tbied2
Senior Member
well;;..,. i have received several e-mails about 41m rifle stocks in the last week. people looking for one or concerning rifles they have. and;;.. the question has come up about whether 41 m & w trials rifles originally came from the factory with a laminate stock. it seems to be the general opinion of several people that no trials rifles originally left the factory with a laminate stock. i would say that is probably correct. a company sending out trial rifles trying to win a government contract would only use the best wood then available. i believe that these 41m & w trial rifles that have laminate wood stocks were repaired later at depots & their original ( damaged ) wood was replaced then with factory supplied laminate replacement stocks. minor repairs could be patched, but not larger stuff. looking at the espeholts serial numbers, it seems that most of the laminate stocked rifles are early & mid-delivery rifles. early manufactured rifles; were frequently returned to the factory for defects. alot of those early ones seem to be lost in use & most surviving ones are of the high/later numbers. i have shown that 209 41m rifle to several people with the laminate repair section. there is no way a trials rifle originally left a factory like that. however, the repair is very good & the shape is perfect. too good to be a depot patch repair. tomorrow;;.. i will be at the ogca show and will seek other opinions. i believe that stock was factory made for depot replacement using mid-war materials & turned on a factory stock cutting machine. then put on that rifle later in a field depot,.. and, i am always open to others opinions. ...
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