Theres a whole bunch of stampings on the barrel knox that i cant make out because its filled with green paint.

I inadvertantly told a little lie in the OP, as its not the original bolt, the bolt on it is prefixed with a D, so its a mid 40's bolt if i remember correctly. the replacement bolt has had the recievers serial number stamped on it, and the bolts original number stamped into the reciever, so i assume its been FTR'd at some stage

I've got a 1917 Lithgowicon in the works that has its matching bolt and nose cap, and has been fitted with a H barrel that the previous owner had fitted brand new in the 70's. He took it out to the range once, liked target shooting so much he put the smelly in the cupboard and ran out to buy a model 44 the next day. Upshot is the H barrel has only seen 40 rounds or so. trying to find parts for that smelly is proving to be a headache. Ive got the correct rear sight protector but finding a backsight with the windage is proving to be a headache.

---------- Post added at 06:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:38 PM ----------

As a side note, the rifle looks a whole lot scungier (is that even a word) than the photo's show, but if the learned people here say leave it, ill leave it