No1 MkIII... I think?

[lithgow1918]

The "model" marking is interesting, as well.

My old eyes see what looks like a "equals" sign after the "lll".

That would suggest that this is one of the Mk lll* rifles that were re-graded to proper Mk lll spec. by putting all the "fruit" back on and striking out the "*". This apparently happened in the 1920's.

Any other ideas out there?

I've see pictures of two other smles marked with what looks like an equal sign through the stars, one of which was advertised as one of the re-graded rifles. I believe both had cuttoffs. That's the limit of my experience with that, and I cannot attest to the validity of either rifle, although I doubt 3 would be marked the same way if it were not an official marking.

[Roger Payne]

It was an official marking, or certainly it was widely used. There are lots of the ex-Italian Navy SMLE's around in the UK at the moment; they've been imported by the hundreds over the last few years, & a great many are marked like this. As has been said above, Mk3* rifles were retro-converted back to Mk3's in the inter-war period. I gather the RN was quite keen on this (& many of the 'Italian batch' rifles bear a letter 'N' stamped into the LHS of the butt socket just below the safety catch). The definitive change was the machining of the cut-off slot & fitting of the cut-off, but I have also seen some rifles with windage adjustable rear sights as well, although I suspect that they may just have been what was available at the time.

[Tromas]

BurtonP,

Thank you! I do still have the flash hider and barrel that came on the rifle, allthought it seems someone had cut off the ears that go on either side of the front site and the bayonet lug at some point in its previous life.