No4 Mk2 Fazakerley 1955

[joe]

i like to pick one these up in mint condition but,

how rare are they ?

what is a good price for a mint conidtion ?

where is a good place to pick them up from ?

[pe4king]

I think ITL have some, expensive for what they are IMHO, some people are really kicking the arse out of pricing, £2k, once you have our some rounds down it it's a £600 rifle.
An alternative is the 1950's Long Branch they are lovely.

[Alpha1]

Anything Enfield related is going to be pricey.
I have been looking for a P14 The ones I have seen are overpriced and generally rough as.

[pe4king]

The P14's used to be a cheaper alternative for something in .303, yes they are now very expensive, and I agree there is a lot of crap for the money, Alpha I think badgers arse is what your looking for, no offence meles meles !.

[Alpha1]

You are spot on though.

[Robert303]

Yes be careful, It's not that difficult to tart up a gun to make it look nice and Bright and Shiny.
EFD seem to be a bit guilty of this. Quite how people think that rifles that were used in WWII
and the Korean War, never mind Suez, Cyprus, Kenya duing te Mau Mau rising etc.will remain
prsitine I do not know. As to those hat came out of store went to the USA and then came back
the last one I saw still in its' wrapper was £850 with an honest dealer 3 years ago.

[ovenpaa]

There are many examples available however finding one that is a reasonable shooter is getting harder and harder these days and some approaching Lee Metford prices and more and the problem is, if people pay these prices then that is what they will be sold for plus a bit.

A supply and demand thing.

[MistAgain]

The guns that came out of store back in the early 90's were all from the Irish Republic .
Not sure of the quantities , but there were 1000's of them . Many unfired and still in their packing containers fully greased .

Parker-Hale and AJ Parker both put bids in for small quantities and a dealer group put a bid in for the entire lot .

Possibly becaause of the terms of the original sale or transfer to the Republic none of the UK bids were accepted . Several members of the dealer group had the opinion that if the NRA had got involved , the rifles would have come back here.

The American companies who bought them paid less than the UK offers ! . Many of the rifles were sold in small lots to Australia , with the rest being sold to US dealers and jobbers .

Many are still around in USA gunshops , some hardly shot , and one or two UK dealers that I know still buy them in and ship them back here .

Of course they are expensive now , buying back at almost retail price is expensive , add the freight charges to the USA shipper , the licence costs and of course the agents fee's that can be as high as 20% .
Airfreight for guns is not cheap either , and it will get worse due to the exchange rate .

So we should be grateful for the couple of good dealers who risk their money to bring these fine rifles back here .

[DaveB]

Quite a few ended up in Canada. I have one dated 1954.

[TomEnfield]

I have one, I didn't pay what people want for one now. It's got a matching serial bayonet and dated sling.

It's not a magic rifle, it's no more accurate than any other no4. I shoot it and enjoy it. Would I pay anywhere near the prices that they demand now? No way.

Interestingly it was made in 1955 and feels very modern, yet my Long Lee from late 1890 completely out shoots it in every way. Also I've heard a theory that Fazakerley didn't fit the woodwork fully and expected unit armourers to finish the job. I'd say the wood fit on mine is pretty crap, but not sure how true the theory is.

My advice would be get one of the reconditioned no4 mk1/2 that are coming out of Italy(kranks had loads about a year ago). They're excellent and still in the packing grease. Britian fully reconditioned them at the end of the war and then gifted them to Italy, the Italians didn't even use them. My friend has one, it's a time machine full of history and only cost £135!

Or even better get a SMLE, find some falling targets and be prepared to be impressed!
(The no4 is just a poor mans SMLE. Literally Britian was broke and needed rifles post Dunkirk, the no4 was cheaper and quicker to make. The empire kept the SMLE until the mid 60s and some commonwealth countries still use it!)