where is my lee enfield made? AIAM10B2(308)

[robbie]

Just picked up my new enfield in 7.62x51mm, made by Australian International Arms, great gat, i love it but im starting to work out that this gun could be made in Vietnam, if this is true i wont be happy, mainly because of its markings saying "Brisbane Ausrtralia". also every article in shooting mags go on and on about the factory in Brisbane, im sure that the woodwork is teak from south africa and thats ok with me, but the rest i was thinking would be 100% Australian. hope someone can help me out with this Q, cheers

Information

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[Badger]

Refer to the Technical Articles for Milsurp Collectors and Re-loaders (click here).

These two articles should give you some reading to help enlighten you about these rifle.

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

Australian AIA Rifles (Feedback and Opinion by Steve)

Regards,
Badger

[Alan de Enfield]

A bit of background :

The Mystery of Australian International Arms

[Bindi2]

My fathers generation fought against Germany, Japan. Italy and we all buy goods of some sort from them. Steves report is from his angle in Canada he does not see the reasons why these rifles make sense and compete against imported expensive rifles from other countries. The importers to Australia suddenly found other cheaper versions to import which are still limited to a small mag (4) the AIA have ten. We are not allowed semi autos so a ten shot box on a slick action that is well liked here in 308 and 7.62 x 39 is a bonus.

[Son]

Just picked up my new enfield in 7.62x51mm, made by Australian International Arms, great gat, i love it but im starting to work out that this gun could be made in Vietnam, if this is true i wont be happy, mainly because of its markings saying "Brisbane Ausrtralia". also every article in shooting mags go on and on about the factory in Brisbane, im sure that the woodwork is teak from south africa and thats ok with me, but the rest i was thinking would be 100% Australian. hope someone can help me out with this Q, cheers

With respect to Bindi and others who like the AIA rifles for their suitability for their purposes (which I won't disagree with) The fact still remains that these are not Lee Enfields, just based on the Lee design of a rear locking bolt action, a ten round magazine being it's best feature.
The "factory" in Brisbane is more a room where the components, mostly manufactured around SE Asia are assembled. The teak woodwork at least I am pretty sure came from Vietnam! One of AIA's early enterprises was supplying wood sets made closely to the original pattern for the No1 MkIII rifles. At the time they stated they were being made in Vietnam.
Let's face it. Even if they had gotten permission to make the rifles here, they would have had to make thousands of them and sell them at double the price or better to make a buck. Sweatshop labour is much cheaper, there is little or no regulation on industry standards. Importing the bits is much cheaper and easier than employing Australians

By the time you get through reading all the links above, I'm afraid you aren't going to be too happy. If you had spent the same money on two No1 Lithgows, you could have used one for many years and still have the other one in good nick and increasing in value to the point where it will be worth more than the total price of two now. In that time your AIA rifle may halve in value every couple of years....

[bradtx]

Robbie, If you like the rifle it doesn't matter where it was made. AIA simply did what other sporting rifle manufacturers have, produce a rifle based (at least loosely) on an existing military design.

Brad

[tbonesmith]

I bought an AIA m10 full wood like your a few years ago to shoot in service matched as a "faithful reproduction". It has performed very well, and I really like the rifle. I have to dissagree with Son in that these rifles, even though they are still manufactured, are appreciating in value at about the same rate as the price increase of new ones. And while these rifles are not true "Lee Enfields" they have a place for collectors as part of the lineage, and in time will have a value on them reflecting that.
Regarding their origins, what doesn't have parts that are Global in origin, and I think that Vietnam is one of the sources.

[A. F Medic]

[Bindi2]

I have never claimed the AIA is a Lee Enfield. It has features from that design, also Savage and other modern designs with newer manufacturing methods. The value over time will be as all other firearms, some up some down time will tell. Useability and suitability is a personal thing (incliding laws) international trading the same.
I have paid prices for collectable LEs that would buy many AIAs. The return on the AIAs in the short term particulary the 7.62 x39 would be greater.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

One day the full story of this project may come out.

The whole thing started in 1996 when the Oz government decided citizens were no longer so and therefore not adult enough to own self-loading rifles.

The designer of the M-10 series, being a long time Lee Enfield buff as well as having "race-tuned" lots of L1A1's, M-14s, AR-15s and even SKS rifles, decided that what the country needed was a bolt action SKS. Thus the M-10A (7.62 x 39) series. There was originally no intention to build "Repro" Lee Enfields.

The eclectic collection of features in the rifles is a result of designing for modular manufacture.

There was supposed to be a .223 / 5.56 series, as well as 6mm PPC, 6.5 Grendel, 7.62 x 54 etc., but "management" decided that there would be no demand anywhere in the world, and only a couple of 5.56 prototypes were ever built.

The original designer has not been with the company since early 2007.