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I odn't think anyone is dead set on not believing. We all want to find out the real story and enough of us have been burned by a story attached to a rifle to be cynical, plus there is also a fairly good percentage of crusty older types here too:). Personally I don't see either what someone would gain from creating these rifles at the time as they would have made no profit and it would probably have been a significant amount of work. I'd say that having Peter Laidler examine some of the workmanship up close on one of these would be a good idea to assess the standards the work was done too.
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I think its fairly significant that the "Conv No5 NIC/CYP" is engraved in exactly the same font and manner as many other types of "rare Enfield" that have turned up on the market in recent years.....
My guess would be that they were made by someone like Charnwood at the time when they had a huge mountain of Enfield parts. Easy enough to screw together a couple of hundred No5s if you happen to have all the parts to hand; equally easy to dump them into the Trade so that they disperse around the world.
Anyone rediscover the story about the two Australian gunsmiths who made these up? Thought it was one of our own board members who provided some evidence?
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I'm totally with T/box here. When I look at these supposed No5's, I think of the phrase '.............bent as a corkscrew' I mean that phrase as in the rifles and not to any person.
In terms of the quantity of these 'conversions', then if some nation, like Cyprus really truly needed this quantity, then they'd be able to source the real McCoy by the bucketfull. The Far East friendly Commonwealth/Allied nations were awash with them
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Just because something cant be explained and some "internet guy" heard that they were done two Austrailian gunsmiths, and NIC/CYP is their initials, that must be the reason.:rolleyes:
Even though there is ZERO proof this is true. Its much easier to dismiss that what we dont understand the meaning. as a fake.
as Peter Laidler commented
"In terms of the quantity of these 'conversions', then if some nation, like Cyprus really truly needed this quantity, then they'd be able to source the real McCoy by the bucketfull. The Far East friendly Commonwealth/Allied nations were awash with them "
What nation right after a war can source all new weapons and rebuild their country at the same time?
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Maybe its not that hard, Maybe the same sort of nations that would take time and money to rebuild Japan after defeat and rebuild and restart car factories in Germany to kickstart the local economy are the same sort of nations that would help out their allies aswell? In fact I'd say that they are definitely the sort of countries that would hand over surplus Enfields to help guard against any potential unrest in certain areas. Its cheaper to give arms to the right guys than to pay the price for the results of them not having them. (See also under 'Afghanistan : Invasion thereof', which is apparently one of the reasons that milsurp 303 disappeared in massive quantities in the late 80s).
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Considering who the importer was here in the USA and the exporter in the UK, it's not rocket science as to the origins of these rifles. I've given them a wide berth since day one. Folks can believe whatever their little hearts desire but they aren't and never will be genuine military conversions. They DO make good shooters and pickup truck rifles but should be priced accordingly. Buy the rifle not the story if you want it.
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What war are we talking about here? Cyprus was controlled by Britain until the 60's and if Cyprus is/was anything like the rest of the Nations we let go, they'd have been left with pretty much whatever they wanted........... and by the 60's, I'm not so sure that they'd have been interested in gearing up to produce mickey mouse No5 replicas! Like I said earlier, they're about as 'straight' as a corkscrew..........
Think all those dealers and enthusiasts with Sunbeam Alpine cars converting them into Sunbeam Tigers
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Are you, perchance, casting an aspersion on my Greek Charnwood? (If so .... pistols at dawn!)
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And digressing, I want a sunbeam tiger.... Was the difference just the engine?
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I thought they had a 427cu in? All balls and no brakes??
