Bitsa or Sleeper

[Buccaneer]

This recent auction purchase arrived with me "As described" being in unissued condition but with no visible serial number, anywhere. The left hand side of the action shows it as a 1915 Sht LE III and although there are Broad Arrow markings on a lot of the various pieces the barrel is obviously South African. There are BNP proof marks on the barrel but nowhere else and the witness marks would seen to indicate that it did not start life attached to this action. The whole rifle is covered in now dried very hard grease the thing that baffles me is there does not appear to be a single serial number either erased or new anywhere on the rifle. The left hand side of the butt socket appears to show a date of '27 with various inspectors marks that also appear on other metal parts across the rifle. Apart from proof testing it appears to be unfired with only storage marks on the woodwork, the pictures were taken as I stripped the rifle down, whatever it turns out to be it is still a very nice SMLE that is complete and in "As New" condition. My hunch is that it was assembled from NOS parts but a long time ago given the condition of the grease, but I wonder who painted the "3" on the butt, probably a rack number but why??

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