Parker Hale T4

[Bruce_in_Oz]

i have a new, unfitted, (no extractor cut), 7.62 NATO barrel on my bench, marked Parker Hale and proofed to 20T.

As it is threaded 14 TPI, it would appear to be for a T4.

The catch is that it is a whisker shy of 30 inches long and all the info I have on T4 rifles (so far), only mentions 26 inch barrels.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

Information

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[Gil Boyd]

Bruce,
I asked one who worked most of his life on these at Parker Hale.......Bill Smallwood and here is his answer in lockdown:

A photo of the face of the barrel would be good as the only barrels for the T4 that I saw were angled all round the face, so as to do away with an extractor groove, and also this did away with the need to index the barrels.
Early barrels could have been made with a flat face and extractor groove filed in when the barrel was fitted and headspaced, but this would be a very lengthy operation and may be the reason they went to the all round angled barrel.
Also I have no doubt longer barrels were made maybe in small batches to aid accuracy etc etc.
Also the fact it has been roll marked with "Parker Hale" shows that it must have been fitted to a rifle as barrels were never marked until fitted so the name would be on the top of the barrel.
A photo would also show the type of shoulder it has.
Also be of interest to find out where it was acquired.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

I am in the "Penal Colonies" in Australia.

The breech end of the barrel is pretty-much dead flat apart from the breech thread and the usual small chamfer on the chamber. The "Knox Form" is tapered like a Lee Enfield but the profile from there forward is "beefy" to say the least. At the muzzle end there is a parallel section about an inch and a quarter long, left "a bit rough" and obviously intended for mounting one of the commercial "tunnel" front sight units.

The lack of an extractor clearance-cut or "reverse-coning" (and the condition of the blueing), suggests that this barrel has never been fitted on a rifle. This makes the markings even more "interesting"; maybe a "special" for the Colonies"?.

I cannot remember where or when I bought it / "inherited" it, otherwise I could go back and ask some questions. And the two fine older gentlemen who were my range mentors and sources of all manner of parts and accessories have since "demised".

[Gil Boyd]

Bruce,
Bill kindly responded to your request, hope it helps mate:

Hi Gil
The profile of the barrel sounds more like an M84 or an M86 as the TX1200 and the T4 had a small knox form of about a quarter of an inch just like the cadet and C3 barrel, my thoughts now are, is the barrel one that may have been knocked up for maybe Aurther Hale to use on one of his target Martini rifles (Parker Hale Dewar rifle) as i think the thread is the same and I know he used one himself as we had it at Normans till it was sold many years ago, it was in 7.62x51 but the barrel profile was as the described profile, the Aurther Hale one even had the fore sight band that clamped onto the muzzle and not the standard screwed on one as the normal Dewar rifles, it was also a long barrel but what length exactly i couldn't be certain of, all speculation of cause but it could account for the barrel he has. The face of the blokes barrel would also be flat so as to accommodate the extractor that the Martini has.
Take Care
Bill