A cheap score today, !943 Long Branch

[Prairie Fire]

For the money, not bad. Have not stripped it yet, and I regret that no pics will be available. Rifle has S/Ns of body, bolt, mag, and forestock matching.

Buttstock and front HG look to be replacements. Buttstock is beech, has no length marking. Has a white painted, well done but worn "14" on left side, and a poorly-done "71" in yellow on the right. Brass buttplate. There is a piece of masking tape on the buttstock with a price, I belive that price to be $50 but it is faded. This rifle came from a sort of estate sale, father accumulated guns, son has no interest. Hard to tell when it was bought fat around $50.

I tried a SA ball loaded round in the muzzle. The bullet stops at a real strong .125" above cannelure, probably closer to .140" but haven't measured yet. The crown does look good.

I have not seen (FNG) the type of rear sling swivel on any other No4. Instead of what's commonly seen, this is a well done piece of rod, shaped in a trapazoid, open end at the wide aspect. I imagine that this was a cost-cutting thing, but I'd not seen it with British guns and Ishies.

Not sure how well this gun is bedded. The king screw is tight but still proud from what others I've seen. Up front, the barrel is free. Can get just a little audible click on down pressure against the forestock, other movements are more free. Since this gun has no collecter value, it will be glass-bedded and those issues will be good.

Downside is, there has been some Bubbaizing done, unless I'm in possession of a former 32T, unlikely. Some "work" has been done to the 300y aperature in the 10-11 o'clock area, to flatten it, probably for scope clearance purpuses. No sign of cold blue. Some "work" has been done to the left side of the charger bridge, looks like for clearance purposes, no sign of cold blue. There's four drilled and tapped holes along the left side of the receiver. Three are in a straight line, and the rearward one is up and centered on the charging guide bridge. Just because of what little I know of provenance, I'm thinking that these holes are for a Williams or Redfield mount of forty years past. Input from old USA hands would be welcome. Not to denigrate all of the knowlege on this board from Commonwealth armorers. You guys know how to make the rifle right. We here are left behind, asking questions about what Bubba here,might have done to a particular rifle.

I gave a Ben Franklin for this gun. It will likely be a good fit between the JC and the scoped No4M2. I intend that it will be worked up to be a good rifle, and it will then share with the others what good ammo that has been laid back. The cast lead bullets with gas checks (what you might want to call, "Our Future") are in the pipeline.

Information

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[bradtx]

Like this, PF?



Most thought it was for a now very obsolete Redfield mound. There is a channel iron mount someone came up with out on the web.

Brad

[ralfus]

My recently acquired No4 has the same rear swivel as you describe.

[Prairie Fire]

bradtx: The holes on the Long Branch receiver are just like what you put up. Thanks for that. Next time I go to town, I will be getting some setscrews and loctiting them in. In your pic, it looks like Bubba found the charger guide on that rifle,also. Looks as if the rear sight might have been changed out, no Bubba cut and it is a different color than the rest of the body.

I had a micrometer rear sight as a spare from another gun, so I replaced the "L". Don't have to look at Bubba's nick any more. On the charger guide, I polished out the tool marks and cold blued it.

This rifle's barrel is a 2-groove, and looks as if it was cared for. Pressure marks inside the forestock are pretty uniform. The chamber support area of the forestock has what I'd have to call a chip of wood, located and installed by a wood dowel drove vertically. Nice piece of work, and it showed bearing marks.

I decided to go with the center bearing bedding method, I like simple. This afternoon I took some wood out of the front of the forestock channel up front, and acraglassed the center bearing point and the chamber area. The other body support areas and recoil lugs will get skimmed later, it seems as if they don't need much judging from uniform pressure marks.

The trigger guard assembly was stamped, and apparently built in pieces, a new one to me as an FNG. The mag area of it was real tight, too tight on the S/N'ed-to-rifle mag, so I enlarged it by twisting a large screwdriver handle through it until it gave up the ghost, and accepted and dropped the mag freely. And it didn't screw up the trigger pull by doing that.

linseed oil and 0000 steel wool have cleaned up and lightened the forestock and rear handguard, the newer buttstock and front handguard don't look near as clashy as they used to.

I'm looking forward to zeroing this gun tomorrow when the glue has set up.

[bradtx]

PF, The lighting on the charger bridge caused what you see, there's a small rectangle of casting a wee bit proud towards the front. The backsight is original. The Mk.II backsight was one of the first war expediant parts put into production, my '41 Maltby also had one (swapped to Mk.I), not too common, but there are others.

This BSA-Shirley was converted by Santa Fe Arms in the very early '60s and I'm the third generation family owner. It was what planted the evil L-E seed!

Brad