SSA Peddle Scheme conundrum

**Claven2** · Yesterday 08:27 PM

So I bought this 1918 SSA from a few grainy photos. It was a bit of a gamble, the seller was a business, but not a firearms business. Photos weren't great, and getting the guy to describe it to me might as well have been asking my grandma to explain rocket science. I took a gamble, paid more than I should have, and well... what showed up has issues.

To be fair, the rifle was filthy and assembled with the filth still on it, it looked OK and the bore was decent. The guy was iffy on serial number descriptions so I assumed it was mismatched. It turns out the nose cap, sight and bolt are all mismatched. Oh well.

Then I got to disassembling for cleaning... oh boy. This thing is in way rougher shape than I imagined. Thick scaly rust under the woodline, mostly on the barrel and inside the receiver socket. Bore is not that bad, surprisingly. And the bolt does not fully close on a Saami NOGO and does close on GO, with acceptable lug contact, so there is that bit of positive, at least.

So now I need to decide... do I clean this thing up and re-assemble it to have as a representative 1918 SSA? Or do I scavenge all the good parts, scrap the barreled action, and use the rest on a better gun when it comes along? Is a 1918 SSA uncommon enough now to give this one a pardon? I suppose hunting down a better barrel or rear sight base is also an option, but it won't fix the cosmetic pitting on the action. The deepest barrel pitting is out close to the muzzle, so I don't think safety is a real issue... but.... despite being under the woodline, I will always know it's there.

Stock set its a decent bit of late war walnut, so that at least is a bit of silver lining. Even came with an original piling swivel.

What would you guys do?

By the way, receiver got a 1917 BSA barrel and most small parts are 1918 era BSA, but for some reason, the receiver rear ledge has an Enfield acceptance mark over the SSA stamp. I guess Enfield lock would have inspected, gauged and accepted this receiver before it was shipped over to BSA?

serial is R21341.

how the receiver pitting looks with wood on...

Not terrible, but not great. The barrel exterior pitting looks awful, but it would be under the woodline (mercifully).