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WW2  dated 1945  BSA Number 5 Mk1  Jungle Carbine    

     This WW2 dated Number 5 Mark 1  jungle carbine was manufactured at the BSA Shirley factory in early 1945.

     The BSA only manufactured the Jungle carbine until the end of 1945 as in late 1945 the Ministry of War production cancelled the order.  The BSA manufactured Jungle Carbine are by far the more rarer than the British Government factory 'R.S.A.F Fazakerley' which carried on manufacturing the Number 5 until mid 1947. 

    Obviously it was far easier to cancel the contract with a private company like BSA & Co that a Government factory like R.S.A.F  Fazakerley with all the political problems with the Unions ect.

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     The Number 5 was the British War department response to a big problem in the far east as flighting against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Jungle was proving very hard work mainly due to the heat which made anything heavy just hard work.

     The standard British Army service rifles in uses in the far east at the time was the Number 1 Mk3* service rifle which was too long and too heavy for flighting in Jungle conditions.  

     The Number 5 had a lightened receiver and was designed to be as light as possible but the problem was 'production time' as well as  'machining time' and costs were higher than any other service rifle up to that point in time.  

      Also manufacturing a new rifle in the middle of a war had its own issues as  R.S.A.F. Enfield were totally committed with manufacturing the Bren light machine gun and the Enfield factory was being regularly targeted by the German Airforce plus the V1's which were lunched from the French coast by the Germans and the Enfield factory was well within the VI flight range. 

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       BSA & Co were giving the contract in late 1943 and production started in early 1944 at their Shirley Plant,  the BSA Jungle Carbine  had a short production life of just 18 months.

 

                         BSA Shirley Plant had the British factory war code M47c .

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                                          Above 

Nice clear M47c stamp on the receiver and dated 1945

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                                                  Above and below

       This Rifle is in 100% original war time condition which is very important for the Collectors market.  

       This rifle has all matching numbers including the serial number stamped on the base of the 10 round magazine and stamped on the wood for end as well.

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  Their is almost no weir on the Barrel and the barrel has very good clean rifling and no glazing at all.

   We understand this rifle has come out of a rifle collection and the last owner was not a shooter but just a Lee Enfield collector .

    The action has a nice smooth action and the receiver still has 100% original war time finish.

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                                            Above and below

Nice clear Serial number stamps on the Magazine and wood forend

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                                Below

The butt has a nice original war time finish 

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                                Below

Nice view of the BSA Number 5 Mk1  .303

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   This is a rare war time example of a BSA & Co Number 5 Mk1 in original condition and all matching numbers.  The action is smooth and the barrel looks almost new with very good rifling.

£1095.00

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