Unsporterize an Enfield No.4 Mk.1

[Seaspriter]

You are making a wise decision for now. You can still restore the gun at a later date. You still have a fine gun.

I find it a shame that people could deface such relics!

While this comment is quite logical in 2015, you have to understand the conditions of the early 1950s when these surplus rifles first were released -- flooding the market. You could buy an Enfield for $12.95 out of a barrel at your local sporting goods store (no license required). My father bought me one along with a baseball glove in 1958.

In order to sell these guns, Parker Hale, that had special wartime contracts with the British Government, got the "pick of the litter," finding that they could sell a lighter weight Sporterized hunting version for twice the price of a military standard issue. And, in those days, ex GIs were looking for hunting versions -- they had their fill of heavy military guns.

This is similar to GIs who bought 1932 Ford Deuce Coupes and made them into hot rods after the war. In retrospect some of us might say "what a shame to screw up an old car." But had this not happened, and had the Sporterized versions not come into the market, you can be assured of thousands of old cars and military surplus guns would have been scrapped because they were considered obsolete and worthless. At the time, the Sporterized Enfields were considered the "hot rods" of the day.