where was my no.4 mk.1 made?

[ssj]

Re-loading, well start by stripping the stock off and look for cracks, wear and tear and wood shrinkage, fix that its a 70 year old battle rifle after all. There is a series on youtube showing what to look for and fix up. This is what Im doing with my gun right now, it has a nasty crack. Aftwards Im hoping to shoot it in the spring (Its late winter here in NZ) in service rifle and maybe the Charles Upman trophy. I'll get creamed by the "old buggers" mind you, they shoot their enfields very well.

Also from castboolits the throat of the barrel can wear on enfields and that allows blowby especially on boat tail bullets which badly effects accuracy. So to get around that ppl slug the barrel and make their own bullets, I know one guy who does it on his P14 and gets winning results at service rifle shoots.

While sure mkVII ball is Peter's choice, here in NZ its like hens teeth. At auction recently it was going for well over $1 each and auctions are once a year So most ppl I know swap out the soft points in Highland AX or Wincester X cartridges with FMJ and then reload. I have some Russian heavy ball 185gr barnual projectiles Im going to try, basically as its 1/2 the cost of anything else (31cents v 60cents)....and I use it in my M44 Mosin anyway. I will probably use ADI 2208 as I shoot 7.62Nato target so one powder means its safer, cant mix up powders. I think its called Varget in the USA.

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[chainsaw]

Heres a really bad cell pic.the rest of the gun looks pretty much the same as the ppic.beat up good.thinking on a new stock and reblue,as long as it doesnt ruin any sort of historical value.I dont mind it how it is now,just thinking it might be fun to do a restoration.

[Steve H. in N.Y.]

Replacing the stock and bluing the metal would certainly affect it's historical value. I don't think it looks bad at all. Disassembly and inspection is a good idea but I wouldn't do any refinishing other than a light cleaning.

[Peter Laidler]

I agree with Steve. There's just something about a rifle that's been there, done that, got the T shirt. Just something undefinable...... Call it character.

I used to see really battered up old No5's, Savage shotguns and L1A1 that'd come through the big workshops during these repair programmes and wondered where they'd been and what they'd done to get like that. A lot of the L1A1's had come from S-Vn and no matter how well they'd been looked after, you'd never stop the rain and rust. But they'd been there!

Just care for it with a bit of oil.... Gun and linseed oil that is

[ssj]

Hi,

Yes, sorry, Im from the UK so I kind of forget that others are not. Northern England was/is the industrial heartland of the UK, something like Detroit / Great Lakes area I suppose. So Birmingham = Detroit

Birmingham Small Arms Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birmingham Gun Museum Website

BSA guns were supposed to be better quality....synonymous is the word that jumps to mind. Here in NZ they seem to be at a higher asking price, 10% more seems usual. When I was a kid having a BSA was the bees knees, so I certianly intend to add one to my gun safe when I see a tidy original one.

[Peter Laidler]

Whether a BSA Shirley rifle really is of a higher quality than the others really depends on who you talk to. They ALL had to conform to the same set of gauges so........ As an Armourer who's handles and worked on thousands(?) of them, I can tell you, from my experience, that there were good and bad among them all. Just like MG cars. Some with a finish that looked like they'd been sent to the USA by deck cargo on a submarine, others were pristine examples. Most of mine looked like thay's gone there AND BACK via deck cargo!

[ssj]

8><--- Some with a finish that looked like they'd been sent to the USA by deck cargo on a submarine, others were pristine examples. Most of mine looked like thay's gone there AND BACK via deck cargo!

LOL, one trip we did across the Pacific we hit a bad storm. There was a very expensive car as deck cargo (silly sod), it wasnt expensive when we docked....or at least it needed expensive repairs, the waves had flattened the panels, caved the roof in....it was 2 tone as well, black and uh rust. Why he hadnt containerised it I'll never know, cheap *** I suppose. Nuc subs, 500ft down, smooth as, no sea sickness great way to ride out winter north Atlantic storms. See naff all of course but not much to see in a 20000tonner in Winter north atlantic on the surfaace anyway....rain, waves, more rain, bigger waves....puke....

[flying pig]

A great load I use is a Sierra 180gr Pro Hinter bullet(flat based soft point spitzer) over 38 grains of IMR 4895 with a COAL of 3.05". It shoots very well out of all of my No1 and No4s.

[chainsaw]

Nother quick Q.My failing eyesight sees the word tons with some other words around it.I just cant make out what it says.any ideas?is this the importer stamp?

[ssj]

On the barrel? yes its a proof pass mark so the guns safe to sell, 18.5t is typical I think. Others can correct me but I think its marked like this in the UK when it was sold off out of service, its the civilian proof mark I think. So you gun has traveled the Atlantic there and back. Pity we'll never know what its seen.