Irish Contract Pattern 1914 Mk1* (T) rifles

[breakeyp]

Ireland let a contract to BSA for 79 telescopic sighted rifles over the period 1935 to 1938. Apparently BSA made new Pattern 1918 telescopic sights for the order. The mount leg has the Irish Government mark of FF in a circle. These represent 3% of production.

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Information

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[Promo]

Jesus Christ, no wonder they turn up so little if so many are with you! Yours might be the first ones which I had seen which are not reblued and not sanded! Did any of your rifles came with the matching number transit chest?

Edit: and by the way, first time I see one of the Irish contract with a cheek pad!

[Tom Jackson]

Most of the Irish contract rifles I have seen (about five) have the original blue finish - some but not all of the stocks have been sanded. On the other hand the British rifles with PP scopes I have seen have all been refinished and have sanded stocks. It appeared to me that the British refinished many of their rifles in the post WWI period and at least some of these rifles were used to fill the Irish contract (with BAS scopes) while the balance were new rifles. Some of the auction descriptions I have seen - including the rifle I bought several years ago were not accurate.

[JGaynor]

In the late 60's I owned two of the "Rifle No. 3 Mk1 T". (P14 Snipers)

The first one was Winchester Sn W80529. I purchased it thru the mail from SARCO for $35.00. minus the scope. This rifle might have come via the irish Free State but i doubt it - more likely just a surplus British WW1 sniper.

The second one was Winchester Sn W159158. This rifle came with the matching Irish Free BSA marked scope (also sn 159158). It was in excellent condition overall no signs of refinishing of the metal or wood.

Initially, the second rifle belonged to a friend who was able to locate a second, Irish Free State, BSA model 1918 scope and mount (Sn 179656) which he gave to me.

One fine summer day we took both rifles to a local range in Va to shoot them side by side. After about five rounds my friend complained of a problem. He could no longer see thru his scope. On inspection we determined that one of the aspirin-sized image erecting lenses in the middle of the scope had disintegrated on discharge. Since i was more into snipers he gave the rifle and scope to me on the spot.

Later I used parts from my scope to repair the damaged scope. NB: BSA at the time had not completely mastered the concept of interchangeable parts!

Over time i sold off both rifles.

But it was probably me who posted the warning about shooting any rifle with essentially unrepairable optics. Just not worth it.

One final note as to the numbering. I suspect the rifles were selected based on their shooting characteristics and the scopes were then assigned the rifle serial number.

Regards,

Jim

[breakeyp]

No chest but I do have a couple of the special canvas carrying case for the detached telescopic sight.

[browningautorifle]

Nice, nice rifles. I'd love to shoot one some time to see...

[breakeyp]

Nice, nice rifles. I'd love to shoot one some time to see...

I do not believe in having to shoot all antiques. There have been forum entries where Pattern 1914 snipers were taken out and shot with the result that the scopes were destroyed as some of the internals had aged to the point that some internals fell apart.

[browningautorifle]

I do not believe in having to shoot all antiques.

I tend to agree, we've discussed all that and I think it's tragic to damage an irreplaceable piece. I'd just like to know... I won't even shoot a firearm I have for sale as I don't want anything else to befall it while it waits...

[Promo]

Sorry, not a native speaker .. I of course meant the canvas carrying cases. Do you have the matching numbers scope cases to them? Or would you mind letting me know the serials of your scope cases? I have one of the Irish contract cases too, with that little number out there we might be able to mate them back to the matching number rifles.

[breakeyp]

Sorry but most accessories are in long term storage and darned hard to get to.