I forgot to add that I have one of those original rifles in stock and for sale. Purchased from me in 1990 and consigned from the son of a lifetime friend who passed away unexpectedly a couple of years ago. It's a '44 BSA. It sports the '46 post war stamp on the left butt socket and is still in its original blackened finish. No one seems to know where they were inspected, repaired and marked but I suspect it was a pooled ordnance workshop in Europe. The British and Canadians had them in Germany and possibly Italy. When I imported hundreds of the former Greek issue Long Branch rifles in 2001, many of the wartime dated rifles had the '46 stamp on the left socket too.
I looked at the import mark on the bottom of the buttsocket under magnification and could not make anything out to be legible. It honestly looks like a vise-grip mark or similar. But I'll try to take a closer macro-pic.
Thanks also to all who are trying to decipher this specimen.
Here's what it is: "IAC ALEX VA", short for "Interarms Corporation Alexandria Virginia". I think they caught Hell from BATF&E and that's why they changed to engraving on the left front bodyside.
When sold they were just surplus stock taking up storage space. For many years serving soldiers used to be able to purchase the No 4 rifles from the Defence Force for about R60 with bayonet after the No 1 Mk 3 [R15 with spare wood and bayonet] were sold out. The new 'government', horrified at 'arming the population', stopped that quickly and sold the entire stock and ammunition in about 1996 I believe.
All the ones I've ever seen were Fazaker.y and 1947-49 dated. Work out the exchange rate in the late eighties/early nineties.
If there are any particular areas you would like to see photographed, let me know in the next hour or two from this post time stamp when I will have time to take more pics. Thanks.
Under the handguards, it looks like a greased barrel. There is a gasket-material shim under the middle band, Rear guard has "J.S. ^ 3" on the inside channel.
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The import mark still looks like a few scratches, at best.
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Mag well, mag, and feedramp/chamber.
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It's exactly as it should be. Serviced and greased with XG279 prior to storage by the MoD. Keep the barrel clean, screws tight and enjoy it. I always laugh at the self-proclaimed hard-core collectors that hate the post 1986 import marks. When it comes to No.4 rifles, I'll take a post '86 import marked rifle any day over a pre '68 that usually have British commercial proofs and country of origin stamps. No one ever complains about those! The fact is that the rifles surplused prior to 1968 were probably culled because they failed one of the MoD gauging standards. They hung on to the good ones in war reserve stores and yours is one of those.
It's a roughly-made 1942 rifle which has been massaged by someone to present a sort of post-FTR appearance. Look closely at the "import marks": do you see fresh phosphating where the paint has flaked off? Can't say I do, but not that close a photo. Were it a service overhaul from all Peter has told us over the years, we know it should be there. In my experience any kind of paint over any decent phosphating with a good crystalline structure will bond like hell, so that sort of flaking means either crap phosphating or none at all.
The proof of the work "down the shed" is the serial number added to wrist of the butt, as though on a No.4(T) Notice how heavily sanded the woodwork is? I venture an armourer would have re-stamped the forend number.
Some wanker who didn't know his game well enough. He might as well have taken the trouble to round off the all the nasty sharp edges left during original manufacture, that at least would have been some improvement.
The fugly welding in of the charger guide bridge might be a souvenir of the superb original craftsmanship, or one of those ham-fisted repairs one sometimes see where they couldn't be bothered to grind off the blobs of weld after. IRRC this could be an original feature or a post-war job.
From somewhere an apparently brand-new backsight has been found, but the lack of any maker's mark we can see and the strange horizontal lines on the back of the sight arm suggest perhaps a factory reject which has subsequently surfaced and been resold. Such things did occur, witness the many reject, but original No.5 flash-hiders that turned up about 25 or so years ago.
Pardon my lack of diffidence!
Edit: now that I've read the rest of the thread, rather than just viewing the photos, OP you'll have to balance my view against the others! I wouldn't bother with it if I was you, unless you want proof of just how bad things got in 1942 and the sort of careless people who were employed in these factories, and their miserable work that passed inspection. How many soldiers cursed their lazy backsides as they struggled to charger load their rifles without cutting themselves we'll never know.
Last edited by Surpmil; 08-07-2023 at 11:56 AM.
“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
Look closely at the "import marks": do you see fresh phosphating where the paint has flaked off? Can't say I do, but not that close a photo. Were it a service overhaul from all Peter has told us over the years, we know it should be there.
and Canadians had them in Germany
PM
Originally Posted by 
or one of those ham-fisted repairs one sometimes see where they couldn't be bothered to grind off the blobs of weld after. IRRC this could be an original feature or a post-war job. 
