Thinking of restoring No4 Mk1 with star Enfield

dimon

dimon

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Hello,

Today I came across of 1943 Long Branch N04 Mk1* Enfield. It is a sporter, of course. According to the Old Skipper he purchased this gun in 60's. Stamped England on right side(my uneducated guess that it went to England during the war/post war...) Please enlighten me...
Anyways, looks like most of the metal is unmolested and, of course, I immediately thought about re-storing it to it's full wood glory. Quick glance at the EE section showed that there are/were No4 Mk2 parts for sale. Will these fit Mk1*? Where can I get genuine Long Branch parts for my restoration project? Please help...I guess I need some small metal parts/screws as well...Thank you in advance.
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Not sure about that "England" stamping?? But, no sign of an "FTR" mark on the left wall of the receiver, so likely still the Mk.1 type trigger - attached to the trigger guard. Most FTR included the conversion to the Mk.2 style - a block brazed onto the wrist and the trigger mounted there. A Mk.2 stock can be modified to work with a Mk.1 - you have enough bits on that stock that you have, to be able to rob the tie plate and to figure out the cross pin that is riveted in there - will likely have to do some inletting to make the Mk.2 stock accept the tie plate, and to probably add a spacer /filler block in the very rear to fill in the space for the Mk.2 trigger block. Be forewarned - these are not "plug and play" items - might want to spend a bit of time at the milsurps forum reading articles by Peter Laidler and others as to how the various parts of a No. 4 were meant to fit together. A "re-build" can be a very interesting pastime, especially if you want to do it correctly. Can get very challenging to get the "bedding" correct for the full length forearm, and so on. There were folks that spent several years apprenticing to be able to competently repair and maintain this rifles - do not expect that without tools or appropriate hands on experience with woodworking (especially) that your first attempt will be "professional" grade... A sure sign of a "bubba" job is that the straight screw slots get all messed up from using incorrect sized and shaped screw drivers, so start there - get or make drivers that fit tightly, all the way to bottom of the slot.

And, a "heads up" - no Long Branch rifle from WWII had a big screw through the forearm from left side to right... A "correct" 1943 Long Branch re-build needs Long Branch marked front sight protector,front band and lower band, sling swivels, etc. Different makers marked their parts differently - some sub-contractors were used by Long Branch, some were not. And then military re-builds or re-fits completely scrambled what marks went were,so lots of fun trying to figure that all out!!!
 
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I believe the England marking was put on when the rifle was sold out of the war department and out of service.
Mk2 parts should all fit fine minus the trigger guard as it does not have the trigger attached to it like the mk1. The stock should fit fine and I do not believe the gap in the middle is an issue, it only becomes an issue when trying to put a mk1 stock on a mk2 rifle.
I would recommend watching forgotten weapons videos or reading up on the No.4 rifles to see the differences between a MK1, 1* and so on.
 
Finding a real Long Branch forend is like searching for Chicken Lips or Rocking Horse Poo anymore. :rolleyes:

And, if you're not using the right parts, IMHO, might as well keep it as a sporter.

Looks to be a nice action though with uncut barrel.
 
Definitely Not an mk1 , bolt release is the cut out type. Not the rear bolt release. Still A Long Branch! Worth a rebuild if all is good inside the old girl. I’m no expert,but do love my number 4s !
Cheers
Brian
 
quinnbrian said:
Definitely Not an mk1 , bolt release is the cut out type. Not the rear bolt release. Still A Long Branch! Worth a rebuild if all is good inside the old girl. I’m no expert,but do love my number 4s !
Cheers
Brian
Click to expand...

Yep, like many (most?) Savage and Long Branch, that is a Mk.1*, not a Mk.1. The main difference is as you describe - how the bolt is removed. I have never seen them, but was told very early production at both Savage and Long Branch were Mk.1, but then design was changed. I do not believe any of the England arsenals every changed to Mk.1* production.

Not real certain what root cause is, but I have a number of Mk.1* with that front cutout with "chips" missing - when bad enough, the bolt head will flip out of the rail, simply by cycling the action. Understandable, perhaps, why some prefer the Mk.1 "old style" over the Mk.1* "new style". Not a "problem" until it happens...
 
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