New Sniper Toys Arrive

[Lance]

New Sniper Toy(s) arrive with a surprise!

Two new toys arrived today via the UPS man.

First is a beat up No.15 transit chest. Rougher than I would like with one latch completely rusted away along with half the screws holding the leather handles. Reason for purchase??? If the handles do not give it away, the markings provided will. Yes it is a hard to find HCF 1945 chest. The "5" is barely visible and at first I thought it was a 3 due to the fact that the sniper content sheet inside is an early May 1943 dated example. Also this chest has some earlier visible stenciling:

WOL.ORD. 1/4573/15
DT.19.MAY 48

Second, what was in the chest. A 1942 Savage Mk I in used condition. Rifle has the S51 on the butt, but no other receiver markings seen on later conversions, but as one can see from the pic's at one time had a Kodak Mk I scope (6554) assigned to her. Later someone added the last 4 digits of the rifle s/n under the scope number. Forend is properly s/n'd to the rifle and the hand guards have the s/n penciled in underneith. To make her more rare/unusual is the fact that the ORIGINAL s/n'd TWO groove barrel is still installed. Thus one can assume it is a early conversion before H&H could be too picky! Unfortunately the rifle does have two faults, besides missing its scope. The worst is that the bolt is a force matched replacement and the second is that the forward screw to hold on the cheek piece is missing.

So does anyone have Scope #6554 with mount and can????

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.

[limpetmine]

Nice find, Lance! Even a little rough, that's a nice transit chest. (Nice rifle, too )

[Beerhunter]

You can get similar (They may even be identical, I need to check my Land Rover) turn buckles from a Land Rover Dealer. They are used as locker latches on Series IIs and Series IIIs.

[Peter Laidler]

Closer still, get an old Bren chest, they're identical or ask BDL. He has all sorts of old stuff like that kicking around.

You can get a chemical (any chemists on the forum able to help...) that will peel one layer of paint away at a time. I've used some in the past but the chemical name has escaped me, but it unearthed the history of, ironically enough, a well travelled Bren chest

[Roger Payne]

Interestingly, when Edna Parker's place got cleared out recently 19 rather decrepit (but restorable with enough tlc) chests SA No15 were recovered from the back garden!

ATB

[Badger]

Interestingly, when Edna Parker's place got cleared out recently 19 rather decrepit (but restorable with enough tlc) chests SA No15 were recovered from the back garden!

ATB

Roger, are you going to tell me she was planting flowers in them? ...

Regards,
Doug (badger)

[Terry Hawker]

Sarco, in New Jersey, has some used, but complete, hardware sets for various transit chests. The set I got was sold as being for the No.4 (T), but turned out to be for the Vickers chest. The hinges are different, but the two sets of turn buckles and hasps it came with are identical to those on a 4 (T) chest. A pretty good deal for genuine parts at $49.95, I think it was.

They advertise in every issue of Shotgun News, or can be reached at Sarco, Inc., Firearms, Firearms Parts and Accessories

Regards,

Terry

[Lance]

Thanks for the info guys. Now have to figure out if I want to get the Hardware from Sarco for $60 delivered or get a whole chest for $100. Fun part will be drilling out the old screws on the lower latch part topped off by somehow swapping the lower half of the lid bracket.

If anyone is interested in the Savage T drop me a note as I will most likely list her up for auction sometime this week or next depending on time availability. I will take a latch unit with screws as partial trade!!

[Roger Payne]

Doug,
Alas no! Unfortunately I was only the second person to get into the place, along with Edna's great nephew & a mutual friend. Someone had already bought most of the 'on licence' stuff, but had missed those little gems slowly rotting away in the back garden. Indeed many of the spares were stored under lean-to's in the back garden, & these had in turn collapsed/sprung leaks over the years. Boxes of new walnut No4 butts were lying about, original ordnance chests full of boxes of assorted screws & other parts for No1's & No4's were just scattered about exposed to the weather & rusting away. Regrettably, there was just too much for me & the prices mentioned although not outrageous would have just worked out too much to job lot it all......It may well still be there for all I know. (However, for a modest outlay I did manage to fill several large boxes with spares before leaving!).
ATB