TargetTalk

I've acquired a nice Martini action BSA 12/15. It's not quite as accurate as my two (older) Anschutz rifles (64 and 54) but close. I'm wondering how to fit a handstop to the BSA, to take a sling. Its rail is narrower than the Anschutz rail, and is not open at the far end to enable the hand stop fitting to slide in and out from the front, as on the Anschtuz rifles. Wondering where I'd get a handstop and how it would attach to this kind of rail. I'd appreciate any advice on this.

From a quick search online I see that there's something called a Freeland rail, narrower and deeper than the Anschutz rail. Could that be what was fitted to the BSA? Its a factory stock so I assume this is a factory rail.

I bought this at auction here in Canada. Manufactured approx 1949 (judging by online serial # info) and in very nice condition.

Digression: recently I happened to be shooting my 12/15 next to a gent with a Martini Henry. He'd never fired a Martini action .22, so we traded off. Now that was fun. His was a Canadian military rifle, which he bought after admiring it in a community museum in Ontario. They offered it to him after he admired its excellent condition. A challenge to own in Canada, since 577/450 cartridges are unobtanium in Canada.

You could have a Freeland rail, but this was not a factory fitment; BSA put a steel strip with threaded holes for the handstop on the 12/15, and the Mk 1 and 2 Internationals. From memory the older 12 had no provision for a handstop, although Parker-Hale made a rather Heath Robinson add-on.

As for a handstop, is there a wider aperture at one end of the rail? Rails that aren't open at one end have gap for the handstop to drop into. You'd want a handstop that's quite short, like the Anschutz 6226, but these are about. There was a Freeland version of this.

I had to shave some metal off one side of my Anshutz forestop to make it fit on my BSA.

Thanks for the advice, gents.