New Purchase: 1916 Lithgow from Italy

[CINDERS]

According to Broad Arrow by Skennerton page 82 ** on the barrel knox form indicates moderate pitting of rifling or throat, the only reference I could find on the N - Niagra for Canada camp depots on page 127 of the same book but given the length of time this rifle has traveled a bit so that is all I can do others may expand on this.

[LithgowMKIII]

Congrats on the rifle! How were you able to acquire it? I thought the govt destroyed a whole bunch of them as they weren't too keen on civies getting them.

[jb303]

Hi guys
In answer to the Italian acceptance I can not find any on my rifle, anywhere. I did some research on these and was informed by Euroarms that a lot of these sacred SMLE's were given to them in the assistance program after they switched sides in ww2. Some were deployed into the Italian Navy and as he put it, " these rifles came out of Italian battleships ages ago and stored in government storage, so I have a rifle that was part of the ships armoury.
Hence the "n" stamp and number on the stock disc.? at some stage after ww1 it made it back to Australia, and had a barrel change, who knows if it stayed in govt hands or most probably sold off and used as target rifle. Then it headed back for ww2 and got touched up by an armorer who changed the backsight, trigger guard and buttplate with English ones.. What is interesting is that it retains its original sight base which has the serial number stamped into the side.

Euroarms informed me that they are still going through thousands of rifles that are in storage. That include no 4's no1mk3's from the uk and oz, it's a bit of a lottery, but these old girls pop up from time to time.
If only this rifle could talk.
Regards

John -jb303

---------- Post added at 08:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:49 PM ----------

Congrats on the rifle! How were you able to acquire it? I thought the govt destroyed a whole bunch of them as they weren't too keen on civies getting them.

Hi buddy,

There are plenty left at Euroarms, I got mine imported via Forbes wholesale who is the agent for Euroarms in Australia

Cheers

John

---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

This is weird 3 different serial numbers on it, also that damn question mark again as my '16 Lithgow 5MD bears the same mark and no one has been able to give a definitive answer on that mark so why do we have 2 Lithgows on different sides of the country both No I Mk III '16 Lithgows one a 2MD and mine a 5MD bearing the same mark.
Theres one for you that posses a far better understanding of the markings than I as my research has not yielded anything I have yet to read fully the 2 Lithgow books the factory and its people yet perhaps the source is in there. Good find jb303 and to bring it back to its home in Australia.

Hi Cinders,
Yes that mark is driving me mad also, I think it may stand for parrellel bore?? I see yours retains the cut off, well done

[muffett.2008]

Not parallel bore, that is a P inside a heart and only applies to '18,'19,'20.
Attachment 58174

I have a sneaky suspicion that it has something to do with the steel in use at the time, but have not determined if it's Hoskings or BHP Port Kembla, defineing the change of steel supply from Globe Steel Importers of Sydney(supplying British steel, which was of indifferent quality) puts it about '16/'17.
But the foundry bucket/ladel was an emblem of BHP.

[Homer]

John the number on the sight base, are you saying it matches the rifle serial number?

[jb303]

Muffet

Thank you so much for solving the riddle of that dammed P mark with the heart.. Thank you very much buddy. I can stop researching now, lol.

And hi Homer, yes mate the sight base matches the action... It's a shame it had a mini refurb at some stage with English bits.

I recently got an all matching 1919 from Italy also, everything matching, bore is very good and it retains its original qld maple stock. And is marked 3md. The only drama with the rifle is that it was pitted/ rusted on the top of the receiver and parts of the barrel and really needs to be restored. I will post pics of this old beauty soon. I will restore the metal work only to its original factory style.

Thanks men for the researching🍻🍻🍻

John
Jb303

[Homer]

Thats very interesting. The barrel is mismatched to the action but the sight base is matching the action. Are you sure about this John?

[HarryB]

I recently got an all matching 1919 from Italy also, everything matching, bore is very good and it retains its original qld maple stock. And is marked 3md. The only drama with the rifle is that it was pitted/ rusted on the top of the receiver and parts of the barrel and really needs to be restored. I will post pics of this old beauty soon. I will restore the metal work only to its original factory style.

Hi jb303 , Looking forward to seeing pics of your 1919 when you post them.

HarryB

[jb303]

Thats very interesting. The barrel is mismatched to the action but the sight base is matching the action. Are you sure about this John?

Hi Homer,sorry mate, I mean the sight base is matched to the replacement barrel, I was having a brain fart...lol,

The holes through the stock have got me at a total loss, the stock is not cracked anywhere and it does not look like they were for repair... i have a suspicion maybe this was mounted, perhaps a line gun??? who knows.. its an interesting old girl.

I cant find anything about the stock disc,, 78 then N who knows.. I took some of that awful red armourers putty out and inspected the holes, its a perfect hole, 6mm or so and looks like it was drilled...the fore stock is not cracked so why the holes are in play is a mystery.

cheers

john

JB303

[Homer]

John when you had it apart, could you tell if the wood had ever been heavy barrelled?