mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-Not so long ago there was a collection of small bore rifles being sold in an online auction. In this catalog was a pair of rough looking rifles of a type I'd never seen before. Then last month I'm checking out another gun auction when I see another, this example in much better condition. Curiosity piqued, I set about to try and research what I'm looking at. As it turned out there was one great article available in the awesome UK based rifleman.org site, where there's much info on British small bore training rifles.
-The rifle was a Barnett Ten-X, a post-war British under-lever design with a traditional round bolt. The lever is pushed forward to retract & eject the round and back forward to cock and seat a fresh round. Very different from the BSA and Vickers "Martini" designs. Barnett introduced them to the British market in 1948 with production numbers originally thought to hover around 250 but this example had a 321 SN. The rifleman.org article has an example with a 347 SN so it's looking more like around 350 were built before production halted. The original Parker Hale rear sight had been replaced with an American Wittek-Vaver (which I love, have one on a Winnie 52B).
-My love of unusual, rare items had me all-in and it was mine for a very reasonable price, around what you'd expect to pay for a BSA 12/15, less than the premium BSA International that the Ten-X competed against. Picking up the shipping box I was startled as to how heavy it was. Not a lightweight. There were two versions sold: standard barrel @ 12 lbs and a heavy barrel version @ 14 lbs. This one is the standard version.
-Early barrels were Parkerfied but later examples, like mine, were built by the Phoenix Rifle Repair Co of Birmingham.
-For the longest time I've passed on BSA Martini rifles, just not a fan for whatever reason. But this puppy definitely pulls my trigger and has me bidding on a rare-on-this-side-of-the-pond thirties vintage Vickers Martini. We'll see how that pans out.
-Barnett never exported these and I'm guessing that it was purchased in-country by an American and brought home (maybe a serviceman?). There are no export marks, which supports this theory.
-
-The rifle was a Barnett Ten-X, a post-war British under-lever design with a traditional round bolt. The lever is pushed forward to retract & eject the round and back forward to cock and seat a fresh round. Very different from the BSA and Vickers "Martini" designs. Barnett introduced them to the British market in 1948 with production numbers originally thought to hover around 250 but this example had a 321 SN. The rifleman.org article has an example with a 347 SN so it's looking more like around 350 were built before production halted. The original Parker Hale rear sight had been replaced with an American Wittek-Vaver (which I love, have one on a Winnie 52B).
-My love of unusual, rare items had me all-in and it was mine for a very reasonable price, around what you'd expect to pay for a BSA 12/15, less than the premium BSA International that the Ten-X competed against. Picking up the shipping box I was startled as to how heavy it was. Not a lightweight. There were two versions sold: standard barrel @ 12 lbs and a heavy barrel version @ 14 lbs. This one is the standard version.
-Early barrels were Parkerfied but later examples, like mine, were built by the Phoenix Rifle Repair Co of Birmingham.
-For the longest time I've passed on BSA Martini rifles, just not a fan for whatever reason. But this puppy definitely pulls my trigger and has me bidding on a rare-on-this-side-of-the-pond thirties vintage Vickers Martini. We'll see how that pans out.
-Barnett never exported these and I'm guessing that it was purchased in-country by an American and brought home (maybe a serviceman?). There are no export marks, which supports this theory.
-
