The Lithgow Snipers were boxed in pairs and sent to store from the factory. If issued, the rifles were delivered in the boxes, then issued out of it. The boxes were returned. They were for storage only. Not as part of a kit like the No4T crates were.
When the rifles, which only numbered 1612, were sold off initially to rifle clubs then through gun dealers, the boxes were mostly returned and either re purposed or destroyed. There were only half as many boxes as rifles to start with…
It’s pretty safe to say the box is by far the rarest item in these pics. This one has had nothing done to it other than the top parts of the baffles being reproduced and a wipe over with a damp cloth.
An excellent conversation regarding the allocation of these rifles from the boxes to the men can be found in the British Sniper Rifle Collectors, Owners Forum Modern And Antique Facebook group
Thank you Brad Hedges for the article and photographs
