MkIII Magazine Puzzle

[tklawrence]

OK, I think I posted recently that I bought a bubba'd 1912 BSA MkIII. It came with an after-market magazine that was extremely difficult to get out. I tried my 1943 BSA MkIII* magazine and had the same problem, difficult to seat and almost impossible to remove. Same story with my 1904 MkI* magazine (no surprise with that one). I took the trigger guard off the 1943 MkIII*, installed that in the 1912 MkIII, and the MkIII*'s magazine went in and out like it was supposed to: easy!

Next step, I swapped the MkIII*, Nr4 and the after-market magazines and all three are interchangeable. The MkIII* magazine has a '5' and some proof marks, the Nr4 magazine has an 'F' on the the 'back' and the follower, and the MkI* has a '3'.

The MkIII has a trigger guard with a staple, while the MkIII* has the dual 'appendages' as if for a sling swivel.

What I'm wondering is if there were different iterations of trigger guards that then would require different magazines? At this point I'm not sure which trigger guard is correct for the MkIII or the MkIII*.

Current 1912 MkIII trigger guard: 3086430865

I have gained great expertise in removing trigger guards so my next venture will be to swap trigger guards between the MkIII and MkIII* and see if that fixes the magazine jamming problem. Any other suggestions or insight would be greatly appreciated.


Tom

[RCS]

Your photo shows the third variation trigger guard that is without t3086730868he clearance cut for the early magazines that use the stop clip

Photo shows two early magazines with the stop clip. The Mark 1 rifles and early Mark 111 used magazines with the stop clip
and trigger guards with the stop clip clearance cut

[tklawrence]

Problem Solved!

The earlier style trigger guard is now on the 1912 MkIII, swapped from the 1943 MkIII*, and the magazine marked '4' with follower marked '3' (also from the MkIII*) fits perfectly and releases snappily.

The 1904 MkI* remains unchanged and I notice that its magazine (with the stop clip), marked '3' with follower marked '2' also fits nicely in the MkIII.

The 1943 MkIII* now has the later model trigger guard but doesn't like either of the (I'm assuming) earlier magazines. The after-market magazine works quite nicely in it and will do until I can find an appropriate 'correct' magazine. It will suffice for range-work for now. I'm hesitant to buy a magazine on-line as I'm not sure it will fit properly, I'll just drag it to gun shows and see if I can find a properly fitting one.

Now I can focus on rebuilding the 1912 BSA MkIII, payday is coming and the postman will be busy!


Thanks for the assistance!

Tom

[tklawrence]

My thoughts won't let this be settled.

The magazine that came with the 1904 BSA MkI* has the stop clip and the rounded appearance of the earlier MkI magazines. The magazine and trigger guard that were in the 1943 BSA MkIII* are now in the 1912 BSA MkIII.

I put the 'third variation' trigger guard in the 1943 MkIII* and now the magazine that was in it gets jammed and is very difficult to remove.

As an experiment I tried the different magazines in each of the MkI, MkIII, MkIII* and my Nr4 without trigger guards and all went in and locked into position and released easily.

Were there sufficient changes in the magazines in the 30 years between the manufactures of the 1912 MkIII and 1943 MkIII* to account for this?

I'm used to working around complex equipment where several units have to act as a single unit and if any one decided to 'do its own thing' it would cause a work stoppage. This isn't that serious but it's piqued my curiosity if there's something significantly different between the MkIII and MkIII* that would create this issue. It's not a major issue as the after-market magazine fits properly, it just doesn't look as good as an original magazine. The after-market magazine is quite angular while the originals have curves and soft edges.

There are numbers on the 'early' magazines as I mentioned above. The Nr4 magazine only has an F on the follower and part of an F (or E) on the rear of the magazine as it is a bit worn. The after-market magazine has nothing for marks.

Thoughts, Ideas???

Regards,

Tom