F marked bolt body No 4 Mark 1*

[P246]

I bought a Savage No 4 Mark 1* pretty cheap, ah I stole it. To make a long story short I bought it for a parts price because it had very good timber. The barreled action appears to have gone through a re-arsenal with a B stamped on the left side of the receiver. The 91 C original serial number is just legible but the serial number was hand stamped under it (rather poorly). Bore is good but under the timber it had evidence of pitting before sand blasting and a new coat of black paint (which looks like Suncorite) The trigger has not been updated and is still in Mark 1 configuration. Now to my primary question.

Bolt handle is handstamped with a F serial number prefix (5 digits following). Most of the pieces are S marked. The bolt head is 0 marked with M and broad arrow. So I've bought plenty of No.4 with mixed matched bolts, no big deal if a parts gun. But I don't remember seeing and F marked serial number bolt and am wondering if its fake (Navy Arms etc) or something else. I searched here and on a couple other forums and couldn't find much on F marked bolts (No. 4 rifles). I gave up so I'm just going to break down and ask. I have all of Skennterton's books but they are at the bottom of the book pile and I'm being a little lazy. FYI I have around 20 L.E. and I have no interest in shooting this one so no concern there. If the bolt serial number is a fake I want to know that.

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.

[Roger Payne]

Can you manage a photo as that would really help? Does the five digit number start with a '3'? If so, it may be a BSA produced bolt. If this is the case it will also have the hollowed out knob on the bolt handle, & will have either a 'B' or 'M47C' on the same face as the serial number, but right up where the handle joins the bolt body, by where the striker hole is situated. The bolt head sounds like it may well be of Maltby manufacture. I'm not quite clear what you mean precisely by the bolt being a 'fake'...........it sounds just like a rifle with a mis-matched bolt, but as mentioned above, a photo might help us decide if the serial on the bolt body is factory original or not if that's what you want to know. Hope this helps a little...

[P246]

Can you manage a photo as that would really help? Does the five digit number start with a '3'? If so, it may be a BSA produced bolt. If this is the case it will also have the hollowed out knob on the bolt handle, & will have either a 'B' or 'M47C' on the same face as the serial number, but right up where the handle joins the bolt body, by where the striker hole is situated. The bolt head sounds like it may well be of Maltby manufacture. I'm not quite clear what you mean precisely by the bolt being a 'fake'...........it sounds just like a rifle with a mis-matched bolt, but as mentioned above, a photo might help us decide if the serial on the bolt body is factory original or not if that's what you want to know. Hope this helps a little...

The serial number is F16088, hand stamped. On side of bolt looks like F82. No other marks. The bolt handle is not hollow sorry should have put that in first post. I agree bolt head is Maltby cocking piece is Savage. Rifle passes military field gauge. I'll try and post pictures tonight. Everything else I own that's been FTRed has had the bolts force match to rifle No.4 wise. I want to make sure what I have or at least understand what I have. If it appears legit I'll spend the money to send it off to be gauged, if not I'll have alot of good parts. Thanks for the help.

[P246]

Attachment 113789 Here is a pic of the rifle overall. This is a test to see if I remember how to post pics actually.

[P246]

[ATTACH]Attachment 113791[/ATTACH] Close of up serial number with B stamp and second stamp of serial number. Along with Savage markings. White paint was added by previous owner due to failing eye sight.

[22SqnRAE]

[ATTACH]Attachment 113791[/ATTACH] Close of up serial number with B stamp and second stamp of serial number. Along with Savage markings. White paint was added by previous owner due to failing eye sight.

Not wishing to hijack the thread, but an associated question regarding this Savage made No 4 Mk I*. The presence of that "B" stamp on the left wrist is similar to my 1944 Savage. I'm wondering if these US Lend Lease rifles have passed through BSA at some stage to receive that B stamp? Mine is a woefully bad double strike, which by way of BSA is nothing special. Most BSA markings were all over the shop...

Does anyone have any knowledge better than my speculation?

[Alan de Enfield]

Not wishing to hijack the thread, but an associated question regarding this Savage made No 4 Mk I*. The presence of that "B" stamp on the left wrist is similar to my 1944 Savage. I'm wondering if these US Lend Lease rifles have passed through BSA at some stage to receive that B stamp? Mine is a woefully bad double strike, which by way of BSA is nothing special. Most BSA markings were all over the shop...

Does anyone have any knowledge better than my speculation?

Your speculation is as good as any one elses speculation.

The B has been speculated on 'for ever' and as yet I have never seen any conclusion - the major speculation is that it is some sort of 'inspection' mark - maybe passing final inspection to allow it to be sold / shipped.

[P246]

[ATTACH][ATTACH]Attachment 113794[/ATTACH][/ATTACH] Bolt serial number, F82 stamp, bolt knob

[P246]

[ATTACH][ATTACH][ATTACH]Attachment 113798[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH] Other bolt markings. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Let me know if you want any other pictures of the rifle and I will take them. Rear sight is F marked Mark 1 by the way.

[Roger Payne]

I can't by any means be sure but I suspect that the bolt body in your rifle is probably of Fazakerley manufacture. The appearance of two, three & four digit number & letter combinations in the lightening recess of the long lug on the bolt body seems to be most commonly found on Faz bolts. I had a look at a few NOS Faz bolt bodies that I have this evening, & whilst I did not see one that bore the exact same letter & number combination as the OP's I found a pretty random assortment. Looking at the stamping of the F prefix serial on the bolt body, the filing or linishing marks, & so on, I do not think that that work would have been carried out at an ordnance factory. However, it could have been carried out by the military at a lower level in the ordnance hierarchy.........but equally could have been done by a civvy owner or gunsmith.