Question....BSA sniper

Last week looked at a No4 MK1 T sniper. It is a BSA 1945. It was a very nice kit complete with chest. Scope and bracket match rifle, fore-end matched....even the scope case matched!!! All the correct markings....the S by the mag cut-off, the T on the left side of the reciever, TR on the wrist, scope # on top of butt etc. The only thing that threw me off was the absence of the S51 stamp on the bottom of the butt. The butt does have the other stampings on the underside the same as my other 1945 BSA T. The fellow is 81 yrs old and told me he acquired the gun in the 60's...I believe that to be true. Is there reason to be concerned that the butt lacks the S51 stamp while everything else seems correct??? I did not pull the butt out of the socket to see if rifle serial # was there!!
No pictures available.
I'm sorry if this question has been asked before on the forum.....sometimes it's difficult to find info pertaining to a specific question.
Your thoughts are appreciated.

It's not a perfect world and maybe it was changed. Just part of the gun story. Not a big concern

Does the patina of the butt resemble the rest of the rifles woods appearance, my guess is it may have been replaced in the field or later on who knows it may have been broken does it have the Weedon star under the wrist as my 1944 BSA T has.
This has raised a question by me if a sniper wanted to change the butt on his sniper rifle was it sanctioned I.E the length of pull was not a good fit for the sniper or they had various stocked rifles that the sniper tried whilst being trained and the best fit rifle stayed with him! TIA

The No. 4 Rifle butts came in four lengths. Bantam, Short, Normal and Long. Marksmanship training specified that soldiers should have the right butt length fitted.

Amazingly, the rifles for the most critical shooters, the snipers, were virtually all supplied with only the Normal butt length! The British conversions to sniper equipment all used the Normal sized butt apparently (though a few other sizes might have slipped through Holland and Holland process on rare occasions.) The No. 15 chests were built for this Normal butt length.

Snipers and armourers did not care about the S51 stamp. If a sniper wanted a longer, or shorter, butt fitted to his rifle it could be done very easily. I am surprised that more were not customized in service.

The sniper div had various sizes of butt and between you and the DS opted for the most suitable for you. When you got back to your unit you asked the Armourers shop to fit that size butt to your allocated rifle (that you kept thereafter). It still happens to this day. Your rifle is fitted with the spacers YOU need. The difference is that now you can change for winter warfare/thick clothing or a temperate climate. No S51...... if everything else is right, forget about it!

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Does the patina of the butt resemble the rest of the rifles woods appearance, my guess is it may have been replaced in the field or later on who knows it may have been broken does it have the Weedon star under the wrist as my 1944 BSA T has.
This has raised a question by me if a sniper wanted to change the butt on his sniper rifle was it sanctioned I.E the length of pull was not a good fit for the sniper or they had various stocked rifles that the sniper tried whilst being trained and the best fit rifle stayed with him! TIA

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Sorry can't remember if the Weedon star is under the wrist, I no longer have the rifle in front of me. It is many, many miles away. The butt stock's appearance did resemble the forestock although the cheek piece's grain and appearance did not match the rest of the wood.
I was unsuccessful in my attempt to get the old gentleman to sell it to me even though I flashed many, many, many $100 bills. He told me that his caregiver in due time would contact me!!!!

---------- Post added at 04:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

Thanks for all your input fellows.
Half the fun in collecting is the chase, the other half is making sure one is getting a real authentic piece and that's where you guys are always so helpful.
Merry Christmas to all.

Don't worry about the cheekpiece being of a different appearance to the rest of the woodwork - it usually is, as most UK set up 4T's (certainly from 1943 onwards) were stocked up in imported kiln dried American black walnut, but cheekpieces were made from beech, birch & ash (last could be oak but I think ash more likely). Hence there is generally a difference in appearance. This does not apply to Canadian 4T's where cheekpieces were also generally (?always?) walnut.

Hope this helps.

Gads I thought the Ol' Chap would have passed on happy knowing the rifle was going to someone who appreciated the T's for what they are, going on what prices the T's are getting from a recent auction here for just the rifle if the rifle you looked at had the full kit and chest then you would want at the minimum 150 $100 bills

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Originally Posted by Roger Payne

but cheekpieces were made from beech, birch & ash

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That's interesting, I never saw or heard of them here in anything but walnut.

I've seen a lot (cheekpieces, that is) on UK set up rifles that bear a dark stain, so they may look like walnut - but have a close look - you'll see those medullary rays on the majority of them. For some reason most of the ash ones seem to be on 44 dated rifles. But are are you referring to Canadian 4T's, in which case I'm with you entirely.

ATB