price check!

wayupnorth

wayupnorth

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i have a old Lee Enfield Mk4no1 but ive been hankering for a Long Branch.
i got a line on a fella who rebuilds Lee Enfields for his retirement fun and he got a sporterised Long Branch and he is going to covert back to a full military full wood.
what would be a fair price for one?
they are starting to get harder and harder to find so i thought id pick one up now so i can pass it down to my kids and such, you know, own a little piece of Canadian history.
would $500 be a fair price for one of these?
considering the fella is doing all this work, head spacing and such and making sure its 100% operational.

i think its a fair price but thought id check in with the locals from this forum to see what they think.
 
This could really just come down to your personal taste. If you don't mind a un-sporterised Long Branch and your comfortable with the $ then go for it. If your not looking at it from a collectors stand point and your happy, that's all the matters. As long as the guy takes pride in his work, does a proper job with the right components, the sporterised Long Branch is a good example to begin with and it shoots nicely, it all sounds okay.
Plus you have the satisfaction of knowing that you've helped get another Long Branch back the way it should be.
I've seen a few advertised for sale that I'd run a mile from and others which have been re-finished very nicely, so check out his previous work.
On the other hand with some shopping around and a bit of luck you could still find an 'original' for not t-o-o much more.

If you just purchased a decent sporterised Long Branch, stock set, sling swivels, front band etc. your probably looking at best part of $500 anyway.

Just my thoughts anyway....Not sure if I've helped or hindered..:)
 
I've mentioned in other posts that pricing seems very much to be regional. Here in Ontario, an unmolested Long Branch will run $800. + and I've seen them at $1,000! Now I thought the one for a grand was excessive, but it's very much a sellers market. Nice restored ones are still going for $700.+ from what I've seen at the shows. One reason for Ontario pricing may be the association with the province and city of Toronto, and another may be the population density. I don't know definitively, but it's not out of the realm of probability. If your man does very good work and can source all the correct parts then I'd say that $500. is very reasonable, especially if the stock is walnut. I've restored a few Long Branch No.4's and it's a PITA trying to get correct hardware and decent walnut stocks.
 
I agree with both replys. I rebuild these and the parts are quickly getting harder to find. LBs are in demand as are the LB marked parts. The average cost for me to buy a sporter and rebuild it is about $400 in materials. As to labour, it's a hobby so I don't count that. I don't think $500 is too much.
 
Considering I got my sportered LB for free, I'll be looking at $300-$400 just in parts to get it back to original. $500 is a very reasonable price for someone else to do all the work.

Parts and wood are getting harder to find for these, and that's driving the cost up across the board.
 
I should clarify that mine is only a kinda sorta LB... It's a British No 1. Mk III that was re-barreled by LB right at the beginning when they did some of that work just to put rifles in hands as quickly as possible... So I'm tracking down No 1 Mk III parts/wood, which is a step up in price.

Still and all, if someone offered me a good quality de-sporterised LB No 4, that was well done, for $500, there is a very good chance my wallet would take the hurtin.
 
A great deal depends on condition and what the guy has to do to it. For example, a rear sling swivel alone runs $10. So does a middle stock band. Restoring Lee-Enfields isn't cheap and it'll still be a mix master rifle. Epp's is asking $500 for one of those.
 
thanks guys.

i was totally good with the price but i thought i should check.
sometimes i get so focused on something i want that i dont pay attention to the price till later.

ive already got a sporterised lee so im looking forward to getting a original one, the kids will find it neat too im sure, they can shoot a gun that Grandpa and Great Grandpa used.
 
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