Long Branch T transit chest

I recently acquired a 1945 Long Branch T....in the chest and all matching.
It's a real beauty you'd swear it rolled out of the factory yesterday!!!
Question I have is regarding the chest. There is written on the chest in black marker, "ACME" and then it appears to be a couple of letters followed by a number, underneath that is "TORONTO" and then another word which I can't make out what it is.
I spoke with another fellow collector who said it most likely was a the name of a dealership that had acquired them when they went surplus on the market.
Any thoughts out there?

Sorry but cannot help myself but ACME to me conjures visions of Wiley E Coyote & the Roadrunner as he kept that company afloat with all his doings guess the next step was a sniper rifle! :lol::madsmile:

Years ago in Canada there was a company called Acme Novelties and they sold surplus and off brand merchandise . I do not remember what they had for firearms but I sure did want a Bronco motorbike that they had at the time.
This is when the Army&Navy stores had pallets of jungle carbines for $14.95and No 4 T's sold for $149.99 in the chest.

it is interesting the 10x price difference.

From my minimal knowledge it seems like there might only be an 8x (give or take) difference over here at the moment. That being said I'm only going off internet asking prices which seem high on the normal rifles.

Bros, I don't know the answer to your question, but I strongly suspect your guess will turn out to be correct.

Acme Surplus Toronto.

Army and Navy sold No.4's for $9.95 and Jungle carbines for $24.95
98 K Mausers were $29.95
Sporterized SMLE's were $15.95 and went on sale once a month for $12.96
Never saw any No.4 T's at the A & N and I was in charge of rifle sales from 1958 to mid 60's
Edmonton Tire had No.4T's at $99.95 later $125.00, as did WW Arcade
Cannot remember what I had for breakfast but the prices stuck with me... : -)##

Thanks for the info fellows!!
If we only knew how the prices would escalate, we all probably would have bought a truck-load!! Although relatively speaking...my father talked about making 60cents/hour in the late fifties, one would still have to question "if it's a deal" for even a sporterized SMLE on special at $12.96.

In about 1999 Tony Hallam of Charnwood Ordnance offered me 30 L42's, boxed, for 500 pounds apiece. What kind of idiot would have turned down that deal? You guessed......me! At the price they're now fetching I would have netted a quarter of a million.

Hindsight has 20/20 vision.

Think of what $15,000 pound was worth then Roger if you equated it out against the wage of the day that is a heck of allot of cash to sit on for 18 years then having to flog them off at $8,350 pounds/unit =$250,500GBP I dare say at that price you would have no trouble shifting them given what the current asking price for an L42 is but whether they are getting it is another question.

Jeez Rog, I wonder where that 30 L42's went? :madsmile:

I thought I'd never sell them all after putting them through the workshop. Now I wish I had them all back!!!! Funny how that works.

You win a few, you lose a few. Over all I suppose I can't complain. Glad they went to a good home! ;)

It's the same problem with anything that is considered a classic. Be it a rifle, a car or whatever. It seem's that no matter how hard I work; the good stuff is just out of reach!
There's a nice semi auto Bren for sale in France at the moment, first one I've seen here; but it's 1500 euro's. cheap! (if I was richer:madsmile:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Warren

Acme Surplus Toronto.

Army and Navy sold No.4's for $9.95 and Jungle carbines for $24.95
98 K Mausers were $29.95
Sporterized SMLE's were $15.95 and went on sale once a month for $12.96
Never saw any No.4 T's at the A & N and I was in charge of rifle sales from 1958 to mid 60's
Edmonton Tire had No.4T's at $99.95 later $125.00, as did WW Arcade
Cannot remember what I had for breakfast but the prices stuck with me... : -)##

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Can one imagine winding the clock back to the days Warren speaks of, when so many different shops were selling off surplus firearms.....when people didn't look at you like you were growing horns out of your head just because you might be interested in firearms. When one could walk into a shop where the rifles were so abundant and the shelf space was so limited that they were jamming Enfields into pickle or whiskey barrels. I remember as a young boy going shopping with my Mother at the local mall on Friday evenings and I would slip away from her sight and go and look at those barrels full of Enfields at Simpson Sears, yes that was in the local shopping mall!!!! In our so called liberated, modern, progressive age firearms are looked at as evil murdering devices that our governments want to control to the point death by bureaucratic strangulation because they feel they do not have total control untill we the citizenry are totally unarmed. Yet on the other hand freedom is expressed in totally new ways....we celebrate in our streets and promote in public education a mindset that didn't exist when I was younger. I am talking about social engineering!!!!
An example here in Canada of bureaucratic strangulation is when are classes of firearms where ownership is grandfathered to those who had possession before a certain date and after that deadline has passed the class is closed to new potential owners. When the grandfathered owners pass on.... so will all those classes firearms ( full autos, converted autos and short barreled handguns). Your once expensive investment will be reduced to a pool of molten metal at the local steel mill. I feel especially for our friends in England and Australia where government attacks on private gun ownership seemed but all to have killed the industry. It is proven time and time again that legal gun owners are the most law abiding citizens, but sadly we are seen as an evil threat to the very people we elect to govern us, what a oxymoron!!!!
Sorry I know I am a bit off topic but I'm having a few cold ones and felt the need for a good rant!!!!

Do you really think bros the passage of time has changed the attitude of those people who will never ever see fire arms for what they are a fine piece of craftsmanship whilst military rifles were built to do the deed they are still built by skilled persons.
But had we all had the monies way back in the 80's to buy up these weapons when they were cheap one may like Roger have had a good nest egg I built a house so that took care of a good slice of money mind you it was only $40K but wages were not brilliant think I was on $12/Hr as a dogman doing 80-100 hours week plus an hour each way travel time per day.
Still I have a modest lot of 303's nothing flash but like Peter says "They ain't making them anymore" so I will look after them be their custodian shoot them (Some of them) and hopefully pass them on to my son so he can keep the trade of owning a milsurps alive.
Funny thing is I have always liked the sound a 303 makes when it strips a round out of the magazine when cycled it sure is strange what one finds interesting in life!

I agree that we are seen by many of the mainstream populace as rather odd because we have an interest in firearms, & that this attitude now is encouraged by most of our governments. I can remember feeling almost ashamed to go into a shop to ask for my copy of 'Guns Review' just after Hungerford happened. That lasted for a long time, but no more. If I am challenged over my interest now (rarely as most of my friends share it) I explain it thus: my grandfather, along with millions of other young men took up a Lee Enfield service rifle in 1914 in the defence of his country from aggression. He fought through the Great War until 1/11/16 when he was killed on the Somme. My father was lucky enough to survive three years in the Western Desert in WW2. Many other men, and women, took up the call in both World Wars, as well as in innumerable other conflicts, & a great number of them paid with their lives. Their service rifles were their most important pieces of personal equipment, carried in the defence of freedom & liberty, & I WILL NEVER APOLOGISE FOR WANTING TO COLLECT & PRESERVE THESE HISTORIC FIREARMS FOR THE BENEFIT OF FUTURE GENERATIONS. (Capitals for emphasis, not shouting!).

In fact, most reasonable people usually end up sympathetic to the cause if approached civilly. Unfortunately it's an up hill slog, trying to set the record straight against the combined might of our governments & the UN. It is indeed sad & ironic that those who govern us would prefer to legislate out of circulation all of those rifles that won them their ability to continue to legislate at all.......... I would suggest that we have lost our way somewhere along the line.


12043 Sgt William Francis Brookes MM & Bar, A Coy, 2nd Bn The Worcestershire Regiment. B 1891 D 1916, age 25.

Well said, Roger.

As William Faulkner wrote: “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”

I see a classic firearm, in deactivated form for myself, as an interesting piece of design and engineering that has been made by craftsmen. Even if aspects of the design are poor it may still be interesting. A firearm only becomes dangerous when it is picked up either by an idiot or those who wish to take a life with it.

What I enjoy most about my Lee's is the history behind them this weapon has served in more conflicts (and still does) than any other weapon out there. When at the range we are all equal in what we shoot be it a Mauser, K31, M-17, P-14, Arisak's what ever the pleasure is discussing our wares and how the shooting went , what were all bullseyes when they left the barrel ended up being 4's or misses!