Quote Originally Posted by Bindi2 View Post
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 Australiaicon 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.