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Lovley family.
I always liked the look of the brass buttplates. The Parker-Hale rear sights just work magic in accuracy don't they?
Looks like the No 1 forend has a slight warp and might benefit from a refit, at least of the nosecap. Or you might try a bit of linseed soaking first. I mention that as the front sight base is very close to contacting the nosecap, which is a non-no, at least according the the 1931 instructions for armourers. On personal note I have found that to be adverse to accuracy, and that refitting the nosecap is the best solution if you cannot get the wood to sit perfectly.
They are both very pretty rifles and those are some very excellent pictures.
Thanks Frederick303. I see what you're talking about on the No1. I'm a little reluctant to touch it at least until I see how it shoots.
I note that your No1 is a commercial rifle Fulton regulated rifle, based on your postings on the Gunboard forums. I have noted on the Fulton rifles I have that the soaking of the stocks in linseed oil does not seem to be part of the stock preparation, both of the Fulton guns I have, have some from of shellac-like coating. If your rifle is packed, as the front floated nosecap seems to indicate it is, soaking it with raw linseed oil is not an option.
I hate to say it but if the front post is not touching the side of the nose cap, it might be best to leave it alone. If it is touching perhaps cutting a bit more metal off of the inside surface of the nosecap to relieve it would also be an option, though according to my mid 1930 Bisley rules it was not allowed. On the rifles I have seen where the warp was sufficient to allow the nose cap to contact the front sight base, the accuracy of the rifles was adversely effected and the zero of the rifle was markedly shifted to one side (opposite direction of the side of contact).
On standard bedded rifles with badly warped forends I have on two occasions fixed the problems by a combination of soaking the wood in raw linseed oil and refitting the nose caps. Now in both cases the soaking of the stock did not fully relive the forend warp, but it did seem to lessen it a bit. The key for me, which I have not found explicitly in any manual and it may well get well deserved condemnation from our resident Expert Armourer, was to actual bend the front of the nosecap slightly to account for the stock warp. You do not have to bend the nosecap very much to eliminate the internal contact. You then have to look at the interior barrel channel fits to make sure they are correct, including checking the top handguard to ensure it does not contact the barrel..
The way I do it is to use the two internal holes in the nose cap as my bending surface, while fixing the rear of the nose cap in a firmly bench mounted vise. The aluminum bar I made up to do this fills both holes, so that the orientation of the front nose cap is not affected by the slight twist I gave to the nosecap. You do not need to make much of a twist, just enough to ensure that the front sight base does not contact the side of the nosecap by around .010 inch.
I would of course not do anything to your rifle without talking to true experts. The fit of the front handguard to the barrel is important in Fulton regulation, messing with the nosecap will require that to be looked at. This is one you might want to consider taking to an expert, if it does contact.
Really nice rifle, great find.