Best No4 Enfield manufacturer.
- Thread starter davemccarthy707
- Start date
I would have voted RSAF Enfield if you had put it up there. They only made them in pre-war peacetime conditions and they were things of beauty with rust blueing and hand-fitted parts. Very few left today - ah well.
My heart says I should vote LB, but my head says 1941 production BSA. Except for a few early guns, LB made a "wartime expedient" variant of the No.4, while BSA initially produced No.4's to peacetime quality (before getting permission to toss fit and finish out the window) and built the MkI (no star) variant. They used beautiful European walnut initially and rust-blued the guns. LB used black walnut, a lesser breed of nut wood, and hot-caustic blued their guns. They also produced almost all their guns in the MkI* cheapened variant.
LB production is an easy 2nd place though - they next best maker (Savage) was well back of LB quality.
My heart says I should vote LB, but my head says 1941 production BSA. Except for a few early guns, LB made a "wartime expedient" variant of the No.4, while BSA initially produced No.4's to peacetime quality (before getting permission to toss fit and finish out the window) and built the MkI (no star) variant. They used beautiful European walnut initially and rust-blued the guns. LB used black walnut, a lesser breed of nut wood, and hot-caustic blued their guns. They also produced almost all their guns in the MkI* cheapened variant.
LB production is an easy 2nd place though - they next best maker (Savage) was well back of LB quality.
This is kind of a rhetorical discussion given that all makes of rifles passed government acceptance/quality control checks. There is a lot of discussion along the same lines concerning the 6 makers of the M1 Garand rifle. Everybody has a favorite pony in this race, mostly based on emotions and personal biases. In a general sense one would lean towards a peacetime made rifle where the press of wartime needs wasn't as much of a factor and closer quality control and a better trained and more stable workforce would be expected. I'd say the Longbranch post-1945 rifles were probably the best based on these criteria. For the same reasons I'd select a post-1945 Garand made by Springfield, Harrington & Richardson, International Harvester and the 2 Italian makers, Beretta and Breda. Among the Garands there is a great following for the Winchesters based on the Winchester name. The fact is that Winchester's allowable profit margin was so low that the rifles are very crude in finish in comparison to the others. The bottom line was that any rifle that was accepted for service met the government standard, incl interchangeability of parts with rifles made by all other makers. As an aside Remington was beat up by government inspectors for producing their initial runs of M1903 Springfields in 1941/42 to such a high standard of finish that production lagged behind requirements.
This question is meaningless in a sense because you would have to specify pre-war, war-time or post-war production.
Pre-war there was only RSAF Enfield
War-time Long Branch wins easily IMO
Post-war I personally prefer for design reasons the No4 Mk2 made at Fazakerly in 1954/55/56. The Pakistan Ordnance Factory Mk2s are said to be very good as well.
The fact that Long Branch and Savage were encouraged or ordered(?) to cheapen their product by going to the MkI* modification etc. while the UK factories who should have done everything to cheapen and simplify their production stayed with the MkI, is just weird.
Pre-war there was only RSAF Enfield
War-time Long Branch wins easily IMO
Post-war I personally prefer for design reasons the No4 Mk2 made at Fazakerly in 1954/55/56. The Pakistan Ordnance Factory Mk2s are said to be very good as well.
The fact that Long Branch and Savage were encouraged or ordered(?) to cheapen their product by going to the MkI* modification etc. while the UK factories who should have done everything to cheapen and simplify their production stayed with the MkI, is just weird.
Probably the highest quality No4's made were the post war Faz guns (Irish Contract and otherwise). The only downer is that they have almost no collector appeal, because they weren't used for anything other than training.
They never made the no4 rifle.
I have to agree with the post war made Long Branch. The one I have is beautifully made in terms of fit and finish with a lovely walnut stock and I've seen very few foreign made (ie; English or POF) to rival mine. I know it's a personal call and highly subjective, but that's my 2 cents worth.
