Geoff Hart No4 Target Rifle
Converted from a Lee Enfield No4T
Calibre 7.62
Serial No 9152
Price: £595

Excellent Condition - Commission Sale

Breif History of the Herbert (Bert) Whitaker & Geoff Hart Converted No4 Target Rifles

Whitaker was a trained engineer and spent most of his working life in government service, which started in 1935
when he went to work at the Royal Small Arms factory Enfield as an examiner / inspector.

He had an interesting career in small arms whilst in government service from chief examiner and involvement in the
development of the EM2 & FN rifles and also the 30mm Aden. He became heavily involved in experimental & prototype weapon systems.Later on he also provided an advisory service to the R.S.A.F Enfield on target Rifle Development.

He retired in 1972 and set up business as a Gunsmith building specialised Target Rifles.

Whitaker was a keen rifle shooter of some note during the 1960s & up to 1976 where he served almost every year on the GB Team
in the Palma Matches and various other International matches including Canada, America & South Africa.
In the Dominion Rifle Matches he came 2nd with his Whitaker Rifle, however his team mate came 1st again also with a Whitaker rifle.

His gunsmithing career only lasted a few years before his death in1976. He died in his sleep at Camp Perry whilst there
with the GB shooting team.

The Whitaker rifles are based on a vastly Modified No4 Action, with the butt socket milled away to enable the use of a one piece stock.
This gave the action flatbed however action draws were still used as the recoil contact points.

Geoff Hart who took over the mantle of Bert's work after he died in his tent shooting the Palma in 1976.

Geoff bought all of Bert's unconverted stock from Christopher, Bert's son after Bert's death
He took Bert's design one step further by putting on a slightly longer barrel, different furniture and a Brindles trigger from his friend John Light

Geoff without a shadow of doubt produced the best conversions of the No.4 to a 7.62mm target rifle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its a shame No4Ts were used for these conversions, however looking back to the 1970s there wasnt that much interest in collecting No4Ts

This is a great example of Geoff's work, they are single shot, and like the other transitional 7.62mm conversions of the time, the extracted cases had to be manually cleared from the action

It would be a fairly easy task to attach a set of No4T pads and then use the No4T set up to mount a scope

Article on the 1st Generation Target Rifle Conversions