no4's in austalia.

[henry r]

after watching LE's come up for sale in Australia for the last 9 month or so i have noticed that basically all of the no4's are either longbranch or savage with the exception being some low/no use fazakerly no4 mk2's.

were only savage and longbranch no4 mk1's imported to australia or is it just freakish luck that i haven't seen any maltby, faz or bsa mk1's?

thanks.
henry.

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.

[brent65]

There's plenty around I have had a few over the years and currently have 2 maltby's and last time I was in Lawrance Ordnance he had a bunch of them.

[martins8589]

Ihave a No4 that only has "ENGLAND" on it?

[Peter Laidler]

While I was in Oz in the 60's, while we'd heard of the No4's of course, they were fairly rare. I'd seen them of course but the Australian Armourers had heard about the Mk1/3 and 1/2 or Mk2 versions they'd never seen one in the flesh. I got a set of the drawings for the tech library at Bandiana which were copied several times.

Incidentally, has anyone out there modified a No1 rifle to trigger-on-body spec. It has been done because my boss in NZ did it to his

[No.6]

I had the pleasure of visiting the AWM in Canberra last year and asked to see their Maltby No.4 Mk1, amongst other items. The AWM reference # is REL/16298.

Rifle's date is 1941, serial is D18312, so an early No.4.
Receiver is stamped "R.O.F.M.N.o.4.MK.1.1941."

Interestingly, it has a 2-groove barrel and all the marked parts have maker's initials, not the S/M/Nxx factory numbers.
The lower furniture band is crude and thick, and the upper band (solid type) and front caps are painted black.
Back sight is a Mk II (300 & 600 yds, only), also, the cocking piece is a Mk VI round type (so a Mk I, I presume?), not the 'standard' No4 block with 3 grooves. The whole was clearly original and untampered with. An original survivor that's not been refitted etc.

They also have No.4T A38922, with No.32 Mk II 'scope Serial 11142.

Ian
(LERA #023, btw)

[Surpmil]

Quite a few of the early Maltbys seem to have Savage made MkI cocking pieces; never heard tell of a No1 MkVI type with the cross screw however.

[S-A-M3]

One answer might be that they were both extensively used in NZ?, plus the RAAF used No4 Mk1/3 Savages for a short time Post War.

[Peter Laidler]

The RAAF at Butterworth had No4's - but definately not Mk1/3's. They were Mk1*'s (or 1/1's)

[Frederick303]

A lot of No 4 were imported Into Australia after 1961 when the various state rifle associations allowed them to be used in rifle competition. One reason you might see a lot of Savages is that in 1958 the US code as changed to dis allow the import of previously lend-leased rifles from being re-imported. As such the savage No 4 MK I* rifles were no longer allowed to be imported into the US of A. prior to 1985 they were kind of rare here in the states. In fact the stories told were the ones that were around had leaked in from Canada.

[Flying10uk]

Am I correct in thinking that the Australian army never used No4 rifles but the Royal Australian Airforce did, if only for a short time? I have several No4 pig-sticker bayonets with what appear to be Australian acceptance markings which seemed curious as I thought the Australian army never used the No4 rifle. Would these bayonets have been intended for use by the RAAF? Thanks for any info.