Lee-Enfield Markings

[Peter Laidler]

That interlocked CP on the breeching up ring is just another commercial proof mark. The FR mark on the butt looks like a commonly used India/Pakistan mark.

So, so far, we've got England, Belfast, Southern Ireland, Northumberland, India and Pakistan. Take your pick really!

[Patrick Chadwick]

Could we just agree that it's been around!

[RCEMERalf]

Here is some info I posted some time ago. The pin is clearly seen in above photo just off the thumb.

Here is info on a BEC that I sold recently on Ebay.
Lee Enfield Spike Bayonet BEC No. 4 Mark ll*
Rare BEC made Mark ll* bayonet in a less common Variation No. 4 Mk 1 scabbard with crimped tip. The Baird Engineering Company (BEC) of Belfast, Northern Ireland was set up in August 1941. All BEC bayonets were made with the spike and socket held together by a through pin rather than the usual brazing. This bayonet is marked as shown on pg. 101, The Spirit of the Pike by Graham Priest. It is stamped MARK ll, though it is a MARK ll * by nature of the separate spike and socket. Also from pg. 101, " The view mark of inspector 147 is clearly shown, although the meaning of the "IG" is still unknown". The scabbard is by Sheffield Steel Products (S.S.P.). with a mazak mouthpiece of the 1942 style shown on pg. 122 of The Spirit of the Pike. The bayonet has a greenish phosphated finish showing minor wear on the edges and more significant loss of finish on the spike from movement in and out of the scabbard. The release functions as it should. The socket is numbered 364. The scabbard is finished with a greenish, paint-like material showing scrapes, though no dents.

[Peter Laidler]

Maybe it's just me.......... but if I was a book writer Ralph (- or indeed if I was Graham Priest who privately published the book at a cost of many thousands of £££££'s I hasten to add)), I feel that instead of quoting sections of the book I'd have preferred it if maybe someone seeking this information that was available in book form was informed that, say, all they needed to know AND MORE about these rare items was available in the excellent book 'X-Y-Z' by A-B-C' and so on.

I recall once being phoned up about some querie or another relating to a telescope where man on phone quoted a page number....... To which I replied '....Ah, but look at page XXX and you'll see that.....' to which he replied that he didn't have page XXX because he hadn't actually PURCHASED the little cheap and privately-published-at-great-expense booklet. Oh no! He'd just photocopied a few pages of his friends book!. Strangely, I think his phone line failed following that. Valuable lesson there too. Thereafter, it was published with a glued spine. Open it out to copy and it breaks the glued spine!

As I said earlier....... Maybe it's just me!

[muffett.2008]

So what are you saying? Pete.

( Don't tell us, our ears may not like the answer.)

[SVT-40]

Thanks guys for all that info, but i'll just call it my Savage No4 mystery rifle LOL if it would have been sent to India wouldn't it have that ishapore screw installed ???

[SVT-40]

i have removed the hand guards and have not found any markings of any kind under there

[Mk VII]

There is no agreement on what the 'B' is for, other than it appears on a great many Savage ones.
There was a survey thread about Savage ones at Survey of Savage #4 serial number ranges

[tlvaughn]

From data I have collected to date, the "B" first appears in the 36C block.

[Beerhunter]

*OK, worked that out now. it's the London "CP" proof mark in both cases (isn't it???)

It's a London (Worshipful Company of Gunmakers) "Definitive" Proof mark and it's not CP, it's GP.