Ridiculous $'s

[Flying10uk]

I liked the listing which I noticed a couple of years ago for a F/S Commando Knife which was listed and described as a "letter opener".

[mike16]

Australian dollars, inflation and lunacy and maybe theres a shill in the audience. Alot of us are OCD so the seller only has to sell one set at that price. Boyds would not ask that much if they produced them. maybe its time for some one to get into that business.

NOS? unused and all matching? then the fire wood would have to match the year of manufacture too. so there is a very very narrow market for these bits.

there not much market for a matching numbers rifle when the wood alone tops 700 $ aus. I got a numbers matching mint MA41 beautifull. I paid 360 out the door.

[mike16]

With the difficulty of getting anything out of the states, the supply is low and the demand high

:

Not sure what you mean but anybody who has taken a tour of Sarco's where house.... there is no shortage. There is not enough market to organise the parts for the restoration crowd. An amazing selection but little incentive because even the overall market is small.

the restoration Market? .....for enfilds? Too weird for the average american. Sarco have 15 and 55 gallon drums filled with every part for enfields. several 55 gallon drums filled with recievers alone. no market for the rifles, no market for spares. and still too many nice clean matching origonals for somebody to go ape shyte crazy on a restoration. present company accepted.

too bad because you cant ship guns or parts oversea's to the market where they might sell

only Americal fire arms get that level of appreciation. I doubt it will change either, in the future. I'm amazed they even sell for300 bucks. restored w/ matching numbers? the shippin alone would eat up your margins.

[Colonel Enfield]

too bad because you cant ship guns or parts oversea's to the market where they might sell

It's obviously possible, otherwise people outside the US wouldn't be able to buy newly-made American guns. "Not worth the hassle" or "Not economically worth it" might be closer to the mark, but I still think it's acheiveable all the same.

[CINDERS]

Taken the time to check the market I am sure there is enough of us in the world to satisfy the demand, I have only amassed a small amount so my son and his son wont have to worry about spare parts or stocks it is all used some of it heavily other bits NOS. For those of us without the years in various gun shops/gunsmiths trades that gave them the inroads to spares and machinery to repair them, for the outsider it is a constant trolling of the net to try and get gear. Yes I may have 10 collars or 3 mag followers, a couple of reasonable barrels but nothing to write home to mum about. If there was not a market for the spares then why are Armalon and especially Lothar Walther making repro barrels hmmm maybe Sarco should talk to them about people wanting to buy spare parts for 303's. With all of it and the restrictive nature of the red tape it is just down right dis-heartening to have to scrounge like a beggar so you can pursue your sport of shooting milsurps. We in Aus do not have a Garand shop on every corner (wish we did I would have 2 or 3 Garands thank you) and what we have got here is rather inflated prices due the lack of spares in this land as those that do have them are keeping them and why wouldn't they given the way the worlds import/export arrangements are. Australia is such a naughty place we cannot buy any Enfield parts from the USA or send parts to them via our custom regulations it is just a joke and p*sses me right off

[mrclark303]

Cinders, I entirely agree with your senterments mate, the restrictions for you and us, are both frustrating and bloody annoying in equal measure!

I think we are slightly better served re Enfields and service rifles in general here in the UK than you, simply down to a larger population, thus a larger user base ( although small when taking the overall UK shooting scene into account), supply and demand does come into play.

That said, the cost of Milsurps here and good Enfield's inparticular, has risen sharply in the last 10 years and this shows no sign of slowing down.

I have built up unrestricted spares for my Rifles too Cinders, particularly my L1A1's and especially the .22 conversion kit.

No supply issues at present, but it would only take one or two main suppliers here to shut up shop and the story would be quite different.

At present and for the foreseeable future, there no issues with Lee Enfield spare parts here, in fact with the supply of new No4 barrels coming on Stream, it's probably better than it has been for a good while.

[mike16]

It's obviously possible, otherwise people outside the US wouldn't be able to buy newly-made American guns. "Not worth the hassle" or "Not economically worth it" might be closer to the mark, but I still think it's acheiveable all the same.

oh its possible I suppose but buying military arms/weapons and thier parts are not the same as buyingnewly made american sporting weapons/guns. It isnt not worth the hassle and not economically worth it pretty much the same thing. I suppose if your willing to pay to have it transported illegally then thats the same thing as not worth the hassle.

sorry I said its impossible. sure it can be done but like you said, its not worth the hassle, isint that the same thing really. I'm not debating the definition of a point of law, I'm stateing the economic reality of our situation. And it seem's that many people in the US,UK, Canada, or Australia would agree.

Ok your right... its possible like putting a man on the moon is possible. but make the distinction in your arguement between military weapons and commercial sporting weapons.

[BushyFromOz]

Not sure what you mean but anybody who has taken a tour of Sarco's where house.... there is no shortage. There is not enough market to organise the parts for the restoration crowd. An amazing selection but little incentive because even the overall market is small.

I live in Australia. There's tons of spares in the states, and most of it i cent get as its price exceeds $100. Specifically Stocks. Even boyds is a bit of a hassle for sporter stocks, as to get it below the 100 limit you end up buying the butt and fore end separately, so 2 lots of shipping charges


Sarco is kinda moot, they are not accepting international orders atm

[CINDERS]

I even entertained flying to the states and buying gear but would only get as far as the check in counter and thats where the gear would be impounded. Like B F O states the $100 limit for some spares is hard to be under also here in the West anything landed in Au goes to the eastern seaboard side so then we have internal mail costs to get it to West Au. Sometimes you can get lucky at a gunshop but most of the time any spares there are usually 3 times past their service limit and only good to possibly look at. Do not know the solution to the buying of spares is I know the old girls will keep plugging along as they are not in a battle situation but it is a finite thing as we are already seeing the lack of NOS barrels think I have only seen one for sale in the grease in the last 5 years the rest are used and you take your chances. We endevour to keep them as original as we can but the day will come (Not in my lifetime) when the spares will all be repro's and original parts will probably be museum exhibits! Bit like vintage car restorers & owners that strive to scrounge original bits as much as they can because when you start using repro parts its always in the back of your mind that the car is only 99.98% original.........

[mr.e moose]

No 1 wood sets have seemed to have dried up over the last few years, especially fore stocks and front hand guards. Nowadays the only source for front and rear hand guards seem to be off Indian DP rifles or modern reproductions and the same goes for fore stocks.

With the price of original Enfields climbing it has simply become a case of supply and demand for a finite resource for people wishing to restore a rifle. No 4 fore stocks will soon become hard to acquire also.