my experience with them....
Great thread on the No 5, so I thought i'd add my 2c worth. Usually referred to as the Jungle carbine here in Australia for as long as I can remember, I picked up my first one when I was 18 from a shady dealer in North Queensland. Paid $400.00 for it then, which in the 1970's was a huge price for any ex-mil rifle. Considering full wood Lithgow SMLE's were going for @ $65.00 in really good condition ( $12.50 extra for a bayonet! ), and new in the box Long branch No4 rifles were going for $80 from Mick Smiths Gun shop in Sydney, it gives you some idea of their perceived value.
Mine was purchased as a hunting rifle, mainly for wild pigs in thick scrub, which it excelled at, and was my favourite for some years. It was also used extensively on Buffalo and scrub bulls when I moved to the Northern territory in the early eighties. One particularly vivid memory was shooting a running Buffalo one handed from the back of a 4WD at nearly point blank range; my other hand was holding a death like grip on the roll bar. Like previously mentioned, it was a very handy little carbine, and well suited to my needs at the time.
That was 40 years ago now, and what ever faults or criticisms that come up about the No. 5 rifle are pretty well irrelevant to their actual serviceability. Stories of "wandering zeroes', excessive recoil, muzzle blast, drops in velocity etc, are all fine for academic discussion by armchair experts. I'm just happy to have had the time I did with mine.
