Anyway this months subject is a Savage No4 MkI. Got this one quite a few years back, all original except the magazine was a very well done 5 round conversion. Traded off a spare pommy (used in deference to those who don't like the "brit" appellation) No4 mag for a proper Savage one.
As with most Savage No4's in aussie it is in very good condition. A lot of the Savage No4's seen here are NZ marked as they received quite a few during WW2. Australia, so the story goes never officially used the No4 and it was never issued to our armed forces. Having said that "A Bastard of a place" by Peter Brune has a cover shot of our troops in NG and one of them is carrying what is quite clearly a No4. There exist also many photo's of the VDC using No4's. So far, to the best of my knowledge, no No4 has surfaced with Australian markings.
Savage manufactured both the No4 MkI and the No4 MkI*, a MkI with modifications to simplify and speed up manufacture. This particular rifle was manufactured in 1942 and is one of the first 117,000 produced. It wears the ubiquitous "U.S. PROPERTY" stamp.
Skennerton puts the changeover from MkI to MkI* between 7C8000 and 12C000, however other research on the net places it between 13C2752 and 13C2845. Savage produced over 1,000,000 No4's although the exact number is in dispute.
This rifle shows some of the early features that were later discontinued or modified to speed up production as well as some of the modifications.
It has the early rounded cocking piece, the original style circular head on the safety catch and the bolthead release catch as opposed to the slot in the bolthead guide.
The rear sight is a pommy MkI replacement, Savage did make the MkI but they are rare and expensive. From memory I think the battle sight aperture was noticably smaller in diameter on the Savage model.
The wood is cut low around the area where the magazine cut-off would have been, a carry over from the trials rifles. The rear handguard has the longitudinal grooving, although this feature does not necessarily indicate early production.
Bore is the very common two groove, although six groove rifling was used early in production. Interestingly some barrels with a one in 10.5 inch twist were manufacture as opposed to the standard 1 in 10.
The safety catch spring is the later stamped pattern not the earlier milled item (see photo of serial number).
The foresight protector is also the later fabricated item not the original milled one. The foresight itself is also the later MkI* pattern with the screw for adjustment.
The magazine, although a Savage manufactured item, is I think later production. Note the folding of the bottom of the magazine as opposed to a standard pommy No4 magazine. Also the Savage magazine has two bumps below the spine. Unfortunately there appears to be little information available on the reason for these or the difference in manufacture.
Lastly there is the bayonet. Standard MkII, produced by Savage.
This rifle appeals to me for a couple of reasons. The woodwork is in very good condition and I find it very attractive. The Lend Lease connection I think is an interesting chapter in international co-operation.
Lastly my thanks to the feral princesses for supplying the front rest and rear bag to dear old dad for Christmas - beats the hell out of a lump of 4x4 and a couple of sown up jeans legs filled with sand.
