Gents for the record, a 1917 Lithgow absolutely did have a magazine cut off installed from new. It doesn't matter here however because it's perfectly understandable 100 years on, that this one doesn't have it. But it's important to understand the rifle if you want to accurately value it. Firstly, there's two categories of matching numbers. The first is matching as it was from new. Action, bolt, barrel, rear sight, forend and nose cap. The butt may also be, depending on which military district it was issued. Most states generated an alternative numbering system for their inventory, the 4th military district in SA just used the serial number. This number would be on the butt and action, often confused as a serial number. From new, a 1917 Lithgow would have been blued, stocked in Qld maple with cutoff and piling swivel and marked nicely on the butt. Nearly every part would be marked with Lithgow star. The second category of a matching numbered Lithgow is that of the rifle going through an FTR, in which case it would be a very different beast to the first. The most common Lithgow FTR's and the easiest to identify are those done latter stages of WW2 through to 1960, but again there are variations mainly in two groups. These FTR'd rifles were mostly stripped back to the action and rebuilt into new rifles using new and used parts. Very unlikely any original parts remained with the rifle after the refurb. Serial numbered parts that had been used previously like nose caps were scrubbed and renumbered. Barrels and sights had numbers barred or crossed out. Parts from the earliest years of production were used on these post WW2 refurbs and it's common to find rounded cocking pieces, milled sight protectors or nosecaps with piling swivel lugs on them, causing some confusion. English parts were used as well. These FTR's were parkerised and fully stocked in coachwood. There were some done during 1944 that have a matt black finish but these are very easy to identify against the earlier blued finishes. There is so much more we could discuss here gents but I've probably got most dozing off already.
So which of these is this rifle and how does it affect value. I'm not in Canada but I get the feeling from reading these forums, lithgows don't generate anywhere near the same interest there as in Australia and the US. Here in Oz a matching and original example would be considerably more valuable to the collector. Very hard to find and probably range from 1000 to 1800. One of these may not suit you however if you want to shoot it. An FTR, still very limited numbers of WW1 dated actions but can be had for less. I've seen pristine examples for 1000 or less and these post war FTR's are very nicely stocked and shoot very well.
Very interested to see what this one is.
Edit: Wanted to say earlier, of course this rifle may have gone through some kind of repair to a lesser extent, or ended up being repaired/returbed in the UK or India. All this is important to understand before you purchase.
