Long Branch

[Geographer]

Good morning!

I was gifted my first firearm, a Ruger 10/22, back in 1974. Since then I've collected a few more firearms, and have sent a lot of rounds downrange. However, this is only the second "Enfield" type rifle I've owned. I resurrected a 1918 no.1 mk III SMLE a few years back, and now I'm doing the same with a Long Branch no. 4 mk I*.
The SN of this old warrior is 39L7458. From what I can glean, that is a 1943-ish production date. I got the rifle from GunBroker, and it was basically stripped. I've had a few people reach out answering posts from other forums with offers of parts. You can see by the photographs it needs a lot. I think the damage to the furniture was someone's attempt to learn how to checker a stock. I don't want to just throw another on; I am going to strip all the furniture, fill the cuts with wood putty, then restain everything. I will probably cover the stock with a nice leather wrap-around pad to finish that off.
I understand there were different sights mounted through the production life of the Long Branch Enfields. If my deduction of it's age is correct, can anyone tell me what type of sight would be correct?
If anyone who hasn't responded to my posts on other websites has parts I can use, please feel free to contact me!

[Ovidio]

Hi Geo, I have a 1943 Long Branch myself, and it has the sight you can see here in the pictures.

[browningautorifle]

If anyone who hasn't responded to my posts on other websites has parts I can use, please feel free to contact me!

Might be easier once you have what's been offered...to come back with a list of what you need. Post in WTB forum or here as a list of needs.

[Sapper740]

I understand there were different sights mounted through the production life of the Long Branch Enfields. If my deduction of it's age is correct, can anyone tell me what type of sight would be correct?

I remember there being small differences between Brit production rear sights and the Canadian ones so I had to go back and check in my books. Reading Stratton's book I ended up up getting bogged down in minutiae: wide base, narrow base requiring an axis pin collar, slide stop pin from one side instead of the other, stamped leaf with milled base welded on, early battle sight apertures smaller on Canadian sights, battle sight aperture part of the milled base.....I don't want to steer you wrong so I'd recommend waiting for an expert on the subject to come along or get a copy of the book and see if you can decipher all the permutations.

[Brian Dick]

A 1943 Long Branch like the OP's would have had a Mk.2 300 - 600 yard aperture sight. Many were replaced in Canadian service with the Canadian made Mk.3 adjustable rear sight with the milled base like Ovidio's pictured in thread #2. In British service they were replaced with the British Mk.III and also Mk.1 which was a superior sight. The Mk.3 sight wasn't standard until 1944 in Canadian production and was later upgraded to the C Mk.3 which you'll find on 1949 through the end of production. They made changes to the latch on the slide to make it more durable. The OP's rifle is out of British service as it still sports remnants of the paint finish.

[Surpmil]

I'd question the value of a stripped barrelled action to the average person; much easier with a matching bolt present.

Being stripped I would wonder whether the bolt head release slot lips are damaged as that is the kiss of death to Mk.I* rifles. Careful TIG welding and filing could repair some, but I've never heard of anyone bothering in the civilian world.

If the bore is at least very good it might be worth fitting a Long Branch bolt, but fitting bolts correctly is a bit of a project alright.

The reality is that unless you get your parts at similarly low cost, the completion of such a rifle will cost nearly the same as a more complete and original specimen would.

Since it's already been through a U.K. (?) FTR, if you do fit a bolt you might as well glass bead the lot, phosphate and paint it as well. There won't be any pretense of originality, but there's nothing historical worth preserving there IMHO and properly fixed up you could have a nice "user" rifle.