Nice 49 Long Branch

[Cold_Zero]

The rifle was brought to the US from the UK as part of a British Armours collection in the 70s, it was in Colin Moon wood. The previous owner bought the rifle and some wood work from the estate of the Armour 10 or 15 year ago and it stayed in the safe.

I purchased the rifle off of GB, it was still in Colin Moon wood with the front and rear sights missing. At the same time there were a couple of L42/L39 stocks, handguard and a butt off a Sniper with check rest on Ebay which I managed to collect without too much damage to wallet. The butt was off of an LB Sniper.

Turns out the seller of all the wood was all also the seller of the rifle on GB. The wood and the rifle were united once again.

The action, bolt, bolt head and barrel are all “20 T” proofed. The action and barrel are both stamped with the sold out of service “->s<-“ . The action is stamped “Fultons Regulated”. The stamps all have the same aged look.

I slipped it out of the Colin Moon wood and into the L42 wood, added some bits and bobs from the parts tray to get it roughly assembled. I will send it to a smith for final fit and scope mounting.

I cannot say for sure but given the pieces the Armour had collected, it looks like he intended to build an L42 or L39 out of parts.

Here is a picture of the rifle “setting together” before I had fitted the handguard.

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