Parker Hale M85 Serial Number Checks & Provenance on Manufacture (Records)

[Simon P]

The chap who took the pictures normally does a good job as he specialises in Lugers and his pictures are spot on, I think these pictures were taken by the original seller and it has had the the old spit & polish to brighten her up, one of the old tricks is to lightly wipe over with BLO its makes everything look brighter

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[chosenman]

A good day on the range yesterday at 600 yards with two very nice examples of the M85. Both equally matched with the Kahles ZF84 scope. Note the urban camouflage stock. Very rare and it has to be said very nice to. All in all a good mornings shooting although because the scope is not by any means a target scope and doesn't offer the fine adjustment it took several rounds to pinpoint the v bull but once found it got pounded.

[Gil Boyd]

First shot always hits the bull ha ha!! Nice brothers there. I did the same on my range she shot as she always has .....................spot on, a true sniper rifle with oodles of history.
They will be worth a great deal soon mark my words.
If you haven't got one yet, I would advise you do and add it to your collection as they are getting as rare as Rocking horse ****.

[Simon P]

Just missed another of these rifles, didn't get the serial number but this one was in 7mm Rem MAG and was on route to OZ

[blurrededge]

Hi Gill,

Here's a couple of pics of the M85 as I picked it up today. Couldn't seem to send you the pics in a PM.... which I'll also send you.

[Gil Boyd]

Great pictures and confirm it is a PH mod on a Santa Barbra bolt assembly as it has the two absolutely tell tale circular holes on both parts of the bolt and is correctly numbered and electrically PH etched with the number on the arm 299. I think Bill will confirm my thoughts that this was built by Eddie Taff. His wheel marks are a signature of much of his past work hwich was like all of the PH engineers........outstanding
I would definitely get the green stock as they are rarer than rocking horse poo and always worth keeping if you want to change from wood in the future if you can't repair it.
Great to see another M85 rescued by someone who cares enough about them.
The price was a great buy without a scope so don't look back. Two recently with scopes went for £5500 each in Germany, I would have had them but that would mean losing the wife ha ha!!

Added a piece as I think I may have found some info on 299 afterall will post it once I have sorted it out

[blurrededge]

Outstanding Gil thanks for the info, appreciate it, intreagued to here what else you may have on it :-)

[rgg_7]

Gil..thank you for taking the time for posting this information.

There are a lot of followers of the Canadian C3 and its successor the C3a1. C3 was trialed in 1973 in CFB Gagetown NB and put in service in 1976. It was built on a 1200TX target rifle using the Palma 1969 barrel profile. The official scope was the Kahles ZF69 calibrated to the 7.62x51 Nato. It saw service to 1985 and was replaced by the C3a1. The transition from C3 to C3a1 is somewhat "Cloudy". Officially the C3 was destroyed however it has always been rumored that some were returned to Parker Hale. It would be very interesting if you could tell us how many were in fact returned to Parker Hale.

The C3 serial number range was randomly from R-21187 to R-39519. I would be most interested in the details of your record for R-23292 and R-29813. Where these rebarrelled? Restocked in "beech", Reserialized or remarked as M82's. Did they get sold to the public? Other "R" serialized receivers have surfaced and maybe Parker Hale recovered the parts for M82's and sold off. All depends on the serial number. Any detail you have would help us better understand the C3.

The C3a1 which is built on the M87 action has just recently been retired from service however retained as a training rifle. 10x Unterl scopes replaced with Schmidt and Bender so I've been told.

Anybody have recorded numbers for the C3a1?

Greatly appreciate any information on the C3 and C3a1.

Ron (CANADA)

[Gil Boyd]

Ron,
Thanks for that. Bill and I will be wading through the info held to try and identify that for you in due course. Sadly "CLOUDY" is a great phrase and covers a lot about what happened with Parker Hale as it slid down the slippery slope.
I apologise for any misunderstanding on my post but the recorded writing is what I have to go by in the hope that the engineer on the day was not under pressure duplicating the serial numbers and the models, as don't forget the "Official" records have been destroyed and we are going by personal interest hand written entries in little black books, and at best scribbled:
C3A1 - M87
C3 - M82 (1200TX) more commonly known
to also clarify also and thank to Darren for reminding me:
C3A1 numbering: 0001C to 00500C
M86-87 numbering: 01550G to02100G
Again many of the entries miss out zero's and letters too, which occurrred in conversions at Enfield as well on the L42 so it isn't unique to PH

[Lee Enfield]

snip...
C3A1 numbering: 0001C to 00500C
M86-87 numbering: 01550G to02100G
Again many of the entries miss out zero's and letters too, which occurrred in conversions at Enfield as well on the L42 so it isn't unique to PH

C3A1 numbering: 0001G to 00500G
M86-87 numbering: 01550C to 02200C

Sorry I transposed the C & G and the highest M86/87 I've observed is around 2200C