bsa cadet manufacture numbers

[isobar]

they do seem rather cheap for the quality and under valued i think.usable ones can be £40 or so.not too much to go wrong with them.stock wood is a bit of a mystery to me but 2 of mine look like walnut sap wood and one maybe maple.

[Faerie]

they do seem rather cheap for the quality and under valued i think.usable ones can be £40 or so.not too much to go wrong with them.stock wood is a bit of a mystery to me but 2 of mine look like walnut sap wood and one maybe maple.

As I mentioned in a previous post, most of the walnut trees in the UK were cut down during WWII, and it seems that BSA used the excess supply of this wood to make air rifle stocks for some years after the war. I expect that a lot of the trees were still "seasoning" and not ready to use until the late 40's.
English Walnut has a very straight grain, especially when compared to walnut from the continent or from Turkey which we've since become used to seeing, so it appears very "plain" and might easily be mistaken for beech, maple, or (as you mention) walnut sapwood.

[isobar]

maybe BSA used the better cuts for airsporters,certainly some of those are very nice.great to have walnut on a budget boys rifle though also the cadets were nicely made and very well finished.