SN question about a BSA No 4

[Longshaor]

Hey all,

Is an 'A' prefix correct for a 1943 No 4 rifle with an M47C production code? I thought the 'A' denoted a pre-production rifle...

Cheers!

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[jrhead75]

If it's a 4 digit s/n, '43 is late for an 'A' prefix. If it's a 5 digit s/n beginning with a '3', then the 'A' prefix would be a possibility for a late '43 Shirley produced rifle. (ref. Stratton). Production s/n prefixes were alphabetical starting with A-Z, then AA, AB and so on...

[Longshaor]

Thanks for that! I saw it for sale over the weekend and wasn't sure so I passed on it. The SN was 5 digit A18*** (I don't remember the rest). Date was stamped "1943". All the stampings were rather ragged and not well aligned. Well, if I see it again, now I know!

Thanks again!

[jrhead75]

Interesting...an 'A18xxx' number would seem to belong to an early Maltby. Was that the only number visible?

[Longshaor]

IIRC, the markings were (top to bottom):

M47C
A18***
1943

The 'M', the '47' and the 'C' seemed to have been stamped separately as they don't align with one another, each being slightly lower than the preceeding one. The serial number is a much lighter stamping, though it is definately stamped, not electro-pencilled, and is a different font from the manufacturer's code. The '1943' matches the 'M47C' in terms of depth of the stamping and the size & font of the characters.

[jrhead75]

It would be very helpful to have pics if possible. There were several oddly serialed BSA rifles that passed through a different forum all at once about a year ago. I don't recall that any definite explanation came out of the conversations. One of them was pretty odoriferous legitimacy-wise, although the one you're talking about doesn't sound at all like that one.

A18xxx definitely doesn't fall into the normal BSA production range for 1943, nor the pre-production numbers for that matter.

[Longshaor]

Unfortunately I don't have a photo, but I do have the owner's contact info so I'll see if he'd be willing to take one of the area in question.