Help with marking

[Woftam]

Have been helping a bloke decipher the markings on his No2MkIV*. It's an interesting rifle with quite a history.
Rifle was originally a MkIII made by BSA in 1915.
Barrel is stamped EY (barred out - single line), DP (barred out-double lines) and PH. On the receiver ring is a marking of -

M.192
1948

Now a look in Skennerton tells me M192 was the WW2 suppliers code for Parker Hale Arms Co. My understanding was that PH Arms Co was a wartime only company that ceased to exist once its wartime contracts expired but was involved in the reconditioning of .22 calibre trainers as one of its last contracts.

My questions are -
Did the wartime suppliers codes carry through post war ?
I can see that happening with larger companies due to inertia but I imagine the smaller companies would have reverted to their peace time work (and markings) fairly quickly as most of them don't appear to have been involved in the gun trade.

Would the 1948 be a date or (as has been suggested by another source) a number ?
It would make sense (for tracking and accounting) if you were producing a fixed number of trainers from a diverse assortment of rifles (from many factories with a wide range of serial numbers) to mark them with consecutive numbers.

Anyone got any ideas ?

[bradtx]

Woftam, Searched the internet while waiting for a phone call. I found a few sites with info on your rifle except any s/n info or even a picture of a s/n.

Good luck,
Brad

[Woftam]

I have the serial number, its a W prefix consistent with the manufacturer and period. Would you mind posting the websites you refer to ? Especially if they relate to the manufacturers code. Thanks.

[bradtx]

Woftam, Sorry, but I didn't save any of the sites.

I started with a search at google, "Lee-Enfield No.2 Mk.IV*" in the search worked best. The item I looked for most was the wartime code and either the year or s/n stamp underneith the code so there's likely some details I missed that are more important to you. One item I found interesting is that Lithgow converted some.

Brad