Thanks for the advice and the warm welcome guys. Curl, I will contact Bob Jones, and thanks for the lead.

The gun has an interesting provenance. It was 'liberated' from Berlin just after WW2 and was owned for many years by one of the Flight Engineers on the 'Dambusters' raid (I swear this is true).

As for the scope bases, I could not believe my luck when I bought a .22 Hornet Winchester Model 43 at an auction the other day for a ridiculously low price (BTW I am a dealer - but I promise not to try and sell you anything), which had on it a claw mounted Khales H/4 X 60 in great condition. Just a little smithing and the scope will fit nicely onto the the Scherping. Will send pic when done.

As for hunting, the rifle will be fine for foxes and hares but .240 cal or above is the legal limit for all 6 deer species in England and Wales, but some .22 centre fires are allowed for shooting Roe Deer in Scotland (.222, .22-250, .223). There is talk about changing the law in England and Wales to allow the smaller species of Deer (Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer) to be shot with .22 centre fires, but not Roe Deer (how perverse is that)? I have compared the 22 Savage HP with .223 and it is a little slower so will have to do some maths to see if it is (or will be) legal.

Regards WB