Looky what I found today... (can you say rare?)

[chanman]

Hmm, do you have any pictures of the entire rifle?

[Claven2]

Not yet, but next time I visit the owner I will take some and post here.

[DOOK]

Very nice! I love collecting the images of the rare, and unusual LB's found over the years. Do keep them coming!

[Roger Payne]

It's a beaut!

ATB

[Peter Laidler]

Fore-ends and handguards like this were converted to this pattern by the trade eager to sell their surplus No4's to stalkers and game shooters during the 50's. I wonder how LB could make such a rifle accurate, knowing that without the barrel bearings it could never be as accurate as the standard No4T. We used to use gradually/progressively cut down fore-ends at Shrivenham to illustrate the effects of harmonics and vibration. Was this rifle bedded at the tip of the modified fore-end?

[jona]

Judging by the picture of the front sight, it looks like it has a heavier than normal barrel installed.

[Claven2]

Well, I now do have full length photos on my camera (visited the owner last night) and will try to get them uploaded later today. I also have to point out that my supposition about it being made in 1943 is perhaps incorrect as I re-read the relevant sections in CLive's book and of the 10 or so examples he has documentedm the ASC numbers are all over the map. He shows pictures of several others from this experimental batch and no two are the same - mostly differences in length of forestock and type of butt fitted. Also some had 6X scopes.

I still suspect it's wartime though due to the total lack of Canadian Arsenals parts and the 1944 dated optics.

[Claven2]

Judging by the picture of the front sight, it looks like it has a heavier than normal barrel installed.

Yes, it is a heavy barrel. And to Peter - I've not been privileged enough to disassemble it to examine the bedding - sorry.

[Peter Laidler]

It'd be interesting if you could try to slide a piece of paper down the underside of the barrel, between the fore-end to see if it is bearing. If you get a chance. Thanks.

The problem is that the graduates at Shrivenham don't do these sorts of little projects any more. They do projects of course but as it's now in the commercial world, they're usually commercial type projects. And there's not many/any wise, older ex apprentice REME craftsmen go there after uni now, prior to being Commissioned. Such is the change and pace now.

[Claven2]

OK, here's the extra pics I took last night.




And speaking of rare things... look what else I stumbled into yesterday. show of hands - how many ppl have seen one of these in person? And no, it's not a repro



Finally, here's a picture of a page out of "Without Warning" dealing with the experimental snipers that lists some of the serial numbers. There's actually a fair number of this type of experimental sniper depicted in Clive's book. A good 6 or 7 different rifles, though in many cases the photos are archival and not of guns whose wherabouts are known today.