[Son]

.. the other day on e pay. Spotted a Pat07 serial numbered just 20 after my 1940 Lithgow. Had to have it, it's the closest to a match I'd seen. It was probably in the next crate to my rifle in 1941 (bayonet dated 2 '41) when they wheeled out of the factory.
Anyway, I got it for the starting price! No scabbard, and it's been refurbished, but not remarked- I can live with that!

 

[Son]

No, thought I'd taken some, but I haven't. Must be time for a new Lithgow "Family" portrait.... I'll get back to you shortly...

Yeah, Darren... I just look every now and then, a bit of reward for patience I 'spose

Demo, here's one I got a couple of pics of (nearly finished)... a bit closer to the age you like, mate.

 

[Son]

Is that the one from Rolly's auction in Melbourne last week?

No, I picked this one up locally a while back for $90. It needed a few bits, but I found a Qld maple foreend for it... Seeing as it has no FTR or other markings post production, I figured it worth a restoration. I have an unnumbered bolt for it and a rear sight protector of correct vintage too. The right nosecap is an issue, as is a decent Qld maple front handguard.

How much did the '23 at AAAA go for? I didn't see it in the listings.

Put into context of rarity, for anyone wondering... there were about ten times as many MkV SMLE's made as there were '23 Lithgows....

 

[Son]

Son, I hope you have patented that rifle stand you used for the pics, what a cracker

Yeah, I made it the other week. Looks like it was built for the job!

 

[Son]

I'm not sure of the date of the "Rest, Rifle, Aiming". It is probably marked on it somewhere. I found out quite a few similar rests sold off a while back, but they were for the L1A1, and differed slightly.

Anyway, here's the pics of the 1940 Lithgow. The story , first....
A mate of a mate asked if I could strip and clean the .303 his dad left him, and teach him a bit about it. It had a lot of cosmolene in it, and cleaned up quite nice except for one small area of pitting on the side of the nosecap. It's all original; and matching, but had the foreend and possibly the front handguard replaced in service quite early as it didn't have the magazine cut-off removed and upgraded to III*. (?) The bore is immaculate, the boltface unmarked, and it has the green paint under the woodwork. The owner came back around and I assembled it in front of him, explaining all the markings (which I had typed up on three A4 pages for him to take). When I went to hand it to him, he said "you keep it- take good care of it"... end of story. The bayonet is serialled just 20 after the rifle, I had to have it.
PS; Gotta love an MA 41 marked magazine cut off!

 

[Son]

Yep, a mate who had done "Nasho" had told me of such a beast, but I hadn't seen one until now, nice Lithgow too :thumbsup:

Didn't realise you hadn't seen one. I just had a look to see if I had a pic that showed more of it. This is the best I have on file. It stands just under shoulder height for me, the legs have a spreader bar around them about 10 inches above the ground. The legs have sharpened points ... the bit drawn in red is what I'm missing- it's an elevation screw set up. If anyone knows where I can find one... it's a left hand thread inside a right hand thread. Turning the knob extends or retracts both ends of it, raising or lowering the elevation.

 

[Son]

Thanks, I'd apreciate that, eleanori! Just remembered, there's also a bolt up into the bottom of the swivel between the tripod legs I'm missing too. That bit would be real easy to make, though.

One thing that really got me about my 1923 was the fact it hadn't had anything done in service. The original 1923 dated matching barrel with matching rear sight, and it's original butt unmolested (can I say that?)
The $650 odd the auction rifle went for would be about the asking price for any vg+ FTR in a shop. Maybe the FTR dampened the bidding a bit...

So, you didn't score at all at the auction?