No heavy breathing now.....as this is

[mack]

No sense in re-calling the good old days when rifles were oh-so-cheap. The best part is that most of the rifles sold today as Enfields would have been junked all those decades ago. The stuff coming around for sale today is shot-out, monkeyed-with scrappers that Springfield Sporters would barely have bothered with to scrap for miscellaneous parts. The stuff back then was so new, so complete and original as to make most envious today. I have the first No. 4 I paid $12.99 (and yes, I worked thirty hours part time to get those dollars while I went to school). The first T rifle I bought came from Hy Hunters and cost me $79 in 1967. The last one I bought was a No 5 that was butchered by a California smith back in the 1990s and it cost me less than $200. That was two years ago. I have forty Enfields today.

The good news for you guys today is that when I croak in the future, some of you may be lucky enough to own a lifetime's worth of collecting. Just don't overpay for junk while you're waiting me out.

[Brian Dick]

I have to respectfully disagree with Mack. First off, they weren't that cheap at the time for the average working man. Ridolpho's post does the math on that! One thing that gets forgotten is that many of the rifles that were surplused prior to becoming obsolete in British and Commonwealth service were out of specification and had failed some aspect of basic inspection. Not all but many. The best No.4 service rifles ever surplused came straight from Donnington in the late 1980's. Of course we all know about the new in the wrap No.4Mk.2's from RAF stores that are often mislabeled as "Irish Contract". I was buying No.4's from Interarms, 20 at a time, (all I could afford!), and there was quite a variety including unaltered WWII British rifles. All in perfect serviceable condition. The gauges don't lie. Most of the rifles from South African war reserve stores were also quite nice. I had 400+ of those. Most were post WWII Fazakerley production but with a sprinkiing of Savage, Long Branch and WWII British rifles too. The Greek war reserve Long Branch rifles imported in the late 1990's and early 2000's were also very nice sans the handling marks in the woodwork, (the uncaring exporter in England was to blame for most of that), as were the ones from Europe. Many excellent to near new 1950 Long Branches were in that load. I got burned on some of the rifles Century Arms imported from Ankara, Turkey several years ago. I had a significant batch of Savages and many had chipped receiver rails and rust from poor storage. I guess they don't have oil or grease in Turkey. I wound up parting them out. Lets not forget all the lovely Lithgow and others from our esteemed cousins down under that were imported by Jovino's in NY and SAC in California. A gun shop in Montgomery, Alabama bought 1000 of them and I bought sold and traded with them for years. I agree the good old days have come and gone but they weren't just back in the 1950's and 60's.

[mack]

I have to respectfully disagree with Mack. First off, they weren't that cheap at the time for the average working man. Ridolpho's post does the math on that! One thing that gets forgotten is that many of the rifles that were surplused prior to becoming obsolete in British and Commonwealth service were out of specification and had failed some aspect of basic inspection. Not all but many. The best No.4 service rifles ever surplused came straight from Donnington in the late 1980's. Of course we all know about the new in the wrap No.4Mk.2's from RAF stores that are often mislabeled as "Irish Contract". I was buying No.4's from Interarms, 20 at a time, (all I could afford!), and there was quite a variety including unaltered WWII British rifles. All in perfect serviceable condition. The gauges don't lie. Most of the rifles from South African war reserve stores were also quite nice. I had 400+ of those. Most were post WWII Fazakerley production but with a sprinkiing of Savage, Long Branch and WWII British rifles too. The Greek war reserve Long Branch rifles imported in the late 1990's and early 2000's were also very nice sans the handling marks in the woodwork, (the uncaring exporter in England was to blame for most of that), as were the ones from Europe. Many excellent to near new 1950 Long Branches were in that load. I got burned on some of the rifles Century Arms imported from Ankara, Turkey several years ago. I had a significant batch of Savages and many had chipped receiver rails and rust from poor storage. I guess they don't have oil or grease in Turkey. I wound up parting them out. Lets not forget all the lovely Lithgow and others from our esteemed cousins down under that were imported by Jovino's in NY and SAC in California. A gun shop in Montgomery, Alabama bought 1000 of them and I bought sold and traded with them for years. I agree the good old days have come and gone but they weren't just back in the 1950's and 60's.

I agree wholeheartedly with Brian Dick. Perhaps I should have spoken more carefully. Jovino's rifles were superb and the ones I have are new for all intents. The "Irish Contract" wrongly named and all are the closest I ever saw to "new" rifles. And, I grant you, there were a fair number of dogs back in the day. But you learned to pick and chose carefully.

I could always count on you to sell nothing but good rifles. I used to see many fine rifles on your tables at the Knoxville shows some years back. Dealers were as carefully chosen as rifles.

I see some rifles out today however that never should have been sold as complete rifles. Bad wood, shot-out bores and generally bad overall. I still believe it was possible to select from a wider variety. I will never forget some of the ones I purchased. I only wish I had more money, which, as you say, was harder to come by back in the 60's.

[Brian Dick]

Jeez, it's been a long time since I worked a Knoxville show. The Clinton era sort of put an end to all of that. I had some good times there.

[Ridolpho]

I missed out on some very good collecting years by getting overly bummed out about the new registration regs north of the 49'th (early 90's I think it was). Years later I took the stupidly easy course to allow for new acquisitions and got into it again (came too close to letting the government beat me). Via some very nice internet sellers here in Canada (and some decent gun show finds) I've managed to start a Lee Enfield collection with prices ranging from $300 to $500. So far no lemons (all imminently shootable) which I attribute to learning the right questions to ask, mainly here on Milsurps, and to the integrity of the sellers.