BSA Production SMLE No. 1 Mk III/III*

[JMB1943]

Can anyone provide year-by-year numbers for the BSA production of the SMLE No. 1 Mk III/III* rifle from 1907 to 1920?

 

Regards,

JMB

[4thGordons]

They are not entirely year by year (some are bracketed together) but are reported in Skip Stratton's (vol 1) SMLE(No1) Rifles MkI and MkIII in the For Collectors Only series by North Cape. (1-882391-16-0)

There are also figures reported in Reynolds and Skennerton

Pre war production is usually reported as about 7,000 per year, wartime production peaks is more than that per week.

Overall production up to 1920 is @1.8 million by BSA

 

I could look the numbers up if you don't have access to those works

Chris

 

Edited 10 December , 2018 by 4thGordons

[JMB1943]

Chris,

 

Thanks for those sources.

I could not find numbers in Reynolds, but luckily someone sent a pm with Skennerton figures.

 

Regards,

JMB

[5thBatt]

BSAs production must have been higher than 7000 per year, my 1907 is s/n U2007 & my 1911 is U76498

Edited 11 December , 2018 by 5thBatt

[4thGordons]

I believe the 7000 number is from Reynolds and based on observed serial numbers it does seem low to me.

Stratton lists:

 

MkIII 1907-1909      50,000 MkIII

        1910-1913      30,000 MkIII

                1914      51,416 MkIII

                1915      275,927 MkIII/III*

                1916      435,212 MkIII*

                1917      468,447 MkIII*

                1918      345,732 MkIII*

 

My serials go from

1907 - U5230

1908 - U11844, U21549, U25724

1912 - V4360

 

Chris

 

     

[5thBatt]

Interesting, from my understanding BSA MkIII production started in the T prefix carrying on from the Mk1 s/n range, your 1912 V prefix s/n would put production at over 100,000 but the list you put up has production at 80,000 by 1913, BSA must have produced Mk1s during that time & stuck with the same s/n range which would make Stratton's list flawed.

 

NZ has some 1910 BSA Mk1s (no stars) with no prefix 3 digit s/n's but as these appear to be replacement barrelled actions brought to refurb our Mk1s, these would have to be ignored.

[grantmal]

Bit late, sorry......I have a deactivated 1914 BSA MkIII, number is R3946.