Milsurp After Hours

Now that you mention Lithgow, I have one with a 1919 date on a MkIII* with the cutoff slot in place but the cutoff lever removed. It also has the F.T.R on the receiver. I had always supposed that the rifle was made as a MKIII and then at some later date F.T.R converted.

The * indicates that the rifle has been brought to Mk III* specifications and not that it was manufactured as such.
Lithgow never made any III* forends it seems, production right up till the end, were Mk Iii. Not much point in changing the machinery.
There are a few possibilities FTR usually came later in the rifle’s life, my guess is that it was built as a Mk III* using a MkIII body.
Date of the FTR might be indicated by the date of the barrel if they fitted a new one when it was FTR.
FTR had a different meaning among Armourers, which I won’t post as it’d be deleted, but the T stands for ‘thoroughly’

Note that the wood under the cutoff on mine is recessed as would a MKIII would have been. I know later refurbs would sometimes, or most times, used cutoff receivers but would have had new stocks that hid , or mostly hid, the slot.

As we approach the day I collect it I decided to look at ways of removing the rust from it without damaging the metal with hard abrasives.
After exploring YouTube I settled on Electrolysis.
Having built the bath and sorted the power out I did a trial run starting last Friday and leaving to work overnight. Very good results. If I get to the point where I need to de-rust a barrel then I will have to make a longer bath, probably from plastic guttering but that will be easy now I understand the principal

Well I managed to collect it last Friday and it is much better condition than I thought.
Needs some rust removing but that's all.

I also built a barrel/sword de rusting tank - 100 mm x 114 cm.

From your last photo it looks like must have had to look closely to find any rust. Looks to be in great condition from the photos. Wish I had tried some electrolysis on a couple of mine in the past though.

Nice one indeed; has the tip of the firing pin been removed?
If not it could be a bit of a bomb.

Aughnanure wrote: ↑Mon Apr 14, 2025 9:26 pm Nice one indeed; has the tip of the firing pin been removed?
If not it could be a bit of a bomb.

No, firing pin is there but the barrel is blocked about 3½" from the breech.

These come in many variations.
I know of some that were “privately “ made by Armourers in Base and field workshops and of at least one, that was on a Company’s strength, that was used to fire blanks as a starter’s gun on sports days.

Final part of the Electrolysis tanks, this for barrels and blades......