No 5 Mk I

[Vincent]

Yeah. It’s the same at our local gun shows. Some people ask way more than they normally sell for. They bring the same overpriced guns to every show...... and take them home.

If a deal on a gun looks too good to be true, there’s probably a reason.

In the middle is where the vast majority of used guns are bought and sold.

Sure, there will be some haggling and maybe a story, what we call “romancing” the gun. That’s all part of a gun show. In the end a fair price will get you a smile and a handshake.

Old collector guns are all about feeling good. Nobody needs an old Enfield. The buyer is treating himself to something he wants. It’s a bit like buying and selling art. The “value” is only what someone will pay to have something they enjoy.

[Gil Boyd]

Some good Milsurps safety sayings or terms come to mind:

If the story is too good to be true, it normally is.

Buy the gun not the story

Albeit a bit of authenticated provenance can help the price!!!

[rayg]

That would probably be priced to sell at $450 in my area more if it was in a little better condt. , Ray

[Peter Laidler]

Here we go round and around the mulberry bush again......... There's only only one place to achieve what it's worth. And that's at an auction. How many more times........... There's only three types of value. The price, the cost and the worth. And that's NOT what you or anyone else thinks it's worth but what the BUYER thinks its worth.

Just my 2c's worth...... again!

[Longshaor]

Peter,

As long as you're here, may I ask you to weigh in on two points on this rifle?

I've never seen a serial number this short on a British rifle. Is that normal for the No 5?

Is there any truth to what I've been told that the green magazine indicates a rifle that was sent to Malaya during the Emergency?

Just my own curiosity here...

[browningautorifle]

The magazine may have...

[Peter Laidler]

We didn't paint the magazines green or any colour except black. The crunchies used to daub their rifles and shotguns with green and yellow paint when on ops but they didn't stay that way for long I have to say. When they came into the Armourers shops they had to be in service condition when they left - within reason. The trouble with a lot of the oil based paints and the spirit based stuff is if wasn't baked on hard was that the insect repellent would just soften it and it'd come off easily

The short serial number is just that. A short 3 figure number that is insignificant.

I would imagine that the magazine will just be an ex Indian one taken from another rifle

[browningautorifle]

The crunchies used to daub their rifles and shotguns with paint

Yes...sometimes...then it was a mess to remove.

[Colonel Enfield]

Just to add some more data to the thread, the prices of No. 5s seem all over the place in Australia. I've seen them advertised for between AUD$500 and AUD$1000, but one of the issues is that I see quite a few sporterised No. 4s being advertised as No. 5s (with the price tag to match) when they clearly aren't.

Also, as others have mentioned - just because someone's got a $1000 price tag on something doesn't mean that's what they'll end up selling it for.

[Longshaor]

Thanks for all the input guys. I used to own three of these, and I believe I paid between $450 and $500 for all of them, though that was in the mid-1990s. Kind of surprised prices seem to have stayed flat all these years.