Quote Originally Posted by Bindi2 View Post
There is no such beast as a 1913 Lithgowicon in original pristine unmarked condition. If anybody tells you they have one rest assured it is a Bubba rebuild. The rifle shown has lost many $ to me because it has been tarted up and has the wrong sling for when it left service and is a repro. Returning a Lee Enfield Rifleicon to how you think it left the factory is Bubba at work because you have removed repairs and in service upgrades which now make that rifle something that does not exist except in your mind. The originality is how the rifle left service. Many very valuable historical pieces have been destroyed because of this incorrect thinking.
Bindi , I agree with you ,it is like hens teeth to find a original rifle . I like to restore the sporterized rifle s I have back to original spec.i have a 1913 Lithgow that was sporterized and I have worked on finding all the parts from Lithgow to make it a restoration as close to it left the factory. Mine unfortunately had to be restocked with volley sights original plate but I don’t have a lithgow small star nose cap and will continue to look for one to match , everything else like the sight ,bolt magazine and even the bolt head are original to the rifle . But I don’t reperesent it as original .i have 3x 1914 lithgows one is sporterized and went into the Austrian police force after ww2 , one went to India and was restocked and has Indian parts on it but numbered to the original rifle serial and the last one is one that was put into the Britishicon army during ww1 and remained there during ww2 and some how ended back up in Aussie hands during ww2 if this one could talk it would be a interesting yarn .i leave my unsporterized ones as is as it is good to keep the history .intact .if someone else has messed with it I enjoy the challenge of collecting and restoring them.