Advice on lee enfield purchase for new collector ?

I actually had a No 4 Mk I in my shopping basket but didn't follow through with the purchase at around $1,014 with tax and shipping. This was because, 1. I felt I didn't know enough about what I was buying and .....2. because as the two posts above point out, the details for each listing seemed a little sparse to me.

Also, is it ever common to get a little background story on guns like this? Where they have been or come from? I buy older guns at least partly for the historical aspect and it's always more interesting (at least to me) if anything is known about a specific gun's history.
 
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I also had one in my cart and let it go when I saw the final price tag. Just seemed to be a little much for what they were. Am also new to Enfield so appreciate the comments in this thread!
 
I rolled the dice and purchased a 1942 No. 1 Mark 4 from Corwin. This rifle was less money than The Finnish M39 from Tradeex last summer. I believe a Long Branch Lee Enfield should be just as desirable as a Finn M39.

Besides, you can buy 3 of these for the price of a new IWI X-95 military rifle. I wonder which one will be more collectable in 25 years...
 
Slightly overpriced this year is next year's bargain. I know I bought good, quality guns from Martin and not somebody's cobbled together dirt shooters.
Considering that as of now he's sold all but 10 rifles, incredibly fast, I'd say his pricing is dead on. P&S just had a LB in that was gone overnight for $950. Nothing special either.
 
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PinkyPlinker said:
Slightly overpriced this year is next year's bargain. I know I bought good, quality guns from Martin and not somebody's cobbled together dirt shooters.
Considering that as of now he's sold all but 10 rifles, incredibly fast, I'd say his pricing is dead on. P&S just had a LB in that was gone overnight for $950. Nothing special either.
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I saw a matching bolt and receiver long branch sold at P&S for $895 graded very good with A 5 groove barrel , I called them and he answered questions with gun in hand on another I was interested in which was nice and would send more pics also , seems a little better than buying blind
I did not buy one of these at Corwin because as others have said vague description and not many pics to go by . Seemed like a gamble at premium prices. Maybe others could see more than I ? I know others know more than I do . Hope to hear some reviews to help me gain knowledge
 
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By what I could see, they are indeed premium prices for average rifles. Things like no3 bolt heads installed is never a good sign, and it was on several of them. Wood on more than a few of them are not the wood I expect on a $1000 rifle. Engraved bolt handles means it is no longer considered matching to a collector. And the 1941 rifle had newer wood and newer rear sight. It would have been interesting to see if it had FTR markings, but the photos were all of the right side.

I passed on these......a little patience will be rewarded. But not too much patience. I remember about a decade back when photos surfaced of all the ex-Cdn rifles which were surplussed by the Italian Navy. Guys on gunnutz asked and one business said they would look into importing them. But when the price came back at around $450 each, nobody was interested. They were all hoping for $200 rifles. Well it didn't happen then, and it's not going to happen now.
 
PinkyPlinker said:
Slightly overpriced this year is next year's bargain. I know I bought good, quality guns from Martin and not somebody's cobbled together dirt shooters.
Considering that as of now he's sold all but 10 rifles, incredibly fast, I'd say his pricing is dead on. P&S just had a LB in that was gone overnight for $950. Nothing special either.
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I agree. I have bought from Martin before and I have yet to be disappointed. All that is left is a few of the mismatched guns. The best thing is these rifles have had no "restoration". I haven't seen guns like this for sale in any quantity in many years. I highly doubt we will see a quantity of Long Branch Enfields for sale like this any time soon. If ever. That's why I bought what I bought. I realize that the description is light, and the chance of some non original parts exist. But at this point in time, a mismatched nose cap may be secondary to not owning a piece of history. Completely original guns will always command a premium, and you better be ready to pay that premium in the years to come.
As far as price goes, they sold, and sold fast. The market price for anything is what you can sell it for. And for this week, the market price is what they sold for.
 
stencollector said:
By what I could see, they are indeed premium prices for average rifles. Things like no3 bolt heads installed is never a good sign, and it was on several of them. Wood on more than a few of them are not the wood I expect on a $1000 rifle. Engraved bolt handles means it is no longer considered matching to a collector. And the 1941 rifle had newer wood and newer rear sight. It would have been interesting to see if it had FTR markings, but the photos were all of the right side.

I passed on these......a little patience will be rewarded. But not too much patience. I remember about a decade back when photos surfaced of all the ex-Cdn rifles which were surplussed by the Italian Navy. Guys on gunnutz asked and one business said they would look into importing them. But when the price came back at around $450 each, nobody was interested. They were all hoping for $200 rifles. Well it didn't happen then, and it's not going to happen now.
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Since these rifles can come with a #3 bolt head from the factory when new, how can this be determined as not a "good sign"? Maybe if the shooter couldn't find a #4 bolt? How many thousands of rounds? I have seen an original No4 with a #3 bolt. Confusing to say the least.
That 41 also seemed to have non original barrel bands.
 
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I don't think I have ever seen a Longbranch from the factory with a no3 bolt head. Zeros and ones for sure, but not threes. I have two issues with a no3 bolthead.....it is likely a sign of wear, and with more wear, there is nowhere left to go.
 
stencollector said:
I don't think I have ever seen a Longbranch from the factory with a no3 bolt head. Zeros and ones for sure, but not threes. I have two issues with a no3 bolthead.....it is likely a sign of wear, and with more wear, there is nowhere left to go.
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I was visiting one of my collector friends last year. It is definitely an original rifle, with a #3 bolt head. He also said that some #2 bolts measure larger than #3 and so on. This why I find this bolt size confusing. If headspace was exceeded, one could use #2 or #3 bolt heads to get back in spec, in theory at least. And if you had an assortment of bolt heads.
Thinking about this last night left me wondering that even if you bought a rifle with provenance, how can you be certain that somewhere in its life this didn't happen?


Section 4.— Repairs, Modifications and Adjustments,
etc.

7. To fit new bolt-head to Rifles No. l.—(Spare part bolt- heads, marked “S” on the top, are longer at the front.) Assemble the bolt-head to the bolt, insert it in the body, and test with .064-inch No. 1 gauge; should the bolt not close over the gauge, remove the bolt-head from the bolt, and having placed a piece of emery cloth (No. F) on a flat surface, rub the face of the bolt-head on the emery cloth, maintaining a circular motion in order to preserve a flat surface, until sufficient metal has been removed to enable the assembled bolt to close over the gauge.

The bolt should not close over the .074-inch No. 1 gauge. Care should be taken to keep the-face of the bolt-head flat and square. After fitting and adjusting, the top front edge of the face of the bolt-head is to be rounded to a radius not exceeding .02-inch.
Note.—When it is found that the bolts of several rifles turn over the 074-inch No. 1 gauge, the bolt-heads should be ex-changed among such rifles, as, owing to the varying lengths of bodies and bolts, bolt-heads which are too short in one rifle may be serviceable in another. Bolt-heads that have been replaced in rifles by longer ones, should be kept by the armourer and used whenever possible in rifles requiring the bolt-head replaced, so as to avoid unnecessary use of new spare part bolt-heads. Part-worn bolt-heads held as required by armourers in accordance with the foregoing need not be accounted for as part of the annual allowance of new spare parts.


I'm not planning on pounding 10,000 rounds through mine so this is obviously an academic exercise.
 
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