Milsurp After Hours

A lady friend of mine is selling her late fathers collection. I went to her home and looked at them today. One of them is a Lithgow, #1MkIII dated 1918. This rifle has the magazine cut off and is marked as a SHT.LE#III in a shield on the right side and a star with an A in the middle above the shield.. Condition is very good+. It was aparently arsenal rebuilt in 1954 as the right side is stamped N.A.54. There is also RQN hand stamped on the top of the reciever.

Any Idea what I have here?

Any info would be appreciated, as this rifle will be sold soon.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

Sounds like a fairly standard No1 of Australian manufacture. With a 1954 FTR the marking should be MA 54 not NA. Also if it was FTR'd in 1954 the fact it retains the cutoff is questionable.

The serial number should be without a prefix or prefixed A. Windage adjustable on the rear sight should be absent or pinned. Originally the serial number would have been marked on the nose-cap, forearm, rear sight, barrel, receiver and bolt. With a 1954 FTR it may not appear on the nose-cap, forearm and rear sight. Any markings on the right side of the butt ?

The other marking is puzzling. By 1918 the Australian Navy was known as the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Queensland's early naval force was the Queensland Maritime Defence Force. This was incorporated into the Australian Commonwealth Navy in 1901 which became the RAN in 1911.
RQN doesn't equate to any marking I can think of.

If the condition is as described and it is all matching then it would fetch around $400 +/- $100 around here.

It is marked on the right side of the reciever. This rifle was imported by JJ Arms Co. New York.
A
1898
FTR


I can not find a serial #?

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

Lithgow changed from no prefix (ie just a number) to an A prefix in 1918. So A 1989 is the serial number. Have a look at the following thread (my 1919 A prefixed Lithgow) for where the serial numbers are applied.
http://www.milsurpafterhours.com/bb/vie ... f=3&t=6522