FTR woodwork on a No4 (T)?

[Roger Payne]

Yes, that's right. A lot of 1943 BSA's seem to have a minor variation in the side wall engraving.......it looks a bit like No4 Mk1inch!

Madzi I think the rifle, scope & bracket are all real, but I suspect it has been matched up after the event. It's only MHO, but it doesn't look 'right' in its current guise for a military FTR. Whilst it is only a generality post war refubs usually resulted in beech wood being fitted as a replacement, although the armourer would fit whatever suited & was available.....but mostly it would have been beech. The cradle clamps have been filed or linished & the sequential numbers have been restamped. The numbers are in a more modern font to the styles typically seen on wartime brackets. Having said that, renumbering, or restriking existing numbers, is not uncommon, both in & out of service. The rifle serial is not the original number restamped, it is a new number which if it relates to any manufacturer would relate to a Maltby rifle. The receiver side wall T looks a little suspect as well, although it may just be the angle of the photograph. I also suspect that the pads may have been off & refitted, although the milling for the front pad is there. In fact here, another view of the front pad area from below & immediately behind the pad, might help. Most fakers don't mill this area, or if they do, they do it badly. I suspect yours is likely right & may have come from the same source as the barrelled actions I bought back in 1997. They were all genuine but had all been stripped down to various degrees. I had a cottage industry going refitting body pads, woodwork, bolts & so on. It is not one of my rebuilds, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't have the same origin.

But from what you've shown us I think it is a 'real' one.

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[Madzi]

Great, thanks Roger - I'll get a decent daylight photo of the angle you've suggested up tomorrow, and see if I can get better photo of the side-wall T - it is a bit faint, but that could be a result of the refinish.

[Madzi]

Thanks All!

Roger - here's a couple of photos of the angle requested on the front pad, and also a better photo of the sidewall T - thoughts? Also, any background you can share on the origins of the barrelled actions you were talking about? Looking now that the woodwork does look like an honest civvie job - no weedon mark or dodgy S51, but interested in how the action got out there - the scope had been through a Peter L service, so the optics are pristine.

Also, does anyone have a link to the previous thread on the SSS overstamps? Not seeming to find it either on browsing or search, and it has me intrigued. Many thanks for the quote mark thread link, SMLEAddict - this also being a '43 BSA, it fits the pattern. Rodger, did you find any evidence of non-T BSA's with that marking?

[Roger Payne]

Hi Madzi,
From what I can see, the milling looks pretty well done. I'm fairly confident you have a real 4T but not in 'as it left the factory' order. I am suspicious of the side wall T as the shaft looks rather too long, but that could just be my eyes. And even so, I was only thinking in terms of it being an after the event addition by a civvy owner to make it conform more to how those who have just read a couple of books on the subject believe a 4T should be marked....the markings on BSA 43's are so variable, including the presence of the T.