Quote Originally Posted by Josie & John View Post
Hi Aubrey,

Your contribution does indeed help as I was hoping someone had the abridged patent variant in their collection. Interesting to learn of the variation in body stampings and the smoothbore barrel. I would be interested if there are other straight grip MkIs with shortened barrels towards the end of production. It is possible the barrel is a later replacement -is it stamped MKI and the calibre? Are there any markings suggesting the smooth bore?

Kind regards,

John
John,
LHS of barrel is stamped "Mk1 .177" but there are no other markings to indicate it is a smooth bore.
One other thing though which I forgot to mention in my earlier post is that the LH of spring chamber is stamped "OIL HERE" as on later models. This particular example could almost be described as a transition model between the upright wooden grip model and plastic sloping grip (with smooth thumb-rest) pre-war models. In fact, comparing one of my pre-war plastic grip models - s/no 62876 - with this one apart from grip design and angle of frame, stampings and barrel length are pretty much identical.
You were suggesting that the barrel may be a later replacement but wear on both barrel and rest of frame look much the same possibly indicating barrel is original but I have no means of proving this. I also do not think that in Bruce's book any mention is made of the "oil here" instruction appearing on these upright models. However, other similar examples may well turn up here sooner or later.
Aubrey