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I have the almost identical rifle to you.
I bought it intentionally knowing it had been IMPORTED by JJ&CO.
There may, or may not be, something there. My "JJ&CO" (or whatever) stamp is darned near invisible, very lightly struck on the charger bridge as shown above. I literally had to use a 10X high quality loupe & some very fancy lighting to even find it. with the naked eye it looked like a machining blemish it was so light.
IT IS NOT A KISS OF DEATH if you find one. It is a warning to check deeper though.
Personally I'm like you a shooter not (primarily) a collector.
To a "Pure Collector" they are considered junk, but that's viewed from a Pure Collector's specialized (& rather narrow IMO) viewpoint. EVERYTHING MUST BE "STRAC", down to the most minute detail, except when there are exceptions.
I have no problem with the importation, but if it was one of the ones "assembled from buckets of random parts, with no fitting" then I be looking at it askance too.
BUT
There were 6000 absolute by the book Lithgow-Made, gauged, inspected & approved complete original rifles.
Then there were the "large number" (I can't find a head count), of rifles that had been issued & for some reason were back at the factory, overhauled & awaiting distribution back to "Stores" & eventually to the Military Districts & then on to the regiments as requested or needed.
Then there were the ones that Needed a "full to like new" "FTR" rifles. These were restored by the factory to 85% "Like New" condition. They are stamped "FTR" & so easy to tell.
To put it into perspective tens of thousands of SMLE's, maybe more, have been FTR'd worldwide. Almost nobody looks down on them.
Now we get to the gnarly stuff.
The "endless buckets of miscellaneous, random parts"
Yes, they existed
Yes JJ&CO did "fling together with no fitting" many many of them.
I'd avoid them, except as parts donors too.
But there's a lot of perfectly good blond Lithgow SMLE's out there mixed in with the trash.
You have to do a bit of detective work to sort the wheat from the chaff IMO.
Don't blindly accept the statement about recoil blocks being present or not as a blanket truth. That is simply not accurate.
Some factory rifles were not fitted with them at Lithgow.
Some were retrofitted in the field.
There are those knowledgeable experts that will argue that with full & correct fitting ("stocking up" of the metal to wood they are unnecessary), but with shoddy stocking up they are vital.
My rifle is suspect as a "bitster" to a Purist Collector, but that's not necessarily a flung together bucket of parts gun from the collectors viewpoint. Mine has been refinished & restocked. No argument, I knew that & accepted it as a shooter. Many SMLEs from all over the world have been FTR'd or restocked for some reason, but the Lithy blond with nice wood are a special case because they're a bit of a crap shoot.
Take out your magazine & pull the bolt.
Now look up inside & to the rear with a flashlight & ideally a dental mirror. You can just see the blocks if they are fitted, but you need to be a bit of a contortionist.
My 41 blond has them, yours might too.
This is NOT the whole story though. It is a big clue.
![Door Wood Air gun Yellow Trigger]()
![Wood Door Natural material Yellow Wood stain]()
Things like serial number format are another as are correct numbers & prefixes for the date of manufacture.
If it is "####A" or "####G" its more suspect than if its (like mine B #####) correct for 1941.
Fitting of parts, trigger pressures & "Feel" are good clues too.
Is there a second number UNDER the bolt handle, does it match its twin on the upper right rear of the receiver?
Do the serial numbers on the breech & rear of the bolt match?
These are all good things.
Get yer magnifying glass out Sherlock & have at it.
That area under the rear sight on mine is stamped 4 rows of letters/numbers
"L"
"HV"
"SC" (edited, thanks)
"MA41"
on the base of the actual sight, right by the hinge in tiny letters the (matching) serial number for the rifle
I bought it intentionally knowing it had been IMPORTED by JJ&CO.
There may, or may not be, something there. My "JJ&CO" (or whatever) stamp is darned near invisible, very lightly struck on the charger bridge as shown above. I literally had to use a 10X high quality loupe & some very fancy lighting to even find it. with the naked eye it looked like a machining blemish it was so light.
IT IS NOT A KISS OF DEATH if you find one. It is a warning to check deeper though.
Personally I'm like you a shooter not (primarily) a collector.
To a "Pure Collector" they are considered junk, but that's viewed from a Pure Collector's specialized (& rather narrow IMO) viewpoint. EVERYTHING MUST BE "STRAC", down to the most minute detail, except when there are exceptions.
I have no problem with the importation, but if it was one of the ones "assembled from buckets of random parts, with no fitting" then I be looking at it askance too.
BUT
There were 6000 absolute by the book Lithgow-Made, gauged, inspected & approved complete original rifles.
Then there were the "large number" (I can't find a head count), of rifles that had been issued & for some reason were back at the factory, overhauled & awaiting distribution back to "Stores" & eventually to the Military Districts & then on to the regiments as requested or needed.
Then there were the ones that Needed a "full to like new" "FTR" rifles. These were restored by the factory to 85% "Like New" condition. They are stamped "FTR" & so easy to tell.
To put it into perspective tens of thousands of SMLE's, maybe more, have been FTR'd worldwide. Almost nobody looks down on them.
Now we get to the gnarly stuff.
The "endless buckets of miscellaneous, random parts"
Yes, they existed
Yes JJ&CO did "fling together with no fitting" many many of them.
I'd avoid them, except as parts donors too.
But there's a lot of perfectly good blond Lithgow SMLE's out there mixed in with the trash.
You have to do a bit of detective work to sort the wheat from the chaff IMO.
Don't blindly accept the statement about recoil blocks being present or not as a blanket truth. That is simply not accurate.
Some factory rifles were not fitted with them at Lithgow.
Some were retrofitted in the field.
There are those knowledgeable experts that will argue that with full & correct fitting ("stocking up" of the metal to wood they are unnecessary), but with shoddy stocking up they are vital.
My rifle is suspect as a "bitster" to a Purist Collector, but that's not necessarily a flung together bucket of parts gun from the collectors viewpoint. Mine has been refinished & restocked. No argument, I knew that & accepted it as a shooter. Many SMLEs from all over the world have been FTR'd or restocked for some reason, but the Lithy blond with nice wood are a special case because they're a bit of a crap shoot.
Take out your magazine & pull the bolt.
Now look up inside & to the rear with a flashlight & ideally a dental mirror. You can just see the blocks if they are fitted, but you need to be a bit of a contortionist.
My 41 blond has them, yours might too.
This is NOT the whole story though. It is a big clue.
Things like serial number format are another as are correct numbers & prefixes for the date of manufacture.
If it is "####A" or "####G" its more suspect than if its (like mine B #####) correct for 1941.
Fitting of parts, trigger pressures & "Feel" are good clues too.
Is there a second number UNDER the bolt handle, does it match its twin on the upper right rear of the receiver?
Do the serial numbers on the breech & rear of the bolt match?
These are all good things.
Get yer magnifying glass out Sherlock & have at it.
That area under the rear sight on mine is stamped 4 rows of letters/numbers
"L"
"HV"
"SC" (edited, thanks)
"MA41"
on the base of the actual sight, right by the hinge in tiny letters the (matching) serial number for the rifle
