BSA serial numbers

[trajectory]

Does anyone know when the serial numbers were struck on Meteors/ Mercury's If it was on final assembly/ inspection then it would seem very unlikely that a Meteor serial numbered barrel would appear on a Mercury suggesting the barrel was a later swap. However if BSA made up barrels with the numbers on them before assembly it might i suppose it just be conceivable a Meteor barrel was put on a Mercury. Reason for asking is I've recently seen a Meteor serial no. on an early Mercury & wondered if it was the original barrel.....cheers

[Josie & John]

BSA did originally advertise the Mercury as a cross between the sporting lines of the Airsporter and break barrel action of the Meteor, so I guess it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a Meteor barrel could have ended up on a Mercury. Or some later owner could have replaced it. No idea about the SN I'm afraid. It may be worth asking BSA or perhaps an ex employee of the company reads this thread and can answer your very interesting question.

Kind regards,

John

[look no hands]

I'm swapping barrels all the time, so not uncommon, I've just put a .25 Lightning barrel on my Challenger, that came from John Knibbs and has no serial numbers on it at all, I've got a Supersport barrel here I got a while ago waiting to go on a rifle if it's needed, so I would say that someone probably replaced the original barrel with another.

I would say the SN was probably put on as the rifle was assembled as they have the model letters and a number to give them their own identity.

Pete