September 20th 2015 Premier Firearms Sale
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/19/2015
.276 caliber with a 24" barrel. This is a beautiful example of a very rare Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle designed by John D. Pedersen, manufactured around 1929 in England by Vickers-Armstrong. In 1923 the Army hired J.D. Pedersen to design a semi-automatic rifle as a replacement for the Model 1903 and Model 1917 rifles. The first Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle was approved for testing in 1924 with Springfield Armory manufacturing 20 Pedersen rifles for initial field tests in 1927 that were to run concurrently with the .276 caliber semi-automatic rifle developed by John C. Garand. The Pedersen rifle performed well in the initial service tests. In 1929 Pedersen contracted with Vickers-Armstrong to manufacture the Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle in England. English-made rifles were used in the final Army tests between the Pedersen and Garand rifles. In 1932 the Army selected the Garand rifle for limited procurement and the development of the Pedersen rifle for the Army ceased. Vickers-Armstrong manufactured less than 200 Pedersen Self-Loading Rifles for testing by China and Portugal. This example is chambered for a .276 caliber cartridge tentatively approved in 1927 by the U.S. Army as a replacement for the .30-06 cartridge. The rifle features a delayed blow-back action with toggling breechblock design that uses a 10-round clip similar to that used in the M1 Garand Rifle. The left side of the receiver is roll stamped "PEDERSEN SELFLOADER PA/VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS LTD". The serial number, "39" (making this a very early example) is located on the right side of the receiver, and the top of the receiver ring is stamped with a circled "C2" marking. The rifle has full round barrel with no spirals found only on very early examples, covered by a steel handguard/heat shield with fourteen cooling holes on each side and is fitted with a Model 1917 type pattern upper barrel band. The bolt toggle has a sliding bar safety marked "REDY" on the left side of the bar and "SAFE" on the right side. The rifle is fitted with a one-piece walnut pistol grip stock with finger grooves on the sides of the forend with a series of cooling holes on the underside of the forend that extend from the upper barrel band to the trigger guard. The rifle is equipped with a unique, fully adjustable rear sight that uses a rotary-drum mechanism for elevation adjustment with a sliding-bar/rear sight aperture for the windage adjustments. Both are graduated in half-minute of angle adjustments. Any examples of a Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle should be considered very rare and certainly a center piece of any British or early U.S. martial rifle collection. Excellent with 95% of the original parkerized/blued finish overall with wear on the edges and high spot from handling and light firing. The stock is a beautiful oil finished walnut with no cracks or chips, just a few minor impressions and a couple of darkened oil spots. Fine bore and action. Comes with a blue-grey canvas Navy-type sling and an original sealed box of ammunition. Extremely scarce with the low serial number and solid round barrel. An example of this type can be seen at the Cody Museum. This is a beautiful example of a really high end and very rare Pedersen Semi-Automatic Rifle.