Please help me identify this No. 4 Enfield

There are a couple of patterns of lightened bolt knobs. All No. 5s had lightened ones, some No. 4s did as well.
 
cantom said:
I thought only Jungle Carbines had the bolt handles with holes. Obviously the rifles are Bubbas, the only question is who did the Bubbafication...

Has anyone seen an ROF (F) rifle in gray metal before? Or were they all in black paint?

Actually, it was a war expedient to NOT mill the hole in the bolt. The early Mk1 Longbranches had it, the first run of Savages had it, the Enfield made No.4 trials rifles had it, BSA had it on all their No.4's till some time early in 1943 and ROF Maltby and ROF Fazakerly built the occasional No.4 with this feature. The vast majority of WW2 era rifles did not have it though. After the war, all the makers went back to milling the bolt knob again except for Longbranch.

So no, it is not confined to No.5 rifles ;)
 
I'm by no means an expert on Enfields, but I have a few friends that are. We looked at this rifles about 2 or 3 years ago, and we all pasted on it. At one time I owned around 55 Enfields, mostly pre WWI, and the one friend of my has over 150 Enfields in his collection. Just to let you know, I think the seller was asking about $600 for it back then.... so I see he finally brought the price down. Did you get ripped off... not really, I'd say it was worth $200, but as a different looking shooter, not as a collector's piece. In other words, IMHO his little story was a little bit of BS.

Look at this as a cheap learning experince.... If you want to collect Enfields, get into the books before you start buying, or find a friendly collector that will take you under is wing...

Cheers
Dean
 
Sgt Striker said:
I'm by no means an expert on Enfields, but I have a few friends that are. We looked at this rifles about 2 or 3 years ago, and we all pasted on it. At one time I owned around 55 Enfields, mostly pre WWI, and the one friend of my has over 150 Enfields in his collection. Just to let you know, I think the seller was asking about $600 for it back then.... so I see he finally brought the price down. Did you get ripped off... not really, I'd say it was worth $200, but as a different looking shooter, not as a collector's piece. In other words, IMHO his little story was a little bit of BS.

Look at this as a cheap learning experince.... If you want to collect Enfields, get into the books before you start buying, or find a friendly collector that will take you under is wing...

Cheers
Dean

The thing is, the real rifles are much more expensive, I bought this because it was $200. The real ones(nice shape originals) were about $350 and up, not that there were very many there at all. I'm a bit thrifty...must be some Scottish blood in there somewhere...Did I get hosed? I don't think so, I certainly got $200 worth, and I like the rifle. I've never been an originality Nazi, with guns, cars or motorcycles...I've been known to put a muzzle brake on a Mini 14 with no feelings of guilt whatsoever...I like the look of this rifle.

One thing I would like to do is get the barrel crowned though, my gunsmith buddy no longer has a lathe, any idea who'd do that reasonably locally?
 
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cantom said:
Milarm is not describing theirs as anything...they call it an unknown curiousity basically which is exactly what it is.
I know what a No 4 Mk 1/2 rifle is btw, there is plenty of documentation about them on the net.

A month ago I was in Milarm and Mr Kerr dragged that abortion off the shelf to show me. After describing it as special and ultra rare, he went on to mention that he had been in touch with Skennerton about it and it was about to appear in Skennertons next book. :rolleyes:

You wouldn't think they would be that hard up for a sale :p
 
Karl said:
A month ago I was in Milarm and Mr Kerr dragged that abortion off the shelf to show me. After describing it as special and ultra rare, he went on to mention that he had been in touch with Skennerton about it and it was about to appear in Skennertons next book. :rolleyes:

You wouldn't think they would be that hard up for a sale :p

That's hilarious, Karl. Integrity has left the building.
 
Karl said:
A month ago I was in Milarm and Mr Kerr dragged that abortion off the shelf to show me. After describing it as special and ultra rare, he went on to mention that he had been in touch with Skennerton about it and it was about to appear in Skennertons next book. :rolleyes:

You wouldn't think they would be that hard up for a sale :p

Probably will be in Skennerton's book (who ever he is I dont know :redface: ) under the title of "Interesting untrue stories of sportized rifles" :p :runaway:

Dimitri
 
For anyone interested, this rifle is at the gunsmith, the flash hider has been removed, and...an inch or less is off the barrel, but the bayonet lugs are still there and intact. I had told him to turn the barrel and recrown it, but since the lugs are still there I've asked him to weld an extension on the barrel and make it stock length/diameter once again (he's done this before on other Enfields). The last bit won't be rifled but it'll look right...he is crowning the barrel first. The barrel is so nice and bright and new looking that it seems to me to be worth the trouble.

The lower forestock has been cut back even with the top piece for a faux L42 look...trying to make it a lesser Bubba...with the barrel extension going on I'll be looking for some stock wood and bands. Anyone got a reasonable set in nice shape?
 
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cantom said:
For anyone interested, this rifle is at the gunsmith, the flash hider has been removed, and...an inch is off the barrel, but the bayonet lugs are still there and intact. I had told him to turn the barrel and recrown it, but since the lugs are still there I think I'll leave them be and just recrown and touch up the bluing.
The lower forestock has been cut back even with the top piece for a faux L42 look...trying to make it a lesser Bubba.

A repro No32 mount would go well with the LFauxty2 motif.
 
BadgerDog said:
Excellent ......... :)

When you get her back, this thread will be useless without pics ... :D :D

Regards,
Badger

The gunsmith was unable to add to the barrel, it was cut off too close to the bayo lugs. Thus, he turned the barrel down to remove the bayonet lugs and recrowned it, total cost $25.

The bore is perfect and like new. It's actually a nice rifle and looks better without the pot metal flash hider. The crown job actually looks factory.

The flash hider was designed to go right over the bayo lugs, it has slots designed in on both sides to go over, too bad some idiot cut off such a fine barrel.

Sgt. Striker shortened the forend, and I have a faux L42A1. I'm thinking about a cheekpiece and scope...

Pics are added- 2 of the hider off, 7 of the rifle in final configuration. Scratch one Bubbad "Commando Carbine".

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture2-1.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture1-1.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture33.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture32.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture31.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture30.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture29.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture28.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/cantom_2006/Picture27.jpg
 
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Karl said:
A month ago I was in Milarm and Mr Kerr dragged that abortion off the shelf to show me. After describing it as special and ultra rare, he went on to mention that he had been in touch with Skennerton about it and it was about to appear in Skennertons next book. :rolleyes:

You wouldn't think they would be that hard up for a sale :p


:runaway: :runaway: :runaway: :runaway:

I did'nt know Ian was going to include a chapter on bubba's and other fake rare trial rifles :D

Perhaps he has collected information on enough globeco, navy arms, sarco, gibbs, etc rifles that he is going to actually include a chapter on converted sporters. :D


I've handled that one at milarm :rolleyes:
 
Claven2 said:
Buy the rifle - not the story. You've been had - it's 100% for certain a bubba job. I promise you.

EDIT TO ADD: Your seller is a moron. MkIV T 1/2 is not a legit Enfield at all. A No.4T is a real model, but it's not what you have. A 1/2 would be a brit No.4Mk1 converted to Mk2 spec in the 1950's, which again, you don't have. Anyone who would label a rifle as "MkIV T 1/2" and feed you that Royal Marines BS story would immediately make my "never buy from that guy again" list, and I would warn all my friends away from him - seriously.

I just sold the flash hider for $46.59US on ebarf... :eek: :D
 
- Saw another rare Royal Commando carbine like yours at a Gunshow near Quebec City a few weeks ago, but seller did not realise he had a rare piece!

And No I did not buy it!
 
Steppenwolf said:
Tom,

It is a shame you bubba'd that rare rifle, I would have given you $200 for it.:)

Unh hunh eh?? Really??? :D :) ;)

Current pics...it's a beauty. Mint mint bore.

DSC09704.jpg

DSC09706.jpg

Picture9-1.jpg

Picture12.jpg
 
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JP said:
- Saw another rare Royal Commando carbine like yours at a Gunshow near Quebec City a few weeks ago, but seller did not realise he had a rare piece!

And No I did not buy it!

What price did he have on it? Was it identical to mine? Flash hider?
 
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