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At Mr Laidler's suggestion, I'm posting here an auction of interest.
Guns For Sale - Cased Enfield BSA No4 Mk1 (T) -- .303 British Bolt Action Target / Sniper Rifle
Gunauction.com auction site, auction number 12808341
any thoughts as to issues with the rifle or kit?
TIA
David
Looks like a postwar rebuild to my untrained eye.
I was somewhat concerned about the size of the scope serial number stamped on the rear stock flat. It seems a bit larger than normal. Also the lack of the rifle serial number under the fore stock.
The basics look as honest as the days is long but having been rebuilt after war service, returned to Ordnance and later disposed of
First one I seen with serial number on receiver and no serial number on butt socket.
I think the JC mark on the butt refers to a contractor that did rebuilds.Had a 1941 ROF sniper with that mark but it also had FTR mark.Correct me if I am wrong.
I would agree with Peter that the general 'feel' of the barrelled action looks real, but this rifle does puzzle me a little. The finish is wartime blue, not post-War phosphate/suncorite. The wood looks to be wartime mfr., not typical post-war mfr (though I know it is quite feasible it could have been refurbed post-war using wartime wood). It is also rather odd that there is no TR on the butt socket, yet there is a T on the receiver side wall. If one or the other is missing it is usually the other way round - but again, anything's possible. Further, the cheekpiece looks brand new, does not conform to the exact profile of any genuine cheekpiece I have ever seen (but none of us have ever seen it all, I admit), & it is also made out of walnut. I have NEVER seen a genuine cheekpiece on a British T that was made from walnut, though I suppose there may be a few rifles out there that have been fitted with replacement 'pieces salvaged from Canadian rifles. There are just some question marks over this rifle, for me.
ATB
What about the s/n on the bracket? It looks to be engraved rather than stamped and the size and font appear to be identical to the number on the rifle. It's also not in the usual place one would expect it to be on a genuine Brit set up.
That was one thing I noticed. The scope serial on the mount looks postwar. Canadian-ish, if that's a word.
Serials were stamped during the war. The side wall serial looks like the BSA FTR postwar program font to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vintage hunter
Would a lightened bolt be typical original fitment?
I agree with vintage hunter: It strikes me as odd is that the engraving on both the receiver and scope bracket are of identical placement and font. Even the first 3 is slightly high on both. Almost as if both were done at the same time and with the same machine. How does one explain that away?
If done during a FTR, quite logical that it would be done at the same time, I would think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stencollector
Can I ask a really dumb question why is England upside down on the Butt socket (may have been a heavy Guinness night), if it was a post WWII rebuild should it not have S-51 on the underside of the butt isn't 47C = BSA Shirley the front band is not stamped either my T (BSA '44) like all your T's out there well there ain't much of it that does not have a stamp or pencil mark on it.
By the way jump onto usedguns.com.au and check out a shorty Mk III for almost 9K and a HT for 11.5K from the Northern Territory now that is getting up there $ wise.
The REAL check is this........... Collimate the grat to the mechanical axis of the tube, set range and azimuth to zero (or 1 for range) replace in the bracket and put on rifle. Both grat point and mechanical axis of bore should collimate at 100 yards. That's a true check that they were done by an expert, probably at H&H and not some back street bodger years later
Is your question because of the hole in the bolt knob? This was often done for manufacturing reasons as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by ssj
---------- Post added at 11:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 AM ----------
If you are asking why it's there, it was required by the US Authorities to show Country of Origin when it was imported into the US.Quote:
Originally Posted by CINDERS
If you are asking why it is upside down. Why not?
The markings seem legit as its brother is out there with the same engraving and finish style. It was offered up for auction a few years ago, unfortunately the seller did not post any photo's of the wood markings.
Both have a number stamped into the bolt chanel on the receiver. Maybe they were a foreign contract order or advanced small arms training projects??
That bodyside marking looks like an electric pencil, what we called a 'fuzzy-pen' held in a sort of pantograph frame. I only ever saw a couple but they weren't really much good unless the donor surface was dead flat because if you touched the surface with the fuzzy pen it stuck. A bit like arc welding except that in my arc welding world the rod was constantly stuck to the work. But to the point, it looks like the fuzzy pen has stuck to the bracket and rifle (see Q on rifle and 6 on bracket).
I wouldn't mind betting that post war, the rifle has been bead blasted and linished clean, hence the absence of the TR and other odd markings which seem to litter that area of the body (and note the cleaning right up into the lower parts of the 1945 date), refinished in the commercial world and sold/exported to some foreign govt buyer. Westley Richards were into this big time and their speciality was Bren guns where they did thousands upon thousands and it was they who developed a bracket to convert Mk1 drum sight guns to accept Mk2 leaf backsights. And .50 BRownings too
Asa they say at John Lewis or Marks and Spencer (two large UK high quality department stores) 'buy with confidence'
Hi Lance. Does Q39655 bear a cheekpiece? If so, is it of the style of the one shown on the auction rifle, or more 'typical'? The wood on the auction rifle is superb, but even so shows a few odd minor dings & handling marks - yet the 'piece is perfect. I'm pretty sure the barrelled action is genuine but I doubt that walnut cheekpiece has been on there ever since 1945. Peter's explanation of a run of production rifle, linished, but then commercially blued (rather than phossed & blacked) for re-sale to a friendly government sounds very feasible to me. Possibly with some replacement parts being fitted then???
ATB.
The cheekpiece caught my attention too. Plus the fact that it isn't finished or marked like a typical 1945 BSA/H&H rifle. Note there is no "S-51" on the underside of the buttstock either. Strange but nice looking rifle. Sold originally by Klines in Chicago after import.
Greetings Roger
Sorry, no pic's of the cheek piece for Q39655 in my file, all I had of her I listed above.