Front Pad

[tlvaughn]

I will be the first to admit not having much hands on experience with T's, but something does not look right to me on this front pad. Is it just me?

Information

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[jmoore]

Indian? Certainly looks a bit "off". But the receiver body has been properly milled it seems.

How does the rest of the rifle look?

[tlvaughn]

The rest of the rifle is in pretty good condition - it is a T Less Telescope.

[jmoore]

Better monitor with which to view I am on now.

Very "mue-gelly" front pad! If the spigot face wasn't spot faced, i'd have guessed it had been made with a dull file. Not yours, I hope! Or if it is, it was "such a deal"!

[Peter Laidler]

It looks to me like it's been removed and someone has set about it - none too carefully - with a linishing wheel and rounded off all the corners and edges. I'd say that some cack-handed Indian workshop has linished out the previous stake marks. Like JM says, the important spot faced spigot looks like it was machined properly, albeit a bit rough after all these years, as per H&H

[Roger Payne]

I've seen a few like this before & they were indeed all Indian rifles, although I must admit this pad takes the biscuit. I've seen a nuber of Indian rifles that were converted to Mk1/2 spec & that had all the original British wartime markings linished off them......& looked to have been done with the pads still on!! Charnwood had a quantity of them some years ago, including mutilated LB & Trials examples......

ATB[COLOR="Orange"]

[Peter Laidler]

Re the Indian No4T's Roger, while the collectors groaned a bit about the condition and the telescopes it seems that once both the rifles and scopes were stripped, properly assembled and finished off properly, they were as good as the next rifle. Agreed?

I think that if you countersunk those screw slots slightly deeper, made the finish a bit better, re-sweated the pad etc etc then sent it to BDL for a full phosphate and sunkorite paint, it'd be back to pretty well normal. Or just ask him to do it......... Sorry about that Brian if you're already up to your, er......., bottom in alligators!

[tlvaughn]

Based on the condition of the rifle, is it safe to assume that a previous owner removed and sold the front pad and that another owner purchased one as a replacement? The other problem I found was that somebody used phillips head screws on the cheek rest.

The good news is that it does have the Enfield inspectors mark on it and it is an early Savage MkI (matching).

---------- Post added at 06:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:53 PM ----------

I think that if you countersunk those screw slots slightly deeper, made the finish a bit better, re-sweated the pad etc etc then sent it to BDL for a full phosphate and sunkorite paint, it'd be back to pretty well normal. Or just ask him to do it......... Sorry about that Brian if you're already up to your, er......., bottom in alligators!

I have been pestering the hell out of Brian over the past few months, here is how I picture Brian every time I call or e-mail him:

[Brian Dick]

You're not pestering me. It's what I'm supposed to be here for. That pad is certainly ugly. Yuck. Folks sending repair work just need to be patient because with the declining US$, I'm spending allot of my time doing export paperwork on the friggin' computer. There just aren't enough hours in the day short of gallons of tea, coffee and burning the midnight oil. Going to an import/export conference next week in Virginia near DC to try and find out what's next with the illustrious gov't too. Should be interesting.

[Roger Payne]

Yes. Peter, I agree. DT & I bought several of the ex-Indian rifles from Charnwood although we did sort out those that remained in Mk1 guise (& so retained the original markings IIRC). It's amazing what a strip down & careful refinish will do.......& I'm sure that in North America Brian is the person to do it.

ATB