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Enfield Ad I found: Fake?

As with anything on armslist, be VERY, VERY careful. A lot of Nigerian scammers on there.

You have the advantage of at least being in the next state. The only way I would do a deal is FTF.
If you have a C&R, you can possession right there. Otherwise, meet at a friendly gun store to run the rifle through their books.

As for Enfields, you might want to check with the guys on gunboards.
The Lee-Enfield Forum
 
I just got off the phone with the gentleman who owns the rifle. He was a very nice older gentleman and was very informative about the rifle. He told me he bought the rifle from an estate. He mentioned that this particular gentleman who passed away had a bunker up in Estancia, NM that had over 200 rifles and 300 handguns; most of them being surplus firearms in exceptional condition. He said that he purchased this rifle and it was still covered in cosmoline, though not packed in the original wrapper. The serial numbers are matching on everything, to include on the bottom of the stock's fore end. Luckily, I am in Albuquerque at the moment, so I am meeting up with him tomorrow at his shop downtown to have a look-see. I will report back as soon as I find out more. Any advice on some things I should look for would be greatly appreciated.
 
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I ended up cancelling the meeting with the aforementioned gentleman as the price was quite high this morning. While I was on lunch break, I decided to stop by a local gun shop that carries vintage surplus rifles. I was looking over their stock and ended up striking up a conversation with another fella. We got to talking about vintage rifles and I mentioned the Enfield I was going to look at, but cancelled because of the price. He then told me that he has one and had actually just listed it for sale a couple days ago.... What a coincidence! He said he wanted $650 but was willing to work with me on the price. I went and looked at it, and of course it was in pristine, numbers matching condition. We agreed on a price of $600 and he covered the FFL transfer fees. This is what I came home with:





I really dig these sights:
 
You did good. I've seen some of the "in the wrap" rifles, or even a couple that were freshly removed from the wrap, that went in the neighborhood of the previous rifle. Among most collectors, that's probably a high price, though. What you paid for the second one is more in line and probably even on the cheap side (actually, looking at the pics, I think you got a damn good deal in today's market!). :cool:
 
Joop said:
You did good. I've seen some of the "in the wrap" rifles, or even a couple that were freshly removed from the wrap, that went in the neighborhood of the previous rifle. Among most collectors, that's probably a high price, though. What you paid for the second one is more in line and probably even on the cheap side (actually, looking at the pics, I think you got a damn good deal in today's market!). :cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks Joop, that makes me feel a little better. I think it'll make the Battle Axe less angry when she finds out what I could have paid... lol.

I saw a couple on gun broker even higher than the first one I posted above: ~$1100 unwrapped!! At any rate, I'm really happy with this purchase and really stoked to own an Enfield. I think these rifles are so cool.
 
Yeah, I just did a quick check on gunbroker, too and I see that some have sold in the $800 range that are in lesser condition than yours, by a long shot. I want to say that I've seen them on collector's trader boards in the $700 range. You did great.
 
They were under $200 when they first came in, and they each had a wrapped No. 9 Mk 1 bayonet and scabbard... another batch was imported in the mid 90's for $400.

I always like them.
 
Dan M said:
They were under $200 when they first came in, and they each had a wrapped No. 9 Mk 1 bayonet and scabbard... another batch was imported in the mid 90's for $400.

I always like them.
Click to expand...

Often times I think I was born in the wrong era... I was born in the late 80's so I missed out on the super cheap rifles of old... I guess I'll just have to play catch up!
 
303_enfield said:
That serial number range is not a "mummy" rifle. For a C&R holder at a PA show that is a $500-$600. You did well now boil the barrel and find some Greek ammo.

For those that can't find Enfields local look here:
BDL LTD
Enfield sites:
The Lee-Enfield Forum
Military Surplus Collectors Forums
Skinnies site:
Lee Enfield SMLE specialist Ian Skennerton

Welcome to my sickness :)
Click to expand...

If its not a "mummy" rifle, then what is it? Any literature on this particular subject? I've looked high and low for info on this serial number and couldn't find anything. Most of them seem to be in the 5 digit range.

Also, do you have any leads on some of the Greek ammo? I hear it pretty much disappeared off the map.
 
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Nice rifle you picked up. I have always loved the lines of the No.4s, they just seem elegant to me.

I bought my first mummy rifle back in 92 or so for $179 plus taxes and another one a year or two later for a little more. One I sold a couple years back for $1000 and I still have the other which is one of the rarer Irish contract rifles.

The guy asking $950 for an un-wrapped and fired rifle is just asking too much as both those factors heavily depreciate the rifle's value.
 
It's a 1955 UF A series with blond wood. Read the survey of 55 UF's on gunboards. Lots of blonds came in with the mummies. Oh, to have a time machine.

Be glade it's not a mummy. Many have bad bores as they where wrapped without being cleaned.

Greek ammo, keep checking the net. It can be found, I just bought 2,000 rounds of it on Vickers belts :)
 
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You can still find .303 ammunition, but the days of buying cheap bulk surplus are long over... The last bulk .303 I bought was South African non corrosive packed in 50 round boxes. I parcel it out when I take my SMLEs or Ross rifles to the range. I still have some corrosive South African and British military surplus in chargers.

Back in the day you could get a 600 round case in chargers and bando for around $65 out the door.
 
UF, you did well. $850 to $1100 normal.

Unissued unfired PF's $950~$1000

 
I have 2 unissued Irish contract PF's with Mk 9 bayonets and slings and wouldn't sell them for $1000 each . You did very well on your purchase.
 
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Thanks for the kind words gents. I came across some FN Belgium .303 surplus (headstamp 66) today so I bought 200 rounds of it. I've been reading mixed info on whether or not this ammo is corrosive or not. A few sources indicate that FN stopped using corrosive primers in the late 50's, while others say they didn't stop until the 70's. Does anyone have any insight on this?

Here's where someone references the aren't corrosive:
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?247105-FN-303-ammo

And another reference to the same:
http://forums.thecmp.org/archive/index.php/t-36536.html

This seems to be a legitimate reference to me.
 
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When in doubt, consider it corrosive and clean accordingly.

An issue funnel would help... makes cleaning after shooting corrosive ammunition a snap:

standard.jpg
 
Good point Dan. I clean my rifles after every trip to the range anyway so its not a big deal and I have plenty of Windex, not to mention I got this ammo at $0.45 a round, which is about as cheap as one can shoot with the ammo prices in my area.

Did they really issue funnels for cleaning? That's really interesting. I haven't heard of that!
 
Roll your own. I would not use surplus in these valuable rifles. Do you use recycled oil in your car?

 
Yes, troops actually used their issued funnels to clean their SMLEs

standard.jpg


As far as shooting surplus ammunition in surplus rifles... that is what they were designed for. Examine the cartridge cases and have at it. The rifles themselves aren't especially valuable, they sell for what the market will bear... values rise and fall all the time with any collectable. Valuable to one person is totally subjective. I shoot my L42A1s with surplus M80 ball for fun, I don't dwell on what it is worth, I paid about $850 each... I have also shot my 3 Lend Lease 1941 dated M1 rifles with DEN 43 ammunition, and it was damned accurate ammunition.

Clean them correctly and drive on.
 
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I shoot my L42A1s with surplus M80 ball for fun, I don't dwell on what it is worth, I paid about $850 each...

Clean them correctly and drive on.[/QUOTE]

Brilliant

 
Still have a shit ton of LC M80 in bandoliers and M14 chargers. More difficult to shoot well than match ammo, but makes a fun challenge.

Back in '86 when surplus first started coming back in, Navy Arms had Mausers and SMLEs stacked like cord wood. Some of it was crap, some were perfect. My buddy was a dealer and we would shoot the shit with Val Forgett (the old man, not his son) and go back into the warehouse and spend the day picking through piles of rifles. Picked some flat new M96 Swedes for about 67 bucks each. When the L42A1s came in, they didn't last long at $850.

Never did see any Green Spot ammo for the L42.
 
Dan M said:
As far as shooting surplus ammunition in surplus rifles... that is what they were designed for. Examine the cartridge cases and have at it. The rifles themselves aren't especially valuable, they sell for what the market will bear... values rise and fall all the time with any collectable. Valuable to one person is totally subjective. I shoot my L42A1s with surplus M80 ball for fun, I don't dwell on what it is worth, I paid about $850 each... I have also shot my 3 Lend Lease 1941 dated M1 rifles with DEN 43 ammunition, and it was damned accurate ammunition.

Clean them correctly and drive on.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely on board with that. I didn't buy this rifle solely for the purpose of sticking in the back of the safe. I fully intend on shooting it and shooting it often. That's not to say I don't plan on taking good care of it and keeping in clean because I do.... Rifles are made for shooting.

I picked up another 200 rounds of the FN .303 today and will probably go back for more tomorrow. I can't say I've seen .303 British for sale very often, but then again I never really looked for it either.
 
Green spot is just 144g ball Radway Green from the first few thousand rounds of production after calibration of the machines where one round in several hundred is pulled and tested for uniformity. The next 10K will be rifle black spot rounds will be tested every few thousand and the last 20K will be LMG ammo hardly tested every 10K as dispersion is acceptable. I think I still have a few tins of black spot. I still prefer to roll my own for this rifle also. The ammunition was not special a manufacturing for the L42 just selected from the beginning of a run. I have this from the OC of the support division of MoD Colonel Miller in 2009 via Peter Laidler. All three gave more than satisfactory first cold shot performance. LC M80 not so much but still acceptable so if you have a TONNE of it grand.

Back to the beach for sunset.

Cheers

 
The Greek HXP .303 is good. The FN fodder should be good. The SA .303 I have was made in 1980, head stamped 7.7RIM3Z, A80. The Paki .303 that was sold not that long ago was poorly stored... lots of hangfires. Shooting that is like shooting a poorly regulated flintlock.

Tallied up about 4500 rds M80, fun plinking ammo. Weather permitting I will get to shoot my buddy's No. 4 Mk 1 (T). He wants to plink with my 7.62 NATO conversion Savage that came in from Canada
standard.jpg

standard.jpg

standard.jpg
 
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I would like to find some more HXP and SA A80 brass. What do you do with your expended brass?

I use the reasonably priced Lee four die set with collete neck sizing die and 4895 or 4064 powders.

Cheers

 
Most impressive, Sir! One of these days I will get off the parliamentary side of my ass and purchase a No. 4 Mk 1 (T).

Regarding the brass, I torture myself with an RCBS berdan decapping tool and have a stash of deprimed cleaned brass ready when my supply of SA is exhausted. Damn I wish I bought some additional berdan primers.
 
I'm saving a MkII into 7.62X51



I bought some sported receivers and some new barrels.

 
Nice!!! :cool:

Your photos jogged my memory... in my stash of spares is a new Australian H barrel that I was saving for a project. Time for me to get moving on that.
 
Just have to find the time and $$ to send off the receivers to Brain Dick.



And this MkIII scope from Peter Laidler with new lens sets and erector mated to one of the last of the original production run Roger Payne MoD approved brackets.



The barrels are new old stock scored from the UK in the 1960s The T will number eleven.



1950s MkII is mint except for the chopped barrel so it goes 7.62X51 with fat boy and PH sights and bedded in a new 1957 MkII stock set.





Some time I feel like a pack rat.
 
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Being a pack rat isn't a bad thing.

I've got enough spare M1 rifle parts, stocks and barrels to build several rifles and still have contingency spares
 
There is still some Greek HXP floating around that is non corrosive and reload-able. Hard to find but I found some after searching for a while.
 
My little brother is really into old rifles and my parents found him an Enfield at a pawn shop that has been cut down and sporterized (sp?) and he is trying to get it back to original. He recently bought a bbl and is looking for an original stock for it. If anyone would be willing to help my find some parts for him please message me. I will get more info on the rifle that he has to try and help with what parts would be needed.
 
D.Log said:
My little brother is really into old rifles and my parents found him an Enfield at a pawn shop that has been cut down and sporterized (sp?) and he is trying to get it back to original. He recently bought a bbl and is looking for an original stock for it. If anyone would be willing to help my find some parts for him please message me. I will get more info on the rifle that he has to try and help with what parts would be needed.
Click to expand...

Get on Ebay and type "enfield" into the search. There's a ton of parts on there. What parts he needs depends on which Enfield he has.
 
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