FTR woodwork on a No4 (T)?

[Roger Payne]

Yes, that's right. A lot of 1943 BSA's seem to have a minor variation in the side wall engraving.......it looks a bit like No4 Mk1inch!

Madzi I think the rifle, scope & bracket are all real, but I suspect it has been matched up after the event. It's only MHO, but it doesn't look 'right' in its current guise for a military FTR. Whilst it is only a generality post war refubs usually resulted in beech wood being fitted as a replacement, although the armourer would fit whatever suited & was available.....but mostly it would have been beech. The cradle clamps have been filed or linished & the sequential numbers have been restamped. The numbers are in a more modern font to the styles typically seen on wartime brackets. Having said that, renumbering, or restriking existing numbers, is not uncommon, both in & out of service. The rifle serial is not the original number restamped, it is a new number which if it relates to any manufacturer would relate to a Maltby rifle. The receiver side wall T looks a little suspect as well, although it may just be the angle of the photograph. I also suspect that the pads may have been off & refitted, although the milling for the front pad is there. In fact here, another view of the front pad area from below & immediately behind the pad, might help. Most fakers don't mill this area, or if they do, they do it badly. I suspect yours is likely right & may have come from the same source as the barrelled actions I bought back in 1997. They were all genuine but had all been stripped down to various degrees. I had a cottage industry going refitting body pads, woodwork, bolts & so on. It is not one of my rebuilds, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have the same origin.

But from what you've shown us I think it is a 'real' one.