CNo7 .22 value

[Brian Dick]

I think stencollector's referring to the blued or phosphated steel buttplates that became the standard at some point in 1944 onward through factory production at LB/CAL. They are common and much more durable than the pot metal ones.

[stencollector]

Butt plate for all the Cno7s should be the steel ones. Plenty on the market these days, new in packages of 5 for $2 a plate. Hard to beat that.

I can pretty safely say that $2K is an anomaly for now. An Enfield collector would know better, but in many cases, it is guys who learned to shoot on these as cadets who want them now. Just as how the muscle cars that we couldn't own back then have skyrocketed over the past decade, so too will/have the Cno7s. And just like in the muscle cars, quite often a novice will overpay. I have had a few guys send me photos of the rifle they bought after the fact, only to be disappointed and in some cases even return the rifle as mis-represented. Sometimes the mis-representation is deliberate, and sometimes it is an honest mistake. We only have to look at the description you have given your rifle in the first post to see an example of the honest mistakes. For instance the statement of "44 dated Long Branch serials on the bolt, lumber and chest": The serial on the bolt is 1942 Cno4mk1*, the serial on the forestock is 1946, but applied in the 50s, and the serial on the chest is applied with grease pencil. The box may be 44 dated, your photos are not clear enough of the bottom end. Then add to it the parts (the safety and the buttplate) that are clearly wrong. A teardown of the rifle may well reveal more anomalies. A novice paying top dollar for that as an original, or even as an all correct example will end up being disappointed when he researches a little further.

Of course, one may use the reasoning that parts were changed in service, and that the armourer did not care what year certain parts variations came out. Very true for a no4 rifle, but the Cno7s did not go to war or exercise, so the vast majority of the ones I ever saw were always with the proper parts. But then the seller would be trying to pass the rifle off as a factory original, which it would not be with the scrubbed serial number.

There are hoards of the Cno7s still in Cdn service and in Cdn inventory. A recent query shows the number to be around half of all the Cno7 rifles made. Not bad for a rifle that is about 70 years old, give or take. Or 62 years if you count the last batch from 1953. As it stands now, all are destined for the smelter or museums eventually

[Brian Dick]

I imported several of the post service, assembled rifles on the scrubbed receivers in the late 90's and early 2000's. All of the ones I encountered had new unnumbered furniture and bolts if memory serves. There must have been a few builders out there after the parts were dispersed at the Long Branch auction. I also found a couple of LB No.4's converted with C No.7Mk.1 barrels and bolts installed. I built a couple of rifles after managing to scrounge all the correct parts over several years including the C No.7Mk.1 bodies. The one's I imported in the chests less the accessories which I sourced later for them were good rifles once inspected and a few minor issues sorted out. I sold them back then easily here in the USA for $900-$1200. I'd guess a minty matching factory rifle would bring $2000+ here now if found. I think Joe Salter has sold a couple in the $2500-$3000.

[stencollector]

I have seen some very nice, all matching, original, in the chest with some or all the checklist accessories, sell in the $2400 range. I have a few Cno7s, and the prize (and curse) is one that was put into long term preservation in 1948, still with it's SAL tag, with checklist and all accessories in it's original chest. I would consider it as unfired since it left the factory. I would expect it to fetch about 3K if it were to go to market. I say it's a curse because while I cannot part with it, nor can I fire it. But that's OK, I have others that I can fire.

There is one seller at the annual Calgary gun show who always has a few put-together Cno7 rifles to sell every year. His asking prices these days are generally in the $1100-1200 range, and while some years he will sell out, other years he takes on or two home. He can usually be talked down to the $1000 mark on his rifles. This is Canada's largest gun show so a good basis to get a feel for prices in the Cdn market.