1948 RAF .22 Trainer - the BSA No7 Rifle - One of 2500 Made - Magazine Repeater!

New to the ArtioZen collection is a rare RAF Contract No7 Rifle - a purpose built .22 Magazine fed trainer for the Royal Air Force! The CNo7 Rifle had been made for Canadian training forces by Long Branch from 1945 to 1947 (around 20,000 of).

As the UK was settling its post-war rifle needs - the No5 Rifle was struggling to be adopted / accepted and NATO was trialing FN derivatives in the new 7.62x51 chambering. A decision was made to equip the post war RAF with 2500 BSA made equivalent to the CNo7 for its foreseeable Bolt Action Trainer needs and be finished in Black Suncorite and "Sooted" / Brown-Stained Beech - with the mk1 trigger and front lower wood.

This featured a commercial BSA 5 round .22 sporter magazine set in to a custom housing in an SMLE No1 "condition 4" magazine. An involved two-piece bolt body with elongated extractor claw and an ejector block moved forward and milled into a unique window in the receiver wall of the No4 action. The production rifles used a new billet barrel by BSA. All other parts features and handling characteristics emulated the No4 rifle. The receiver is "devoid" of all typical WW2 makers marks - which suggests to me that the receiver was a new machined example and not a surplus / spare part.

The sling is a mid 50's Air ministry example in RAF Blue.

The wood is also devoid of the typical makers marks - it is all matching and has a "BS0937 "code - although it is reminiscent of the Beech furniture being produced by Fazakerley (earliest date for mk1 wood has been observed as 1949) so this leaves the possibility of a 1500-piece production (plus spares) wood lot.

In the details - a recalibrated micrometer rear sight with graduations for .22 Long Rifle out to X yards. The Ejector block can be seen protruding from the receiver wall - this runs inside one of the deep slots in the bolt head.