And now for something rare........

[baldie]

Regular readers will know about my mate Brian, who is the jammiest barsteward walking shoeleather.

He has the uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time, with a pocket full of gelt.

He came in yesterday, and completely sickened us.

This is a very rare rifle indeed, in civilian hands. I dont know that much about it, as he was in a hurry. Here goes.

 

 

 

 

 

Its a C3A1 rifle, built for canadian snipers by Parker-hale. The original rifles were shipped over here for conversion, and this one never went back.

Its built on an m87 action which is proofed to 20 tons instead of the usual 19 i believe. Calibre is 7.62 .

The scope is the rarity. Its a US optics , serial numbered to the rifle, mil dot etc, with bdc for a specific weight of bullet.

Even rarer is the mount. The last one Brian new for sale, was sold for $2000 US dollars....and it was damaged.

A beautiful rifle.

[brown dog]

Wow. Lucky man.

 

When I did an exchange tour with the Canucks back in the early 90s (pull up a sandbag)our battlegroup's snipers had these and they were enormously highly regarded (as were our snipers themselves, generally backwoods Newfies). Chatting fairly recently to a Canuck pal I'm still in touch with, the move to the Timberwolf is much lamented; enormous QC problems - barrel lengths (all nominally the same) varying by several mm; other tolerances all over the place - summarised as: "If you line them up in the armoury they look like a crooked fence". Canuck dissatisfaction was enormous and widely publicly reported within Canada until it went political (context: the timberwolf was a political procurement decision- a rifle made in Canada bought by Canada = Canadian jobs -just as we tend to buy British even when there's better stuff about). At that point the Canadian Govt issued an equivalent of a D-notice on the reporting of the Timberwolf's shortcomings and the Canadian CDS ordered the Forces to cease public discussion of the rifle. Not a lot of people know that But does cause me a cynical smile when people swoon over Timberwolfs I think they may have sorted out their QC now, but in the Canadian Forces they're still perceived as "rifles made by 2 blokes in Winnipeg who bought a lathe".

Blimey, that was a bit off topic what I only meant to say was C3 - nice rifle

[varmartin]

Wow, that realy is a very nice rifle.....looks like its in mint condition too..

[Ronin]

Lovely (and rare) piece of history - thats the rifle not you BD

 

 

 

At last PH made a mount that wont drop off

 

 

Seriously, this is indeed a rare beast, nice to see it has remained in the UK - now if only I could get an M40......with Unertl....

[baldie]

Its in excellent condition Martin, having reputedly fired 400 rounds.

The bore is absolutely pristine, and shines like a mirror. It shows no throat erosion whatsoever. I firmly believe this is a real "sleeper"

 

Andy, if ever you fancy building an m40 replica, i have all the components here. Brian sourced them, and changed his mind..even have the correct swivels .

[Mack]

Cracking looking rifle!

[Ronin]

Dave

 

 

don't temp me

[ChrisF]

Actually , I am building one at the moment , it's on a almost new Parker Hale M87 rifle ( ex UK Police ) , I have the original PH C3A1 mount , and have ordered a McMillan A2 stock with the green/grey swirl pattern .

 

Its a shame this rifle is in a A5 stock and not the correct A2 stock , but even so , its a nice looking rifle to be sure .

 

The action is however Not as good as the PH M85 , which is the best SWS PH actually made .

 

Mine will have a USO MST-100 scope on her .

 

The mount I brought was a bit damaged and cost me $100 USD , and they are very sturdy , 3 large bolts hold it onto the receiver , the rings have 4 screws on each ring and screw up from the bottom .

 

Later Chris

 

P.S.

 

I talked to a Canadian ex Forces who had a alot to do with the C3A1s , and one thing that was not liked was the actual magazines seemed not to function that well & rattle about a fair bit .

[baldie]

That was the stock this rifle was issue with Chris.Its never been back to Canada, or seen active service.

[foxing2night]

That was the stock this rifle was issue with Chris.Its never been back to Canada, or seen active service.

Very interesting indeed!!!

 

Thank you Dave for sharing with us all????

 

Now we all want one,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

Take care my mate, Darrel

[ChrisF]

Baldie , I doubt it was ever issued , the PH C3A1s where reworked/made around 1990 , and used the original C3 ( M82 ) wood stock & bolt .

 

Much later some where restocked with McMillan A2s with a adjustable saddle check rest , in a marbled swirl of green/grey .

 

My the time the newer A5 stock was introduced , it was all over for the C3A1 SWS , and they moved on to the Timberwolf , then due to cost of sniper coures in 338 ammo , PGW DTI reburbed the mothballed C3A1 to serve in schools .

 

Also I have not seen a photo of a C3A1 with a chromed extractor or a USO scope , also the actual bolt knob is not correct , I should know as I have both a M87 thats mint , and a M85 .

 

The extractors where like the M85s ie , blued , and due to the type of metal used appear to have a redish look to them .

 

 

Its still a great looking rifle , however as I said the M85 is better , the M87 uses 30-06 lenght mags for a 308 system , and as I said I have heard of complaints about the magazine system used on the C3A1 .

 

Its still a very nice classic looking SWS , and I love the MST-100/Unertl scopes as they are quite neat , having said that its still a 20-30 plus yr old tech ,

 

Later Chris

 

P.S. I spoke to McMillan a few mths back , and wanted a A2 stock inleted to the PH M87/C3A1 rifle , they said they have not been able to do that for over 15yrs , as they used a different CNC machine back when they where made for the Canadians , any way thats what they told me , so I would say the A5 stock has been modifed by a gunsmith and not McMillan .

[baldie]

A typo on my part. Its not a US optics scope, but a Unertl 10 power sight, and its serial number matches the rifles number.

[Reecy]

A typo on my part. Its not a US optics scope, but a Unertl 10 power sight, and its serial number matches the rifles number.

Chris,

 

I can't disagree with the comments about the M85-i am off stalking for a few days tomorrow with mine.

 

Talk about reliable and capable............

 

Mines in Nato green what colour is yours??

 

Might put some piccies up when i get back.

 

If you could only have 1 gun--would it be the M85???..........hell yes(do really like my Remy .260 though)

 

Reecy

[lancslad]

All Im going to say is that bloody table needs some love and attention.............if you dont strip it back and give it some TLC is going to crack and not be use for anything next season................

[ChrisF]

Yeap , My M85 is black metal with a desert camo glass stock , I am waiting on a custom 30mm clone one piece alloy rings being made in the US at the moment for it .

 

Yeap , to me the PH M85 is a very under rated & little known SWS in the classic sense , a pity the company closed its doors after making so few M85s , and is crimimial that Ex UK Police M85s have been cut in half ( that really makes you want to cry ) .

 

 

Cheers Chris

 

[ChrisF]

Baldie look at the photos , the scope looks like a USO scope as it appears to have the special erector coil spring housing at about 7-8 O'Clock , also appears to maked USO , and not a Canadian Unertl .

 

For a collector , it detracts , from Original in minor ways , that I have stated , like the bolt knob & extractor etc .

 

Still a nice rifle .

 

But the cream of the crop is easily the PH M85 , Sabre Defence where going to start making them again , but decided it was too hard , its a shame a custom maker does not take a real hard look at making a M85 type rifle , I think they would be surprised how much people would b interested in it .

 

The rifle weight my modern standards would have it as one of the lightest SWS available , when times where simpler & rifles lighter .

 

Cheers Chris

[baldie]

Brian came in yesterday after seeing this thread, with a little more info. I,ve got it wrong....AGAIN It is indeed a US optic.

Brian also has the original bolt knob, the original wooden stock, and the original issued A2 stock, which is slightly damaged, and is why its wearing an A5.The extractor isn,t chromed, its shiny from wear , or from where someone has decided to "clean" it. Its just bare steel.The bolt release still has the reddish tinge.

 

Norman Clark in Rugby has at least 4 if not 5 of these type of parker hale,s sat on the shelf. Dont ask me which model.

[varmartin]

This is the only PH i can find in this class...click me

[Zaitsev]

This is the only PH i can find in this class...click me

It's an M87 target rifle. I can have a look at condition if anyones interested as I will be going there tommorow.