Questions About My 1943 LB No. 4 Mk 1*

[WW2Buff]

(I posted some of this thread in limpetmine's Long Branch Serial Number Listing thread, to ensure the info was in that location.)

I have Long Branch No. 4 Mk 1* 56L9938, marked 1943.
- Dark walnut furniture, all pieces LB/Canada marked
- Stock caps are C-C-M Canada Cycle & Motor Co. marked
- Cast gray alloy butt plate
- British BNP export marked but no U.S. import marks
- Mis-matched 1943 BSA-Shirley bolt
- SMC-marked British magazine
- Mk I First Variation rear sight marked P and CR 403, so circa 1950. Slide marked F.
- Everything else is Canada and/or LB marked
- No FTR stamp

Some questions:
1. Can anyone venture a guess on this rifle's history? Made at LB, shipped to England?
2. Why no U.S. import stamp to go with the British export stamps?
3. SMC magazine? Is that modern after-market?
4. I guess the P leaf sight is POF, Pakistan? The slide, slide adjusting screw, and slide adjusting nut are all F Fazakerley. Seems an odd mix, so hoping the P is something else...

Any and all comments welcome!

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.

[Peter Laidler]

P = Poole in Dorset although the sight is assembled from parts made at Fazakerley and probably other places too. The CR403 is the abbreviated part number of the backsight leaf B1/CR-403

[browningautorifle]

It may have just gone in for a fix at one point or been picked up and gone into stores during wartime, never to be handed back. We were just discussing the return of LB rifles post WW2.

Are you CERTAIN there are no importer marks on it? They appear in strange places and can be very small and faint...?

[WW2Buff]

I've got her totally torn down, Jim, and I sure can't see anything that remotely resembles any part of any of the marks in Stratton's Table 1-12. There isn't an ENGLAND stamp either, just the BNP stamps in the photo below.

Another question - anyone know the origin of the buttplate trap, marked PC?

Peter sorted the leaf sight. What about the SMC magazine?

[stencollector]

The company name eludes me right now, but PC is a Canadian casting company (Peterbourough Castings?). The same symbol can also be found on the base plugs of Canadian no36M grenades and on the lever of the Canadian sten box style magazine loaders.

[Maxwell Smart]

Is SMC on the magazine case, or on the follower plate?

[WW2Buff]

Thanks, Sten.

The SMC is on the follower. Just found a broad arrow on the back rib of the magazine, so I guess that bit is British.

---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 PM ----------

It may have just gone in for a fix at one point or been picked up and gone into stores during wartime, never to be handed back. We were just discussing the return of LB rifles post WW2.

Are you CERTAIN there are no importer marks on it? They appear in strange places and can be very small and faint...?

BAR, is there another thread discussing return of LB rifles? On the importer marks, are there others besides what Stratton presents in Table 1-12? I've seen those on my Garand and Carbine and they're very prominent, no mistake...

[browningautorifle]

BAR, is there another thread discussing return of LB rifles?

It was more about Peter explaining that all CDN rifles were demanded back at war's end. There was a directive that may or may not have been followed to the letter...it's here in the LE forum...

[stencollector]

It was more about Peter explaining that all CDN rifles were demanded back at war's end. There was a directive that may or may not have been followed to the letter...it's here in the LE forum...

It wasn't all Canadian rifles that were to be returned, it was all C/l\ marked equipment including small arms that were to be returned. The C/l\ mark was a property mark. There were small arms made in Canada that were simply /l\ marked if they were made on British contract.

[WW2Buff]

Further to the S.M.C. magazine follower. I just found a small part on my SMLE Mk III* with the same mark. Part 19, the retaining spring on the right side of the action body.

Is this Singer Manufacturing Co. in Kilbowie, Clydebank, Scotland, the UK branch of Singer Sewing Machine? They did a lot of war work during WW2.

Singer Sewing Machine Factory Kilbowie, Clydebank