Meet the new MKIII

[nijalninja]

G'day there everyone, just figured I might share some things about my new MKIII target rifle and what I think about it.

So this is a 1908 MKIII Sht Le BSA. It is stamped 'VIC' on top of the reciever ring, and it seems that the reciever, bolt, and nosecap all match. The barrel is a H barrel as this rifle after its service who knows where was kitted up to be a target rifle in the 1920's. The gunsmith responsible for this was named Tom Holt, and he modified the rifle for his cousin William Holt. Assuming the modifications he made then are the same modifications that are on it now the rifle: Has had the trigger guard and reciever bedded with what looks like putty; the fore-end and handguard channeled out to float the Heavy barrel; the hand joined to one piece, painted black, and the rear sight gap plugged and smoothed; A small bedding area just forward of the mid-band on top and bottom of the barrel; A small strip of tape along the right hand edge of the nosecap (I assume to tighten it to the fore-end); the nosecap opened up; packing under the mid-band; and, the fitting of a No4 Central sight to the rear.

All of this I have learned from some info that came with the rifle and from pulling it down and cleaning it myself. The bedding of the receiver and trigger guard is worn yet complete, I have yet to try it out. The barrel has heaps of rifling and what looks like very minimal pitting. The chamber seems lightly pitted in one spot too. So far I have repacked the mid-band, added a slip of paper between the wrist and fore-end as it was not as tight as could be (Now its pretty good), and added two slips of tape on either side of the nosecap as well as one pad at the front (It slides on so far and then gets firm where before it was loose).

Seems this gun has a lot of history and by all the dings on the wood it hasn't had it too easy even for a target rifle.

Oh also supposedly John Holt (That is William Holt's Son) used this rifle to achieve second at the NSW Queen's Shoot in 1958.

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Information

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[RobD]

It looks great! How does it group?

[MJ1]

.......................

How about a range report ?

[nijalninja]

Haven't tried shooting it yet as I want to take my time and do a proper handloading procedure on it. The bore is a little darkened so I reckon some shots before taking it for full bore groups won't hurt.

[Surpmil]

Interesting piece. What is marked on the escutcheon on the butt?

[Mk VII]

I see it has the pin by the band, so that is an early stock.

[nijalninja]

Surpmil, by escutcheon do you mean the silver plate? It states who the rifle was made for and by whom it was made.

Mk VII, that pin is right about where the bedding surface is inside the stock. There are also some pins in various other places as I suppose the more stability and strength in the stock the more accurate. Are you thinking that perhaps this stock is like a modified MKI Sht LE stock or something? I thought that pin was just an armourers modification.

[Mk VII]

No, it's a feature of the very early Mk.3 forends, a carryover from the Martini. It was soon dropped.

[nijalninja]

Well there you go I learned something today. Cheers Mk VII.