Looky what I found today... (can you say rare?)

[Claven2]

Before we get started, no, this rifle IS NOT FOR SALE to anyone at any price so before I get the inevitable PM's, please accept that they will go unanswered.

This is the second of these experimental shortened and lightened Longbranch REL sniper rifles I have ever come across. The last went into a collection in Markham, Ontario about 6 or 7 years ago. This one just came for sale and is already off the market again, but I thought we could all enjoy the pics

This is serial number 3. I don't know how many LB made, but it could not have been more than 10or so at most for limited trials. The ASC43 prefix seems to be common to the examples out there.

If anyone knows much more about these, do share. Clive Law saw the last one (it was sold in Ottawa before it went to a collection in Markham) and was very envious of the new owner.


Matching number on the mount, of course.

Just look at that cute little stubby safety lever and the multi-range rotating apreature sight offset from the bore.

Nifty swing-out front sight like a Bren...


This is neat - look at the hand stop and the coarse checkering to improve the grip. Also, there's a finger groove/lightening cut in the forestock at the handguard interface. I half wonder if these were not the inspiration for the L39 and L42 rifles?

You can see here the receivers were made from standard No.4MkI receivers - the rear sight plunger hole has been neatly plugged.

And we all know what these scopes sell for these days...

Here we see the lightening cut in the receiver sidewall.

Scope mount:

forearm checkering:

And the cheekpiece is a bit wider to the left side than a normal 4T cheekpiece - presumably for the offset iron sights.

Matching bolt:


All the proofs are LB and C-arrow. No Canadian Arsenals stamps. I suspect the rifle was built in very late 1943 (hence the ASC43 marks) and the scope to be an early 1944 REL optic. Obviously, these never went into full production.

Hope y'all enjoyed the show and tell

Information

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[Badger]

Congratulations ....

Great find and a beautiful piece ...

Thanks for posting the pics ...

Regards,
Badger

[grant580]

Wow!, now is that something or what?, congrats on that purchase. Those off-set sights are amazing.
Did you have to trade your house for this rifle?

[smellie]

I have just taken several pills and now I am going to find something solid to bang my head against.

What an absolutely AMAZING find!

Thanks so much for the glorious photos.

Congratulations on a real KEEPER!

[Claven2]

i should clarify, I found the rifle but I don't (sadly) own it. A friend does and I have access to it for pictures, etc. but it is not mine. Too bad really! It was not inexpensive - no "old lady with the Vietnam Corvette" story here.

[RJW NZ]

Not to sound ungrateful for the awesome pics, is there any chance of a long shot showing the overall rifle? I'm looking at how close that front band is to the front of the sight and realizing this might be one very short rifle.
What would be the logic behind making a very short rifle and then making a sniper out of it?
thanks

[jmoore]

Long barrel, short fore stock!

Official Govn't Issue Bubba Rifle (Experimental).
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Very, Very Cool Bubba rifle!

[Claven2]

The barrel is full length - the stock is L39 length, more or less. I'll try to get another pic over the next few days.

[Nyles]

Wow, that is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[NavyShooter]

Wowzers!