Fazakerly No 8 MK I question

[Patrick Chadwick]

I bought 2 for less than you are being asked for 1. OK, it was euros and I am very, very patient when I am looking for something special.

I have collected a lot of Egun sales results for No. 8s, over years, especially where the number of the rifle could be read off the receiver, and I have a very good idea of what is achievable over here. The answer is 400 (grab it and run) to 600 (look at it very, very carefully) euros. The price you mention is, literally "top dollar", and for that I would expect the rifle to be well-nigh perfect for shooting and collecting.

My first No. 8 was correct, but with a No. 4 butt. Peter Laidler wrote a couple of years ago that that's OK, they were sometimes set up like that to increase the "No. 4 feeling". It shoots better than some modern match rifles, and targets have been posted on the forum to demnostrate the fact.

The other had been "sporterized". Yeuch, yeuch, yeuch! I cleaned out EFD to get it back into original configuration. You are going to have to be extraordinarily lucky to find the proper butt pad.

Both rifles produce first-class performance. Do not even consider the price you mentioned unless it will put ten shots in one ragged hole at 50 yards. Mine do that. A normal life will not wear out a 22 bore shooting lead bullets, so the only real risk it that it has been neglected or the crown has been dinged. And forget the tatty suncorite. Strip it off and you will probably find perfectly serviceable parkerizing underneath.

But the No. 8 is the best trainer ever. They are sought after, so be prepared for a bit of pain in the wallet.