Col. Brophy rifle

[Nolagunsmith]

Gentlemen,
Recently saw a rifle listed on Gunbroker for sale, listed as a 1903 Springfield national match. The seller states the receiver dates to 1910 and a barrel date of 1941 by sedgley. He also states it belonged to col. Brophy , and the provenance provided is a range card with his name on it , found in the buttstock cavity.
Just wanted the forums thoughts on this rifle. since it is an ongoing auction, I won't post a link, I'm confident those interested will find it.
Thanks

[ncblksmth1]

Bet it comes from eastern sc. There's a real humdinger who makes frankens and adds history to make it believable. Range card in butt cavity. Right.

[ncblksmth1]

Well its not the SC culprit. Looks convincing. Hard to believe.

[ncblksmth1]

Look at the star guage mark on this one:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=395384164

[Nolagunsmith]

Yes, saw that one too didn't know they star gauged barrels in '42
And counterbored the muzzle too. thought y'all could use a good chuckle with the alleged brophy rifle.

[Jeff L]

Beware of Gunbroker listings with descriptions that are several paragraphs long. Buy the gun, not the story.

[John Beard]

The seller called me several weeks ago and spoke with me about the rifle. The rifle appears just as he described it. The seller seemed reputable and I had no reason to doubt or question his integrity. While the rifle seems a bit unusual, the name and serial number on the card, if authentic, tie the rifle to Brophy.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

[TDP0311]

Is it gone? I'm looking around and having a hard time finding it...

[Fred]

It's still there

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=396472412

[TDP0311]

Pretty incredible, thats like picking up an M1903 and finding "Puller" carved in the handguard. Very cool rifle.

[ncblksmth1]

Oops looked at wrong gun!!!!

[GA-Dave]

Interesting rifle, if I had found it I would be excited. However, I don't think the seller helps his case by exaggerating the tie to the USMC. I have never heard of an NRA special match, I wonder why they would score it on a dismounted pistol qualification score card? The scoring looks like it consisted of 100 rounds and the firer scored 50 on each stage. Not like any other rifle match scoring that I have seen - apparently they just scored hits.

If you assume an armorer put the NM on the barrel when the target sights were added and this low number Springfield wasn't pulled as other rifles were made and that Brophy was ok with shooting a low number Springfield, I guess it could be okay.

Brophy was a civilian during this time. I wonder how many other men that were named Bill Brophy there were at the time?

All in all it would take a lot of research to spend that much money on a rifle.

-Dave

[sdkrag]

Dave, I agree. What is it that is quoted here often? Buy the rifle-not the story.

[John Beard]

The rifle was turned in at a pawn shop or gun shop near where Brophy lived. I have difficulty, however, believing that Brophy claimed ownership of that rifle. But then again, I have some clunkers in my collection.

J.B.

[Dick Hosmer]

Beware of Gunbroker listings with descriptions that are several paragraphs long. Buy the gun, not the story.

I don't even read the description until I've looked at the pictures!!