Lee Enfield Unknown Date

[krinko]

" if Stratton is correct,"

In this case, Stratton is irrelevant. I can refer you to "India's Enfields" by Robert W. Edwards.
This rifle is part of an Indian rebuild program that started in 1942. The "Z" suffix indicates it's from the first group of rifles in the program-----when they got to 99999 Z they'd move up to 00001 Y---the rebuild program ran the alphabet back to front.
All original marks would have been carefully removed with new proofs and serial number added, so there is going to be about no way to discover where or when the rifle started out. The way Assam/Burma ate up rifles in WW2, she could just as well be a 1941 Ishapore that had a very short, hard life. No way to know.
I've had several of these little beauties over the years, but none at present. They are a legitimate Ishapore rifle and a legitimate part of the larger Lee Enfield Story.
-----krinko