Safety Question

[Jc5]

I make no assertion--I'm just quoting Reynolds. Keep in mind, I am NOT suggesting that any DP rifle is safe to fire, and I'm not taking issue with any of the facts presented in this thread. I'm just trying to learn more about how/why/under what circumstances the Birmingham Proof House would prove a DP rifle, and how their policies might have changed over time.

Thunderbox, I'm not sure I follow you about the target (civilian owned) Enfields. If you mean the commercial rifles --a.k.a. Lee Speeds, and target rifles made on the Lee Enfield pattern by BSA and LSA---they would not need the Sold Out of Service or Sale Permit stamps because they were never in government service. Such rifles always had commercial rather than military proofs. Or are you referring to ex-service rifles being on the market in the 1960s? How soon after adopting the SLR did the British government begin selling off their stockpiles of service rifles to civilians?

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[Thunderbox]

I make no assertion--I'm just quoting Reynolds. Keep in mind, I am NOT suggesting that any DP rifle is safe to fire, and I'm not taking issue with any of the facts presented in this thread. I'm just trying to learn more about how/why/under what circumstances the Birmingham Proof House would prove a DP rifle, and how their policies might have changed over time.

Thunderbox, I'm not sure I follow you about the target (civilian owned) Enfields. If you mean the commercial rifles --a.k.a. Lee Speeds, and target rifles made on the Lee Enfield pattern by BSA and LSA---they would not need the Sold Out of Service or Sale Permit stamps because they were never in government service. Such rifles always had commercial rather than military proofs. Or are you referring to ex-service rifles being on the market in the 1960s? How soon after adopting the SLR did the British government begin selling off their stockpiles of service rifles to civilians?

Ex-service rifles seem to have appeared on the market as early as the 1920s - not surprising, given that the War Office appears to have disposed of about 1/2 million rifles during the inter war period. Its quite hard to date any private use of a military rifle, but sometimes the form of civilian proof markings gives a clue.

The first surplus No4s came on the market at least by 1948 -I have a No4 here that the old gent asserted he bought from AJ Parker that year.

[Jc5]

Ex-service rifles seem to have appeared on the market as early as the 1920s - not surprising, given that the War Office appears to have disposed of about 1/2 million rifles during the inter war period.

Where would one look for documentary evidence of such disposals? Any official documents or mentions in the press of the day? The old Parker and PH catalogues mention some ex-service rifles, but that doesn't tell us anything about the quantity. This might be straying too far from the thread topic of DPs and the proof house, in which case I can start a new thread on it.