Savage No4 mrk1* from India.

[Dalt84]

I picked up these rifle yesterday from a gun show and noticed all the numbers matches. And it has the US property mark. S No1 mrk1* but no date. And has the bolt thew the front end of the stock. There is a 506 mark in the bottom stock that would indicate refurbishment in India I believe.
Any other information would be appreciated!

 

[Claven2]

FTR in August 1961. Definitely in India. They either reblued the barrelled receiver at that time, or more likely someone reblued it more recently here in Canada. In 1961 the Indians would not have polished the metal and reblued the gun, they would have bead blasted it, parkerized it, and painted it black. also the bands and other hardware looks more worn than the barelled received.

The Indians modified the middle band to accept a clip-on grenade launching sight. The Indians used a LOT of surplus No.4 rifles from the UK as energa greande firing rifles, while keeping the No.1MkIII* as the standard infantry rifle, so this mod is not unexpected. They all got retired when the 1A1 SLR was fully issued.

The rear sight has been changed for a late WW2 british made sight.

If you post a photo of the bolt serial number, we can tell you if it was replaced and renumbered at refurb time, or if it's the original Savage bolt - if you care.

 

[kjohn]

Nice find!! I have a 1943. No.4 Mk1* that was re-issued and re-serialed out of the Alahabad Armoury in India.

These old rifles made their rounds.

 

[Claven2]

Supposedly 506 is the Jabalpur Workshop

From the indian government website:

Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) Jabalpur is a unit of Ordnance Factory Board under Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

GCF was established in 1904. It is the first Ordnance Factory in Central India which has been providing the Armed Forces with the latest Armaments and Weapons adopting best practices, highest quality and integrity.

GCF is dedicated towards arming the Indian Armed forces with the latest and the most sophisticated World Class Weapon systems in accordance with the expressed needs and requirements specified by the Defence and Paramilitary forces. GCF strives to achieve the targets without compromising on the quality of the weapons.

 

[Dalt84]

FTR in August 1961. Definitely in India. They either reblued the barrelled receiver at that time, or more likely someone reblued it more recently here in Canada. In 1961 the Indians would not have polished the metal and reblued the gun, they would have bead blasted it, parkerized it, and painted it black. also the bands and other hardware looks more worn than the barelled received.

The Indians modified the middle band to accept a clip-on grenade launching sight. The Indians used a LOT of surplus No.4 rifles from the UK as energa greande firing rifles, while keeping the No.1MkIII* as the standard infantry rifle, so this mod is not unexpected. They all got retired when the 1A1 SLR was fully issued.

The rear sight has been changed for a late WW2 british made sight.

If you post a photo of the bolt serial number, we can tell you if it was replaced and renumbered at refurb time, or if it's the original Savage bolt - if you care.

Here is the bolt good sir. I never took the rifle all apart yet but there is still cosmoline in it everywhere. So I don't thing it was reblue by anyone here. All the parts do still have the S on them. All the numbers on stock/mag/ receiver are all these number.

 

[Claven2]

Bolt serial number looks correct for that serial range to me.

 

[Dalt84]

Bolt serial number looks correct for that serial range to me.

Do you mean correct for Savage? As in it would be the original numbers for the gun on its production

 

[Claven2]

Do you mean correct for Savage? As in it would be the original numbers for the gun on its production

Yes

 

[tiriaq]

I bought a few No.5s for resale from Century back in the day. Had been refurbed in India. The metal had been polished and blued. Whoever did the polishing really leaned against the buffer, smeared the markings.

 

[Dalt84]

Just taking it apart for cleaning to see if there was any rust underneath the wood it is full of cosmoline