Help with British Lee Enfield?

[CaptainGrimes]

$400 is good. The wretched Ethiopian import Enfields that Royal Tiger Imports sells, which would need hours of work just to display without leaving filth on the wall (let alone operate safely), start around $350 for one with no major parts missing. I paid $440 ( plus various fees) for one over the summer ( #4 mk1*, '42 Long Branch) and though the bore is pristine, the stock is in considerably worse shape than that one and theres a lot of blueing gone in spots.

If $350 is your ceiling, there are a lot of "sporterized" Enfields with the stocks cut down in that price range, starting in the $200s...from the 60s until I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s they were very cheap ( I remember $75 for an SMLE around 1990) and turned in to beater deer rifles by the zillions. Unused surplus wood furniture is still around in quantities, and someone could thus obtain one in its original configuration on the installment plan.

[TP1953]

Yes, I now realize I should have bought while I had the chance, as last week the sold 2 type 99s for 275 each. But the good thing about this auction house is that they have weekly auctions, so I hope to find something good soon.

[CaptainGrimes]

What's the place? Spill the beans haha.

Gunbroker can be good if you're patient and avoid impulse bidding/buying...and 95% of the "buy it nows"

Type 99s are underrated rifles but be wary of a lot of the "last ditch" rifles ( and especially the trainers which were often made to fire wood ammo!) ...these guys were big on suicide after all...

If you want something from WW2 for under 4 hundo, there are some cheap Czech Mausers still around. Mosins still pop up for that. Mannlicher-Carcanos too though ammo scarcer than .303 ...

[TP1953]

Haha, I’ve only known about the place for a couple weeks, and in that time I’ve also seen a 1898 Krag Rifle go for 600, along with an Ishapore Enfield for 300. If I can find anything else on the website I’ll be sure to get an opinion on this forum!