Long Branch Years?

Numbers/relative scarcity are always a big determinant, so I'd say anything 1941 production, especially any No4 Mk1 before they transitioned to the Mk1*. Then 1945 when final wartime output was much reduced.
 
1941 ,1945,1949,...1955,1956,the 1941 is about the rarest and it MUST have a 1941 barrel on it quite a few 1941's have 1942 barrels on them which to me makes them a 1942..since that was when they were completed ..as many of you know the barrel production fell way behind in 41 so only a few 41 receivers were installed with a 41 barrel ...very premium price for these.1945 production was slowing down so again not many made ...1949 C.A.L. was gearing up for production for the korean war and the 49s were sort of a get the line going production run ..1950 saw quite a few come off the line ...55,56 are about the second rarest next to the 41 just because they were gearing up for production of the C1 in 1956 so they assembled very few 303s some were for competition but not all .the last digit on the reciever of a 55 or 56 is typically a hand stamped number like the receiver would be pre stamped 195_ and you would add the extra 5 or 6...these late rifles are also a mismash of leftover parts grabbed from the bins so its not uncommon to have a 55 or 56 with LB stamped parts with CA stamped parts or even savage stamped parts ....
 
I just picked up a 1949 a few weeks ago, so my collection of 41,42,43,44,45,49,50,55 and 56 is complete. But were there receivers marked from 51 thru 54?

Edited to add: there are of course 1946 dated long branch receivers, but they are all Cno7s. I have a few of those too.
 
Magellann said:
I'm curious as to why there are no 51 to 54's, did the stop production for those years?
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Production stopped in 50. It was around that time the army relaized it was time to go from a bolt action rifle to an autoloading rifle and the FN trials with the EX1s were soon after.

The 55 and 56 dated receivers, albeit uncommon, are usually either replacement receivers on rifles, or else project receivers for things like DCRA rifles or other projects. I think someone on the board mentioned receivers dated in the 51 thru 54 dates, but I would like to see a photo myself. Those would then become my holy grails to look for.
 
Stencollector, Thanks for the lesson,very interesting. I only have a 43 and a 44, I wish I'd picked up some of the ones I turned down years ago.
 
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