Reply With QuoteI have two articles from Guns Review Feb/March 1978 written by PJ Colman..states that T prefix was only in .22 numbers 1-7334 from 1936 to 1940 and a very few up to 8358 and sold to 1947. Info taken from handwritten BSA records.
Mike95
Registered User
The stamping is very clear, it also has the prefix "No" as in number.
Mike
Banned
I have two articles from Guns Review Feb/March 1978 written by PJ Colman..states that T prefix was only in .22 numbers 1-7334 from 1936 to 1940 and a very few up to 8358 and sold to 1947. Info taken from handwritten BSA records.
Mike95
Registered User
Originally Posted by Mike95
There is much conflicting information in circulation about pre-war BSA production. Up until WWI all serial numbers ran in cronological order and thus it is fairly easy to date guns, however in the 1920's BSA serial numbers were not produced in cronological order, and therefore it is difficult to precisely date guns made after about 1925.
In reality what I am saying is there could be as much as two years difference in the production dates of say gun No. 45225 and gun No. 45226.
Hiller dates are not totally reliable, as they were quoted using partially inaccurate information, which was understood as being true at the time.
Here is what John Knibbs has to say about the T pattern guns in his bok 'The Golden Century'
" The first model to be introduced was the upgraded No.2 Standard .22 air rifle, which had been in continuous production since 1919. A total of 35,397 of these very popular sporting rifles had already been dispatched when on 1st January 1936, the first improved rifle left the factory. Given the letter T prefix, the new model differed from the original S prefix model as follows"
Then he goes on to describe all the differences, and finally he adds........
" A total of 5,599 of these rifles, known as 'T' Pattern models was dispatched in the tree years up to the outbreak of the war in 1939"
Hope that helps
Lakey
Last edited by Lakey; 09-07-2009 at 08:38 PM.
Registered User
I have just been in my back yard plinking......
The Bsa standard in question is blowing holes in 1/2" ply and pellets simply bounce off with my other 2 standards (all 0.177)
This is the most superb fun!
It makes shooting my modern (well 1980's) rifles boring.
Mike
Award-winning Airgun Anorak
Further to what Lakey says Mike, I asked Mr Knibbs about the Colman articles when I was trying to get copyright permission in order to post the articles on the BBS (see this thread). John said the data used by Mr Colman was inaccurate and part of the reason he wrote his own books was to set the record straight.
Vintage Airguns Gallery
..Above link posted with permission from Gareth W-B
In British slang an anorak is a person who has a very strong interest in niche subjects.
Banned
I suspect we will never get the correct info! Just to add to the confusion, PJ Colman adds a footnote to his 1978 articles to say that he got some of his info from Dennis Commins!!!
Incidentally, I found that some of John Knibbs info concerning the BSA Martini model 12/15 did not agree with a model I bought.
Does not matter as long as you are happy with your BSA and I remain a fan of my old BSA rifles whatever their history.
Mike95
Banned
And that my dear collectors...is what makes this hobby so endearing...you never know what might turn up...
Registered User
Couldn't resist putting a picture on of a bit of a mongrel I recently acquired from a well known dealer. I am not sure if any of the component parts started out in life together. The serial number is S76711. It had a 1920s stock fitted and when I found the modified smaller stock at a car boot for a couple of quid, I fitted that. There were no sights when acquired and, as the trigger block was grooved for a telescopic sight, I fitted one. Unfortunately it doesn't line up, apparent in the photo. There was no spring in it either, so I fitted a cut down old airsporter one. This requires some adjustment. This was bought for spare parts really and I decided to have a play with it. Maybe I will have another go when time allows. This illustrates to the extreme what can happen to a gun over the last 80-90 years. No I didn't make the underlever linkage, it works though.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4062967...n/photostream/
dogsbody
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