1918 mk.III* finish

[Peter Laidler]

Barrel dating........ It all depends on who did it and where it was done. Replacement barrels were a Field, Base, contractor and factory job. And even then, factory dated replacement barrels could have been in Ordnance for years and years. We had new No4 barrels in stock in the 90's dated F56!

[Homer]

So were barrels dated at manufacture, fitment or other?

[Peter Laidler]

I have replaced a few barrels in my time and don't ever recall dating one with the fitting date.

[jrhead75]

There are some earlier examples that skew things a bit. I have a CLLE that was converted by Vickers in 1911. The barrel has both Victorian and Edwardian proofs and only the '11 date. The barrel's an LSA, so since they didn't date their barrels, and the proofs predate 1911, it would seem that the date was stamped at some point during the conversion to charger loading.

[bob4wd]

Needless to say, nothing would please me more than to know I have an original barrel on that rifle. So I will assume that it is!
I checked my other no.1s, results were:
-1939 bsa (Egyptian use) - no barrel date at all, fonts match but barrel had obvious grind marks under the number, so I suspect renumber, plus has no letter prefix. Btw, has the bsa commercial (3 stacked rifles) stamp on the knox form.
- 1943 bsa dispersal- barrel dated 42. Fonts exact match.
-RFI .308- no barrel date, fonts match.
-1941 Lithgow- very faint stamping, but seems to be 6 42. Obvious rebuilt gun, butt dated 53.
-1918 Lithgow- barrel dated 1918. Matching font.
-1940 BSA dispersal- no barrel date, matching font.
So no apparent pattern that I can discern. Still learning!

[5thBatt]

Here are the serial numbers on my 1918 SSA & NRF both rifles have a silver/blue finish
First the SSA & then the NRF










Here's a 1918 LSA MkIII* NZ marked with 2 dates on the barrel 10 '39 on the left & 8 '40 on the right below serial number

[muffett.2008]

............and thats where us colonials stray from our Brit. masters Pete.
When the SAF was developed at Lithgow, we were allowed to adjust the Specification/Inspection Guide SA307D as ammended, to suit our conditions and manufacture procedure.
The relaxing of the regulations for the India Practice (Regulations to Guide the Inspection Department) and the formulating of Manufacture and Inspection Instructions (SAF) as dictated by Major A.H Sandford, R.A.G.A laid down the criteria that is still used in OZ today.

The marking of Brit. Barrels saw them dated with only the year of barrel manufacture. This practice of only using the year flowed to the Indian Inspectorate, but saw them use the date as body/barrel completion Inspection.

The Australian system, however, had the month/year added to the barrel when mated to the action and after proofing(as per Instructions to Viewers and Inspectors SAF) the inspection criteria is laid out in a minute paper approved and countersigned by Sandford and Colley(chief armourer) and ammended several times from 1914 to 1936.

The current practice here in OZ, dates back to 1947 and requires all firearms to be marked with a means of relating the barrel to it's manufacturer/fitter, the serial number allocated to the barrel blank, must be stamped when assembled to an action, the fitters mark, date and barrel twist should be stamped, however if this information is recorded on the barrel replacement form lodged with the State FAR, it may be excluded, providing the mandatory serial number allocated is provided.

Here in OZ you can find undated barrels still in the wrap, or fitted to rifles outside the system, I'd have several here in my barrel box, both light and heavy barrels.
As the State FAR now allocate a barrel number on their registration certificates, it now allows us to legally fit these undated unnumbered barrels to Milsurp rifles without adding the Registries allocated number.