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Lot 405S5

A very rare .276(Pedersen) 'PA Model' self-Loading british military trails rifle by Pedersen Vickers, no. 149

18 May 2017, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £4,000 inc. premium

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A very rare .276(Pedersen) 'PA Model' self-Loading british military trails rifle by Pedersen Vickers, no. 149

With blued sighted barrel rifled with six grooves and cut with spiral ventilation grooving, the latter beneath a blued mount pierced with circular ventilation holes along each side, blued toggle-delayed blowback action with horizontal 'Safe' and 'Ready' switch, and stamped 'Pederson Selfloader PA Vickers-Armstrong Ltd.' on the left side, the rear of the action with peep back-sight with knurled elevation and windage screws, figured full stock (some bruising) with semi-pistol grip (old split along both sides), grooved fore-stock pierced with circular and ovoidal ventilation holes along the bottom, blued magazine for ten rounds, trigger-guard, chequered butt and barrel-bands, the forward one pierced and incorporating a bayonet-lug beneath, and retaining most of its original finish, London military inspection mark
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

Additional information