Long Branch C/|\ marked "blonde" Maple wood furniture

Does anyone know anything about blonde Maple wood furniture on Small Arms Limited, Long Branch made No. 4 MK. I* rifles?

The C/|\ issue marks show that it was official Canadian issue and was before the 1948 (approximately) change to the new technical inspection mark (a hollow four-pointed arrow) which replaced the C/|\ before the Korean War, thus before the 1949-1950 production run though older C/|\ furniture on hand could have been used. The "blonde" C/|\ examples I have seen have migrated to other rifle bodies so those dates are invalid here.

Long Branch "blonde" maple furniture:

1. What year(s) were they made?

2. Was there any special reason? (e.g. Shortage of walnut?; Appearance preference? Procured as replacement furniture? etc.)

3. Were they common? Today at a gun show I spoke to one Lee-Enfield enthusiast who has two or three sets of blonde Canadian wood put away for restoration projects.

4. Were any No. 4 MK. I* (T) sniper rifles made using the blonde maple wood? As far as I know, none were and I have not seen or heard of a blonde cheek rest.

I've seen some maple over the years but not that much. Birch is much more common along with walnut. The maple is denser and heavier. Noticeably so in some cases. It doesn't take finish as well as birch and walnut either.

maple is also more vulnerable to certain types of rot. H2O of course but also to certain oils and cleaning chemicals typically used by the military at the time.. Many excellent and beautiful woods are.

petroleum based products cause rot in many woods. wood staining products too.

We had loads of No4 butts and Mk5 Sten butts made from what was said to be maple imported in billetted form from wartime Canada. It was an absolute nightmare to glue and patch. It had to be absolutely grease and oil free before you stood any chance of the hot animal glue to take, to the point that you wouldn't even bother! The only hope was that your wood patch would be retained by the oak dowels used to reinforce it. And sooooo heavy too!

At a gun show yesterday, a Canadian post-WWII veteran told me that there was (still is?) a Long Branch sniper with blonde wood (maple?), a dark wood (walnut?) cheek rest and a green painted scope (C No32 or C No 67?). This was at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick. The equipment was sent over to the sniper school there. He did mention that it looked odd with the light coloured furniture and dark cheek rest.

Yes it did...came from the R22eR Regt museum as the story went. I thought the optic was a Weaver...? Is that possible Colin? The only pic I can find that even remotely resembles it is this one from a vid... That's what the optic looked like except it was painted green.

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Originally Posted by Seaforth72

At a gun show yesterday, a Canadian post-WWII veteran told me that there was (still is?) a Long Branch sniper with blonde wood (maple?), a dark wood (walnut?) cheek rest and a green painted scope (C No32 or C No 67?). This was at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown in New Brunswick. The equipment was sent over to the sniper school there. He did mention that it looked odd with the light coloured furniture and dark cheek rest.

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The rifle referred to is almost certainly the sniper trophy which is a TP sniper.

The Lessard trophy if I'm not mistaken.

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Originally Posted by Lee Enfield

The Lessard trophy if I'm not mistaken.

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So you're telling me they went and put that one into trophy status? That would mean deactivation... It's awarded at the end of each course? There can be only one, blonde with a dark cheekpiece. The rifle was as new...

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

So you're telling me they went and put that one into trophy status? That would mean deactivation... It's awarded at the end of each course? There can be only one, blonde with a dark cheekpiece. The rifle was as new...

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I would certainly hope not Jim ... But most Western Military establishments today seem to take strongly against any non standard (non current issue) firearm being held at a military facility in "live" condition.

I think the UK is currently hoovering up non standard firearms from base collections, wall display etc and insisting they are deactivated to current civilian spec if retained on site, or handed over to official MOD Small Arms collections. When I visited one such official collection a little while back, an assortment of firearms (Martini Henry's to various AK varieties and everything in-between, that could have conceivably been captured in the various campaigns and wars of the last 150 years.) had just been delivered for inspection, cataloguing and secure storage.

Looked to be some very interesting rifles among the bunch!

---------- Post added at 05:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 PM ----------

Looks to be Lyman Alaskan on your pic Jim.

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

Looks to be Lyman Alaskan on your pic Jim.

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As I recall...

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

I would certainly hope not Jim ... But most Western Military establishments today seem to take strongly against any non standard (non current issue) firearm being held at a military facility in "live" condition.

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I was posted there '93-'96. I had a stunning collection of foreign in the SAIC wing. Nothing compared to Warminster, but I had to build most of it. There were about 100 handguns and over 100 SA. I know at one point they decided to make out 1928A1 into a wall plaque by welding it solid and bolts on the back. That was after the war reserve FN C1A1 and SMG C1...C2, various pistols...all on the wall of J7 by the center concourse. Perhaps Lee Enfield has been there since, I understand the collection has since vaporized.