POF No4 Mk1 sniper ?

[blurrededge]

What a find! Well done
Envious.

[Miller Tyme]

As promised I got some more pics of the scope pads, the ROF stamping on the butt socket ( amazing how it shows up with certain lighting angle). I also notice the screws on the mount scope rings are all staked also.

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[tbonesmith]

Very nice rifle. Are you going to shoot it some?

[Gil Boyd]

Agree with Roger on this. A few minor things missing S and Butt stock number which would explain missing out H&H for final stamps and coming straight out of the Enfield factory. Nice find

[browningautorifle]

Are you going to shoot it some?

If you aren't, send it to me so I can...please?

[Seaforth72]

The Enfield examiner's mark on the top of the front pad is either not there or, if present, is hidden by paint. Unless it is there, we have to assume that this rifle was converted by Holland and Holland in 1942 or later, and that it is NOT one of the 1,403 converted by RSAF Enfield.

It has been reported that it took time for the markings' system to become standardized in the UK (Canada was a different situation). This Fazakerley rifle, apparently being an early conversion, it seems to have pre-standardized markings. This of course makes it much harder to verify.

Think of it like a vintage 1942 Willys MB Car 5 Cwt (1/4 Ton Truck to Americans) ... it has a serial number but Heavens forbid, no Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) tag!

[Roger Payne]

Colin, unless someone turns up any until now 'lost' documents relating to the early conversions I don't think we can say categorically either way who carried out the conversion. It may well be an early H&H from before the standardisation of the marking system, but the rear pad in particular just doesn't look 'right' to me, for an H&H conversion. Of course, it may just have been off & on a few times over the years.

[Peter Laidler]

Nobody has ever clarified that 1403 number either.

[Seaforth72]

Valid points. It is indeed an area of uncertainty. In a case like this we need to look at all of the markings and at features such as the shapes of pads. Happily we have many experienced eyes among this forum's members, and each brings different experience to the table. So, I shall modify my statement. "There does not appear to be an Enfield examiner's mark on top of the front scope pad on this rifle. This suggests that this rifle was not one of those 1,403 rifles (apparently) converted at RSAF Enfield."

[Gil Boyd]

Colin,
Good points well made, and I have to agree with them.
As a past owner of a 4T, the stampings and marks that we have all been brought up to recognise as lovers of this rifle, and know that they cannot be copied "easily", age a weapon to the factory who built it, the hands that then selected it, and tested it, followed by their unique mark, for its more precise use as a sniper rifle, and the date of manufacture and place of manufacture, stamped clearly on the rifle.

We all know also that additional "unique" stamps, proved without doubt, the authenticity of the development of said rifle. It's history is alikened in some ways to a more recent competitor in Parker Hale, with the often confusing numbering and stamping that went on there in more recent times. So one has to probably accept that in war, and under considerable stress to deliver these "specialist" weapons, things were missed or poorly stamped, wherever they were produced in the Commonwealth.

IMHO I only seem to get twitchy, when I see pads that don't look right, and to be fair, they were put on originally with incredible skill, by those who knew their respective trades, and thereafter by skilled armourers who had been passed these skills on weeks of courses and magical hands.

I think in this particular case, the proof has to be in the shooting of the rifle by someone who knows the characteristics of such a beast, matched with the scope, and see where the lead lands to make a judgement call. I hope it turns out to be a good find and a piece of history that has long dissapeared. That rare breed that can only add value for the buyer if authenticated with some form of provenance!!