Safety Question

[Alan de Enfield]

The 1940 Parker Hale catalogue (Service Section) shows No1's for sale :

Brand new, ex BSA factory £11 - 11 - 00
Secondhand and overhauled £6 - 0 - 00

As a matter of interest Headspace gauges were 12 shillings each.

I would have thought that in 1940 the Military would have needed all they could get - maybe PH did not have that many to sell.

[Jc5]

Reading through that catalogue, there's nothing that specifically says these are ex-service rifles, released by the government. It's reasonable to assume that "secondhand" means "ex-service" (or "surplus" as we Americans call them), but that isn't necessarily certain. There were enough civilian target rifles in private hands to constitute a secondhand market. There's really no way to be sure.

As for the £11/11/0 rifles, it says they are "specially selected from the stocks held by the BSA factory." These are new BSA rifles. I would bet that there is not a broad arrow on any of those, just "BSA Co." on the butt socket. BSA advertising from the late 30s lists them for the same price.

I would agree that in 1940, the government would have been requisitioning all the arms it could get, including any commercial versions of the SMLE that PH or BSA had in stock. I'd guess the 1940 catalogue was probably put together in late 1939.

[Badger]

For those that don't have it, it's available in the MKL ...

1940 Parker Hale Service Section Catalog

Regards,
Doug