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Forgot to add, the B.S.A. Co. #2 referred to above also has a silver inital oval inlaid into the bottom of the buttstock, midway between the sling swivel & the recoil pad.

As for barrel ribs, I agree they are really not functional. On a W.W.Greener #1 that I had, the groups immediately started wandering when the barrel heated up & there were no pressure points on the fore-end bedding that I could see. Same thing on an Army & Navy Martini-Enfield with a barrel rib. Yet on a W.J.Jeffery Martini-Enfield sporter carbine, and an arsenal refurbished, newly re-barrelled military Martini-Enfield (25" barrel), both with no rib, accuracy continued to be fine even after I foolishly let the barrels warm up too much (if they did it in Zululand & the Transvaal, it must be ok right) ;-)

On my William Powell & Son, built on a SMLE #1 Mk III, which has a Kynoch 303 case head inlet into the under-side of the beautifully dark marble-cake fore-end wood, ~1" rearward of the forend tip, and a barrel band sling swivel mounted. This is also built on a B.S.A. Co. manufactured action, albeit with later proof marks, that was likely only retailed by Powell. I used to have a Kahles 1.1-4 scope mounted on that rifle, but am going to be replacing that with a Zeiss 3-9x40 shortly, as my eyes are not getting any younger, and this is one of my favourite hunting rifles, next to my Holland & Holland #4 Lightweight DeLuxe in .318 N.E. This rifle, which does not have a rib, regularly shoots .75" 3 shot groups at 100 yds., using new Herter's brass, 43.5 grains of RLR15, WLR primers & Remington 180 grain SPCL .311" bulk bullets, Sierra 180 grain SPT .311" bullets, Hornady 174 grain .312" RNSP or SR Custom 200 grain Semi-pointed custom bullets. Most of these bullets are not seated to within .030" of the rifling, because of magazine length limitations. I have not yet tried any of my few remaining Speer .311" 200 grain Grand Slam bullets or my 206 grain .314" SPGC lino cast bullets, but beleive they will also shoot well, given my experience thus far. My Churchill, built on a B.S.A. Co. #1 Mk III* action, will also shoot well, although it only gets ~1" 3 shot groups. The rifling in both barrels shows some wear, but were thoroughly cleaned to remove the copper fouling. As well, I necked up new brass with a .35 caliber expander & then neck-sized them to only close the bolt, to preclude the brass lengthening & splitting. After that, they get sized using a Lee collett die & I usually get 8-10 loadings per case. Of the 200 cases from 1 lot that I purchased, I had started to sort them by weight, but gave up when all cases in the lot were only +/- 1.75 grains apart. I also removed the burr from the inside of the primer flash holes & reamed the primer pockets square. I used to shoot benchrest, so am pretty anal when it comes to loading & preparation, but it does demonstrate that these ~100 year old rifles can still shoot. I'm also thinking about re-barreling a Ruger #1A in .303 with a Shilen match barrel, in a featherweight 26" contour, with battery sights (the proper name for so-called Express sights) and all the other bells and whistles, like a folding H & H style gloaming sight, trap pistol-grip cap, chequered steel butt-plate, with trap, to come up with a cheap Farquharson.

Can you tell I love the .303 Flanged Nitro Express 2 1/4" cartridge?

Happy shooting!

Jim

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