1941 Savage No. 4 Mk 1 Sniper rifle?

[Roger Payne]

Having been made & converted relatively early it is unlikely that it would have been left scopeless. It would probably have had a Mk1 scope, or just possibly an early Mk2 on it.

I would agree absolutely with Surpmil & Brian. The TR & FTR were applied after the black paint & were probably applied, at least in the case of the TR, to bring it up to the accepted 'standard'. The TR & FTR are in fonts that I have seen on a number of early conversions (both Trials rifles & early run of production rifles), that have been through the FTR process perhaps late in WW2 or immediately afterwards, before the standard pantographed FTR markings became the norm.

P.S. I was just looking at smleaddict's post about his Maltby 4T - if you look at the FTR & TR stamps on the butt socket of his rifle I reckon they're pretty similar to those on the Savage. They might even be the same font, although I'd hesitate to go that far as the markings on the Maltby are not very well applied, with parts of most of the letters missing. Note that both of these rifles are (presumably) early conversions of early rifles that got early FTR's!