The previous poster asking for this specific model has dropped out, so no need to PM to link to his wanted advert...
From the Rifleman.org site
Mine is serial #37??, so is one of the first batch supplied.Just two years into the 1939-45 War, Britain was suffering a serious shortage of suitable training rifles. With all local manufacturers committed to the far higher priority of Service arms production, there were simply not enough small calibre rifles to go round. Local Defence Volunteer units ( latterly Home Guard) were utilising almost anything on which they could lay their hands, and such small-bore rifles as were in stock with gunsmiths or manufacturers were taken over by the War Office for distribution anywhere thay might be of value for economical trainig purposes.
The U.S.A. were already supplying much miltary materiél, and a request was made for a consignment of .22 rimfire rifles suitable for the purpose. The Mossberg Model 42 rifle was a sporting/target based design which offered an excellent basis on which minor modifications could comparatively easily be made to current production lines; the substitution of the three-quarter length stock with a full-length military style stock being the most significant and obvious.
The initial contract, in June 1941, was for 10,000 rifles. Previous to this date, Mossberg had used only a letter code on their production rather than serial numbers. Arranging to add the serial numbers required by the British Government took time, and the first 2,500 rifles left the factory not so marked. Thus the latter three-quarters of that contract ran from serial number 2501 to 10,000, and no earlier numbering should be seen. There was, not surprisingly, a delay in the despatch of this early batch due to the numbering requirement.
There were further contracts for rifles over the next eighteen months; a batch of 8,000 later in 1941, another 20,000 in March 1942, spares in June, and two more batches of rifles, totalling 8,000, early in 1943. Precise numbers allotted between U.S. and British destinations are not known at this point, but most production came to the United Kingdom.
Originally only fitted with a barrel mounted tangent rear-sight, the British early contract rifles had the Mossberg S102 receiver mounted aperture sight added to emulate the rear-sight of the Lee-Enfield No.4 Rifle. It has to be said that the Mossberg was a very light-weight representation of the No.4 rifle, and far less realistic than other training rifles of its era - the best of which were simply small-bore versions of the parent service rifle, such as the SMLE No.2 MkIV* and the later No.7 Rifle - but, at that time, it was a case of "needs must when the Devil drives".
The rear aperture sight used by Mossberg was acknowledged to be rather fragile, it not having been designed for service-style use. Many were damaged, and Parker-Hale modified one of their "Sportarget" rear-sights with a bracket to fit the left-hand side of the Mossberg receiver. These sights were fitted, Post War, to many of those rifles which escaped return to the U.S.A. under the Lend-Lease contract terms. Such rifles are easily identified by the stampings "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" on both the barrel and the receiver.
Comes with the S102 rearsight (shown folded in the photos), the original front sight has been replaced by a Parker Hale version. The barrel mounted rearsight is also present (though not shown below)
The stock varnish was showing its age, so the rifle is in the process of being refinished with an oil instead.
There are two magazines, plus a canvas sling included.
Barrel is also threaded for the standard 1/2"UNF (1/2"x20) type moderator...MAY have been done at the time for "reasons"...and there is a thread protector fitted.
Yes, there IS a bolt, with the fitted shroud, but it was in a different safe to the rifle when I took the photos...
£300 - in the above configuration, plus the mid-barrel mounted sight & the bolt & TWO magazines - but NOT including the S102 sight
£380 - as above plus including the S102 aperture sight as this was sourced from the USA & was not cheap
NOTE: This can possibly be delivered in person (to on RFD, or onto FAC with suitable .22 slot) as I am making a trip to the Midlands & Wales in the next couple of weeks.
Also available - a second stock, third magazine & a host of misc. spare screws, springs & other parts that were taken off a rifle that WAS to be sold to me until the RFD realised that it had no British proof marks....so scrapped it! £75
