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WHAT DO VISITORS SAY ABOUT OUR RESOURCE PAGES?
We often receive, and greatly appreciate, feedback
on how our website is perceived by visitors. At risk of being accused of
"Blowing our own trumpet", we report a representation of the unsolicited
and itself appreciative comment received over the years. Many of these remarks
have been associated with queries concerning classic rifles owned by the
correspondents, which queries we always endeavour to answer promptly and
to the best of our ability. We intend, over time, to build up our F.A.Q.
page carrying some of the more commonly posed questions.
It has been commented upon that a number of
our pages show as being "still under construction". In the main,
this has more to do with available time than material. We are most fortunate
to have many examples of these classic rifles available to us for photography,
and much written material for research, but all too little time in which
to progress things as we would like. Even when a page ostensibly seems complete,
some information often surfaces that requires addition to, or updating of,
that data. The whole project is akin to the painting of the Forth Bridge;
it will never be completed - there are simply insufficient hours in the
day, this being a voluntary operation and worked upon when other commitments
permit.
I congratulate you on a marvellous website
- M. McC. (U.K.) August 2009
Thanks so much for creating and maintaining your excellent
web pages devoted to BSA Martini Target Rifles. I have a number of BSA’s
rifles and find myself continually referencing your pages.
One of my rifles has been difficult to track as to date of manufacture
and actual model. It is apparently a 12/15 with a date code on the bottom
of the barrel that puts it in the date range of July 1936 to June 1937,
however the serial number is 54189. Any help that you can provide would
be appreciated. Thanks again, J.W. - Yukon U.S.A.
This rifle proved to be a Model 12 retrofitted
with the pistol-grip stock of a Model 15 or 12/15. Ed.
Your site is well developed, professional, extensive, and very
useful. Could you advise me in finding a manual, or documents on my BSA "Hunter"
.222 cal Remington? I cannot find anything on the internet. BSA went defunct
and was resurrected as an air rifle manufacturer. Apparently the bolt action
Hunter (Royal?) series were very limited in production. Any help would be
greatly appreciated. B.L. - Connecticut
All the information you have on small-bore
rifles is more than I ever expected to find at a single place. A wonderful
and educational site. I look and read regularly. E.D.M. - Wichita - Feb 2008
Your website was of immense value to me in
coming to the vague decision that my BSA may be a model 8, in that the width
of the action(1in), the narrow butt stock and overall weight were more indicative
of an earlier No.8 rather than a No.6, which it very closely resembles. Thank
you so much for a wonderful and informative site. K.T - unknown location
Thank you very much for responding. As I
thought, finding a base/ block won't be that easy, though I will do as you
say and try Alfred J. Parker first of all. [N.B.
This firm has now closed for business]
Just to say what a wonderful site you have
created. As a BSA enthusiast I have found it excellent to say the least.
Thanks again, H.B. - England
I stumbled onto your website a while ago and enjoyed it immensely.
Also learned a lot from it.
I became a small scale BSA collector and had tried in vain
to identify what model this gun was (looks like 6 or 8) and when it was
manufactured.
Best regards and keep up the good work. J.F. - Philippines Jan 2008
Many, many thanks for taking the trouble to respond in such
detail. It fairly restores one's faith in humankind.
As a result, I've tracked down a copy of the book you referred to (only found
one on the internet - limited first edition) and have passed that on to my
father in law.
Thanks again - you made my day! M.C. - Unknown location
I just recently browsed your wonderful web page and must say
that you folks have done a great job on the subject of SMLE 22rf conversions.
I purchased a few years ago what I know now is a No. 2 MKlV? (sans the bolt
head and rear sights, of course). It rested in a corner of my shop along with
Three badly used No. 4’s until I stumbled on to your web page. It now
has a new bolt head and Redfield peep. Accuracy is excellent with standard
shorts and so so with CB caps. What a unique way to preserve the utility of
a relic of “The Great War” era.
Again, congratulations on a job very well done educating this “Yank”
on the subject of SMLE 22rf conversions. T.C. - Texas - Jan 2008
Hello. Thank you for the information on
your web site, I found it very interesting and informative. - P.K. New
Zealand
Dear Sirs, please allow me to congratulate
you on a superb and most informative website. I have been gaining plenty
of useful information regarding .22 rifles with a view to purchasing a BSA
Century or International when my FAC application is granted. - S.M. - U.K.
Thank you for an informative web site. E.J. - England (a UK Registered Firearms Dealer)
I
wish to take the opportunity to thank you for the outstanding information
on your website as I found it as a link from Bob Adams Guns in New Mexico,USA.
I have collected martini cadet rifles in .310
from 1955 to present. - L.M. Texas
Hello, thanks for the excellent information
on the BSA Ralock.
Hopefully it will be used in next winters league. - C.D. U.K.
Hello, thank for you website it's the best one for the collector
of the military 22 LR.
- A.H. France.
What a nice site you have on miniature rifles,
very interesting and extremely useful to Martini Shooters. Well done. We
Martini Shooters in the U.S. are grateful. We don't know our BSA's that
well. - D.D.
Dear sir, I looked at your web site last
year but didn’t have time to do anything about it. Having looked at
your site again yesterday I went off to the club (B....... Rifle Club) took
an old BSA Model 12-15 (Pxxxxxx) out of
the cupboard that I last shot as a boy in about 1979, found a two point
sling in a box stuffed under a table, (Incidentally the one that I used
to use in 1979, although I note that it must have shrunk considerably!)
blew the dust off and removed a dead spider from the fore sight, went down
and shot a four off!!!! I couldn’t have been more amazed if I had
dropped a brick and it had fallen up! - J.B. U.K.
Dear Sir, may I congratulate
you on a superb web site. It’s marvellous to see so much detail about
a series of rifles that hitherto have been largely ignored. - A.D. New
Zealand
Hello, I have spent a few happy hours looking at the information
on your very good site. I am a keen historic rifle shooter with a special
interest in old .22 rimfire rifles. - W.L. U.K.
I stumbled across your website last evening -- what a wonderful
collection of information! - T.D.
Hello:
I have found your site very useful and interesting. My father and I purchased
together a Model 12. My father had shot
this type in Kingston, Jamaica when on the high school rifle team in the
early 30's. He told me stories about how they would take the rifles on the
open tram car to the British Army rifle range.............. - P.S. -
S.A.
Hi, I am flattered that you quote my book
on RFC and RNAS secondary weapons on your web site, which I have enjoyed
very much.
Regards - Tony Edwards - U.K.
| British Secondary Small Arms 1914-1919 - Part II, R.F.C.
and R.N.A.S. |
A.O. Edwards |
Solo Publications 2005 - see
|
ISBN 0-9532952-7-3 |
See: the
Winchester 1903 Semi-Auto rifle
It is not infrequent that
a correspondence affords us an opportunity to update information on a particular
rifle.
Hello, I just came across your very informative site and was looking at the data
on some of the rifles that I own. After seeing the notes that perhaps only
250 Ten-X rifles were produced
I got mine out of the safe to check what its serial number was, and found
that it was #417. It is of the late production type and was 'in the white'
when I purchased it 25 years ago. Thank you for providing so much information
online. - C.W. Colorado
The website is interesting and informative - I'd forgotten the Barnet rifle completely until
I saw it there. I actually had one many years ago - what a monster it was
. . . Once again my thanks for your attention - S.S. Glasgow
Hello, I just wanted to say that your web site is quite fantastic.
I have been a full bore target rifle shooter for 30 years and am now contemplating
doing some small bore at Bisley during the day along with a couple of friends
using older and more interesting rifles, so I typed BSA
12/15 into my search engine and arrived at your site.
The web site has filled me with encouragement, all I need to do now is find
an appropriate rifle, hopefully this weekend at the Bisley Classic Arms Fair.
Again, thanks for a most excellent site. - Roger. U.K.
Sirs,
I run the AccurateShooter.com | 6mmBR.com website. We are
one of the leading precision shooting websites in the USA. I have been very
impressed with the Rifleman.org.uk website created by HARC.
Regards, Paul McMenamin
Thanks for website! - J.H. Canada
I've just noticed on the website that there is quite a fulsome
bit on BSA rifles incuding
the Internationals ..............
it is an excellent piece which I and a colleague greatly appreciate. - R.N. U.K.
Hi, I have been going through your site for the lost count
of how many times. As a big Martini fan I wondered if you would like any pics
of my AG Parker built .22" Something Special. I know it is not a target
rifle but so different with the scope. - T.J. - U.K.
It's looking set to become an excellent website. - R.S. - U.K.
.........Might I just say thank you for what you are doing.
I am very aware that we are losing our way in the shooting world. When I stand
at the firing point at the moment with jacket, glove and sling, etc., I am
wearing the best part of three hundred pounds worth of Equipment. Add another
couple of hundred for shooting glasses, if you need them, two hundred for
a scope, sixty quid for a cartridge box and two grand for a rifle, and all
of a sudden this has become a rather expensive hobby. When I started, only
one or two members had their own rifles or scopes, the rest of us shot club
guns and somebody sat behind at the desk with the club 'scope calling out
the fall of shot. Going back even further, we still have the spotters hole
at the end of our range where the spotter used to sit, 4 feet away from the
target, to call corrections - how different now. When the miniature rifle
clubs started, the avowed aim was to make every young man a rifleman. When
I did an assembly on “My sport” ( I am a secondary school teacher)
a lot of the kids were genuinely interested, but the level of interest started
to fall off when I explained the cost. UIT was supposed to sort this out,
but the extra equipment necessary tends to detract from the savings that are
made on the rifle. Lightweight Sport Rifle is a lot cheaper and even goes
into three positional. In itself it is a fine sport, but I can't help but
think that there will be problems if one concentrates on LSR and then tries
to make the transition to full-bore. Perhaps we need to find our roots again
and come up with a sport that provides a cheap grounding in shooting which,
and I hate to use this phrase, goes back to basics. Perhaps this is it! The
next time I am coaching LSR to a new youngster coming into the club, when
I start to edge them over to prone, instead of trussing them up in a jacket
and single point and handing them an old Vostock or Valmet, I will tell them
to bring along an old coat and a large button, and fit them up with one of
the BSA 12/15s that we have, and a two point sling. If they then have a competition
to shoot, it will give some point to the operation. If they want to head over
to more modern shooting later, fine, but in the mean time it will teach them
some very important basics.
Dear all,
now that the daffodils have started to bloom
in my garden, and in view of the considerable pleasure I am having in shooting
in the HARC winter miniature rifle league (Classic), my thoughts naturally
have turned to the summer, and the great out-doors.
With this in mind, I wonder if you would be kind enough to send me, so I
may pass on to my club, details of what is required in the way of TARGETS
for the summer season's competition. If they are out of the ordinary for
50 & 100yds, we will need to make frames etc and securing fixtures at
our range. Photocopies would suffice for this task, if the TARGETS ate unlikely
to be among the club's modern stock. Please let me know if there are any
expenses involved.
I intend to use my Martini-Bonehill again, and also a nice little BSA12/15,
which I have discovered at the back of my club's armoury, and is just begging
to be dusted off and brought blinking out into the sunshine. So all being
well I can enter the Veteran class as well.
We have one other member who has expressed an interest in joining next years
winter league, and another who participated in fast years, but was unable
to commit so much time this year. I am hoping that with sufficient advanced
publicity other members may consider using the stock of elderly rifles we
have rusting away in the armoury.
I hope I don't bore you with the following. Thirty years ago at the tender
age of 16, a photo of the club's Edwardian founders grouped with their Martini
rifle conversions always impressed me, and as I had seen "Zulu"
far too often for my own good I swore that one day, I would have a .22"
Martini of my own.I did not think a great deal about it until a dealer friend
of mine happened to mention he had such a rifle and the opportunity came
to fulfil my vow. Within a fortnight of acquiring my rifle, and much to
my surprise, I found myself participating in your winter league. It was
all a bit of a scrabble, as my club did not have any suitable TARGETS or
frames, but since then I have had my most enjoyable winter season to date
since I took up shooting again. So please accept my most sincere thanks
for all of your team's efforts in setting it all up and giving me so much
fun.
Yours sincerely,
G.S.
I am very impressed with your site. I was pleased to see the
photos of the Williams floating chamber in the Ace pistol, which I had previously
seen only as drawings in Col. Hatcher's book ("Hatcher's Notebooks,"
J.S. Hatcher, still widely available).
Thanks for your work. M.W. - USA
We are well aware that the site has many associated
subjects and rifles not covered, but are doing the best we can with the
time allowed.
We answer all questions received to the best of our
ability, but there are limits.
It is encouraging, although demanding, to receive
email requests such as that below:
Hello, this is my Rifle in france in 307 Winchester caliber.
Can you send-me by e-mail the story of this rifle, many thank's,
best regards, Hervé.
We are also pleased that our pages prove
to be of occasional commercial value! Witness:
I have a model 52 stock and barrel I am currently selling
on Ebay. I had no idea what the model 52 was, thanks for the information
on your website. - C. D. - NM USA
Please, though, do not ask us for valuations.
A rifle or accessory is only worth what one, or perhaps, two people are
prepared to pay for it. Figures vary dramatically throughout the World,
and with 'fashion' in collecting circles.
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