Buy the rifle not the story!!!!!

[SpikeDD]

I've enjoyed this thread, apologies to Buccaneer for is meandering off coarse a bit but I think it's well worth the diversion it has taken. The foundations of it are integrity and moral accountability, which are liken to the type of folks I prefer associating with.

To the points and templates being suggested for a "defined" manual of categories for restoration and or repair, I say it's a very noble thought and very well defines the character of those proposing ideas to keep everyone above the board. Unfortunately, I fear it will only be as long lived as the next owner will allow. Personally, I would do any one of the suggested Ideas and have always done so with any rifle I have sold in regard to condition, accuracy ( If I have indeed shot it ), if it was as I bought it, etc... My list of sporter restorations is quite short at only 2. A third sporter I bought, I actually just restocked in a much better looking sportered military stock and gave it to a friends son for his first hunting rifle. I repaired the draws as outlined by Peter and was well pleased with it as it was.... a sporter.

The following statement is making me cringe just thinking about typing it but I'll explain and you can let me know who I am afterwards....

I currently own 147 milsurp rifles. 57 of them are No.4 Mk.I/Mk.2 and 33 are Mk.III and variants there of. There... I said it

First off, I am not by any means wealthy, far from it actually. I am not married and have no children so what most people have spent on raising kids and sending them to college, I have been able to spend part of that money on my interests.

My collecting began nearly 25 years ago and when the internet opened up, I just bought everything I had an interest in. Prior to the start of dedicated collecting, in 1985, I bought my first Enfield, a 1941 Lithgow and it sat in it's case while I bought all kinds of other rifles. Years later, while showing a friend my collection, I pulled out the Lithgow ,which hadn't see daylight since I bought it, and something about it's design just hit me differently than when I bought it. The reading started and I was hooked.... all out Enfield assault. The more I read about different variants, the more examples I needed to fill the gaps.

For example, I read that there were 10,000 rifles contracted to China....had to find one. Then I read Thailand had been sent some No.4's and naturally, needed one of those. As for price, I didn't care if I paid $50.00 to $100.00 more than it was currently worth if I wanted it in my collection. The Thailand marked rifle was a 2001 "Buy It Now" purchase that nearly broke the keyboard for $335.00+$30.00 shipping AND a $25.00 transfer fee. It was on the last page and I think had been active for 11 min. NO ONE was paying that kind of money for No.4's back then! I was very fortunate as there were many excellent condition rifles all over the market and I could afford to be very picky about condition. Don't get me wrong, If I wanted a particular rifle and it had a mismatched bolt or a sewer pipe for a bore... I didn't care.

So, as the information came in, the money went out for rifles. In 2010 I decided my only interest was going to be Enfields and sold many of the non-Enfields ( The number was much higher than 147 at the time ) The stocks of parts I have accumulated over the years was simply to have them if needed. Nothing I bought had the thought of future profit in mind.

I'll add this one last thing.... I love to shoot my milsurp rifles, but I don't shoot them all. There is likely 40 to 50 of them that I have never chambered a round in. As a collector, I don't feel the need to shoot a rifle because that was what it was built/intended for. Shooting a No.4 is shooting a No.4, whether it is a Maltby or a South African marked Savage. Think about it, if you collected stamps, would you use one of them to mail the Gas bill because that is what stamps are made for? 'Comon now ;-)

Ok now... who am I?