My second rifle when I was 16 was a sporterized Lithgow Mk III* 1916 dated. It had been sporterized simply by cutting the wood down; everything else was original. The metal was in great shape, and it shot very very well with the over the counter Imperial .303 we could get back then. At that time (mid-80's) the full wood MkIII and III* rifles were literally as scarce as hen's teeth in Canadaicon. That was before Marstar brought in a large shipment of the Australianicon ones from stores somewhere, and before CAI brought in the ones from India, so sporterized ones were the only ones you could get without paying a fortune. I traded that one off fairly early on, as it was "just a sporter" and I target shoot. When I did go out hunting with friends, I usually took a Ross 1905 R as it was nice and light and handy. I frequently wish I had hung onto it........

Ed