nocks form, barrel under the top handguard, butt socket, and buttplate tang, I would be able to tell you more about this rifle.

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