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https://www.rockislandauction.com/de...l-sniper-rifle
The "Scope No." on the stock is differently stamped than from the rifle that Doug owns and is pictured in the Knowledge library, no serifs and seems as if they didn't even have letter stamps. Also the stock is not fully cut down but a small portion left. I'd therefore suppose the rifle might be force matched to the without a doubt original Canadian contract scope.
The style in which the stocks were cut was probably a matter of personal or battalion preference. Some battalions, indeed divisions, reportedly did not permit cutting down of stocks; thus not much can be concluded from this. We have seen here on this forum a period photo of an aboriginal sniper with a non-scoped MkIII Ross showing a very similar "sporterization".
Without looking closely, probably the rifle is an assemblage as all but a very few are, even without the mixing and matching that doubtless went on during the three years or so that these rifles were used for training in Canada during WWII.
Rob, the pictures showing M1910 sniper rifles either show them "fully cut down", or not cut down. Theoretically it could be that there was a single sniper rifle that had the stock cut down as the rifle offered by RIA, but you will not be able to prove this. Given the suspicious inscription on the stock I'd rather call it a (clever?) method of (re)using a M1910 Sporter.
I think I've seen them all too Georg, but we should recall that they represent only a tiny fraction of the 250 odd that made it to France.Quote:
Originally Posted by Promo
Can we conclusively say they were all cut flush with the middle band?
The photos we have are mostly confined to a few battalions where cameras were apparently tolerated at some points; the vast majority we have no photos of at all.
In fact we have an example of this type of cut-down in the rifle of Pte. MacDonald of the 8th Battalion.
I would view this with considerable suspicion. It is a Canadian issue W&S scope, although it is unfortunate that the picture doesn't blow up enough to clearly see the serial number marking on the scope. The case is Canadian. However, the "smudging" of the serial number on the stock is really suspicious. The III looks sloppily applied, and why is the crucial piece, which is the serial number itself, so faded out, and the letters LL are oddly spaced. I think someone has monkeyed with a military Mk III to "match" the serial number to the scope. The mount would be interesting to see but they don't show it.
Ed
Boltaction, have no fear, I am only addressing the question of the stock cut!
The rifle itself I have heard the story on from a person who knows its history very well and it is entirely a replica, though of course the scope is genuine and the rifle is indeed a Mk.III, but that is all!
The overall patina is very suitable, and the scratches in the stock most convincing, but certain details aren't right, in fact they're clearly wrong. ;)
Only problem is, the rifles from the second batch never got to France, so what are the scratches for, deer? ;)
I guess if you feel lucky, you might tell yourself the rifle got to France and was used by a sniper and was then selected for basement conversion 60 odd years later before Mr. R. L. bought it. :D
Caveat emptor!
Also, that front stock cut down job is terrible, so bad that the barrel band sits crooked. I can't imagine any unit armourer sanctioning a hack job like that! If the optics on the scope are good, then based on scope prices lately, with the case matching as well, the scope alone would be "worth" about $4000 CAD. The rifle is worth, well, a sporterized and now drilled Mk III so about maybe $250. If the bore is good and the scope was properly mounted, it might be worth $5000 just to have an original cased scope mounted to a rifle so one could shoot it and not bugger up another rifle. Will be interesting to see what it fetches!
Ed
In regards to how the wood was cut on Ross sniper rifles.
Paddy Riel`s rifle (also of the 8th Battalion 90th Rifles) was cut ahead of the midband in the same manner as Phil McDonald`s rifle shown by Surpmil.