Buy the rifle not the story!!!!!

[englishman_ca]

Good topic and one close to my heart.

I am guilty of rebuilding rifles and changing out bolts and other critcal parts. I am confident that I do it right and my work would pass inspection. With some projects I have started with little more than a barreled action, sometimes even just a stripped receiver.

I sometimes spend years gathering up the 'correct' bits to assemble the gun. All genuine antique parts makes the gun authentic, but not original. When I sell a parts gun, I make that quite clear to the buyer that it is a restoration and is a rework. I refurbish original rifles too. When they are complete they both look pretty much the same, rework and refurb. Very seldom will I refinish metalwork. When I do, I age it to match the patina of the rest of the rifle. That is my hobby, that is my craft, to remove the signs of abuse and neglect but retain the patina and honest wear of an aged original.


One of these is an untouched original refreshed with BLO. The other two are complete parts rifles. One has a splice stock, the other started as a stripped receiver. I have sold all three and moved on to more projects.

I don't change or add serial numbers or markings. My rifles are not 'humped'

I have however, seen a few of my restorations appear on dealers' web sites at double or triple my selling price and some come with quite the description. Each time they sell, the connection gets further blurred and the description gets enhanced.

I now mark my rebuilds in an unobtrusive spot into the metal with my initials and a date. To most, it would look like just another process marking, but in years to come, I will be able to tell and direct others to the spot.

Sometimes I have a dilema. I have one happen this morning and have not yet decided what to do. I am assembling a Long Lee Enfield. By the serial number it is one purchsed by the Canadian Govt in 1896/7. I have a nice M&D marked butt for it. The butt plate out of the bins that fits the best is marked to the Governor General's Foot Guards. If I fit this up, the rifle will take on this identity. Nobody but me (and now you) would know that it's provenance is not as seen. So would this be considered a faked rifle?

I have butt stock discs that are also unit marked, but have never used.

Your thoughts?

I have a cavalry carbine that came to me with a family connection to Winston Churchill. I researched the unit markings and yup, it was in service with the 4th Hussars when he was a junior officer. A wild coincidence maybe, but should I pass this story along with the rifle? Should I document it and put a written slip into the butt trap? To me, I would sound like one of the bull shooters as described above and would probably hurt my credibility. If I don't and it was true, part of the carbine's history would be lost.

Winston shot at Hitler with it when the Germans attacked Pearl Harbour in WWI.