Long Branch Lee Enfield- It just isn't fair

I bought my Full wood 1945 LB for $250 in 2012. Im laughing now. But being my only one I dont think I will sell. That said, My No4 Mk2 is by far the best fit and finish wise. Hell, the barrel is new on it.

The LB's are great for collecting and shooting. I dont want to say the LB's werent quality by any means but the wartime ones did cut corners. Get a post war Enfield if you want some nice features such as bolt release, reciever mounted trigger, micrometer sight, and potentially less worn out barrel.
 
6167 said:
Apologize for a No4 LB?...Never.......apparently the * mod saved over 80 machine operations!

......yes...if you want to keep something complicated keep doing it the Brit way...
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If I was Canadian perhaps I would feel more patriotic towards the LongBranch ;)
 
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Well I got a 41, 42, 43, 45, 49, 50, 55 and a 56 no4mk1* LBs along with a 45LB (T). I goofed and sold off my 44....don't know wtf I was thinking.

There are some British no4s down in the gunroom too, but other than the brit made but Cdn marked no4mk1T, who cares?


Ooops: edited to add that when I removed the wood on the 55LB, it turns out it has the hung trigger mechanism of the no4mk2 (theoretically making it a no4mk1/3). But it is not marked with any extra markings, so it may have been added by the DCRA owner.
 
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41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 49, 50, 54, 56.

I have both '41 and '42 dated barrels on '41 actions.

My '41 dated barrel is a MkI (5 groove) I don't have a '41 with a '41 dated 2 groove (I might have to actually look though).

I have both 1943 receiver variations, and both 1949 markings variations.

I have both C.MkI and C.Mk4 1949 dated barrels.

I still need an early blued 1950, as I currently only have phosphated 1950's though I have both '50 & '51 dated barrels.

My '54 is "representative" only, and I'm missing the '55.

I do have some snipers, several No7s and a couple EALs...
 
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stencollector said:
Bet I can find a 44 before you could find a 55.

Little wonder new collectors can't find reasonably priced LBs...Lee Enfield has them all.
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Yes, it would be much easier for you to find a '44 than a '55...I'm willing to trade though...I might throw in some boot if your '55 is really nice.

Sorry to all the newbies, for a while I bought every enfield I found with a "L" butt stock, then it got out of control when I started buying every target/competition rifle I found....

I've become much more selective and tried to only accumulate Long Branch rifles of varients I don't already have....


Sadly each rifle got a unique serial number....:wave: so I have about 880,000 unique Long Branch "varients" left to collect.
 
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Geez... We have hardly touched on stock colour and wood used yet.
I really like the reddish hue Maple LBs but what's not to like about a nicely matched up walnut set.
 
Lee Enfield said:
Sadly each rifle got a unique serial number....:wave: so I have about 880,000 unique Long Branch "varients" left to collect.
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It was actually my intention at one point to try and get a rifle from each series....ie 1L, 2L, 3L, 4L etc. I was able to do it with LB Stens (only 12L was the max along with a few in the XR series), but decided against it for the LB no4s.
 
What years are the most rare to find? In what order specifically?

Oh and time for some pictures ....

1945:
59BD6865-8DBA-4632-8A33-1472F83D77CE_zpsyp2zd0ag.jpg


1944:
IMG_0381_zps07ca1cd8-1.jpg


The early and late 1950s are playing shy today.
 
CODFan said:
What years are the most rare to find? In what order specifically?

Oh and time for some pictures ....

1945:
59BD6865-8DBA-4632-8A33-1472F83D77CE_zpsyp2zd0ag.jpg


1944:
IMG_0381_zps07ca1cd8-1.jpg


The early and late 1950s are playing shy today.
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1949 is the lowest production year with approx 6,000 manufactured. Compared to the approx 18,000 1941 dated receivers.

54,55,56 are pure replacement receivers which are overruns of the 50,000 manufactured in 1950/51.
 
CODFan said:
The other question I have always wanted the answer to is ....

How many 6 groove rifles were produced?
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I've seen more 6-grooves dated 1949 on 1949 actions than any other year, but I have at least 3 C.Mk4 barrels dated 1958, one is on a .303 DCRA target rifle which has a Brit No.4 action.
 
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Exc/mint long Branch rifles from Greece were sold by century for $70.00. 308 no 4 target conversions were around 200/250.00
at the Vancouver/Victoria gun shows. Most of the long Branch rifles are overseas or scrap metal.
 
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