21 No Reserve Penny Start Milsurps - 1903/A4 - S/42 K98 - Red Nine C96 - BYF P38

[Promo]

Sir,

in not a single word I have accused you or your business of having produced this rifle. In fact I am quite certain that neither you "produce" this rifle, nor you were aware of what in my point of view was done with this rifle. Therefore I did not want to accuse you of anything, only to make you aware what I have noticed (if any terms were inappropriate pleas excuse it, especially when considering that English is not my native language). I am very sure your company is highly reliable and a good source for collectible items, plus the simple fact that you want to get in direct contact with collectors here make you much more valueable for collectors than other dealers.

What I had wanted to express is that it is not a question of who has how much (I have six M1903A4 rifles in my collection to compare it with) or who has given an opinion (we have what I consider the most knowledgeable person on M1903 rifles alive here on this forum, John Beard - you can of yourse contact him and ask for his opinion), but rather than to point out something to you and discuss this particular thing and not on who has thought what.

It has appeared to me that sometimes I handle guns in person where I think they are good, but when I get pictures afterwards of what I've had in my hands I notice things which I haven't before.

Having an item in the hands compared to have only pictures of an item both have benefits or diadvantages. When you have it in hands, one can precisely check of every small thing which might not be shown in pictures. It however sometimes is an overwhelm of impressions, probably in a limited time. Especially if you look at complete collections one might pays less attention to a certain item and only gives a single item an overall check for obvious things.

In my previous messages from yesterday I need to admit that I have started from a rather short point without giving clear reasons and detailed explanations. In my last message I however pointed out some particular points to you, which you have not reacted to. Therefore I attach two pictures from your auction, plus two pictures of original M1903A4 rifles. Please re-read what I was pointing out in my previous post here and then look at the pictures attached to this message.

The M1903A4 rifle was basically a M1903A3 rifle, which received split receiver markings to avoid that the scope base covers the manufacturer markings and serial number. Plus because it didn't have iron sights, the front sight base was never installed on the rifle. There were very limited (compared to "normal" 1903A3 rifles) numbers being produced, less than 30,000 in very detailed serial number blocks.

Please give the attached pictures a very detailed comparison, both of the location of the letters, plus the font being used. You will noticed there are differences in both of them. Adding the miscoloration plus the blued finish on the receiver (an original M1903A4 receiver would be phosphated) leads to the conclusion that the rifle most possibly has had the original markings scrubbed and new ones applied.

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