Before this gets taken the wrong way, I'm definitely not knocking the pistol. It's beautiful, a fine addition to any collection.
About 35 years ago, many of these fine pistols languished in drawers or on the wall, whatever, because the bores in these fine pistols were worn, rusted from poor cleaning or pitted to the point of makeing the pistols useless for anything other than display.
Golden State Arms offered a barrel replacement, that was pre chambered, for the M96 pistols.
Rebarreling the pistols meant cutting off the original barrel just in front of the chamber, then drilling out and cutting threads in the old chamber area. They were distinctive by the small step on the barrel just in front of the chamber area as is seen in J'los pics. It was a very slick and effective cure to bring some life back into the old warriors lives.
I bought one of the sleeved pistols from Harkley and Haywood, along with a P38 and a P08 in 1972. I knew virtually nothing about these pistols, other than they looked great and from previous experience knew they were very reliable performers.
I was told about the resleeve by the store manager and that it had been done instore. The barrel had the same configuration as J'los' pistol. It was a great shooter, that's all I was really worried about back then and a buddy, long gone to his maker, bought another with the same fix from another long gone friend, Les Viel at "Viels Sporting Goods", now defunct, in Vernon, BC the next spring. Both pistols had matching numbers, stocks and leather boots and very nice finishes.
The step was supposedly left on purpose, so the fix would be obvious.
J'lo, I've never seen a pistol like yours with the step configuration that hasn't been a fixed pistol.
If yours was made that way, please excuse me for my observation. There wasn't and isn't anything derogatory intended. Even if it is a sleeved pistol, it's worth twice what you paid for it.
bearhunter
First time I've had a MkI (no star) SMLE - usually they have been converted to a later * pattern. This one is still dressed as a MkI with the exception that the cutoff was removed when it was wire-wrapped as a Grenade Launching Rifle. This one is "Commonwealth of Australia Mil'y Forces" marked.
