I've posted this a couple places on the internet recently, so if you're tired of seeing it, I apologize 
I've had it for a while, but was finally able to capture a really good picture of it, and felt it was worthy of showing off a bit.
This rifle is serial number 1526280. It sports its original 3-39 star gauged barrel and USMC Unertl scope number 2494. I've been able to track this rifle's history to 1966, when a previous owner, a very competitive pistol shooter, bought it at a shooter's swap meet at Camp Perry. At that time, it was wearing a Fecker scope and was advertised simply as a "long range target rifle." As the Marines sold these rifles out of inventory without their scopes, it isn't surprising that someone put a long bodied scope on it and took it to Camp Perry as a target rifle.
Archival documentation states that roughly 250 of these rifles were originally made by the Marines at the Philadelphia Depot, but of those, less than three dozen are verified in the collections of individuals willing to publicly share them. Though they do still pop up, previously "undiscovered." In January of this year a gentleman stepped forward with a rifle that had been sitting in his safe for years after a trade with a neighbor...turned out to be a no-doubt original. All of these rifles share nearly identical traits, not only in serial number ranges and barrel dates, but also in the modifications the Philly Marine armorers made to them.
Hope you enjoy
I've had it for a while, but was finally able to capture a really good picture of it, and felt it was worthy of showing off a bit.This rifle is serial number 1526280. It sports its original 3-39 star gauged barrel and USMC Unertl scope number 2494. I've been able to track this rifle's history to 1966, when a previous owner, a very competitive pistol shooter, bought it at a shooter's swap meet at Camp Perry. At that time, it was wearing a Fecker scope and was advertised simply as a "long range target rifle." As the Marines sold these rifles out of inventory without their scopes, it isn't surprising that someone put a long bodied scope on it and took it to Camp Perry as a target rifle.
Archival documentation states that roughly 250 of these rifles were originally made by the Marines at the Philadelphia Depot, but of those, less than three dozen are verified in the collections of individuals willing to publicly share them. Though they do still pop up, previously "undiscovered." In January of this year a gentleman stepped forward with a rifle that had been sitting in his safe for years after a trade with a neighbor...turned out to be a no-doubt original. All of these rifles share nearly identical traits, not only in serial number ranges and barrel dates, but also in the modifications the Philly Marine armorers made to them.
Hope you enjoy
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