Roger and all,

Very good comments and direction, thank you.

I believe all the views are converging, somewhat. And your views seem to support the hypothesis I had to begin with.

Here's some more photos of the said rifle. I believe they might assist in determining the likely history.

Attachment 105372Attachment 105373Attachment 105374Attachment 105375Attachment 105376Attachment 105377

One of the photos might be familiar to some of you, as I posted it last week, seeking some views on what the mark on the receiver ring were.

What we have here is a Savage No 4 Mk 1* rifle, which most likely was sent to the UK during WWII as a Lend Lease rifle. At some stage, sold out of service and bought by a Civilian Small Arms Club or individual shooter.

The rifle was then modified. And fairly extensively, too. I believe the US Property stamping was neatly ground and polished off prior to the refitting of a .22LR barrel. The bolt was modified like the Parker Hale No 9 rifle design. The muzzle of the rifle tends to suggest that PH did not do the lining of the barrel, as there is no PH or Parkerifling stamp to the muzzle and it is not crowned at all. Not PH-like at all, a keen observer would say. The furniture shows British manufacturer marking JC N22, for John Curtis. Not a Savage item.

The Parkerising and painting were likely to have been refinished to a light Parkerised coating all over.

The rifle was not in Service as a No 9, as there is no indication of marking by stamping or electro-pencil (engraving) that is the hallmark of PH converted No 9s.

That the rifle was reconfigured in Englandicon is suggested by the BNP marking on the LHS of the receiver ring.

Attachment 105378

But...

We're really none the wiser about the stamping on the crown of the receiver ring. Some think it might be 'Israeli,' while others think it's a mis-struck Canadianicon Land Service C-Arrow. I don't buy either suggestion.

My guess is that the mark is of a now defunct British gunsmith, and in particular, the one who carried out the conversion to .22LR.

The other stamping (not engraving) that no one's addressed convincingly (actually, at all!) is the 'flaming bomb' US Ordnance marking on the LHS of the receiver wall.

I'm in two minds about that one, and one plausible suggestion was it is a fake that was included at the time of conversion.

Happy to also consider the possibility that this rifle was not stamped US Property and was accepted by the US Ordnance inspector for US ownership.

I mean no disrespect to any more senior and widely versed members, but I don't accept the possibility being ruled out on the basis of "...I've never seen one..." I'll make the well understood quote once again for clarity of my open mindedness on this possibility: On matters Lee Enfield, one must remove two words from their vocabulary - 'always' and 'never.' I'm sure Ian Skennertonicon would be most sympathetic to that comment.

So... There we have the situation as best we know it.

I have no intention of commencing an argument, upsetting anyone, or creating discomfort by advancing an idea or view. I'm just trying to explore probable history of this rifle, based on reasonable and rational logic and deduction.

Please chime in with your knowledge to help build a better picture.

Would really love to know if some one has chanced upon that receiver ring stamping before!
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