Doomed Long Branch Sniper Reborn

[Seaspriter]

About a year ago I saw a forlorn Long Branch advertised on Gunbroker. No one wanted this bare bones skeleton. Just looking at it made me sad -- this was once a beautiful warrior that had been sporterized, her snout snipped by 2 inches, then scavenged by vultures.
It was literally just a lock, butt stock, and barrel; nothing else; her pockets picked over and plucked clean down to her bare bones. But the price was cheap -- only $37 USD plus shipping. I don't normally buy cheap, but she was a rare Sniper heading fast to the dump heap for parts unless someone interceded to break the chain of parting-out. And the Scope serial number was still legible on the Butt, along with the evidence of screws where the cheek rest was once mounted.

What would you do with this poor soul? Do I restore her or just use the parts?
-Go for the restoration -- it's a rare gun! Might be expensive, but gallant glory deserves being reborn not a funeral.
Do I put a snout extension on the muzzle?
- No, that would be silly for a Sniper, so I found a barrel (No. 4 Mk2) that RW Snyder was selling.
Should I restore this myself?
- No, this calls for a pro. Brian Dick was the only person I'd think of in this country with the specialized skills. He studied under the guidance of Captain Laidler, and could give her the Armourer's professional attention that I couldn't -- insufficient knowledge, lack of expertise, inadequate tools, etc.

Here are the pics Brian sent me this weekend:


You can imagine my state of awe. Wow! Brian found all the old parts, replaced the barrel, tuned the trigger, phosphated everything, found some beautiful walnut stock, reached out to Roger Payne for the right scope pad and walnut cheek rest, received the right hand guards from BigDuke6, and SentryDuty donated a Sling Swivel (forthcoming) and brought everything up to MoD post war FTR standards. It's a work of art. It's a true global effort, sourcing from the UK and Canada to complete the project.

But how does she shoot? That's truly the hallmark of a Sniper. Would her Mk2 barrel be accurate?
Brian took her to the range and sent me a picture of this target:

Now she's the perfect target shooter -- both a beauty and dead-on accurate -- a true thoroughbred.

Still a few things left to do, but I wanted to thank Brian, Roger, Geoff and Peter for the long years of hard work and their sharing of ideas, standards, and methods that culminates in a result that commands accolades.

(Brian, I know you are very modest and would never toot your own horn, so I hope you will forgive me for tooting yours -- your skills are rare -- thank you for your hard work and expertise.)

Robert

P.S. She looks so good she needs a name. How about "Electra" because she's been re-charged.

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