What can you tell me about my rifle?

[No4Mk1(T)]

We receive a lot of questions, in our various forums, asking for help in identifying or the history of various rifles in member collections. I for one am more than happy to help if I know for sure exactly what the rifle in question is and I can find an answer I know is correct.

The thing is some of the questions are a bit unclear or in some cases seem to answer themselves. For example:

“What can you tell me about my matching 1944 Long Branch No.4Mk1*” with a list of all visible inspection stamps.

In this case the answer is going to be not much unless in the list of stamps is included something like an FTR or property mark from another country (like NZ or DD for example) in the description. A post like this is likely to get very few if any replies.

The first thing to do is try and help yourself!

The Milsurp Knowledge Library (MKL) is a tremendous resource and is growing all the time. Go to the bottom and have a look through the various MKL entries and see if you can find an example of your rifle. Many popular milsurp rifles can be found within these entries. The rifles in these entries have been researched and reviewed and are considered excellent representative examples of the rifle listed.

Your next stop should be the “Search” button in the upper right had portion of the forum in a drop down box. Many (not all) Milsurp rifles have there model number/name stamped some place on the rifle. Good examples of this would be something like MAS, Long Branch, Mod.98 and 03-A3.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Ok you’ve done all this and you still can’t find your rifle or something about yours is different than the one in the photos. At this point we should take a moment to talk about the word “Sporterized”. To sporterized a rifle is to modify a standard service rifle to make it better for hunting/target shooting. This can include something a basic as cutting the original furniture down to a full reworking of the rifle to include a new caliber and scope mounts leaving only the original action as a recognizable item. If you find a photo of a rifle in the MKL that looks similar to your but it has been modified this may be what was done.

OK no photo in the MKL and nothing in the search function.

A description of your rifle is nice but if it includes a line like “on the barrel about an inch from the end is a stamp that has a U or a N with a line under it and a arrow with what looks like a golf club beside it” honestly you are going to lose most potential repliers. It’s time for a photo or two. Now you say “How do I post…..”. We have that covered!

How do I upload or post images? (click here)

Your rifle has been waiting 50 plus years so taking a few extra days to borrow your kids camera and post a few clear photos of it online. It will only take a little extra time and the answers you get back will reflect your extra effort. Photograph any visible marking you can find but don’t expect someone to be able to tell you what each and every one means.

Unfortunately the codes to what many of these markings mean have been lost to time but it would be a shame if the one you don’t show ends up being important to deciphering what your rifle is. At the very least you want to include a left and right full length shot and one action shot.

Include titles such as “Right side of the action” and “Marking found on top of the barrel over the chamber” so observers can orient themselves as to what part of the rifle they are looking at. Finally ask your question and decide exactly what is you want to know?

Posters wanting to know what model or make of rifle will likely get away with the above 3 photo minimum. If you want to know if the rifle in question is correct or as-issued then expect to post quite a few more photos that may also require disassembly of your rifle.

Buy a rifle - Buy a book!

The price of Milsurp arms has been climbing steadily over the last several years. It is now profitable for people to “Hump” or fake hard to find collectable rifles and pistols. Fake stamps and re-serial numbering of rifles to make an otherwise less desirable arm appear original is becoming a big problem. The people selling such humped arms count on buyers who do not research what they are buying. If you are planning on laying out several hundred to even several thousand dollars for your dream collectable what is the cost of a book that may even cost $100.00 itself, if is saves you from buying a fake?

We hope this post helps those members get started in finding out more about the rifle they just bought.

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