Building a British arms collection

[sdh1911]

I am putting together a small representative collection of Brit. long arms. I only collect weapons from 1900 to 1950. As of right now I only have two British style rifles, one nice Lithgow Mk1 #III, 1942 issue and a late Savage #4 mk 1 (I hope I got the numbers straight). If you guy's were putting together a small but well representative collection of British rifles, which would you want in your collection and why? Thanks-SDH1911

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[Stevo]

You're close on your designations. A '42 Lithgow would be a No1. MkIII* and a late Savage would be a No4. MkI*. The '*" denotes a minor change(s) from the original mark.

If you want to hit the major types in the 1900 to 1950 period you'll also need
1) No5 MkI (commonly called the "Jungle Carbine")
2) an MLE of some sort (Long Lee)
3) a Pattern 1914 (P14)

Beyond that you can go into all the different marks of the various types and the many manufacturers. Then there's the sniper variants on top of that if you have deep pockets.

[Claven2]

Also, don't overlooks the Cavalry Carbines, The Irish Contabulary varient, the NZD Carbine, The Australian Shortened and Lightened, the L8 series rifles, the No.7 and No.8 trainers, the .22No.2MkIV* And Patt22 trainers. The list goes on...

[Son]

"How long is a piece of string?"

What you need to do is set your mind on how many. The two you have could be called a representative collection, having both main issue rifles covered... The Long Lees MLE MkI* were still being produced untill 1903 and still used well beyond that. The No1 MkIII and then III* took over in 1907, but there was the SMLE MkI series in between. Most Commonwealth forces went to the No4 rifles early in WW2.

Basic collection could be MLE MkI* (Long Lee, post 1900 dated)
SMLE MkI or I*
SMLE MkIII (became named the No1 MkIII in 1926)
SMLE No1 MkIII*
No4 Mk1
No4 Mk1*
No5 Mk1
These were the major production issue rifles that saw service in 2 world wars.

After this you get into converted rifles (many) also .22 trainers in several forms, and specialty rifles like snipers.

Then you could get into one from each country that made them, or further to one from each manufacturer and then one from each year. Suddenly it's "bigger than Ben Hurr", and we haven't even got into experimentals and prototypes.

Personally I think the 7 listed above would be a great collection unless you decided to specialise in Enfields.

Also, I haven't added the P14, as I don't consider it an "Enfield", but it is a "Lee"...... Set your guidelines on the collection, it could end up anything from 2 to 200.

[Stevo]

Also, I haven't added the P14, as I don't consider it an "Enfield", but it is a "Lee"...... Set your guidelines on the collection, it could end up anything from 2 to 200.

I only included the P14 in my list as he did specify "representative Brit. long arms" and not exclusively Lee Enfields. Personally the P14/17 rifles don't do anything for me. To me they lack the elegant lines of the Lee.