long branch sniper ?

[Surpmil]

My '44 Long Branch doesn't have the "T" stamp. It's sn 71L0396, legit and very well used. It sports a mismatch REL bracket numbered 71L0314 and C No.32Mk.2 scope, sn. 508-C. The original scope was 505-C as numbered on the buttstock. The "T" stamp on yours is of British origin and added during it's service at some point which was typical. My uneducated guess would be that your rifle was culled at some point, stripped of it's original pads and then pieced back together again at some point post service. Just my 2 cents.

If genuine LB "T"s of this vintage are known without "T" stamps, I can't rule out the possibility that it might be as Brian says, a genuine rifle that was stripped and then bodged back together with non-original parts in the civilian world. The T stamp as much as we can see it, does resemble the T stamp that was retroactively applied to more than one trials No4(T) by some armourer(s), so that might have been applied in British service, and the ENGLAND stamp suggests this rifle was in UK service.

The holes drilled for the civvy scope base might be the reason the pads were removed as they would not clear it. I had a matching 1944 BSA some nitwit had done this to, in order to fit the two piece Parker Hale bases. Fortunately he didn't lose the pads.

So...the evidence seems to point to that conclusion, but those ain't the original pads. I hope you can locate them.