Sad day at the auction

[Aragorn243]

I rarely run into a rifle that really makes me wince. I"m somewhat immune to sporterized rifles but today I encountered one that really made me think.

A No 1 V was for sale at the local auction. Matching numbers and a bright bore. Someone cut the fore stock down, threw away the upper hand guards, discarded the magazine cut off, got rid of both the stock disk and the butt plate and then made a very bizarre attempt to "checker" the butt stock. So nothing other than the metal was usable for a restoration. I considered it and would have loved to have brought this home but the bidding went beyond what I felt I could afford on this. Sadly, I expect it was bought to be parted out, something I don't have the heart to do.

Information

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[Charlie]

Unfortunately at this time the cost to restore a Mk.V exceeds the value of the completed rifle. I have a cabinet full of No.4 cripples that mostly end up as parts donors.

[enfield303t]

What price did it go for?

Thanks

[No4Mk1(T)]

Unfortunately at this time the cost to restore a Mk.V exceeds the value of the completed rifle.

Such a good point. IN the end you still have a rifle that isn't original so not worth what a correct example would be. I guess most of us take on a project like this strictly for the satisfaction of seeing the final results

[Paul S.]

... I guess most of us take on a project like this strictly for the satisfaction of seeing the final results

You'd be right on that one.

[Pablo]

Sad was the no. 6 that I found at my local gun shop end of last year.
Bubba converted it to 303/25, removed the rear sight and put a modern butt and butt pad on it.
Luckily the original flash suppressor, fore sight and bayonet lug had been re-welded onto the new barrel.
Thankfully I got it in the hands of a collector from this site so its a chance of being somewhat restored. Not further destroyed!

[Aragorn243]

The price added to my sad feelings. It was such that I could afford it but very borderline in A) buying it for a shooter in an old synthetic stock that I have laying around (but I don't need a shooter) and B) making any sort of sense for restoration. I stopped bidding at $180, it sold for $190. An unfinished reproduction stock was going to cost in excess of $350 and I gave up trying to total the individual metal parts with several of them seemingly made of gold at $75 each. And then it was never going to be original so it would in essence be a money pit. I do get a lot of satisfaction fixing up old rifles but my finances are such that I can't get into them too deeply. This rifle would have sat in the black synthetic stock for many years I'm afraid.

[Norton1]

I bought this carbine from a fellow who had sporterized it - and not a very good job either. BUT - it came with all of the original parts except the rear sight parts. The base was there but not the rest. And I had to mill and chisel the scope mount off of it. It had been acra-glassed to the barrel. I figure after i sell the scope and stock I'll be into the rifle about $150 - 200.

It was the Ishy sporter in the bottom of the third photo

[spinecracker]

There have been some examples on gunbroker that have made me want to cry and want to instigate cruel and unusual punishments against the perpetrator. I did have to break someone's heart a few months ago when I informed him that his No.4 had been sporterized, not shortened by the SAS during the 2nd World War as he had been told (he had bought the rifle on that basis for a premium - buy the rifle, not the story).

[Capt Mil Coll]

It makes me really sad to see what a lot of people do to these fine old battle rifles. I hear over and over how they can do as they please because "it is their rifle and they can do what they want with it". So the rifles end up a piece of junk. Some of the worst offenders are the "gunsmiths" that take old battle rifles and bubba them to be tack drivers. Why? If I want a tack driver I would buy a 700 or something comparable. And the real tragedy is that they pass this piece of junk on to the next generation.