303 prices

[MAC13]

So as fatr would have it..just today.
Only a matter of hours after my post.
I fund a 1942 lithgow in my local town in gippsland for sale.
It has matching numbers except for the barrel as it was replaced during FTR in the 50s.
The wood is awesome. ( I reckon anyway)
It has the cleaning kit in the stock.
I paid $700.
I will post pics whem i work out how.
Cheers

[MAC13]

Here it is.

[juststarting]

BOOM!

[bladeracer]

Here it is.

Very nice find at a good price

[Supaduke]

And the journey begins...

Nice rifle .

One thing I will mention, don't get caught up in the snobbery that can pervade the collecting community.

Some blokes can get really caught up in a certain type of elitism. Very evident on some collector forums. It's your gun, if you like it, that's enough. Enjoy the history and stories that surround these fine rifles.

[MAC13]

Will do.
My little brother was asking me all these questons like did it go overseas etc.
I just told him that we will never know and i kind of like that way.
It keeps me wondering about the possibilities.

[Member-Deleted]

I've been meaning to talk about this topic for a while, but someone beat me to it. Milsurps in general are fetching some ridiculous prices, especially bona fide junk like mosins and carcano;s ( talking from a lot of experience here). In my teens, Lee enfields varied from revered to despised, depending on who you spoke to, but the prices were at least realistic. I.ve been a collector and owned 32 at one stage, all matching numbers, and different manufacturers and models, and the most i paid was for a No 5 Mk 1 that went for $350.00 back in 1981 ( unfired, still in wrapping, with bayonet etc). That was when you could buy a lithgow in good shape for @35.00, so 10 times the price for a generic rifle. That was by far the exception, and Jungle Carbines today still fetch prices out of proportion to how well they shoot.

I see full wood lthgows go for well in excess of $1,000.00 these days, and people are prepared to pay that much for nostalgia, so that is how it is. Cut down versions rarely shoot well without a reasonable amount of tweaking, although the No 4 rifle is probably the best of the bunch if you want a project "sporter" to work on, and these can be had for Less than $500.00 in good shape if you look hard enough.

As a side note, my P14 conversion is a very accurate rifle, and much easier on case life than the Lee enfield, but that is another story.........