I saw it when it was offered on gun broker and think it is a fake:

here are the reasons:

1) Every one of the sniper serial numbers on the 99 assembled in 1944~1945 I have read about were in the 74Lxxx range, with one questionable 53Lxxxx number. This rifle is an 22Lxxxx range, which makes it an early 1943 rifle. Would someone care to explain why that might be? Now the explanation that they had accurate "selected" rifles sitting around does not make sense, as an 22Lxxxx rifles from early 43 should have already been made into a sniper by late 1944.

2) The rear sight is not a LB Mk 1 sight, but a "B" post war marked rear sight with the battle sight ground down. Notice the CR marking on the first picture. I seem to recall that "B" marked CR sights are BSA manufacturer. A real one should have have a battle apeture cut down LB marked sight of war time manufactuer, but as we all know that is a difficult part to find.

3) The blue on the scope mount does not match the blue on the rifle mount. I seem to recall that they shoudl, having been fabricated of the same tyep of steel and assembled at the same time, including final finish.

Those three observations lead me to believe this is a complete fake, and not a very good one at that. At the very best it is a bunch of correct parts (with the exception of the rear sight) assembled.

One final note, when sold the rifle had the serial number of the scope 74L)0053 or something close to that shown, as well as the rifle serial number (22lxxxx). It diod nto assert it was correct if I recall. It was offered at a price of 1500, which might not be all that unreasonable for a reproduction rifle. This ad does not list the serial numbers and asserts it is real.

Any other observations?

regards

Frederick303