For the Lithgow experts, which I am not. |
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Posted: May 14 2022 at 4:24pm |
Interesting! It certainly sounds like them. Thanks.
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Honkytonk
Senior Member Joined: December 30 2017 Location: Brandon Mb Status: Offline Points: 4770 |
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Shamu, I googled it. I believe it is renamed Interarms after the founder Mr. Cummings passed in '98. Used to be in Virginia, now it looks to be in Texas. Might be the place your looking for!
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Des anyone have any info on "Interarmco" a now defunct importer? They imported Lithgow SMLE's but I can find out nothing about the rifles or the company?
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Zed
Special Member Donating Member Joined: May 01 2012 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 5585 |
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Rifle looks great!
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Its an Adirondack Chair! they're supposed to be "All natural" Heck, I scrubbed the mold & lichens off it three years ago. |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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SGonger
Senior Member Joined: February 20 2021 Location: Utah U.S.A Status: Offline Points: 418 |
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Anyone seen the Tardis Box anywhere? 🤨
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Honkytonk
Senior Member Joined: December 30 2017 Location: Brandon Mb Status: Offline Points: 4770 |
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The chair needs some oil!😁
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SGonger
Senior Member Joined: February 20 2021 Location: Utah U.S.A Status: Offline Points: 418 |
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Righto 🍻👍
1. A photo of the style type (copper blocks) setup for comparison to a couple of my previous finds. 2. A photo of the stock bolt plate would be appreciated especially if stamped marked out of curiosity too. Cheer’s today. |
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Anyone seen the Tardis Box anywhere? 🤨
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Yep pulling all the wood off (carefully). Then I oil all the metal & frequently apply some Vaseline as a waterproofing agent! The wood will get a couple of coats of RLO as they tend to be a bit on the dry side. I also got a bit of information I want to check out. It was common practice for the fitters at Lithgow to pencil the PAA numbers into the barrel channel to confirm they were fitting the same wood to the same action today as they were yesterday! Now I actually have the rifle in my hands I notice two things about the wood. Its much darker that it looks in pictures, almost as dark as the walnut on the BSA! The wood has far more & more distinct grain & figure than I expected. The full length shots on the Adirondak chair are probably the most accurate rendering. Any thoughts on that? |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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SGonger
Senior Member Joined: February 20 2021 Location: Utah U.S.A Status: Offline Points: 418 |
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👍😎🍻!!
When you say (stripped it) y’all meaning ya gonna drop the fore-stock off it? Cheer’s today.
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Anyone seen the Tardis Box anywhere? 🤨
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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OK, more pics as promised. These show the wood surface in
better detail including the rasp marks. I've also discovered a very
lightly stamped item or two under the forend, about 1/2 way down along
the length "S" (or5) 08 03. Further down, close to the end cap. "B" & Slaz 43. Some have told me they see a "JJ&CO NY.NY" on
the right side charger bridge flange but I can not see it even with a
good quality 10X apochromatic lupe & directional lighting. I think
its simply a slight imperfection in the metal being misinterpreted? I haven't totally stripped it yet, I'm waiting for my RLO to arrive there's none locally. Maybe then I'll find "The Brand of Shame", even if I do its just an indication it was imported by them so I'm not worried. I haven't taken it to the range as I'm still in the process of joining a new club & its a long slow process. Ive been to one monthly meeting & introduced myself, the club voted on new applicants at the next monthly meeting & now I have to go for a range safety & orientation which is happening this Sunday. Then I get my membership & range keys & can shoot whenever I can get there. |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Yep, & so far I'm seriously impressed! Headspace passes a 0.067" NO GO, with about 1/4" of bolt knob travel left. Trigger is smooth & crisp with a 3.5 Lb first stage & a 5.5 Lbs second stage. Wood to metal fit is overall excellent. Bore is sharp & shiny with good rifling The Main screw is witness mark scribed & staked! Someone, somewhere, put a lot of time, experience & skill into this rifle, we'll probably never know for sure who or where. I removed the lower hand-guard. (Ignore the Brass Kisses, that's me using a "non marring" brass tool) to pop it free. On the rear-sight & bore its stamped in 4 rows from muzzle to breech "L" "HV" "SC" "MA 41" & a really tiny matching serial number matching the barrel & receiver right near the hinge. This pic Shows the "missing" rasp marks rather well too. |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Zed
Special Member Donating Member Joined: May 01 2012 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 5585 |
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The most important thing is that you are happy with it, and that it's safe to shoot!
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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I went all over the net searching for various versions of "Lithgow SMLE" "Lithy SMLE" "Jovino SMLE" "41 Lithy SMLE". & "LIthgow built or JJ&CO SMLE, tell tale differences" Searched both for "all" & "Images" & in the course of that found several pics of black park finished '41 rifles. One of them was a Jovino the others weren't in any way similar to the "blond bitsters". They also had several other features common to mine, features that I am just finding out about. I also got confirmation from some Aussie mates one of who knows 2 "old Guys" that actually worked at Lithgow back in the day. He asked them & they also agreed that it was done for a while. I'm still doing the usual birthday cleanup as it was stored untouched for many years & so is overdue. I have found the bolt head overclocking is good, both recoil lugs are bearing 30(ish)% & evenly. I can't get a 3 thou feeler gauge in between the butt socket & the rear of the forend (I was afraid of bending the 2 or 1 thou) Firing pin protrusion is within tolerances darned near perfect in fact. Trigger pull & bolt/safety function is 100% also. Today I'll check headspace. I have some RLO on order & when it arrives I'll give the stock some TLC, but that's on hold for right now awaiting the deliver of RLO. I understand your skepticism & welcome it I like to have a counterbalance to my thoughts. Even though I found images of several Non Jovino ones I have no idea where & when exactly it was done though. If ts a build up someone took a lot of care doing it IMO. This kind of fitting doesn't strike me as "drug out of a bucket randomly & slapped together"! Which is supposed to be Jovino's SOP. I'd expect to find more sloppy discrepancies by now, but as you say who knows! |
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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Homer
Senior Member Joined: January 01 2013 Location: Brisbane Status: Offline Points: 664 |
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No I’m not doubting it, you may even have seen threads where I’ve subscribed to it. Standard finish on new rifles built in the SAF after mid 1941 roughly were a greenish parkerised finish, as were FTR’d rifles from 1945 through the 1950’s. However, Ive noted rifles with early/mid 44 repair dates on the butt having undergone varying levels of repair that had a mat black parked finish. Not sure if they were done in the small arms factory, orange annex or lower level ordinance workshops, but seen enough to suggest it’s legitimate. Also many others that have had similar repairs with no date stamps at all, so can’t rely determine when it may have been done but a general consensus is they may have been done much later, possibly in preparation for sell off or special orders, cadets maybe or just tidying up after the SMLE was basically obsolete.
Could be completely wrong of course, haven’t seen any published data on this. It’s purely observation. This rifle however still looks more of a build up to me.
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Let me go & find the original. I'm looking everywhere, "research" & it's come up in several places, so it may be the same misinformation repeated. I am NOT wedded to this, but I am looking. If I made a mistake that's fine, I'm just looking to see what the truth is. "Buy the gun, not the story" works both ways maybe?
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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