F marked bolt body No 4 Mark 1*

[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]

22sqnRAE no issues hijack away. Alan this rifle sure has a lot of F marked parts but doesn't come with any Electro Penciling so who knows. Thanks for the input. The person I bought it from never shot it, however the owner before him reportedly had shot it on several occasions. That shooter also white glued two sheets of paper on the fore-end to get the proper barrel pressure. In checking it is holding 5 lbs of pressure as is. It will hang on the wall in my collection as I don't have any other Savage rifles I have others I shoot.

[Lance]

From what I recall from earlier conversations the "B" stamp on Savage bodies by the serial number was placed there due to earlier parts interchangeability and fit problems with the magazine. The "B" is a factory stamp showing that the rifle had none. You will find this "B" stamp primarily on Savage on mid-1943 made examples and later.
Attached is the stamp on an FTR'd and an unissued example.

[P246]

From what I recall from earlier conversations the "B" stamp on Savage bodies by the serial number was placed there due to earlier parts interchangeability and fit problems with the magazine. The "B" is a factory stamp showing that the rifle had none. You will find this "B" stamp primarily on Savage on mid-1943 made examples and later.
Attached is the stamp on an FTR'd and an unissued example.

Thanks for info. That makes sense as the B (in my opinion) was stamped before the serial number was reapplied because the stamper obviously stamped around the B stamp. I'm thinking "out loud" that it went through a military refurb sometime by who I don't know just based on the sandblasting and reapplying of suncorite along with the re-stamping of the serial number. After that is anyone guess. The bore slugged well and looks good at least.