1950 Enfield Rifles - Packaging

Bojangles

Bojangles

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Peterborough, Ontario
A number of years ago I picked up a couple (consecutive serial number) 1950 Long Branch Lee Enfield Rifles in the crate. These were part of a lot that was from Belgium.

The rifles are covered in cosmoline with bits and pieces of paper stuck to them. Some of the paper almost appears to be newsprint.

I would have expected to see the typical "Mummy" paper wrap on these rifles, but this may have been removed by the guys who first picked through the crate of rifles.

My question is: Does anybody have information on how Long Branch was packaging their Lee Enfield rifles in 1950?

I suspect that the "Mummy Wrap" may have been removed so the guys could have a "look see".

Cheers!

B











 
The old newsprint might be from the Letters to the Editor I wrote about how jealous I am of the new-in-crate Enfields you have there :p
 
Those bits of what look like newspaper could have come from whomever was handling those firearms after the crate was opened.

I've seen crates such as those before and depending on which country the rifles came from, they may or may not have had factory wrapping.

Any of the rifles I saw with factory wrap were not done up the same way as the No4 MKII rifles, which were wrapped for "long term" storage under all conditions.

The crates in the pic are not intended for that same type of storage, from what I can remember.

The only wrapping I saw on any of the 49/50/51 and later rifles was very shiny brown paper, waxed on the side against the rifles. Many of them were just how you see them in the pics, with no wrapping and a thick coat of preservative.

When we took them to the show room, sometimes in the crates, the clerks would give the customers newspaper to cover their hands when they picked up the rifles for perusal.

Many of those rifles came in without any preservative on the wood at all and it almost appeared as if the metal was floated in preservative, then assembled into the stocks, which had a heavy coat of Linseed Oil on them.
 
Ive was fortunate enough to see a crate of 1950 LB a few years ago and none of them had wrapping either. Does your crate have the S/N list on it?

Also, its been a while but I thought the crate I saw had 12 rifles and was blue. But, could be wrong.

Side note, would be nice to make a repro, would you mind posting dimensions? Probably would Not be super difficult nor expensive and could be practical for moving a collection.

Bojangles said:
A number of years ago I picked up a couple (consecutive serial number) 1950 Long Branch Lee Enfield Rifles in the crate. These were part of a lot that was from Belgium.

The rifles are covered in cosmoline with bits and pieces of paper stuck to them. Some of the paper almost appears to be newsprint.

I would have expected to see the typical "Mummy" paper wrap on these rifles, but this may have been removed by the guys who first picked through the crate of rifles.

My question is: Does anybody have information on how Long Branch was packaging their Lee Enfield rifles in 1950?

I suspect that the "Mummy Wrap" may have been removed so the guys could have a "look see".

Cheers!

B











Click to expand...
 
Mint Belgium Inglis HP pistols came in brown paper in a box with holster two numbered magazines and lanyard which was British
 
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