dating a BSA.Co SMLE

[surpman1911]

Hi there everybody, I was looking for a WWI era no.1 MkIII smle to buy and I came across one in great conditon but the date is faded out a bit on the stock ring and all I can make out is what looks to be a 5 for the last number in the date. It does have the crown and model on the ring still though. The serial number starts with the prefix A above the serial number 2728. I was wondering if there is any way to figure out the date using this information and if this is a commercial or a military rifle. Im not sure if this is relevant but there is and never was a stock disk in the stock which is where i believe units and rack numbers would be so it leads me to believe it is a commercial rifle but I could be mistaken.Any information to help figure this out would help me a lot.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Anzac15]

Need pics.

[jrhead75]

An 'A' prefix on a BSA rifle would likely set the date at 1916, and the cypher (crown and monarch's initials) would indicate a military rifle.

[Kiwi]

On the assumption the barrel hasn't been swapped in its service, under the rear hand guard on the right side of the barrel near the receiver will be a year stamp eg '16 for 1916, etc. I had the same problem, thinking I had a 1916 dated rifle, but checking the barrel date confirmed it was a 1918 made rifle.

[surpman1911]

The rifle is for sale online so I can't really get you any pictures of the rifle. I read that the prefixes would recycle at the end of the alphabet and begin with the letter A a second time. Let me know if you think this is incorrect because it seems sort of useless to reuse the same serial numbers on later rifles. thanks for the replies so far!

[jrhead75]

That's true...don't know about "useless" though, since during each of the high production years of WWI, RSAF Enfield (who limited serial numbers to a letter and 4 digits) cycled through the entire alphabet 2 or 3 times. Thus it is possible that there are 2 or 3 SMLEs still out there from each of the years 1916, 1917, & 1918 all with the same serial numbers.