John jovino Lithgows'

[newcastle]

Anyone know if the ones made here from imported parts had the A in teh serial as a a suffix or prefix? I THINK A was a prefix, but can anyone confirm?

Information

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[Jollygreenslugg]

Lithgows with A-prefixed numbers were built from 1918 to about 1922. Lithgows with A-suffixed serial numbers were Jovino put-togethers.

Cheers,
Matt

[RJW NZ]

... and then there's my special rifle, the one that got me started on enfields 14 years ago. (Since its arrival I've installed a Lithgow windage sight plus a magazine cut off.) As I learn more I see things that raise more questions ...

Its a 1918 lithgow, with a little Jovino stamp on the rear right side of the receiver/bolt channel. Its just visible above the wrist shot of the Lithgow shield.
The * on the shield No1 Mk3* has been struck through. Would this mean that this rifle had the magazine cut off installed officially at time of purchase?

On top of the knox, under a mess of strike through's is what seems to be QG - Queensland Government? (It's also right next to DP on the knox and a lovely 'R' for rust on the barrel. There is no rust in the barrel, its shiny bright)
The rifles serial number is A on a top line, and the serial is an unlikely 8888. (being a top line would that be a prefix?)
The serial on the barrel is the same, A on a top line, above an unlikely 8888.
Just below and to the right of the barrel serial is 1/53, perhaps indicating a 1953 barrel replacement.

I've looked these numbers over very very closely and there's no sign of an original number being scrubbed off, and the receiver and barrel seem to have been stamped with the same stamp/font.
Does this serial fit the Jovino pattern?
Does the number's font look like Lithgow or Jovino?
Is there any chance that a rifle made for the Queensland Government would arrive with no serial numbers, being that its not a military order?
Any thoughts on which government department would want magazine cut offs installed, as in a contract specification?
Could this be a Queensland police rifle?

If only they could talk, huh? Thanks for any help, opinions most welcome, cheers R

[Bindi2]

Might it not be a sold out of service stamp not Q G. 1918 * barred out would only have the cut off replaced never had the windage sight on or replaced. The A prefix started in 1918 what is unlikely about the serial #. The 1/53 on the right side is more like a F T R date. Barrel dates are usually on the left. Looks like a standard lithy bought by Jovino.
Q^G over P and Q^P are police stamps. The rifle was probably impressed by the FED GOV for WW2

Certainly sold out of service over something XXX out

[RJW NZ]

Might it not be a sold out of service stamp not Q G.

A while back I blew up a pic of that mess and one by one whited out all the sold out of service arrows and x's, what gets left over is very close to QG, some of the letters are damaged by the marks but they can be seen. There's some other odd marks too but I'll have to have another go at cleaning it up to get them clear.

*1918 * barred out would only have the cut off replaced never had the windage sight on or replaced.
Thats why I began with that I added the cut off and windage sight, if no1mk3* refers to not using the cut off (?) then surely striking it out would mean the opposite?

lol, the odd feature of the serial number is the string of 8's, I've never seen an enfield with all repeated numbers, ever. I should sell it to some chinese man who thinks 8's are lucky.

Thanks for the comments ...

[5thBatt]

Might it not be a sold out of service stamp not Q G.

A while back I blew up a pic of that mess and one by one whited out all the sold out of service arrows and x's, what gets left over is very close to QG, some of the letters are damaged by the marks but they can be seen. There's some other odd marks too but I'll have to have another go at cleaning it up to get them clear.

*1918 * barred out would only have the cut off replaced never had the windage sight on or replaced.
Thats why I began with that I added the cut off and windage sight, if no1mk3* refers to not using the cut off (?) then surely striking it out would mean the opposite?

lol, the odd feature of the serial number is the string of 8's, I've never seen an enfield with all repeated numbers, ever. I should sell it to some chinese man who thinks 8's are lucky.

Thanks for the comments ...

RJW,
Lithgow produced MkIII*s with cutoff slot in the early part of 1918 when production switched to the MkIII* a good indicator of a 1918 being one of these early MkIII*s is the * being stamped within the shield, most of these rifles show up with the * barred out, mine included, mine also came to me without a cutoff but i have chosen to leave it as it is.
Only the presence of a cutoff denotes whether a rifle is a MkIII or not, windage rearsights were fitted to early MkIII*s as well.