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Hi All

Thought Id share the recent addition to my collection, it's been a while coming having shifted a few rifles on to fund it but it finally arrived yesterday. It's a Nov' 47 Fazakerely No5.Faz made the majority of them with BSA making the remaining number, and being '47 it is one of the last ones made (a few give aways that it's a later model include the metal 'cover' on the fore-end).

Interestingly until yesterday morning this rifle was unfired, the mag floor plate is unmarked and the feed ramp didn't have any marks as well as the bolt head/ face being completely unmarked. The rifling is crisp, proud and very shiny with all numbers matching, even the wood! I was fortunate enough to be able to put 14 rds through it after it had been cleaned. I was lucky enough to also pick up a bayonet for it, so now all I need is a period sling. Can't wait to properly put it through it's paces on the longer range.

Thinking about finding a period scope and a non-smith mount to add to it. Really chuffed with it , the condition is impeccable, pretty much as it rolled off the product line in 47. I thought people might be interested in seeing it here as it generated quite a bit of interest at the range when it turned up.

Very nice

Mmm.....that's on my want list, like it a lot

Dribble.

Very nice, how come you want to put a scope on it though? Are you shooting distance, if so will the shorter barrel do what you ask of it? (I'm asking from a position of ignorance, I don't know how far a No 5 will shoot)

Charlotte the flyer wrote:Dribble.

Very nice, how come you want to put a scope on it though? Are you shooting distance, if so will the shorter barrel do what you ask of it? (I'm asking from a position of ignorance, I don't know how far a No 5 will shoot)

Hi Charlotte

I'll shoot it max out to 550m at fig 11's so whilst the open sites are perfectly adequate and as long as I do my part it's fine. However I quite fancy a 'period' scope to be able to see in a bit more detail what I'm shooting at. I can also potentially use it for for deer over land I have permission for as the shooting is mainly in woods and well under 100m.

The No5 was developed for closer range 400m and closer, but I don't think it will have any bother pushing it out to longer ranges.

It is a bit punchier in the recoil than a No4 or SMLE-its closer to an M44 although still not quite as aggressive

gunlike gunlike What a lovely example, had a play with Dave 303's last week, very impressed indeed with his and yours looks just as nice.

Beautiful......

And where on earth did you turn up such a mint, unused example

A mint No.5 is very on my want list, once my ticket materialises, as it was very much my late fathers favourite out of all the .303's and he carried a No.5 for the duration of his 12 months Palestine tour of duty in 1946 (as did two of my uncles)

It has England stamped on it which apparently suggests it was sold as military aid to a friendly nation in a time of need. why mine and probably others didn't get used, I don't know. It came from a very well known Enfield dealer who was recommended to me by another dealer friend. The rifle had recently come back from the states from a big collector supposedly.

Interesting your father and uncles liked carrying it, I suppose the lack of weight and the same fire power was liked. It's noticeable shorter and handier compared to a No4. A WW2 vet was at the range (father of a member) and he said it was his least favourite of the enfields due to lightweight of the rifle and the full power cartridge. When i fired it, it was noticeably punchier but not too bad.

You want to try a Martini carbine! You need fortitude to shoot more than a few rounds.

JS569 wrote:It has England stamped on it which apparently suggests it was sold as military aid to a friendly nation in a time of need. why mine and probably others didn't get used, I don't know. It came from a very well known Enfield dealer who was recommended to me by another dealer friend. The rifle had recently come back from the states from a big collector supposedly.

Interesting your father and uncles liked carrying it, I suppose the lack of weight and the same fire power was liked. It's noticeable shorter and handier compared to a No4. A WW2 vet was at the range (father of a member) and he said it was his least favourite of the enfields due to lightweight of the rifle and the full power cartridge. When i fired it, it was noticeably punchier but not too bad.

The ENGLAND stamp is a US importation stamp, not sure if they still do this?? I don't know if this is the history of your particular rifle, but I have been told from a very knowledgeable source that a very large number of Enfield's of various types were procured from the British Government by Parker Hale and Interarms in the late 50's.

Quite a number of No5's emigrated to the States (along with No4's, SMLE's etc) as part of the Interarms side of the deal, yours might be a returning example.

It appears to be in excellent condition and I would assume with its 1947 end of contract date, it probably went straight to store for onward sale a decade later. Was it proofed before it left the UK, or is it freshly proofed?

If so, I hope it hasn't been "attacked" by the London proof house, more stamps than the post office!

The No5 is on my shopping list for this year!