No4 Mk1* "T style"

Picked up the finished article yesterday.

Rifle is a '44 dated Long Branch No4 Mk1* with 5 groove barrel (FTR'd at Fazakerley in '53)
Scope is a late '44 dated No32 MkIII by Cooke , Troughton and Simms
Bracket is one of Roger Payne's repros with scope pads from Nobsdave.
EFD provided the repro cheekpiece
Late pattern repro scope caps from Jonathan Moore
Turner Slings M1907 sling from their "Historic Reproduction" range
Mk1 Rear sight modified to allow bolt removal
"Unissued" 1957 brass buttplate (to replace original parkerized one)
Target swivel courtesy of Ebay
Mk2 Butt sling bracket (from Paul at TVG)

All put together for me by Paul Green at Thames Valley Guns.

In hindsight this has probably worked out at least as expensive as buying a mid-range original and the project was not without the odd drama....but it all came good in the end!

The rifle shot 1.5" groups with out-of=the-box S&B 174gr when Paul tested it.

i hope to be able to improve on that with my HPS 174gr SMK's.

Looks good!

Mmmmmmm pretty.... What mark of scope is on it?

Looks great Andy. Glad it all worked out right in the end!

ATB

tbone, it's an Mk 3 from late '44 - made by C,T&S

It looks well smart Andy - nice job!

That's what I like to see. I hope the assembler assembled the pads, bracket and scope so that the grat is centred when it's zeroed in - as per the detailed instructions wot I rote........

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

That's what I like to see. I hope the assembler assembled the pads, bracket and scope so that the grat is centred when it's zeroed in - as per the detailed instructions wot I rote........

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Yes he did - exactly as per the instructions, plus both he and I went through our copies of "An Armourer's Perspective" and "Telescope Sighting No32" with a fine tooth-comb.

Invaluable, much appreciated and highly recommended reads for anyone mad enough to try this at home! :D

Thanks Peter

Beautiful wood on that one and very sympathetically restored! You'll have to keep an eye out for an REL scope and bracket to go with it.

The great thing about repros is that you can shoot them, without much worry of damaging an original.

That is a very pretty rifle. The stock is very well figured. Good work all around. Considering what a scope and even a repro mount cost these days, I truly believe the original items are undervalued. That smith, knew his stuff. Especially if putting that repro "T" together is his first time. Give him a thumbs up from everyone here.

Ditto from me, I love project rifles that fill a niche, and you've done a great job there. The accuracy is really excellent too, you'll inflame the 5 groove versus 2 groove all over again, lol.

Thanks, I'll pass on the great comments to Paul. As far as I know it was his first "T project" but as said above he paid close attention to Peter's published advice.

bearhunter - i agree 100% on the worries of shooting rare/historically interesting rifles - that is exactly why I did this project (and also my Mauser 98k scoped rifle). I have to admit to not shooting my SMLE as often as I would like for exactly that reason.......

Since posting the original thread I have had a few PM's asking about the project and various aspects of "how to...." I really appreciate the interest that this has generated but cannot claim any kudos for myself (other than paying the bills! :D )

I freely admit that i am not an armourer and would always recommend Peter's works on the subject and contacting Peter or some of the more technically adept members of the forum here with any queries!

Paul Green at TVG who did the conversion for me has also written an article on how he approached this project. It is available on his website. This is not a highly detailed treatise - just some advice and observations on things to look out for and some of the work involved.

http://www.thamesvalleyguns.co.uk/

Go to the "Conversions" pull down and it is the last entry on the menu.

Finally found time to get out yesterday and shoot the No4T again - it was pretty cold and gloomy (around 0DegC but still) and I was shooting at 100m.

Just for fun, had a go at beating Paul's original 3 round test groups of around 1.4" at 100yds.....I used HPS .303 174Gr "house" load. Target grid is 1" squares

Here's the result - apart from the aberation on the right - the 4 "good" shots measure 0.867 MOA (using OnTarget) - with the bad shot = 1.7 MOA

I'll call it an honourable draw (even though I shot 5 rounds to his 3!!) :D

Joking aside - i think this shows what a great job Paul has done. Needless to say I love the end result!

talks the talk and clearly walks the walk. Paul has obviously done a very good job. I am quite jealous !

Just received my repro Transit Chest from forum member grant580....thought I'd share it:

Attachment 20435Attachment 20436

Rick does a great job!! More here:

No 4 Mk1 T Transit box Reproductions/Canadian Version

You have quite a rig there Andy. Looks very impressive.