Friday, June 18, 2010

Ballseye’s Gun Shots 69 - Enfield #4 MK1

It was a tough ride home through summertime Friday evening traffic and the 23 miles of so that I drove home from my office seemed insufferable. Now you may live somewhere where you think a 23 mile ride, by car, is a breeze but mind you, 23 miles may not be a long way to go by car but it took me about one and a half hours tonight. That was pretty miserable but made bearable because I was listening to a book on CD, Elle Wiesel's: Night.

When I arrived home, somewhat grumpier for the traffic, I was still pretty happy because my weekend was commencing. I also knew I had something waiting for me inside the house - one of those long corrugated cardboard boxes of the type in which they ship firearms. My son Brendan had called me earlier to ask me if I had ordered a gun because I had received a long skinny box via UPS. I knew it had to be a replacement for the Enfield #4 MK1 that I had returned to Classic Arms, about a week ago, because of damage to the muzzle. I took my time, took off all of my gear and placed it where it belongs, then had dinner sitting next to my wife who was watching the dog whisperer. I had some petting time (AND FACE LICKING TIME DURING WHICH I GOT PRETTY SLOBBERED ON) with the 4 dogs. I was calm, cool, collected and relaxed and figured it was high time I got down to the basement rec room to check my new acquisition.

Upon first glance i was pretty impressed. Not much rust at all, much less than the last one they sent me. A nicer stock too with only one or two sort of fresh scratches or small gouges, a pretty dirty muzzle but without cleaning it I'd say the bore looked okay, and then I saw it and almost screamed bloody murder. The muzzle on this one also has a scrape in the metal around the muzzle, scraped to the white and freshly enough that it is not rusted over. I wish this had been delivered yesterday because it would have been on its way back today. I looked at it again after a break of about 10 minutes. Yep, scraped in almost the exact same place as the last one though probably only about half as bad as that other one. I almost could not believe it. I started to wonder how on earth I could have such luck then I started to wonder how on earth they could have screwed up 2 rifles in almost exactly the same way and have to wonder is it coincidence, was it done as spite work, or was it caused by maybe screwing with putting on or taking off a bayonet, or maybe it just came to them in this condition. Whatever it was, you would think, since I sent the other one back with almost an identical mar on it, they would have assured this one would not come with the same type of blemish. I am not too happy about it.

Tomorrow, I am going to a gun show. I may take it with me and if there is a gunsmith there as how he thinks it will effect this guns as to shooting, safety and value. I will also ask if it would be easy to fix if I have the rifle reblued.A bit of a stone and some emery cloth is probably all it would take to make it almost not noticeable unless you looked right at the spot, or so I am guessing - but that is only my guess. I am not expert on gun refinishing for sure nor on how such damage may effect safety when shooting this rifle. Just about everything else on this rifle looks better than the first one. I really want an Enfield an it is tempting to want to keep this one. Then again, I do not want a rifle that has safety issues or issues that may effect value a great deal so I have to check with an expert on it. Hopefully someone at the show will throw me a courtesy appraisal of the problem and tell me it is not worth fretting about. If that is the case, then I will run a bore brush and a patch or three through the barrel to see its cleaned up condition. If it looks good then, after cleaning up and after I am assured the damage will not be a safety issue or bring down the value of this rifle more than a few dollars, then I'll keep it.

I will have to debate whether or not to ever order from Classic Arms again regardless of whether or not I keep it. First one bad Enfield with damage and way too much rust. The the Yugo 24/47 Mauser with the wrong serial number on the paperwork and an etched on serial number not matching the original, now a second damaged Enfield. They are not running a good track record as far as i am concerned. Time will tell though, I keep forgetting to call them about the serial number, but will on Monday. I am going to leave myself a reminder email right after I finish this. No give me a moment........Okay got it done while you waited for me to finish - so to speak. Man, this is frustrating!

Now I am going to watch a little television while I have a couple of biers and a shot or maybe I'll have a couple of shots and only one bier. Yep, that sounds better. Then I am going to bed to get up early for the show tomorrow.

All the best,
Glenn B

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