Now if that B were a P I'd be excited. Because that would be my rifle!!I tore the gun apart to see if the P could actually be stamped funny, but it is a P. Awesome history lesson Cdn303. Now I have to do more research. What would they mean by downgraded?
It shoots OK but not great. It rarley gets out of the safe though, because of its fussy with what bullets it likes. This is a hand me down, Grandfather(RCAF), father and now to me.
I'd like to know too. I have a '44 Maltby that was sporter converted by Parker-Hale with the A postfix. This rifle shoots exceptionally. Did it mean that other magazines weren't interchangeable with it or?
I don't know what Skennerton means by downgraded. I think it references that particular rifle. The thing to take from it is '...rifles with otherwise normal serial numbers had 'A' suffixes added on subsequent inspection or refits'.
What I take from this is that when the rifles went back into the unit (regimental or battalion, etc) armoury, they would have been inspected by the armourer, had anything fixed, or brought up to the new standards (read below), and marked accordingly. (stamp on the know form or possibly the A suffix)
After the war all of the wartime 'shortcuts' were declaired obsolete and replaced with the 'better' parts. This includes the milled rear sight with adjustable slide, rather than the 'L' type or even the stamped sight; restocked, restocked if the factory stock was damaged or had started to warp (during the war there was no time to properly dry the wood to the correct moisture content, so after the war by 46-49, when most of the work was done, the stock may have dried more and warped); sometimes they rebarrel wore out ones; and so on. If any particular rifle needed just one or two of these, the unit armourer would do it as stated before. If any particular rifle need most or all of these, they went back for FTR (factory thoughout repair).
That is not saying the all rifles were brought to the new standards. A lot of rifles were also sold off, as is, and that is where a lot of the Churchill and parker hale sporters have come from (in the '50s and '60s it was the thing to do)
I have a '43 Maltby, that had under gone FTR in '49, but sometime between then and know, someone sportered it (wood cut and barrel cut behind bayonet lugs). It has a 5 groove (from what I can tell, during the war it probably had a 2 groove barrel), and milled sight, and all the other hardware is the good stuff. I also have a full military '42 Maltby that still has all the wartime shortcuts present. (2 groove, 'L' sight, etc)
I am sure one the the more knowledgable guru's can chime in and back me up.
EDIT: Wow, I didn't mean the ramble on like this, but I don't mind helping other 'surpers.
