new trials rifle and range report

[smle addict]

Found this rifle on GB a few weeks back. Price was very low considering it was a Trials No4T. It had escaped bubba by some unknown guardian angel. It had been drilled and tapped near the breech. Someone must have know what it was, as the holes were plugged/filled, and blued over. There is a very, very small hole on the charger bridge. It looks like a pilot strike for a drill bit. Thankfully, the drilling never took place.

Picked the rifle up from my local gun shop after the 10-day wait (this is California, and we call that gun jail). Noticed first off, stock was ill-fitting. Got it home and found the trigger guard collar was missing. Had a spare and ground the collar to length until the upward pressure near the end of the barrel was right at 5 pounds. Had a spare scope and bracket and put the two together

Took several handloads with me anticipating a long day of shooting. Did some initial zeroing with surplus HXP. Ran some handloads through the rifle and was pleasantly surprised. Barrel is very dark, but no pitting and little to no visible throat erosion. Shot around 60 rounds and found two loads this rifle really liked. It was printing well enough that I figured I should quit on a high note.

Not a bad shooter for being 85 years old!

Information

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[tonyd]

good stuff, nothing wrong with that!

[philb]

not see a T with mag cut off before ?

[watty12]

nice groups, what distance

[Gil Boyd]

I think someone wanted it to be a T in its dim distant past. As long as it shoots beautifully enjoy it at a low cost buy.

[Roger Payne]

Out of curiosity smle addict, has yours got a four click or a six click rearsight? I have a 31 Trials with a 4 click, & a 33 (like yours) with a 6 click - hence the curiosity.

[nijalninja]

I know very little about these No4 T's but if those shots were taken at over 150 yards than the old rifle is doing better than my .222 Winchester hahaha.

[browningautorifle]

I think someone wanted it to be a T in its dim distant past.

Are you suggesting this is a made up "T"?

[Gil Boyd]

Jim,
Must admit I knew very little about the period leading up to H&H doing their markings, but it appears it could be cosher, it was just that it was bought cheap made me query it.

[smle addict]

Forgot to specify, 100 yard distance. Was planning on taking it to 200 and 300 next week when I'll have more time to loiter about the range.

DRP-this one has a 6 click rear sight. I also have a 1931 with a 4 click rear sight.

It is a legitimate trials that just barely escaped being sporterized (my theory). it does have most of original EFD marked parts. The lower band, trigger guard, magazine, sling swivels are a mix of SM41, M8 and CEW marked pieces. I have seen the "T" stamp on other trials rifles that were featured on this website. I believe it was is on the thread titled "survey of trials t rifles." It is rather depressing to see how many of these rifles wound up getting chopped into sporters.

Low price was a "buy it now" at $1300 US. I had my alerts set to notify when these post, and I bought it within 30 minutes of its posting. Had it gone bidding, it might have well exceeded that price.

Either way, its mine now, and I plan on putting many rounds through, as I do others in my collection. The only exception are two MLE's marked DP. No sense in tempting fate (or my face).

Lords knows I have enough components to keep the 303's going for a while!