After reading the responses to the thread I started about rebuilding/sporterising my Sht. L E I*** I looked again and it's really a 1904 BSA Co. Sht.LE I***.
If I have the story straight this rifle was manf. in 1904 as a Sht. L E.
It was modified around 1906 (don't know what mods.) to make it a Sht. L E MkI.
Sometime after that it was modified again (don't know what mods.) to make it a Sht.LE MkI*.
Sometime after that it was modified yet again (you guessed it I still don't know what mods.) to make it a Sht.LE Mk.I***.
You can see from the attached images that the marks seem to have been put on one at a time.
At some time in it's life it had the original serial # stamped out and a new one stamped on.
The latter serial # is also stamped on the bolt.
After that someone sporterised it ( sorry no pics., I can't stand to see a grown man cry.)
Can any one help me with the provenience (how it got to become what it is) of this rifle?
i.e. what changes did they make to it and approximately when that might have happened.
Does the stamped out serial # tell us any thing about the provenence (where it's been what it's done.) I thought that the ER was Edwardius Rex, but why would they put that on a serial#?
Anything else regarding provenence I am sure would be guess work. But there are inspection marks that didn't photo well that are a crown over ER over crossed flags over 2P.
Thanks for any help, speculation welcome.
Wheeler44
ps. I will do nothing but shoot and maintain this rifle until it sees an expert on enfields or I pass it on to my son.
If I have the story straight this rifle was manf. in 1904 as a Sht. L E.
It was modified around 1906 (don't know what mods.) to make it a Sht. L E MkI.
Sometime after that it was modified again (don't know what mods.) to make it a Sht.LE MkI*.
Sometime after that it was modified yet again (you guessed it I still don't know what mods.) to make it a Sht.LE Mk.I***.
You can see from the attached images that the marks seem to have been put on one at a time.
At some time in it's life it had the original serial # stamped out and a new one stamped on.
The latter serial # is also stamped on the bolt.
After that someone sporterised it ( sorry no pics., I can't stand to see a grown man cry.)
Can any one help me with the provenience (how it got to become what it is) of this rifle?
i.e. what changes did they make to it and approximately when that might have happened.
Does the stamped out serial # tell us any thing about the provenence (where it's been what it's done.) I thought that the ER was Edwardius Rex, but why would they put that on a serial#?
Anything else regarding provenence I am sure would be guess work. But there are inspection marks that didn't photo well that are a crown over ER over crossed flags over 2P.
Thanks for any help, speculation welcome.
Wheeler44
ps. I will do nothing but shoot and maintain this rifle until it sees an expert on enfields or I pass it on to my son.