1917? 303 enfield. Help with a value please.

Assuming the barrel is full length and not cut down, $150-ish is fair.

Barrel cut down, bits missing, receiver drilled full of holes..., then it starts going downhill quickly.

45C said:
What if it has all matching serial numbers
Click to expand...

That's why it's $150, assuming the barrel is full length. Mismatched, I'd say $100 or less.
 
Indeed it is.

Numbers matching with a proper barrel, a collector or someone looking for a restoration project will buy the rifle for $150 to say a maximum of $200. Putting a higher asking price on the rifle will only make most folks ignore it and look at other alternatives (of which there are many sporterized Enfields).

On the EE there's a fellow in the Yukon selling restoration kits for SMLEs with reproduction/new made wood stock sets and NOS metal bits for (if I remember correctly) ~$400. So, you end up putting say $550 into the rifle to get it back up to looking military spec'd, but the value doesn't go up all that much. Whereas an un-sporterized SMLE can and often will sell into the $800 or so range.
 
7ECA said:
Indeed it is.

Numbers matching with a proper barrel, a collector or someone looking for a restoration project will buy the rifle for $150 to say a maximum of $200. Putting a higher asking price on the rifle will only make most folks ignore it and look at other alternatives (of which there are many sporterized Enfields).

On the EE there's a fellow in the Yukon selling restoration kits for SMLEs with reproduction/new made wood stock sets and NOS metal bits for (if I remember correctly) ~$400. So, you end up putting say $550 into the rifle to get it back up to looking military spec'd, but the value doesn't go up all that much. Whereas an un-sporterized SMLE can and often will sell into the $800 or so range.
Click to expand...

And then most "home handi-men" won't have the correctly fitting tools to properly torque the screws without buggering the slots, nor will they have the know-how or patience to get the draws, the "king screw" and the barrel tip bedding pressures correct. These were not "plug and play" machines!! To boot, many do not know how to identify proper parts - I just disassembled an otherwise decent P14 that had a No. 4 Lee Enfield lower band - it was made to work, and it works, but is not correct. Same as an "F" marked trigger in a Long Branch. Or a 1903 Springfield follower in a M1917. They fit. They "work". But details matter to some of us - hundreds of dollars difference.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the help,
I’ll let him know his dreams of trading for a pump 12 G are only pipe dreams.. lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom