From to Figure 1 applies, and for firearms proved between mid and mid the code letter is A. Lest they were confused with other characters, I and Q were not utilised, so the date letters to were as follows. The alphabet was restarted several years post-war in with A, but now each letter change was made at the beginning of the year.
The mark was modified to that shown in Figure II, with D to the left representing ,. Thus the year codes have hitherto been understood to be - A ; - B ; - C ; - D ; - E ; - F ; - G ; - H ; - J ; and so on through to - Z; However, we have been made aware, by a contributor, of two contemporary rifles, a BSA Mk.
II above. This would suggest that "I" as well as "Q" was no longer deemed to be ambiguous, as had previously been the case with the Fig. There is therefore an undeniable possibility that year letters after may each represent dates that should be advanced one year, with "Z" falling in , although this would then conflict with the commencement of the next series.
Confusion remains; unless you know differently. Conjecture may suggest that perhaps there was even indecision at the Birmingham Proof House, and only a few rifles were stamped with an "I" in before "J" was substituted, or, a long shot, the "H" stamps wore out before the end of the year. We may never know the answer, but can meanwhile entertain ourselves dreaming up such explanations.
The two markings are shown below, the International to the left, and Century to the right. It is to be found under the barrel just foreward of the receiver, and requires removal of the fore-end woodwork to view.
The rule is calibrated in millemetres. It is possibly the diminutive size of this mark, and its usually hidden location, which has led to it being described as 'secret'. In this instance, the code letter is ' M ' for , indicating that the rifle was manufacture,. Note that this is a pre-WWII rifle. Date marks for the London Proof House did not commence until and are therefore of limited value in dating classic rifles.
Please be aware that some specialist rotational imagery on these pages may take longer than usual to load MENU Should the top navigation menu fail to load immediately please refresh the page or use links The 'BS' prefix was used for the. Trials No. On No. And of course, with the Canadian No. After the initial 99, rifles, the Lithgow No. More details on serial numbers will also be found in the new book, 'The Broad Arrow'. The 7. South African 7. Indian 7.
Some were onforwarded to Malaya and New Zealand, good customers who purchased quantities of the 7. TT and TR were applied to in-house test models. Also ejector trial. A special copper - bronze medallion was also inletted into the right side of the butt of these 10 rifles. Serial numbers for British made L1A1 rifles and Small Arms ran in blocks with factory code and year prefix followed by the serial number commencing with an alphabet letter e. Third quarter numbers commenced with A The last serial number for the quarter ending 31st July was UB60 A An anomaly This was followed by the year indicator, e.
The year indicator was irrespective of the serial number advance, e. Over the years I have received many emails regarding serial numbers. The volume of serial number inquiries has prompted me to fashion this page together and try and explain how best to identify a particular rifles manufacturer. Truth be known about Enfield serial numbers is simply, the serial number was used more for production counting than any other reason.
For official references, usually the finished and issued rifle was tracked by its rack number and of course these records have long since been destroyed or lost forever. This is not to say that Enfield serial numbers provide no information or that they are not an interesting subject. What this page will attempt to provide is a basic overview of the serial system and where to find them along with the manufacture markings and barrel date stamp that is common on most Enfields.
SMLE rifle manufacturers were given no serial ranges to begin or end production with, so it is possible that two rifles may exist with the same serial number produced at different factories. Once the initial range of numbers was maxed out a letter prefix was added and the numbering began again.
Seen in the picture above are the places where the serial number and manufacturer can be found. Along with the manufacturers name both the date of manufacture and the type and mark of the rifle is also shown. No4 rifles were given a starting number that may be used to identify manufacturers, but again there was no set serial blocks.
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