Weird slotted reciever and shortened cocking piece on No 4Mk1

dannyd123

dannyd123

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Just bought a 43 Maltby in wartime config. Sporterized. Barrel matching reciever matching bolt. Original battle sights w 2 groove barrel.

Was wondering what the following is:

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Is milled and looks like the finish is inside as well. Very neat and well done, making me think this was done at factory somewhere. No other holes. I thought it may be a L59a1/a2 rifle but the milled portion is in the wrong direction, and does not have any other modifications. Looks like it has been fired quite a bit. since being sold out of service (hunted with since 1977). The top of the lug is about 1 mm visible.

The second weird thing about this rifle is that in the butstock storage area was not a bottle of grease or a pull thru but a whole new firing pin and cocking piece. Both were shortened and decently done, even the taper portion for the sear and the notch for the safety relocated. Looks like a homemade/gunsmith conversion to me. What do you all think?

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I have a Longbranch with the exact same slot and cocking piece. Mine appears in exellent condition (almost new). But if you look on the top of the receiver it looks like it might have been scrubbed and reblued all over. I always suspected it was DP with the firepin shortened... then a gunsmith shortened the cocking piece so the firepin would be ''longer''. I'm prettty sure mine was fired as a hunter too but i never personally shot it myself (if it was DP it's not Worth taking the risk)
 
This part of your post scares the crap out of me:
"...I am assuming it is safe to fire since most of the lug is still in contact with the back of the receiver. The only reason I think this may have been done was to increase lug tolerances on the reciever..."


There a No4 that broke thru a little hole at the locking recess on the "milsurps" library. The military deemed it written off.

The shortened firing pin and striker screams "Bubba salvaged condemned parts" to me.


In situations where we are not dealing with 45,000psi quite close to our eyes, quite often structural cracks are milled out and rounded to stop further stress cracking.

I would do one of 2 things, strip it for parts, and retire the receiver, or rebuild it as a .22lr.
 
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Here's mine... same exact slot. The 2nd pic is the top of the receiver. You can see something was scrubbed and the whole rifle was reblued.
The bolt as the same thing. If a rifle was DP marked it would be in those areas so someone, somewhere put them back into service (hunting rifles) I'm guessing it was the importer.
Best guess i can come with is the slot was made to had an extra visual warning that the rifle was DP
Like i said before, i never shot mine and dont plan to but turning it into a .22 is a pretty good idea.


 
The seller (a member here on CGN) is willing to take it back and get it checked by a gunsmith. He mentioned that if the smith gives it a clean bill of health, he will send it back to me. Personally you guys have put the fear in me. Thoughts?
 
Unless you paid $100 for it, I'd send it back and look for a better example.
It's probably fine, but there are so many better examples out there.
 
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