NO 4 MK1 (T) VERIFICATION

[Roger Payne]

One thing nobody has commented on yet, & which is puzzling me, is the fact that whilst the rifle serial has been re-engraved (granted, I'm making an assumption, & I know it is an assumption, that the original s/n has been reapplied, not a different one), the rifle has been re-bolted, the new bolt being professionally numbered, but the rifle itself, has not been fully refinished. I would have expected that if the rifle had been through UK ordnance it would have been refinished by bead-blasting, parkerising, & suncoriting, at the same time (presumably) that the bolt was replaced & the serial picked out. Yet the finish on the body looks typical late war textured 'brunofixing', but if you look at the 3rd photo in post 7, you can see quite clearly that the surface of the butt socket has been cleaned up smooth. Note also on the next photo you can see the linishing on the bolt body, presumably to remove a previous rifle's serial, before this rifle's number was engraved upon it. I would have thought that in UK service that would have merited a phossing & blacking, & in Indian service a six inch thick coat of Dulux Magicote black gloss! Having said that, whoever rematched the bolt & reapplied the serial number did a very neat job of it & was a decent engraver.

But your rifle is a genuine 4T TRAMO, it just has a history to it that is interesting to try to piece together.....