Photos of my new Enfield No. 4 Mk. 1 T sniper rifle

[Trebor]

I picked up an Enfield No. 4 Mk 1 (T) recently. This is a 1944 BSA Shirley rifle that is one of the "less scope" rifles built by Holland & Holland and then mated with a scope at some later date. The kit consists of the rifle, scope, scope mount, lens covers, hard scope case, original 1907 sling, cleaning kit, and original transit chest. This was a "friend of a friend" deal and the seller lived only 10 minutes away!

The rifle is all matching with appropriate markings in the places they should be marked. I posted some photos of markings over at Gunboards when i was looking at the rifle. The shots weren't very good so I plan to retake them later.

The rifle has a pristine bore and is very clean overall. The scope is crisp and clear with "normal" resistance for adjustments.

The case. The carry handles were removed some time ago. I'm considering having repros made and installed so any info on those is appreciated.





The inside is missing the front top block.







Scope case. The case matches the mount









The scope is marked "W" and "B" for "Waterproofed" and "Bloomed." (What exactly is "blooming" anyway? I know it made the scope brighter, but how?)







The colors are a bit oversaturated in this one, but I like the shot.







And here's a "behind the scenes" of my quickie makeshift photo studio. I shot outside on a partially cloudy day. Full overcast would have been better but I wanted to get these the day I picked it up. The changing lighting as the sun came in and out did cause some issues.

I hung an army blanket from a windowsill weighted down with two bricks. I put a second blanket on the ground and hid the seam between the two with the chest. I put a white "science project" tri-fold on the right as a reflector, but I'm not sure how much difference it made. I shot with my Nikon 3200 in RAW and also with my wife's Canon Powershot D40 in JPEG. The Nikon shots turned out better overall (not always the case) except that the battery died near the end. I had to color correct the full length shots because I took them with the Canon and everything wound up with a blue tint due to some white balance issue.

Information

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[pcrambo]

Gorgeous..Lucky find!!

[browningautorifle]

What a nice clean rifle. Very nice...

[enfield303t]

Very nice.

[Seaforth72]

Moore Leather in the UK makes reproduction leather carrying handles for the No. 15 chest. I bought a set and am happy with them. They make other leather accessories worth looking at too, such as the carrying strap for the No. 8 MK. I scope case.

British - WW2 - Fittings, Rifle Transit Chest, Leather - Moore Leather

Replica scope caps for the No. 32 scopes
http://www.mooreleather.co.uk/sniper-scope-lense-caps/sniper-scope-lanse-caps---ww2---british

[Peter Laidler]

Returned Stores Group.
Building 22E
Base Ord Depot Donnington

[Gil Boyd]

The transit chest often tells a totally different story then the rifle, thats why the 4T attracts so much love of ownership. The various parts, stamps and numbers that all tell a separate story, unravelling a true detective story if researched correctly.
Wonderful alround rifle and wedged in British and Commonwealth history

[Roger Payne]

Very nice. I assume you say it's a 'less telescope' rifle because of the lack of a body side-wall T? The label in the tin is old (?1951) & the scope bracket bears just one rifle number (& the font is one I recognise from seeing on numerous other examples) - yours, so they've clearly been together a long time. Is the scope number stamped into the butt in the usual place?

- added later - I am just wondering if it's a matching rig that just by fluke chance escaped getting its body wall T before it left H&H's.

The R prefix rifles came just at the cusp of the year change over from 1944 to 1945, examples bearing either date existing.

A very nice find.

[Brian Dick]

Very nice rifle. I have a few sets of the leather handles available too made locally to original spec. Not sure where you're located. They're perfect. PM me if still in need.

---------- Post added at 12:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------

Welcome Peter Crampton! It's about time you joined us!!

[Seaforth72]

Gil Boyd is spot on about the Transit Chest SA No. 15 telling its own story. Unfortunately one cannot be sure if the chest and the rifle always travelled together even if the chest is numbered on a tag to the rife. One of my chests had many layers of markings. I eventually uncovered "1 GREEN JACKETS" "H T DONERA" (a British transport shipv apparently that took troops to and from foreign postings) and "TIDWORTH" (a depot). Although I have the rifle that came in that chest, the chest was not numbered to the rifle (no end tag in metal sleeve) so I do not know if they had travelled together for a long time.