Hello Peter

I guessed you may have stamped up one or two bolts in your past . This was one of the reasons for my posting in the hope you could advise if you ever come across this?

The bolt I was test stamping was an old No1 Deactivated bolt I was given years ago for the purpose using the early cocking piece. This was in the days before you could buy small parts of the Bay. I don’t know if the bolt had been hardened by whatever process they use to render it useless however, it is certainly hard enough to resist a walloping from a 26oz Estwing hammer using period steel stamps which have been made by a reputable manufacturer.

The reason for this testing was to gauge how hard or how easy it would be to put the rifle number on a bolt in an acceptable manner without messing up/Bubbafying/screwing up the bolt that my father had clearly designated for the rifle. I am only restoring the wood aspect of the rifle which has been stored unassembled since the 70s.

In regards to your question about the bolt being set up correctly? Knowing my father, more than likely, but way back when everyone was still wearing flares. I can only go by what notes he made on the parts tag which simply state Test fired 6/8/76 (Satisfactory) and rifle number. I believe he would have taken it to Scotland where he used to take guns for restoration as well as meet up with guys from his RM days. Whenever he had a new/old rifle he would take it up to Scotland to get it overhauled by one of his contacts/friends and it would come back a few weeks later restored and producing nice tight groupings. The fact he never got round to stamping up the bolt himself probably coincides with when he started to encounter a decrease in his eyesight and decided to concentrate on other things.