Lower receiver markings on my L1A1

[enbloc8]

Hi all,

Something that's puzzled me for a long time about my L1A1...the lower receiver is a 1958 BSA, but on the underside is a 1966-dated Enfield E-within-D mark, along with what looks like a partially obscured (by the pistol grip) NATO stock number. (Looks like it would be 960-0071.)

Would the ED 66 indicate it was repaired or FTR'd at Enfield in 1966?

Information

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[nzl1a1collector]

Are you able to provide a pic of all the the markings?

Its very probable the lower has been replaced and the original serial number indicating BSA manufacture has been reassigned to the new Enfield lower.

[Peter Laidler]

NZL1A1 is very probably correct there. The important number is the serial number on the body (the upper receiver) I can only assume that your BSA made rifle body master number also reads UB58A-XXXXX. Sometime in its life, after 1966 (the manufacturing date of the trigger mechanism housing - the TMH - that you call it the lower receiver) the TMH has been replaced for some reason by an Enfield made TMH. Because the body and TMH are a matched set and mated together, the TMH will have been engraved with the master serial number.

Changing/replacing a TMH could be a bit of a long winded job, getting the body locking catch and lever mated up with the lug on the body, so it was deemed to be a Field Workshop repair. This wouldn't have been a factory repair by any means!

[enbloc8]

Okay, thanks!

I recently picked up an Inglis Mk 1* High Power that had been FTR'd at Enfield in 1963, so that gave me the thought of it being a possible FTR/overhaul mark.