South African No.4's ?

[Rumpelhardt]

I've noticed that a lot of the No.4 rifles shone here that were in service in South Africa were Long Branch. This kind of stuck out to me because mine also was in South Africa at some point.
It also appears that they are in slightly better condition than others.
Are these just coincidence or is there a specific reason for this.
is is all just to satisfy the curiosity of an Enfield noob.

Information

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[Beerhunter]

It has been my experience that the South Africans looked after their kit extremely well.

[Thunderbox]

Many of the rifles coming out of South Africa are mint or unused - I think they're simply unused rifles from reserve stocks. There seem to be two major types: Long Branch rifles in new condition, and 1949/50 Fazakerley late Mk1s and early Mk2s, in new and used condition.

Long Branch and Savage rifles are commonly found in Commonwealth countries because of the way WW2 finished up. UK probably had a huge pile of unused Savage rifles, as these would have arrived slightly later than the UK production rifles, and the rifle requirement had dropped significantly with the advent of the Sten gun in its millions. The Canadian army substantially demobilised whilst it was in Europe. The Canadians appear to have sent the demobbed soldiers home, but left the equipment for UK to distribute amongst the liberated European countries. Obviously made no sense to ship stuff to Canada that would never be used in the small post-war defence forces. Thus Long Branch rifles seem to turn up in European countries - Greece, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, etc - whilst Savage rifles seem to have been shipped to overseas recipients - India, Africa, Middle East, etc.

[Brian Dick]

I had 400 South African "Reserve War Stores" rifles as surplused and imported by Interarms to the USA in the late 1980's, early 1990's. There were many Savage rifles present. Some in newish condition but not that many of Long Branch manufacture. The majority were late 1947-49 dated Fazakerley Mk.1 production and some very early Mk.2's dated 1949-50. I still have a small handfull left, about 10 or so, all Faz production. Most need of minor repairs or replacement wood. I'll get them done eventually and out for sale.

[Amatikulu]

From my memory of my years in South Africa, when the R4 (5.56mm) became general issue, around 1985, the R1's (FN FAL's) were sent to War Reserve over a period of several years. The Lee Enfield 303's came out of war reserve around 1993 along with Enfield and Webley revolvers and were sold to current and ex servicemen of the South African Defence Force for very reasonable prices. The condition of the rifles was as you'd expect, either brand new or fully refurbished.

[Rumpelhardt]

So was my 1941 Long Branch likely in service with Canada at first? It was in South Africa in 1961 because it was re barreled there in that year.

[Thunderbox]

So was my 1941 Long Branch likely in service with Canada at first? It was in South Africa in 1961 because it was re barreled there in that year.

Canada had a maximum of about 500,000 serving in the Army at any one time (although about 750,00 passed through the ranks) and yet made over 1 million No4s. Hence there may have been hundreds of thousands of rifles unused at the end of the war, which were then redistributed. Hard to tell whether any particular rifle served, unless it has picked up enough marks.

Many of the Long Branches coming out of South Africa have been centre-bedded as SRb rifles, yet unused. The last three I've had were completely mint, yet had new South African-marked barrels fitted anyway. All of these rifles have been "15L" range for some reason - obviously all came out of the same box from the factory.

[Rumpelhardt]

This was taken before I straitened out Bubba's mess but the U arrow is there though some what degraded by the polishing and covered by some unknown substance.

Could you tell me what these numbers represent?

And before I forget again Thank you all for your time.

[FlightRN]

Good Day All,
I purchased my Longbranch No4 Mk1* South African target rifle rifle when I was stationed in the UK in 2011. The trade dealer had recently brought it in directly from the family that owned it South Africa since the late 1950's. It sports a D.O.W 59 5C rear sight and is serialized with the production number "YW". The 6-hole eyepiece is also marked DOW
The rifle was made in 1942 but later was center bedded and has a South African barrel dated 7 64. The receiver bridge is marked with the Union of South Africa property mark, but there is no "sold out of service" style marking. Besides the barrel and target sight, the other rifle parts appear to be of Longbranch manufacture.
Regards,
Michael