303 sniper

[Roger Payne]

CnR collector, your rifle just taught me something.......All of the A?-four digit 4T rifles I've ever seen have been 1943 dated. I had assumed that the adoption of the 5 digit serial commencing with a '3' started at the very outset of 1944..... (& indeed I still am pretty certain it commenced very early on in 1944) but your rifle has a '1943 mfr serial number' yet is clearly dated 1944, so there must have been a little run-over. Like you said nunquam narro nunquam!

ATB

[Lance]

Just to screw everyone up a little more:

Here is my girl: AV3602 1943 dated with a Watson Mk II scope. Fortunately I have the matching scope and mount, just the scope can is MIA.

So maybe one can say that these two rifles are Dec. 31st-Jan 1st production??

[CnRcollector]

Thanks Roger! You have seen my pic's before, when I got a mount from you in '04 or so.

I am still on the hunt for that scope, but enjoying the rifle now at 300 yds. with my Watson MK1.

Chuck Julian, formerly in NJ, but now FREE in SC, for the time being.

[Roger Payne]

Thanks Chuck, the serial must have passed me by in '04. Either that or Alzheimer's is setting in!

ATB

[CnRcollector]

Roger,

You may remember my rifle when I remind you of the "story".

This is the one I paid $10 for in the early '70's, when I purchased about 5 "old Enfields" from a dealer that had a "pile" of them. I got them for myself, and friends that did not have Firearms ID Cards in NJ. I delivered/transferred the others to my friends, and the "T" was the one left over at the end.

(have the paperwork with the sn's, but have never researched the others - may have to do that someday, but don't really want to know)

Luck of the draw I guess.

Was planning to make a "rainy day" deer rifle out of it for hunting at a friends family farm in NY state, but FORTUNATELY never did. It just went into the closet, and only came out for cleaning/oiling a few times per year.

Then, in 2003, I discovered what it was.

Regards, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Chuck


and, for those thinking that I am a lucky guy, believe me when I tell you that this is the ONLY good thing that has ever happened to me!

[Peter Laidler]

Hey CnR, when you have luck like finding a No4T, then you don't need too many other good things. I would suggest that living in SC is a pretty good thing to happen.

And have a GOOD Christmas too............

[jmoore]

One interesting point to come out of sjt's photos is that his WW 1942 dated Mk1 telescope number 1950 is that you can see that the 2 of 1942 has over-engraved the previous 1 of its original date of 1941. This clearly gives the scope number collectors an idea of when annual production changed.....1941 - 42 was approx 1950. That is a production run of 950 telescopes for 1941.....

I have also seen this on Watson 2108............

God, it's snowing too.................

Whoops, just remembered before taking off- My 1941/2 overstamp Watson is S/N 1990, so no help there for an earlier change over number.

[Peter Laidler]

This 1990 to 2108 will only be a ball park change-over area as in the early days of writing the numbers down, in a few pages of an old work book, I didn't even bother to log anything but the numbers. It was only during the 80's onwards that I started to note other detail. If anyone's got an overstamp OUTSIDE these numbers it'll be interesting. But there you go, those are the dates of WW Mk1, 41 to 42 changeover

[sjt351]

hello Peter Laidler and jmoore
would you consider my rifle to be a fake. should i have it rebleued or leave it as is the gray coulor , should i try to swap for a mk 2 scope
regards steve

[Peter Laidler]

On a personal front, I'm not an originality freak but a plain and simple Armourer and anything that came into our workshops only ever came in because something was wrong with it. We fixed it and it went out repaired to the best we could and functional. If it came into our workshops, as many did, painted in kakhi or camouflaged, the it'd be stripped back and made good. So if I was you, I'd have it degreased and painted with the standard British Army sunkorite paint, oven baked for a few hours, greased and assembled then put back in its chest or into the armoury. That's as original as it gets.

As for the telescope, we never saw many Mk1's after the mid 60's or so but there were still a few in the system on old tired No4's, you just need to remember that a Mk2 telescope won't make the rifle any better or shoot better. It just makes your chance of a HIT a bit better and that's only out at longer ranges. In other words, if it ain't broke, then don't fix it.....