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The PARKER-HALE M85 SNIPER RIFLE

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The subject rifle was sometime ago advertised for sale by Highwood Classic Arms, and the write-up, here re-presented in part, included information passed by a knowledgeable member of the Milsurps group.

In 7.62 x 51mm NATO calibre, the rifle illustrated is serial No 00299F, with a Schmidt & Bender ZF 10x42 telescopic sight. The "F" suffix indicates "Field".

The Parker Hale M85 was a British-made sniper rifle,with an effective range of around 900 metres and a maximum range of approx 1,200 metres.

The rifle was designed by Parker Hale after the Falklands War , in response to shortcomings in the then contemporary Lee Enfield L42A1.

The M85 took part in the British Army trials for a replacement sniper rifle, along with the Accuracy International PM, Heckler & Koch PSG1, SIG-Sauer SSG 2000, and Remington 700.
The rifle lost by a slight margin to the Accuracy International, which was adopted by the British Army as the L96, and fitted with an AI marked Schmidt & Bender PM 12x42 Scope

Parker Hale records show that three M85 rifles, serial numbers 00298F, 00299F and 00300F were loaned out by Roger Hale in 1987, and never returned. It also appears that they were never proofed at the time and only given much later .308 Birmingham Proof marks. Originally found in wood furniture, the rifle has been subsequently fitted with a NATO green composite stock and the telescopic sight.

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Records are not always complete, and, whilst 00299F was evidently manufactured, a record was not made by whoever produced it, and it does not therefore appear in the official Parker-Hale records. Additionally, not all "customer" placements of production were noted

It is known only that 00298F went to Germany and 00300F went to the Falkland Islands Defence Force, so while serial numbers either side of the subject rifle were recorded, this was not.

The rifle is a Parker-Hale PH modification to a Santa Barbara bolt assembly as it has the two tell-tale circular holes on both parts of the bolt, and is correctly numbered with the expected Parker-Hale serial electrically etched (or perhaps number punched) on the arm - "299". It was possibly built by Eddie Taff. His wheel marks are a signature of much of his work, which was as many of the Parker-Hale engineers - outstanding.

For information, Santa Barbara was the name given to the National Armoury that built Spain's military weapons when it was privatized ca.1960. CETME was the previous name, just as the name of the rifle. Since that time they produced M98 type rifles and actions until around 1984. Poor sales brought production to an end, not helped by the introduction of strict European firearms legislation. The original market for these products was intended to be in America, and the M85 was issued to Canadian Forces, here shown with the rifle at range practice.

It has been suggested that the actions were investment cast, but they were probably forged. Judging by production standards of the time, it is unlikely they were investment castings. It has been reported that the Santa Barbara products were not as well finished as other equivalents of the time, even being somewhat rough on occasion.

Below is a Parker-Hale publicity sheet showing the various stock options.

Hover over or Click image to bring up hi-res file and magnifier

 

We are fortunately able to present a significant amount of literature on the M85, starting with a write-up printed in a Guns Review magazine issue of May 1990.

These can be viewed as a text-searchable documents
with vertical scrolling, or as flip-books by clicking the appropriate icon.
The sizeable number of pages may take a few moments to load.
Double tap tablet or click for full page display.

 

There are also the Operating and Repair manuals, some detail of the trials, and the company's advertising material, the latter regrettably only as photocopies.

THE P-H M85 REPAIR INSTRUCTIONS

 

THE P-H M85 OPERATING INFORMATION

 

The final part of the story of the Parker-Hale sniper rifles lies in the National Firearms Collection at the Leeds Royal Armouries, in what was originally the Enfield Pattern Room Collection, moved on there from the Nottingham Royal Small Arms Factory over the Millenium.

Exhibit number XII.11219 is a centre-fire bolt-action rifle prototype, beleived to be the only one of its type, that was intended to be the next step for Parker-Hale in their line of sniper rifles before the company folded in its then extant state.

Estimated to have been built around 1995, the rifle is described by the museum as -

"A bolt action rifle with a Mauser type locking system and bolt, the cocking handle of which has an oversized black plastic knob for ease of use.The receiver has no iron sights fitted, but is machined with a raised dovetail for the fitting of a military pattern scope.The receiver is black finished. The rifle is fitted with a heavy bull barrel, which is fluted for cooling. It has a rectangular compensator at the muzzle. The barrel is matt-black finished. A ten round box magazine is fitted underneath the receiver, and this is removeable by means of a locking catch by the triggerguard. The stock is of black composite, and has an adjustable chheck comb that can be raised to suit the shooters preference. The base of the pistol grip has a rotating wheel that is used for resting the rifle on the ground when using a bipod, for which a quickly detachable slide mount is provided. [The bipod is not present]. Recoil pads are fitted to the butt, and these can be removed or added to.

This example is the first prototype sniping rifle of the new generation of rifles designed to replace the Parker-Hale M85 rifle. However, the factory was unable to complete testing before they became insolvent. It is not known if any other examples of this rifle survive."

We hope to be able to photograph it at some point in the future.