1 1

1944 Lee Enfield SMLE No4 MkI* Long Branch - Numbers Matching

1944 Lee Enfield SMLE No4 MkI* Long Branch - Numbers Matching

Long Branch

$1,499.00
$1,499.00
Sale Sold out
Unless stated otherwise, all used, antique and military surplus rifles are sold in as-is condition without any warranty. Upon request, we can arrange to have any firearm inspected and test-fired by a gunsmith for $40 plus cleaning charges. Otherwise, these firearms must be stripped and cleaned by the buyer prior to using the firearm. Military surplus rifles often have military (cosmoline) grease in the barrel and action which may cause improper operation if not cleaned prior to use.

.

Long Branch No.4 Mk I's are considered rare due to the fact that out of the 900,000+ No.4's made by LB only about 14,000 are Mk I's with about half of them having both 1941 dated receivers and barrels. Skip Stratton puts the total on Mk I Long Branch's up to the serial number 1L8xxx range.
Long Branch had a hard time initially making barrels thus slowing production. About 3,000 of the first rifles were shipped to Australia, some went to New Zealand and of course some to the UK. Of course they are also rare since they were used immediately.  

Other bits that were slowly changed as production went along was the early style button cocking piece, the singer style rear sight, the notched front hand guard for the band hinge, and the low walled forend cut out for a magazine cut off. Later on in Mk I* production the hand guard bands were no longer milled and further in production the trigger guard was assembled out of stamped pieces and the rear sight was changed from the "L" flip type to the Canadian CMk 3 and CMk 4 style's

 

View full details