A Neat .22 Trainer... With Provenance

How often does one of our acquisitions come with any history? Almost never! Here is a neat little trainer I am hoping to make a trade deal on. It has a very interesting hang tag that indicates where it may have last been used. Oddly enough, as interesting as the hang tag information is, it is not really what I'm after the rifle for. Over the years I have become a big fan of the BSA FTR rifles and have at least a dozen or so examples. Most are No.4's and the earliest FTR date I have seen is 1954. I have a couple of Mk.III's with 1953 dates, but I have never come across a Mk.III with a 1954 date. I know there must be a bunch of them out there but I just haven't seen any. I guess this will also set up a quest for a No.4 with a BSA 1953 date on it :)

Other points of interest with this rifle.... It seems to have been FTR'd as a .22. I believe the SHt 22 IV* is pre 1926? There is a view date of 31' next to the safety with a Enfield inspection mark on the receiver ring, just under the serial number. Probably the arsenal which did the .22 conversion? It also sports a No.4 band and modified No.4 buttstock. Also note the post war broad arrow "house" looking inspection marks behind the trigger guard and on either side of the serial number on the barrel.

Maybe someone can shed some light on the hang tag info.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481832-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481837-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481839-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481872-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481842-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481850-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481869-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481846-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481859-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481852-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481876-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481881-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...85481883-1.jpg

Very nice, David---see, it doesn't hurt to post pictures of beautiful rifles.
You should do it more often.
So there.
-----krinko

devon Army Cadet Force HQ was at Mutley Barracks in Plymouth, now sadly knocked down as I seem to remember. We sold a SWIFT training rifle from there several years ago. There were originally 5 Cadet Battalions down there. Now there is only one, spread out in platoon strength across the whole County. Things change..........

Peter, thank you very much. This raises yet another question. It has been suggested that BSA, not being a government facility in the 50's, had done their FTR's for outside of government contracts. It would have made sense that any British government work needed doing would have been sent to Fazakerly. Do you think it is a "stretch of the mind" in thinking this rifles provenance suggests that BSA was also being contracted by the British government to do work? I'm thinking this had to be the case, at least for the Mk.III rifles, as Fazakerly never made them and wouldn't have had the parts on hand... where better to send one for a FTR than a facility already set up and doing them? I know anything is possible, just wondering if you had heard anything supporting it over the years.

The Army certainly wouldn't have FTR'd old obsolete No2 rifles at that time. If one needed FTR it'd have been scrapped for certainty and a replacement issued. No8 rifles were already in the pipeline then.

I wouldn't mind betting that this was a Navy rifle who would have used the BSA facility. It would have been issued to Sea/Navy Cadets and then found itself within the pooled resources of the Cadet empire..........

Old obsolete No2 rifles were certainly in the Cadet system for many, many years until slowly replaced by the No8 but the Public School cadets (the CCF's) had their own until recently.

Fazakerley were really a one-trick-pony so far as FTR's were concerned with Stens and No4's their bread and butter

Is the actual marking "FTR" a military designated mark?

If so, would a rifle under refurbishment intended for a non-british contract have been marked so?

Yes, in short. We have a .50" Browning, captured from the submarine the Santa Fe in Georgia. That carries FTR 1955 markings from BSA