Author: Homer
Subject: 5314
Posted: January 01 2013 at 8:15am
he!!o lads,
First post here but I've been looking in for quite some time. I hope you don't mind me bringing this old thread back to life but a couple of points to be made here. Yes it is common for a butt to have a later year date than the action and this is because of the time lapse between when an action was manufactured and the time the rifle was assembled in full. This is particularly common on 40's dated rifles but not so common for a 1941 dated action to be assembled in 1943. It is possible however and could be determined for sure by the serial number that is not shown in the pictures. It could just be in fact like has already been mentioned, that the rifle was restocked after issue for whatever reason, in service or out of service. You will find discrepancies between butt and action dates right through the entire period of lithgow production and in one case up to ten years has been noted. That is where a 1928 dated action was assembled into a full rifle for the first time in 1938. Again this was evident by the butt date but also the barrel date, date on the rear sight and the most compelling evidence, the serial number. During other periods of manufacture like the mid 30's, a spread of two to five years between action and butt dates is quite common, where as again 1935, 36 and 37 dated actions were assembled into rifles in 1940.
I hope this brief explanation helps those starting out because it is a commonly asked question.
Subject: 5314
Posted: January 01 2013 at 8:15am
he!!o lads,
First post here but I've been looking in for quite some time. I hope you don't mind me bringing this old thread back to life but a couple of points to be made here. Yes it is common for a butt to have a later year date than the action and this is because of the time lapse between when an action was manufactured and the time the rifle was assembled in full. This is particularly common on 40's dated rifles but not so common for a 1941 dated action to be assembled in 1943. It is possible however and could be determined for sure by the serial number that is not shown in the pictures. It could just be in fact like has already been mentioned, that the rifle was restocked after issue for whatever reason, in service or out of service. You will find discrepancies between butt and action dates right through the entire period of lithgow production and in one case up to ten years has been noted. That is where a 1928 dated action was assembled into a full rifle for the first time in 1938. Again this was evident by the butt date but also the barrel date, date on the rear sight and the most compelling evidence, the serial number. During other periods of manufacture like the mid 30's, a spread of two to five years between action and butt dates is quite common, where as again 1935, 36 and 37 dated actions were assembled into rifles in 1940.
I hope this brief explanation helps those starting out because it is a commonly asked question.
