BSA 1917 No.l Mk 111* target rifle

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A week ago I bought this SMLE target rifle off the guy who had owned it for the last 51 years. Together with it was 1200 rounds of Mk 7 ball ammo, MF (Australian manufacture) all dated 1958. Sealed in the 35 round boxes and shiny bright and new looking. Guy couldnt shoot any more because of advancing age and a shoulder injury.

Rifle was in the usual (For Australia) range rifle configuration. Light military barrel removed and a Heavy Lithgow barrel installed. No open rear sight but a plate and a 'Central' target sight fitted. Target sight appeared in brand new condition, rest of the rifle looked rough but bore was shiny with clear sharp rifling and no pits corrosion etc.

Anyway with the rifle came a range card, listing elevations for all the ranges. Included was a final receipt for the rifle and documents authorising his possession of the weapon as per the 1950's gun regs in Oz.

So with some of the original ammo I had a shoot at 500 yards...prone with shooting jacket, mat and sling. (as it would have been used in the heydays of those club rifles) First shot clipped the bottom of the target, came up about 4 minutes and got a mixture of 5's and 4s with one 3. (Our fullbore target system)

So yeah, I was stoked....a bit of deja vu for me...I started off club shooting with one of these about 50 years ago...wheel full circle. Thank you Ray Sharp..your treasured 303 is in good hands.

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