
A very rare .276(Pedersen) 'PA Model' self-Loading british military trails rifle by Pedersen Vickers, no. 149
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A very rare .276(Pedersen) 'PA Model' self-Loading british military trails rifle by Pedersen Vickers, no. 149
Weight 9lb., 13in. pull (12½in. stock), 24in. barrel, recent Birmingham nitro proof
Footnotes
Provenance
Probably Henk L. Visser Collection
Dr. Geoffrey Sturgess Collection
James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine, 14 & 16 October 2013, lot 3121
John D. Pedersen's semi-automatic or self-loading rifle, a replacement for the U.S. army bolt-action rifles, was ready for testing in 1925. Following the first tests carried out in January 1926 the US Ordnance Board ordered twenty Pedersens for further testing. It appeared that Pedersen's rifle would be adopted and in 1929 he travelled to Britain to oversee the setting up of production at Vickers-Armstrong Ltd., who were also under the impression that the rifle had been accepted by the US Ordnance Board. Following extensive trails between 1931 and 1934 however, the Garand rifle was approved in favour of Pedersen's. Despite this rejection Pedersen had interest from a number of other countries including Britain and Japan
John D. Pedersen (1881-1951) was apparently described by John Browning himself as '...the greatest living arms designer and probably the greatest of all time'
It is thought that only 200 rifles of this type in various configurations were made