Lithgow
- Thread starter ianwd
- Start date
jonnygunman17
New member
- Location
- Happyville On
Beautiful, iam green with envy. Oh how i have dreamed of owning one.
gunsaholic
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Winnipeg, Manitoba
Very nice Lithgow! Congrats.
infideleggwelder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
very nice, and looks in really good shape.
check for traces of yellow paint in and around the nose cap and let me know.
check for traces of yellow paint in and around the nose cap and let me know.
Most people don't know this, but the Lithgow Lee Enfield's and all other Australian firearms made there up till the L1A1 are made on American Pratt & Whitney supplied tooling and machinery instead of British supplied tooling & machinery. The British tooling & machinery of the time was not capable of the same mass output and high tolerances and required more hand fitting to assemble a finished rifle compared to the more modern Pratt & Whitney supplied tooling, so they lost out to the Yanks despite much high level British Government lobbying. Up till this time all Lee Enfields made in the Empire arsenals were made on British tooling.
It is said that this is why the Lithgow Enfields are all of such high quality and why they shoot so well.
The British were really pissed off at the time when they missed out on the contract to setup the Lithgow factory, it is also said that the Australian government & military was still pissed with the Brit's over the Breaker Morant incident (firing squad) during the Boer war.
If you have never heard of Breaker Morant see this Wikipedia link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant
Also they made a very good movie about the incident, titled "Breaker Morant" it is worth the time to watch.
It is said that this is why the Lithgow Enfields are all of such high quality and why they shoot so well.
The British were really pissed off at the time when they missed out on the contract to setup the Lithgow factory, it is also said that the Australian government & military was still pissed with the Brit's over the Breaker Morant incident (firing squad) during the Boer war.
If you have never heard of Breaker Morant see this Wikipedia link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant
Also they made a very good movie about the incident, titled "Breaker Morant" it is worth the time to watch.
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They come up all the time, there are lots floating around Canada and the US. A New York based dealer bought out the remaining SMLE's (the one's that were not melted down) and parts from Australian military storage in the 90's.
I have a source for complete Lithgow SMLE stock sets for $65 AUD before shipping which is maybe slightly higher than the CAD dollar at the moment if anybody is interested in fixing up their battered Lithgow Australian Coachwood stock set.
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I have a couple of Lithgow rifles. While I haven't actually measured, I believe that the bolt handles on the Lithgow rifles aren't bent as close to the wrist as a British No 1 - if you have the bolt closed, the handle sticks up a little further. Has anyone else noticed this?
rob bishop
Member
- Location
- Western New Brunswick
Damnit, why didn't you come along a couple months ago! lol I just restored a 1916 Lithgow and had to settle for English wood.
Like the man said, where the hell were you a few months ago? Yup, mark me as interested. In fact I think if you brought in a bunch (like a full sea can) you'd have no difficulty selling every set. There is a shortage of NoI MkIII wood.
stevejones
Regular
- Location
- Courtenay, BC
I posted a 1943 Lithgow I recently acquired in a previous thread. Its 1943 model and has a bayonet. Unfortunately my poor photography skills do not do it justice...I'll take another picture and re-post it here later...
Cheers.
Cheers.
