Description

All matching, original & one of only 481 made!

First time on the market!

The initial order by the MOD was for 2,500 SMLE No. 1 MkIII* HT sniper rifles but only 1,612 were actually made by the end of the war in 1945.

These rarely come onto the market & after being in the possession of an old Digger (now passed away) for the best part of half a century, this wonderful piece of Australian military history is now being offered for sale for the first time on consignment.

The Lithgow sniper rifles were conversions from older MkIII receivers as these had been made to tighter tolerances & generally produced more accurate shooting. After selection of suitable receivers, the rifles were stripped & in most cases only the original receiver bodies were retained for the rebuild as described on page 345 in Ian’s book. Only around 10% of the rifles in the sniper program were built on British actions & this was one of them, which along with being one of only 481 ‘short bracket’ models makes this a very rare rifle indeed.

The sniper rifle program was quite wide & varied in what was produced, with options for high or low mounts & differing length of stock. Every rifle was issued with a cheek piece (which was not fitted) so that the Unit Armourer could fit this if desired by the end user. As such, there are different variants, with some quite unexpected, such as a high mount without a cheek piece & a low mount with the cheek piece & rifles recorded as low mount ending up with a high mount scope. In the field you do what works & if it changes the recorded issued configuration, so be it with no thought of collectors 70 years later!

It was clearly stored correctly, as it is in great condition, fully original & matching. This rifle is documented as a genuine Lithgow HT sniper & listed as such on page 564 of Ian Skennerton’s book ‘The Lee-Enfield’. According to Ian’s book, this rifle entered into Army service on 30 August 1945, 2 days before WW2 ended. The green paint on the scope indicates it was intended for the jungles but it may have ending up in service with ‘K-Force’, the Australian contingent sent to Korea in 1950 because it was clearly issued & used in service. You make your own conclusions.

This was rescued from oblivion as it was literally kept in Grandpa’s cupboard & has been in a private collection since being acquired from the deceased estate until now being offered for sale.

Whoever spirited it away knew what they were doing as we have had the wood off & it is pristine, including the bore.

This came with the correct original canvas scope case & canvas storage bag.

The Pattern 1918 scope will benefit from a professional service & clean but is fully functional.

Never before offered for sale so if you must have this in your collection, please contact the shop to make an offer.

Make your decision based on what you see, so please view the photos carefully as they form the main description & override all written information.