Australian International Arms - AIA M10 No. 4 Mk. IV

Hi All,

I've recently purchased a very nice secondhand AIA M10 No4 in the UK.

I've found a few posts on the web stating Australian International Arms are still in business and selling to the Australian market only. Are there any Australian shooters on this forum that can confirm if this is indeed true?

Marstar Canada - AIA M10 No. 4 Mk. IV Modern SMLE Rifle (AIA-M10N4)


Thanks

paul.

I don't think so. There were a number of "new" AIA rifles advertised and sold in Australia via one of the online classifieds sites in the last year or so, but my impression is that they were new old stock not newly manufactured stock

As T-Bone says, there was a flurry of activity last year, and since then, nothing...

One of the local forums had a good discussion going, with input from one of the AIA principals, and it did seem that new production was imminent. Nothing has eventuated as yet.

The discussion group disappeared when the forum in question was closed down (for reasons unrelated to AIA).

These rifles seem to garner a lot of negative press, for a variety of reasons. I'm very happy with the ones I've got; if they ever restrict us to just one rifle each, the AIA 7.62x39 carbine will be the one I keep.

If you were to email Rebel Gun Works in Brisbane, they MIGHT be able to give you some up-to-date info, since they were local agents in this part of the world.

Many thanks both T-Bone and Maxwell. I've emailed Rebel Gun Works as suggested, I will post up their reply if one is received.

I agree with you Maxwell the later AIA rifles were excellent. I understand they were badly let down by one or two of their international distributors, but it a great shame they appear to have completely disappeared.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by paul_costall

Many thanks both T-Bone and Maxwell. I've emailed Rebel Gun Works as suggested, I will post up their reply if one is received.

I agree with you Maxwell the later AIA rifles were excellent. I understand they were badly let down by one or two of their international distributors, but it a great shame they appear to have completely disappeared.

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That would depend on whose story you care to believe.

At the end of the day they made a few rifles that were well received by some, for whatever reason. If you manage to make contact, have a list of spare parts you may need over the life of the rifle ready to order... and good luck...

Yes I've heard some not so good reports. For the money I would have bought one or two of the many as new No4 MkII's on the market that were selling for about 1000 bucks at the time. That's just me.

Check the Technical Articles for Milsurp Collectors and Re-loaders (click here)

Note: There are pretty old, but there are two informative but very different library entries on the AIA rifles.

AIA No. 4 Mk. 4 (Review by Stevo) (click here)

Australian AIA Rifles (Feedback and Opinion by Steve) (click here)

Please note that the author of "Australian AIA Rifles" Steve is not the same as the member Stevo, who wrote a separate review of the "AIA No. 4 Mk. 4 rifle."

Hope these articles help you ... :)

Regards,
Doug

I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon their 7.62 x 39 carbine. The wood stock is burled and quite simply the nicest looking rifle stock of any I own, to include my Remington and Winchester sporting rifles. While not a Lee-Enfield, it is an interesting homage to the line, and I only wish I had the opportunity to buy one of their "L-42" types.

I happened upon this thread and was hoping you fellow AIA M10 owners could help me with an issue.
I recently found and acquired an M10-A2 from the original owner (took forever to find one, even longer to find an owner willing to sell), he claimed to have never fired it and it does look to be the case (perfect bore, bolt, no wear marks, etc).
Anyway I have yet to fire it myself but once I got it home I did notice something that I hadn't notice while inspecting it upon purchase.

The trigger is not under any sort of spring tension, it just sort of dangles, freely able to swing fore/aft until it makes contact with the sear. And when I say freely I mean freely, I noticed it as I lifted the rifle off my work cradle and rotated the rifle 90deg and set the butt on my bench (barrel pointing up), I heard a faint metallic 'clink'. I first scratched my head, set it back in the cradle but couldn't find what made the noise, lifted it again and again heard the noise. After doing it a few more times I finally noticed it was the trigger flopping back and forth.

Since info and IPBs for the AIAs are non-existent on-line (or my google-foo just sucks) I pulled up some Lee-Enfield IPBs and it doesn't seem that there is any sort of trigger spring shown on them either. Mine pretty much matches the SMLE parts (do their triggers just flop around? If not, what keeps them from doing so?)

PARTS GUIDE

I also can't find any indication of a missing spring, no slots, recesses, or guides to hold one, no wear marks where one might have rubbed, nothing to indicate diddly.

So is this normal?
I've never owned or used a rifle where the trigger just flops around like this and it's a bit startling, I'm used to reaching for the trigger and NOT feeling a limp noodle dangling there.
BTW I did contact the original owner and he said he had never noticed it.
Any help would be appreciated......

I'm not sure where they ended up in developing their own parts. Initially they were based on quite a few of the No4 small parts, but they moved away from them. Your only hope would be if a gunsmith can recognise the shape of what was needed and make one from scratch. I have to this day, never heard of anyone successfully finding spare parts or any other support for these rifles.
Maybe someone here with one can help you out as to what you might be looking for, but everyone needs to know, if you break it, you will possibly never fix it.