Porter Baldridge Page 7
The nomenclature on the .22 rifles is:
NO.2 MKIV, MKIV* NO.1 MKIII made into a .22 rebarreled or lined.
NO.7 22 version of the NO.4 MKI* made at Long Branch.
Rifle "C" NO.7 Made from a NO.4 MKI Long Branch.
Rifle NO.8, and NO.9 are post WWII NO.4 conversions to .22.
Brass, zinc alloy, or steel butt plates are correct, seems to be
Hobson's choice as to what was used. The Butt Stock Oilers can be
either brass, or plastic (WWII). The cleaning kits and accessories are
pretty much interchangeable and correct.
On the NO.4, you will find 2,4,5, ot 6 groove barrels, depends who
made the barrel, who made the rifle, or who re-worked the rifle, and
when. As I said before, reworked rifles can have any parts on them
that fit. I have seen a good many NO.4 rifles with Jungle Carbine
trigger guard plate assemblies on them. The NO.5 trigger guard plate
has the front guard screw area cut in so it looks like a head. I think
they had a bunch of these left over, and they were used to rework
other rifles.
On surplus ammo, the British stuff sucks, the Indian stuff is so-so, the
Greek stuff is consistently excellent, and Boxer primed. The FN stuff
is great, Hansen is good, Sellier & Bellot is good but spendy. The
German stuff is quite good, the Kynoch stuff is especially bad. Avoid
Pakistani 303 ammo like the plague. A lot of this ammo comes on
stripper clips in bandoleers for the same price as boxed ammo,
expecially the FN stuff, and some of the British stuff. This is a good
way to get the charger clips for free instead of paying a dollar or so
apiece for them. The full bandoleers make a neat display item as
well. Remember, most of this is virulently corrosive, and hot soapy
water, or good old GI Bore Cleaner is the only safe way to preserve
your barrel. HOPPES, SHOOTER'S CHOICE, OUTER'S WILL NOT
NEUTRALIZE CORROSIVE AMMO RESIDUE. Incidentally, the GI
bore cleaner I am talking about is the WWII stuff, not the current stuff.
Gun Parts Corporation has the old stuff.
Ammo is marked as follows:
Pakistan _______ P.O.F. and a date
India __________ OFV. OK, or KF with an arrow between the k and f.
England________ K is Kynoch, SR, TH, GBF, RH are other markings.
Greece ________ HXP,E
Germany _______ DAG, DNG, GECO, IWK, ME, MEN, MS
© Porter Baldridge 1996 All rights reserved.