Is This a BSA?

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gerard488

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I Just got this rifle but markings are confusing. I was told it is a BSA but I have been reading that BSA only made No1's until 1942.
 
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BSA produced these SMLE 'dispersal rifles' even into 1945. I've got a BSA 1943. FTR 1953 means it went through a Factory Through Rebuild in 1953 - I don't know all the details but it was a common refurbishment standard in the post war years.
 
Sold on the civilian UK market, too. It has civilian proof marks and cartridge data, and has been to the USA - British gun-makers didn't mark their own products 'England', but it was a requirement of US firearms law. It has been overstamped so that the '1' is missing off the pressure - it ought to read '18.5'. The 'piled arms' trademark is a dead giveaway for BSA.
 
Those 1953 SMLE FTR rifles are an interesting niche. I've had maybe a dozen over the years, everything from WW1 era stuff, even some peddle schemes, to rifles like you Dispersal rifle. The receiver could be anything, but the overhauls are clearly done at BSA with BSA barrels and a mix of refurbished parts.

These were made up at FTR, Suncorite painted and fitted with new or refurbished furniture, and put into war reserve near the end of the Korean War. When they were surplussed in North America, they were all refurb-like-new. These were only intended to ever be issued if they ran out of No.4's in a new global war that never came (thankfully).

Neat rifles, and often they are great shooters with as-new bores.
 
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