A riddle

[Devils Own]

Hello everybody

I have a bit of a dilemma here. I saved a L.E.1* converted to .410 last week. It is a 1900 Enfield. It is marked to the Royal Marines and commissioned in September 1914. So it is historically interesting. It shoots OK.

However, it was marked as DP a long time ago. The rifle is no use to me and I am moving it on. It was going to be broken for spares and I thought it might be good to save it intact as it has some historical provenance.

The question is whether I should deactivate it first or sell it as is. I have already put it on the WTS forum with the caveat about the DP but I am wondering if I should withdraw it until I deactivate it.

Any views?

Thanks

Steve

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[smellie]

Whatever you do, don't deactivate the poor thing; it has had quite enough violence done to it already!

If it's difficult to dispose of where you are, I am sure that a home for it could be found on this side of The Great Puddle. Mark Is are hens' teeth in this part of the world... in ANY condition.

Also, lots of rifles got DP'd for no reason other than that DP rifles were needed. Others were DP'd for repairs, the repairs later done and the DP never removed. I am shooting an SMLE I*** DP which I rebuilt from the contents of a gun shop's junk barrel (literally) and it works just fine..... but I do keep my loads on the mild side.

If this one is a .410 already, I don't think it would be too terribly dangerous to fire; .410 only runs a THIRD of the pressure of a Ball round of Service ammo.

Likely, somebody who knows their onions will stomp me flat on this..... but it is certainly one I wouldn't mind having, likely a lot of other fellows as well.
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[smellie]

One more thought: if this is a Long Lee rifle, have you thought about the Royal Marines Light Infantry Museum in Plymouth?

I don't know if they have one of these or not but, if it's marked to the Marines, I can't think of a much better home for it (apart from my rack, that is!). As with most museums, they are short of money....... but it is entirely likely that they can issue a tax receipt to the retail value of the rifle. Your contact person there would be Mr. Ian Maine, who we are hoping can make it out here this Summer for a range afternoon with a bunch of old Marines stuff we have turned up..... Ross Rifles, Webleys, Navy SMLE I***, junk like that.

Just a thought.
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[RJW NZ]

Hello everybody

I have a bit of a dilemma here. I saved a L.E.1* converted to .410 last week. It is a 1900 Enfield. It is marked to the Royal Marines and commissioned in September 1914. So it is historically interesting. [COLOR="rgb(0, 0, 0)"]It shoots OK. [/COLOR]

However, it was marked as DP a long time ago. The rifle is no use to me and I am moving it on. It was going to be broken for spares and I thought it might be good to save it intact as it has some historical provenance.

The question is whether I should deactivate it first or sell it as is. I have already put it on the WTS forum with the caveat about the DP but I am wondering if I should withdraw it until I deactivate it.

Any views?

Thanks

Steve

It shoots OK?!!! Where do you get ammo for that? Whats the secret? I had the impression ammo couldn't be found for them anymore.

Re DP, I have a DP'd rifle here that has yet to reveal any reason why it was done, there's even an R for rust, which ut most definitely doesn't have either, shoots like a dream etc. All I can suppose is that it was DP'd as a way of moving it off the inventory so that newer and better rifles could be accepted.

I vote first not to deact, it has interesting history, and may not be a real DP.
But there is another way to look at too. I suppose that if it was a DP with an obvious unrepairable reason not to shoot it, then that DP is pretty much the same as making it Deact, so if you were to realize more dollars or pounds with a deact sale then I don't see why not.
.

[Beerhunter]

The question is whether I should deactivate it first or sell it as is. I have already put it on the WTS forum with the caveat about the DP but I am wondering if I should withdraw it until I deactivate it.

In my opinion, deactivation would destroy any remaining historic value. As is stands it is the sort of thing that I would buy for my collection because I don't have one but your price is way to high (again in my opinion) for a butchered gun that essentially can no longer be fired. I shoot my guns and so I'd need to spend at least (may be a lot more) what you are intending to spend to deact it to get it back to shooting (Section One) condition.

However there are also some legal considerations. If it has been smooth-bored, it is a Section Two Shotgun. So the buyer must have a Shotgun Certificate AND is must be proofed for .410 shotgun cartridges. If it has not been smooth-bored, it is a Section One Firearm and so in that case the buyer must have a Firearms Certificate AND again, it must be in proof. Are there any Civilian Proof Marks?:

---------- Post added at 08:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 AM ----------

It shoots OK?!!! Where do you get ammo for that? Whats the secret? I had the impression ammo couldn't be found for them anymore.

.410 is commonly available in the UK and, as far as I am aware, most places in the world.

[Devils Own]

Thanks Everybody,

It does have a smoothbore and very nice and shiny it is too. It has been proofed for .410 recently.

Steve

[Beerhunter]

It does have a smoothbore and very nice and shiny it is too. It has been proofed for .410 recently.

So you can legally sell it, as is, to anyone with a SGC.

I hope that is what you will do as that will mean that it may be resurrectable (is that a real word?) in the future, unlike deactivation.

[Devils Own]

Yes. The legal thing wasn't really the problem. I think it was DP'ed as it was just obsolete. BUT I just didn't want a whole load of people jumping on me for trying to sell a DP. It's definitely quite a fun way of bagging a bunny or rollocking a rat. So, I'd rather not de-act it. I'm not sure where anybody would find a grooved barrel from though if they wanted to renovate it though.

Steve