Rare WWI RN 'Commercial' Rifle

[Roy]

Hi Chaps & Chapeses,

....(Disclaimer; if you are offended by firearms please avert your eyes)...

Okay so my latest find is a little special and spectacularly rare, so wanted to share it here with those forum members that may be interested.

I have a passion for the early BSA Lee-Speed (commercial) pattern of rifle. These were essentially high quality sporting/hunting rifles based around the Lee-Metford military rifle that was introduced in British service in 1888.

So what does a commercial sporting rifle have to do with the Royal Navy, I hear you ask? Well as Britain was so short of arms at the outbreak of WWI, the Admiralty had to hand over many of the rifles from aboard their ships, so to fill the gap they started to purchase all sorts of rifles from a variety of sources. In March of 1915 this included 970 commercial sporting rifles from BSA and LSA.

The rifle shown here I'm thrilled to say is now in my collection and is one of those rare 970 rifles. As you can see it has fine checkering and 'express' sights but also has Naval inspection marks too (N & ⩚ ).

Now all I have to do is grab some ammo and get to the range..

I must confess that the moment I removed the magazine the smell took me right back to my days in the ACF learning to shoot with the Lee Enfield No4 MkI.

Cheers, Roy.

[Tigerlily]

Roy. I have been meaning to send you a message to find out if it had been delivered yet.

It's absolutely fab, real beauty, soooo jealous


I await an update on how she is in action!

Alli

[Roy]

Hi Alli and all,

Thanks so much for that. Yes quite thrilled with this lovely rifle. Fascinating to see such a high quality commercial rifle seconded for military use.

I will certainly report back once I'm able to get to the range.

Cheers, Roy.

[ubervamp]

Congrats Roy!

I know you were stoked about this one. A real find
Enjoy!

Cheers

Colin

[Peter Brydon]

Roy,

A lovely looking item.

I don't usually have an interest in firearms but I did acquire a Martini Henry Artillery Carbine this week that was originally issued to the London Artillery Volunteers and seems to have ended up as a Drill piece.

The price was so low I could not turn it down and I bought it to sell on but I may keep it until I really need to sell it.

Peter

[Roy]

Thank you for that Gents,

Peter that looks like a lovely find. Can't help but like these Martini Rifles, a lovely find, well done. There is a lot of 'cadet' pattern Martini rifles floating around over here at the moment, some nice examples too.

Thanks for sharing Peter and well done again.

Cheers, Roy.

[Tigerlily]

That is a lovely find Peter, really nice piece.

Alli

[Donny B.]

Originally Posted by Roy

Hi Chaps & Chapeses,

....(Disclaimer; if you are offended by firearms please avert your eyes)...

Okay so my latest find is a little special and spectacularly rare, so wanted to share it here with those forum members that may be interested.


Cheers, Roy.

I must say that I was not offended and there was no need for me to avert my eyes.

What a pretty gun. Well done, you, for getting it.

I find it very interesting. Until I saw Salter's list, with a description very much the same as yours, I would have passed over such a rifle as a very finely sporterized piece, of mixed heritage, put together by a very skillful gunsmith. None of my limited reference material has any mention of such a rifle....at least that I have seen.

Well done for spotting it for what it was and being able to procure it for your collection.

I guess I wonder at the 1915 thinking, when there was such a shortage of rifles that the Admiralty had to hand so many of theirs over to help fill the gap, and gun makers were probably already starting to modify the SMLE and take short cuts in order to speed up production, that some gun smiths were still able to produce such lovely commercial models.

Perhaps it is a catch up from the early days when, I believe, many of the sea service weapons tended to be rather second rate and poorly finished when compared to land patterns.

Tell us more.

Donny B.

[Roy]

Hi Donny,

Thank you for that. In the past I have had a little negative fallout for posting vintage British firearms, hence my disclaimer.

The BSA commercial or sporting rifles were very popular around the turn of hte century, these are now know amongst collectors as 'Lee-Speed' due to the patten details found on some examples. I love the look, feel and quality of these classic British rifles, so to find one actually purchased by the Admiralty is a bit of a find to say the least.

Details on these is very scant and the few pieces I know I have pulled together from various sources often passed on second or third hand. I will plan to pull all the details together and write an article for my website at some points but that may be a little while as I would like more examples of this rifle to feature (one more just purchased - so getting there).

I picked up so .303 ammo this morning, so a range trip will be on the cards very soon and will certainly give a little mini review on how this old girl shoots. I have and have shot a number of classic British firearms from this period and I find the quality is superb and I'm never disappointed, so let's hope it is the case this time.

Cheers, Roy.

[Roy]

Hi Chaps,

Well as promised I took this old girl to the range and wanted to let you all know how I got on.

Shooting this vintage .303 took me right back to my teens in the ACF. The distinct and formidable 'boom' of the .303 brought back many good memories and I can't wait for my next outing.

The rifle ran flawlessly, a real joy to shoot. The action was smooth and positive and as good as the day it was made a century ago. The single stage trigger was a little heavy but also positive and crisp, so with a little time to acclimate I had no problem getting the hang of it.

As one would expect my local gun shops were not brimming with .303 but I was able to find a few boxes and two type; The first was Sellier & Bellot Soft Point 9.7g 150 grs, the other was PPU FMJ 11.3g 174 grs. The latter was terrible, the rifle didn't like it at all and it seemed like every shot was a flyer. However the Sellier & Bellot was a totally different story as it was accurate and consistent and I was thrilled to put up a fifty yard group in less than one inch and I'm only an average shot!

I loved shooting this rifle and will certainly plan to take the old girl out again before too long.

See a few photos from this mornings range trip.

Cheers, Roy.

[Tinto]

A lovely rifle, Roy, and excellent grouping you achieved at the range!
Would adjusting the sights result in perfect bullseyes?
Cheers, Tinto

[Tigerlily]

Oh Roy so jealous!

Glad she performs as well as she looks.

Lucky swine!

Alli

[Roy]

Thanks so much guys,

If any of you make it out to Arizona I'll always be happy to take you shooting, always got a few old guns floating around..

Yes I was especially pleased how this century old rifle shot, that's good old British craftsmanship for you. Will a little practice I think I can start to bring it closer to that x ring.

Cheers, Roy.

[whizzbang]

Pretty good Roy - I'd be happy with a group like that out of that old blunderbuss If I did the same size group with my F-Class rifle at 800 yards that would be a good day!

[Les 546]

Roy, Lovely looking weapon and in beautiful condition, nothing better than being able to fire a treasure like that, sorry Peter not so sure your Martini is ready for the range, but none the less a nice find!