[mcgintyinmaine]

I had acquired a more correct stock for another No. 1 I had already restored, so I ended up with an extra stock set and parts with no rifle to put them on. I went out to the local gun shops this morning looking for a good candidate to match with the left over parts and stock. I found this sporterized BSA dispersal rifle dated 1940. It was a good candidate to be saved from a sporter to become a put together not all matching rifle. The bolt, receiver, sight leaf and barrel match. The butt stock is useless as a previous owner did not like the wood plug and did a very bad job of removing it. I will be on the look out for butt stock that would be more correct for a dispersal. While the bolt body matches, the cocking piece is Aussie (OA) and is dated 43, so that was a later replacement.

It had an excessive head space issue that I was able to fix with the one and only extra bolt head that I had on hand. The extractor spring was broken on the bad bolt head anyway so I was able to kill two birds with one stone by swapping it out. I paid $125 out the door for the rifle and had everything I needed already at home so I am happy with low out of pocket cost.

The only question I have is the Essex marked barrel. I have not seen that before and cannot right now find my Stratton book to see if any info is in there on it. Is it safe to assume that Essex was one of the sub contractors that was part of the dispersal scheme? The barrel is dated 7 '39.

Thanks for looking and any info on the Essex barrel is appreciated.

 

[BrianR]

I believe that the ESSEX may be a commercial trade name. There was a company of that name operating in the US. If it was a military supplier it would have been identified by a number and prefix letter (N M S).

 

[capt ron]

I guess it doesn't end with the old military rifles. Thanks for the pictures. It looks like i will be redoing one now.
ron

 

[TKacook]

It looks real nice! Thanks for sharing.

TKacook

 

[mcgintyinmaine]

Thanks for the comments. It is fun to get these old rifles looking half way decent again.

 

[mcgintyinmaine]

I believe that the ESSEX may be a commercial trade name. There was a company of that name operating in the US. If it was a military supplier it would have been identified by a number and prefix letter (N M S).

So they were using commercial made parts to put together the dispersals? Considering it was made in 1940 I that would make sense. I would think they would put together rifles anyway they could.