At a recent gun show between the $900 AKs and $1500 Bushmaster ARs I found a No.1 Mk III* Lithgow. It has a '45 dated receiver with a '44 dated stock.
It is a bit battered, and the top front handguard is darker than the rest of the rifle. But the metal is pretty good and it was only $175. I have been looking
for a decent Lithgow to go with my awesome hat for a while and this fit the bill. I got it home, took the gun show sticker off the magazine, and under the
sticker the letters DP were stamped into the mag, filled with a bit of faded red paint.
I was now worried as I know that DP stands for Drill Purpose and the rifle might be deactivated. I pulled the bolt and checked the chamber and the rest of the bore with a light but everything looked fine. No holes or plugs with quite good rifling for a war dated rifle. Being young and very occasionally stupid I took it to the range today and put two boxes of that POF stuff downrange. Both the rifle and the POF worked just fine, and for some reason seemed to be a touch more accurate than my No.4 Mk.2 FAZ. Seeing as how the rifle did not blow up I can only wonder how that DP mag got in there, and I am still slightly concerned about the safety of the rifle. The rifle shot fine, with just a hint of the click bang so prevalent in POF ammo. The brass showed no signs of excessive headspace or anything so I assume the chamber is ok.
Perhaps the answer lies in the markings on the rifle. Most of them seem standard, though it being a British Empire rifle it has more markings than 10 US rifles. The stock and receiver wrist have the standard Lithgow markings. On the left side of the wrist are the letters MA/53. My research indicates that the MA stands for Lithgow Main Factory. Is the 53 the date of a FTR or something?
On the right side of the receiver is AUSTRALIA .303 between the bolt handle and the receiver bridge. Just below the bridge is IC CO SAG GA (or SOC CA, it's hard to tell). I believe that this is the (incredibly well done) import marking. Also on the receiver is a FIR, a B, a broad arrow between two Ds, and a 29 below an arrow pointing to a L above it. There are two more serial type numbers, one a 4 digit by an X that is covered by the bolt handle and one a 5 digit up by the chamber. The proof marking is also present.
On the nosecap is a serial number that matches nothing else on the rifle and triangle and AFI 74 just forward of the bayonet lug. The bolt has several markings, none that appear to be a serial number. On the bolt head is a pair of crossed flags along with ID 32 C on the underside of the bolt head. The handle had a rather large W on it along with some other marks I can not describe. The magazine has the mentioned red DP along with a 4 digit serial number that has been stuck and replaced with a 5 digit one. It also has what I think is a K by the second number and a F with some other markings on the spine.
That is all the markings I can find. Normally I don't go into this level of detail about markings on a 60 year old gun, but I would like to make sure that I don't blow my self up. I would have just posted pics, but all I have is a cell phone camera and the resolution is not sufficient to capture the markings. However I will leave you with a picture of my new rifle next to my awesome hat.
I was now worried as I know that DP stands for Drill Purpose and the rifle might be deactivated. I pulled the bolt and checked the chamber and the rest of the bore with a light but everything looked fine. No holes or plugs with quite good rifling for a war dated rifle. Being young and very occasionally stupid I took it to the range today and put two boxes of that POF stuff downrange. Both the rifle and the POF worked just fine, and for some reason seemed to be a touch more accurate than my No.4 Mk.2 FAZ. Seeing as how the rifle did not blow up I can only wonder how that DP mag got in there, and I am still slightly concerned about the safety of the rifle. The rifle shot fine, with just a hint of the click bang so prevalent in POF ammo. The brass showed no signs of excessive headspace or anything so I assume the chamber is ok.
Perhaps the answer lies in the markings on the rifle. Most of them seem standard, though it being a British Empire rifle it has more markings than 10 US rifles. The stock and receiver wrist have the standard Lithgow markings. On the left side of the wrist are the letters MA/53. My research indicates that the MA stands for Lithgow Main Factory. Is the 53 the date of a FTR or something?
On the right side of the receiver is AUSTRALIA .303 between the bolt handle and the receiver bridge. Just below the bridge is IC CO SAG GA (or SOC CA, it's hard to tell). I believe that this is the (incredibly well done) import marking. Also on the receiver is a FIR, a B, a broad arrow between two Ds, and a 29 below an arrow pointing to a L above it. There are two more serial type numbers, one a 4 digit by an X that is covered by the bolt handle and one a 5 digit up by the chamber. The proof marking is also present.
On the nosecap is a serial number that matches nothing else on the rifle and triangle and AFI 74 just forward of the bayonet lug. The bolt has several markings, none that appear to be a serial number. On the bolt head is a pair of crossed flags along with ID 32 C on the underside of the bolt head. The handle had a rather large W on it along with some other marks I can not describe. The magazine has the mentioned red DP along with a 4 digit serial number that has been stuck and replaced with a 5 digit one. It also has what I think is a K by the second number and a F with some other markings on the spine.
That is all the markings I can find. Normally I don't go into this level of detail about markings on a 60 year old gun, but I would like to make sure that I don't blow my self up. I would have just posted pics, but all I have is a cell phone camera and the resolution is not sufficient to capture the markings. However I will leave you with a picture of my new rifle next to my awesome hat.
