Blue Flyer
Member
Hi all, I am new here, and as per my intro I have an interest in the BSA centrefires from the mid to late '50s usually known as the Royal series. Below (hopefully) is a photo of a bachelor mob of billy goats my brother and I cleaned up on a private property on the Great Dividing Range. We were both using our Viscounts in .308. The top one should be familiar to any BSA fans out there - a "standardweight" Viscount with a walnut stock, schnabel fore-end and a 24" barrel. These are relatively rare here in Australia - this is the only one we have seen out here.
The bottom one may be of more interest. It is a Featherweight complete with the Besa muzzle brake and a 20" barrel (or 19 3/4" to be exact. The interesting thing though is that this one (and many others here in Aus) was stocked locally by Slazenger using locally sourced Coachwood (as was used on the locally produced Lee-Enfields). From what we can make out the stock shape is the same as the BSA factory walnut featherweight shape. This particular rifle weighs in at just over 3kg with it's 2-7x33 scope and mounts.
It appears BSA sold barrelled actions into Aus (presumably to Slazenger) who made the stocks and sold them through their network to complement their locally manufactured line of .22RF rifles. So my question, to Uncle Norm and others, is this. Does John Knibbs mention anywhere in his book these barrelled actions being sold to Aus or anywhere else? I know the Monarchs were sold into the US later on under the Herters name, but have not come across any other mention of this.
Regards, Blue Flyer
The bottom one may be of more interest. It is a Featherweight complete with the Besa muzzle brake and a 20" barrel (or 19 3/4" to be exact. The interesting thing though is that this one (and many others here in Aus) was stocked locally by Slazenger using locally sourced Coachwood (as was used on the locally produced Lee-Enfields). From what we can make out the stock shape is the same as the BSA factory walnut featherweight shape. This particular rifle weighs in at just over 3kg with it's 2-7x33 scope and mounts.
It appears BSA sold barrelled actions into Aus (presumably to Slazenger) who made the stocks and sold them through their network to complement their locally manufactured line of .22RF rifles. So my question, to Uncle Norm and others, is this. Does John Knibbs mention anywhere in his book these barrelled actions being sold to Aus or anywhere else? I know the Monarchs were sold into the US later on under the Herters name, but have not come across any other mention of this.
Regards, Blue Flyer