No5 MK1 questions

[Peter Laidler]

I never ever quite worked out whether the fore-ends with caps, which of the two sorts or cap-less came first, second or last! Not that it made one jot of difference to us who were using, maintaining and repairing them. Mind you, that was in the severe tropics but pictures of Kenya show both sorts in use too and that ain't tropical! The parts lists and EMER's make no mention of it/them and in any case, if we got one that had ANY sign of rust beneath the cap, off it came, peg rivet hole, make good and out it went! All the ones we had as spare parts during the 60's came as the cap-less type.

Once they'd been in the warm-to-touch linseed bath the cap-les type were far longer lasting. The main problem was warping so far as I remember - but that affected all of them

Has anone looked into the actual sequence of which type of cap and/or capless

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[5thBatt]

I never ever quite worked out whether the fore-ends with caps, which of the two sorts or cap-less came first, second or last! Not that it made one jot of difference to us who were using, maintaining and repairing them. Mind you, that was in the severe tropics but pictures of Kenya show both sorts in use too and that ain't tropical! The parts lists and EMER's make no mention of it/them and in any case, if we got one that had ANY sign of rust beneath the cap, off it came, peg rivet hole, make good and out it went! All the ones we had as spare parts during the 60's came as the cap-less type.

Once they'd been in the warm-to-touch linseed bath the cap-les type were far longer lasting. The main problem was warping so far as I remember - but that affected all of them

Has anone looked into the actual sequence of which type of cap and/or capless

First no cap, then a rounded cap that followed the rounded tip of the forend which was difficult to manufacture so was short lived, then no cap & then the type we are familiar with, most early No5s are with out the cap.
Pake, i would have expected your No5 to have the cap, yours may have an earlier forend on it thats be numbered to match & as they did not originally number the early forends we'll never know for sure.

[pake]

Thank You all so much for your prompt and helpful replies!

To my untrained eye, the rifle appears new or near new. I don't know that I would claim unfired, but certainly the bore is not worn at all. The biggest issue was from years of accumulated dirt. The bolt is now very smooth although when I brought it home it was so dry that it would barely move. The action and bolt handle, after an initial cleaning, show paint (?).

villers, I can see why you might suspect warpage from my photo, but it is not. The rifle was turned to catch light on the serial number stamp. The biggest damage to the stock is a small area just below and rearward of the front band. There the stock had been gouged at one time. A small area appears to have been splintered out. I am surprised to see the number of stamps on the wood stock. Most were filled in with attic grime, but in normal service I can't see how they would have lasted very long at all.



Above the splinter and below the sling loop you can see Crowns, and in another picture a large (upper case L)?



Once again, your interest and help are very much appreciated. I feel as though I found a little prize in this one. Maybe saved it from obscurity.

pake