Long Branch No 4 Mk I* (T) FTR?

[Troglodyte]

Did any Long Branch Canadian No 4 Mk I* (T) rifles ever get sent for Factory Through Repair? Would they have remained sniper rifles when the process was over?

Thanks,
Patrick

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[Lee Enfield]

Did any Long Branch Canadian No 4 Mk I* (T) rifles ever get sent for Factory Through Repair? Would they have remained sniper rifles when the process was over?

Thanks,
Patrick

Yes.

If it was still within spec.

Why? Tell us something interesting.

[Peter Laidler]

Remain 'T's when the process was over................ Not necessarily........... Some T's (and plenty of normal rifles I hasten to add.....) were so worn out that they wouldn't get past the in-inspection stage. We know that some of these rifles were downgraded to bog standard DP rifles with pads removed of course and some even went into the skeletonisation process

[Roger Payne]

Interesting, but presumably so long as they were serviceable they'd remain as T's?

[mrclark303]

I think I mentioned this before, but back in 1954 when my Father was a 21 year old NS REME Armourer, they had all the s*it end of the stick jobs, one he vividly remembered was a whole stack of cosmoline covered No4T's to be cleaned and inspected for possible use.

I would surmise they hadn't been FTR'd but had been stored since the War.

He did remember quite a few were condemned as U/S and went for DP conversion, other US examples trucked away, I wonder if they were sent off to List Engineering for SKN builds?

Unfortunately, his memory is fading these days and he only now has a very foggy recollection of this, glad I asked him a few years ago...

Edit.... Just a thinking out loud here, I am guessing that in the aftermath of WW2 the Army must have stored a number of No4T's, the shrinking post war service didn't need.

By the mid 1950's the in use examples must have been getting quite worn.

I wonder if that's why my father and his colleagues ended up getting covered in cosmoline checking stored rifles...

He did say that some of the stored Rifles were in worn poor condition, this seems to suggest they had been removed straight from wartime active service and stored without checks?

Perhaps the sheer number of demobilised units in 1945, led to the system being overwhelmed and some firearms going straight to store?

[Troglodyte]

Why? Tell us something interesting.

Fair question, but sadly there's nothing interesting here. I have a scope I want to marry up with a 74L receiver, and I've found a 74L receiver that is FTR.

Getting the receiver series correct puts me within the correct group of 10,000, which is pretty much meaningless, but still kinda neat to me.

I'm grateful for all the shared expertise here!

Best,
Trog

[breakeyp]

A few Long Branch rifles went into the later L42 (T) program.