Long Branch Question

[Hip's Ax]

A good friend of mine just stopped by with a nice No4MkI* Long Branch. This friend has been looking for a No4 since we shot together in a mil surp match and I was shooting my out of the wrap No4Mk2 Faz.

The rifle appears nice, almost all of the finish is on the metal, no 1 bolt head that closes on a Forster NoGo but not Field. Bore is bright and shiney (2 groove?) and appears very nice, muzzle is not worn. Bolt matches but the magazine is a Savage. The stock looks nice but I'm suspicious that it has been refinished. The stock has quite a red color to it. I've loaned my friend my copy of Skennerton so he can look up the markings etc.

My friend wants to know what he should offer the owner for this rifle. My firend seems to have the number $300 in his mind but I think its more like a$200 rifle, maybe a little more. I'm afraid I haven't been paying much attention to what Enfields have been selling for as of late.

Any help?

Thanks!

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[RJW NZ]

What country are you in?
Take a look at gunbroker.com to see what comparable rifles are listing/selling for.
Without a pic it is hard to say...
If you're in the US, with original wood and otherwise original with S savage magazine, then $300 is OK.
If it has non standard wood then $200 is more like it, likewise if it has been refinished.
If you're west coast then add 50.

Check to see if the fore end wood is serialed to the gun, all LB's I've seen have the rifle serial at the front, on the underside of the fore end.
and PS just to throw you out a bit, and something more for others to comment on...longbranch did use savage wood as well as their own during the war, others can comment if the mag is likely to be original or not.

but, it does sound good, if its 2 groove it'll probably be accurate, 2 grooves are very distinctive to look at. if you've looked and aren't sure then its probably a 4 groove.

[limpetmine]

There should be B/32 or some other number on the underside of the butt stock if it is LB wood. While Savage and LB did swap parts, I'm reluctant to
buy into much of that about wood. I've seen a lot of LB's and few with what looked like origional Savage wood. A non matching mag is not a deal breaker for me; it's nice to have, but....the matching bolt is nice. I only have one bolt mis matched LB-I don't like bolt mismatches, but that just me. The stock finish should be a dull shine, it it has any gloss, I'd bet it's refinished. There are a few red Long Branches about, but that was more of a Savage trait. Check out the cover of Skinnerton's tome for a picture of red wood. I not fully sure that Long Branch always numbered their wood. I think this might have been true in the early years, but not so in from 1943 on. I think it was more of an FTR thing, than from the factory. I have two '41's and neither are numbered on the fore stock. Hard to say what is "for sure" with Long Branches, but they are nice rifles.
A nice, matching LB is around 300. Take some off for the mis matched mag, and more if the wood is Savage (in my world).
$200 might be a lowball #, unless it's a 1943 rifle, which was the largest production year.

[Hip's Ax]

Thanks folks. I'm in New Jersey and I've added my location to my profile. In the rush to migrate here from the old CSP (another board to miss along with britishguns.net) I didn't fill out some of my info.

I looked at Gunbroker last night, a decent number of LB's but no bids, I'll go back and search the closed auctions. I always consider the auction sites the way upper end of price, if the seller wants that kind of price he can put it up for auction. Shooter to shooter should be the right price and especially when I'm looking out for a friend. Thats why I came here, this is the best Enfield site on the net.

Thank you both for the info, I'll send my friend the link to this discussion so he can read. This rifle just popped up for him, I believe a friend of his has had it for a long time and frankly, I thought it was such a nice rifle if he doesn't buy it I will.