CLLE or N9

[Patrick Chadwick]

Guys, help me make a choice, pleeeease!
Faced with the possibility of obtaining
EITHER a 100% correct CLLE Mk1*, upgraded from a MLE Mk1*
OR an .22 Enfield Rifle N.9 (not No.9 -thanks to Peter Laidler for that tip)
AND it being financially impossible to acquire both
WHICH would you choose???

a) as a shooter
b) as a collector

????

Opinions welcome!

Patrick

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[limpetmine]

On your FOCUS. You as a collector DO have a focus, after all, right?
If you focus on No 1's and that ilk, then the CLLE makes sense. If you collect martial .22's, it's a simple choce. If you collect No 4's and their variants, then it's simple! Or you could be like John, and collect EVERYTHING
So what everyone else tells you to do says more about what THEY collect, not what YOU collect. So I say, get the N9.

[Lance]

More info needed. Do you have a Long Lee yet in your collection? How about a .22?

Are both rifles matching? Unmessed with? Overall condition? Who converted the CLLE and when? Four factory's converted them with VSM being the hardest to find. Does the N.9 have its proper rear sight with the 25 yard line on the side?

I have my first CLLE before my N.9, but my N.9 is in better condition, but I still have both after 15 years!

[Alan de Enfield]

Had a similar problem - Long Lee or Enforcer - Enforcer won out.

When I had some more cash the Long Lee was still there but so was a No7 Mk1 (BSA version not the Canadian) The No7 won out.

Maybe my focus is on No4 variants.

Are they both in Germany ?
Get them both and sell / send me the N9.

(Just purchased another Enforcer but could find room for the N9)

[gunner]

Hi Patrick,

i feel for you in this dilemma. As a shooter my first choice is the CLLE and also as a collector. If you`re shooting only in the BDMP, the N.9 isnt effective. If you shooting in a thing like the BSSB ( dont know how they called it in Hessen ) the N.9 is also good. I think the CLLE is much more rare than the N.9. As i read in your other posts, shooting with this kind of rifles like the CLLE is more to you than KK. I am sure that i am not very helpful in this case, but my choice is the CLLE. Good luck !

Regards

Gunner

[Peter Laidler]

Get a genuine N9 while they are out there. Since I put the note on the forum, I've been advised that there is a growing market in faked N9's marked No9. So get a real one while you can. It seems that even that figure of 3,000 is WILDLY optomistic.............

People ain't fakin' CLLE's so the'll be about for a few years yet..........

Oh yes.....there's more info on the N9's that I haven't mentioned........................

[Patrick Chadwick]

Thanks for the responses. Gunner has a good point - I could give a CLLE some exercise in the BDMP and bring a bit of variety to the firing line, but an N9 would have little competitive value - my No 8 outshoots any other trainer.
So CLLE for competitive shooting opportunities.

I have only ever seen 1 CLLE sold in Germany in the last five years. But I have seen 5 No.9s (thus described) in the last year. Makes you think: If there were only 3000 or so of them, how come so many are turning up in Germany??? "Caveat emptor" as the Roman dealers used to say before fleecing the suckers. Of course, it might be just one N9 going round in circles.

But Peter, how would someone go about faking an N9? Restamping a No. 6 or 7 or what?

Limpetmine will have observed that I have avoided the question of focus. I must confess, that is a tricky one. If I get another rifle, something has to go, so who's going to get thrown out of the lifeboat? I think I'm going to be giving away an Anschutz garden plinker to a good home...

Patrick

[Alan de Enfield]

I know a guy in the UK who is taking No4s and rebarreling them with a 22, putting on 25yd sights and to all intents and purposes they are a N9.
He doesnt mark them as such but I guess its not impossible to remove any No4 markings and put an N9 mark in its place.

[Steve H. in N.Y.]

Patrick, all I can say is that I wish I had your problem. I'd buy both and subsist on bread & water for a while.

[Fred G.]

Pat, I own two CLLE's and two MkI*'s. I like the feel of the long rifles and I depend on their power as I have them for home defense as well as an investment. The 303 just doesn't leave as many cripples as a .22 caliber will. They are comparitively rare and they just keep going up in value. Most are gone now as they were used heavily and when the more modern and shorter Enfields were introduced, the long Lee's were sent overseas to be used by the colonial armies. Few returned in any shape. You need to determine if you will get more use and enjoyment out of either rifle. Most guy's I know would rather have a Springfield over an Enfield. I like Enfields. Over the years, I've seen no CLLE's and maybe one or two MLE's at the gun shows. They tend to get bought up quickly by collectors who keep them and rarely sell them. They have more history behind them and are still a weapon to be relied upon.