Reproduction SMLE stock

[Bindi2]

Have I told you gents about a brige in Sydney I'm selling cheap?

Seriously though, I know there are folks out there with more dollars than sense, but IMHO the cost of old military rifles - particularly SMLEs - has really gotten out of hand here.

They are not making any more and some little jerk tried to sell them all overseas so maybe that has had a price effect upwards. Supply and demand control the price. I can think of some like HTs, XPs any with 30s date that are not going any were but up in price. The others will just tag along so you have two choices buy or sell.

[Colonel Enfield]

They are not making any more and some little jerk tried to sell them all overseas so maybe that has had a price effect upwards. Supply and demand control the price. I can think of some like HTs, XPs any with 30s date that are not going any were but up in price. The others will just tag along so you have two choices buy or sell.

I've often said the usual economic laws of supply and demand don't apply to military surplus rifles. They made several million Lee-Enfield rifles and there's still more than enough of them floating around for everyone who wants one to have one, along with a spare. Most gun shops I've been into have several on the racks (one well-known Brisbane gun shop has nearly an entire floor given over to them) and the major Australian used firearms websites have several pages full of them; there's always heaps for sale at gun shows... you get the idea. I'd go so far as to say a bog-standard SMLE Mk III* is about the least rare centrefire rifle in Australia, along with the Winchester Model 94.

I totally get the prices on the HTs and XPs being really high - those things were never common anyway, and they're specialist rifles. But a standard-issue SMLE shouldn't cost as much as a brand-new hunting rifle, IMHO - even if they aren't making new Lee-Enfields anymore. They're not making Kodak Brownie cameras anymore either, yet they're readily available and very cheap despite the fact they stopped being made in an era when putting an astronaut on the moon was in that hazy spot between science fiction and actual possibility.

[Bindi2]

The several million made is out by a large margin. Lithgow made a lot less than a million and a large percentage of them were sold overseas leaving not a lot here. You are lucky if you have that many to choose from in one place in Brisbane. I tour Australia and NZ looking for Lithgows and I don't see very many anywhere in reasonable condition or any condition the supply has dried up. The local dealers here just shake their heads when asked about new stock. If you wanted to collect all the Lithgows by year starting now not buying a collection it wont happen. There would appear to be lot of sporterized rifles about most of which you cant buy ammo for eg all the 22/303s, 243/303 ,25/303, 270/303, 35/303 + the NSW short 303 and 310. Then there is the 22 hornet and the 410.
Parts and furniture have dried up as well.

[dseder]

I just got a No1 MkIII set (buttstock, forestock, two handguards) off of fleabay - NOS - for $272US. That price was totally worth it for me and will be going on a sporterized No1 MkIII which is in very good shape! There is currently a listing for NOS handguards and the gentleman is asking around $220US if I'm remembering correctly.

[CINDERS]

There are bargains out there but it requires allot of ground work and being in the know I happened on my 1921 Lithgow with matching serialized to the rifle 1921 Lithgow 07 bayonet & 1921 Lithgow double Stitch scabb by chance calling into a gun dealer who operated from home looking for Mk VII ammo and espied it on the wall as part of his collection.
It has in the white fore woods and still has grease in some spots but it has been fired think it got the new woods in 1943 the chap that sold it to the gun dealer had it from the WWII and had not shot it the gun dealer had it for 20 years and had not shot it and I have had it for 5 years and not shot it but I may next year.
It took me 4 years of slowly getting him to sell it to me for both of them $650.oo/AU which I though was reasonable but it was a chance the boonies is where you may uncover a sleeper but then again out there caring for weapons was not high on the farmers mind.

Whilst people are prepared to pay 2.5 K for in the wrap UF's the prices will remain up there, I look at Owen Guns site every now and then there is no shortage of 303's around just good rare ones like 1937's and the 5 1913 sent over to Lithgow!!! Well it costs naught to web shop and pine at what I cannot afford but am happy with my small 6 gun collection of which there are 2 jewels the '21 and my 5MD 1916.

[Colonel Enfield]

The several million made is out by a large margin. Lithgow made a lot less than a million and a large percentage of them were sold overseas leaving not a lot here. You are lucky if you have that many to choose from in one place in Brisbane. I tour Australia and NZ looking for Lithgows and I don't see very many anywhere in reasonable condition or any condition the supply has dried up. The local dealers here just shake their heads when asked about new stock. If you wanted to collect all the Lithgows by year starting now not buying a collection it wont happen.

Sorry, I should have clarified: I was referring to SMLEs from all manufacturers, not just Lithgows. Truth be told I'm not particularly attracted to the Lithgow SMLEs - they're obviously well-made rifles but don't appeal to me quite the same way as the English or even Indian rifles for some reason. My point is, getting an SMLE Mk III* in Australia shouldn't cost what it does because they're not rare and not hard to find.

[CINDERS]

From Wikpedia (Manufacturers tables no shown.)

Production and manufacturers

In total over 16 million Lee–Enfields had been produced in several factories on different continents when production in Britain shut down in 1956, at the Royal Ordnance Factory ROF Fazakerley in Liverpool after that factory had been plagued with industrial unrest. The machinery from ROF Fazakerley was sold to Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in Rawalpindi where production and repair of the No.4 rifle was continued. Also contributing to the total was the Rifle Factory Ishapore (RFI) at Ishapore in India, which continued to produce the SMLE in both .303 and 7.62×51mm NATO until the 1980s, and is still manufacturing a sporting rifle based on the SMLE Mk III action, chambered for a .315 calibre cartridge the Birmingham Small Arms Company factory at Shirley near Birmingham, and SAF Lithgow in Australia, who finally discontinued production of the SMLE Mk III* with a final 'machinery proving' batch of 1000 rifles in early 1956, using 1953-dated receivers. During the First World War alone, 3.8 million SMLE rifles were produced in the UK by RSAF Enfield, BSA, and LSA.

[Richard Hare]

Is it possible for you blokes Down Under to pick up a rifle in another part of the world and have it shipped down there?
We do see Lithgows up here from time to time, (Canada) and wondered about the possibility of sending the odd one 'home'.

[Aussie48]

You can but the paperwork and cost makes it prohibitive nowadays

Dick

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Making the furniture, especially the fore-end and, in particular, the hand-guards, is not a task for the faint-hearted.

AIA / ACA got a batch made in Viet Nam about a decade ago. These came complete with all of the "fittings" ready attached. They were HAND-Carved from TEAK. As with ANY furniture, they required a bit of hand-fitting by someone who knew what they were doing.

As far as I know, these were not a roaring success, except among competitive Service Rifle types who needed the "look" and appreciated the extra weight of the Teak.

You do not want to be trying to rivet the end cap to a front hand-guard unless you have the right gear and nerves of steel. (Unless you have some stashed away, forget about the "proper" tiny screws; they are a mongrel size and have a bastard thread; stick with the brass rivets that anyone can knock up on a baby Unimat lathe.). Ditto the spring clamp under the rear hand-guard.

Yes, a multi-axis / spindle CNC centre could do the job. I have sought out people in Oz who have such things. The catch is ALWAYS; "How many hundred of these do you want in the next month?

PROPER front hand-guards have a barrel channel that is TAPERED to match the barrel profile and was originally made with a very long, specially shaped cutter. CNC would enable some simplification, (variations) on this internal channel, ditto that in the fore-end. If you demand absolute authenticity where it can't be seen, be prepared to pay serious money for it.

There is a GENUINE "substitute standard" hand-guard that has a PARALLEL channel; VERY crafty set-up. It is cut so that the "TOP" of the radius of the channel runs parallel to the TOP surface of a standard barrel.

And finally, as the Goons astutely noted, "You can't get the wood anymore". Walnut, yes; Coachwood and Queensland Maple? Just how deep are your pockets?