ShtLE 3 Lithgow 1914 Q's

[newcastle]

What are the 'sold out of service' marks i should look for?
also does anyone know when fultons stopped stamped "regulated by fultons" in full, and started with their neat little Logo stamp meaning the same? Is there a specific date or does it depend who does the work, what mood they;r ein etc etc

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[Son]

Sold out of service marks could be two arrows pointing inward touching at the tip, or two arrows pointing in with an"S" between. I'm not sure if there are others, these two would be most common.

[newcastle]

Thanks Son. You out there right now?? So there are a ton of questions i have. I bought this rifle from a seller whose intergrity has been questioned on this very board, so I am suspicious, though I am not necessarily displeased with what I have. Bore is good and the barrel under the wood is in great condition. ShtLE 1914 3 - cutoff in place. The front sight blade is pinned in place and the rear sight is windage adjustable. Questions start with the stamps. On the receiver "2nd MD" Serial numbers: There is an old 5 digit serial number on the receiver. it has been scored out. Serial numbers on the nosecap, bolt, rear sight leaf and barrel match and are in the same font - C25XX the forearm is ALSO stamped C25XX (never seen wood stamped on a NO.1 before). On the receiver the serial number is G25XX so at first glance it appears matching but isn't (it was sold as all matching BTW). the barrel is marked Regulated by Fultons, and is also stamped VICKERS (under the wood where it can't be seen). So either someone tried to make it matching and misread it and therefore arsed it up or it was a genuine mistake somewhere. Could Fultons have reserialed a receiver to match the rest of the components on a rifle being built or would they serial new components to match a receiver? (Isent fultons the question) Also the wood is 'Slaz 42' so evidently not original. As I said not displeased necessarily - the bore is good and the locking lugs appear untouched and boltface is still dark. BUT there are questions there also. I've never seen a vickers barrel before on a Lithgow or any NO.1 but they could be common. ideas anyone?

[tbonesmith]

If it's got Fultons on the barrel, I'd say they rebarreled it.

[Son]

Can you show a pic of the markings, particularly the receiver serial and the but socket... If It's a 1914 Lithgow it shouldn't have a C prefix- and Lithgow never used a G prefix. I understand there was a period when receivers were changed to repair a rifle... a C prefix would make it 1940/41- but then the Vickers marked barrel becomes an issue... Is the barrel dated on the left side of the knox?

[newcastle]

At work now and I'll have to check tonight, the ORIGINAL serial was a 5 digit beginning with 3 (32345 I think from memory). This was scored out. The new serial could well be 40's though as it has Slazenger 42 wood on it. I'll send the pictures by email as I haven't figured out yet how to post em here. I have emailed the seller pointing out he specified all matching and it clearly isn't. Will be interesting to see his response.

---------- Post added at 09:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 AM ----------

When were they selling out of service? and using the two arrows to indicate that. My HT sniper was obviously sold out of service and doesn't have that marking on it.