1936 BSA No1 MKIII* Iraqi Contract

[Alan de Enfield]

I think the HV SC became a standard marking on barrels produced for MkVII ammunition, although I'm not absolutely sure on this & would welcome confirmation. It wouldn't have that elusive 'ER' cypher as it looks as though BSA likely assembled it from NOS parts that were in store when the contract came in. If you look carefully at the butt socket markings the cypher & the '19' of the year date have all been applied together, with the '36' being added later. This is very common on interwar rifles, certainly of BSA mfr. I have a few of their 1930's dated barrelled actions & IIRC they are all marked like so. Waste not want not, I suppose!

Agreed - so any barrel that was modified for the use of MKVII would have been after its introduction in 1915.

The marking was put on to show they had been modified, 'new production' would have incorporated the mods, so, would not be marked.

Why 21 years later would they mark a 'newly made' rifle / sight with the "HV SC"

[Roger Payne]

You might well be correct Alan, but my assumption, & it is only my assumption, but based on having had a few SMLE's in my hands over the years, is that the marking was applied to all barrels that conformed to that specification (ie, were for High Velocity ammunition & possesed of the Small Cone).......ie. including new manufacture......not just conversions. If that is the case, finding HV SC on a 1936 SMLE would be the norm. But again, I have only based this view on seeing a few & I could have seen an unrepresentative sample.

Capt14k, within the limits of my experience, I think your rifle is well loved but essentially as it should be.

Photo's - Later addendum. Alan, I bought a load of rusty relic 'back from the Middle East' BSA inter war rifles from one of the bigger UK dealers a few years ago. They are real restoration challenges, to say the least. Most are 1920's BSA MkIII*'s & late 1930's BSA MkIII's. I enclose a few photo's which show the HV SC as well as their vintage. They are all L prefix rifles with what appear to be their original barrels.

The consolation was that they were cheap......!

[Alan de Enfield]

Photo's - Later addendum. Alan, I bought a load of rusty relic 'back from the Middle East' BSA inter war rifles from one of the bigger UK dealers a few years ago. They are real restoration challenges, to say the least. Most are 1920's BSA MkIII*'s & late 1930's BSA MkIII's. I enclose a few photo's which show the HV SC as well as their vintage. They are all L prefix rifles with what appear to be their original barrels.

The consolation was that they were cheap......!

Many thanks for that - every day is a school day.
I was always under the impression it was used to mark a modified barrel and sights.

[Bindi2]

So does everything look correct?

If you don't like it send it my way

[capt14k]

If you don't like it send it my way

Actually this one and the No2 MkIV* I like the most of the ones I recently purchased