AIM Surplus Enfield

[M.E.Eldridge]

Hello,

I've been looking for an Enfield No.1 Mk.III for a while when I ran across this at AIM Surplus. I was wondering if anyone has expierience with these rifles? If so are they in good condition, with decent stocks and bluing and good barrels? Any help would be appriciated.Thanks.

Link:http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/Enf1__Ishapore_Enfield_No1_Mk3.html

 

[DMK]

Hello, welcome to THR!

I just bought one of those a few months ago. First of all, these are Ishapore Enfields, made in India, not England.

I'll warn you, it's not pretty. The stock was cruddy, had a few repairs and lots of dings. The finish on these rifles is a poor quality black paint. Mine's worn and chipped. However, the bore is bright and the rifling's sharp. The crown is good and passed a bullet test.

Aim calls these "Shooter Specials" and I think they are just that. They don't look nice, but you should get a good reliable shooter. Well worth the $79 IMO.

I've got replacement wood for mine and plan on refinishing the metal with Gunkote

 

[M.E.Eldridge]

Sounds good. I've been looking for a project gun since I finished up with muzzleloading handgun kit. Since I've also been looking for an Enfield, it looks like I've both items in one gun. I was aware of the Ishapore, though I thought, for some reason, that they were made in the Phillipines. I must have had them confused with Rock Island Armory.

 

[Firehand]

Be sure and test-fire it as soon as you can. I got one that turned out to keyhole at 50 yards; turned out the rifling near the muzzle was shot.

On the good side, I contacted them, they said to return it and they'd replace it, and they did. Replacement shoots quite well.

 

[longhorngunman]

Just got mine in today for $92 shipped. Just like what the other posters said. Looks kinda ugly and no blueing just painted. The bore looks great though, sharp rifling shiny bore, very suprising considering the looks of the gun. Enfields won't be around forever, not bad deal for the price. To bad they don't do this with the No.4 Enfields, those are very nice battlerifles and have great sights.

 

[Crosshair]

Barrel on mine is shot. I plan on converting it to 45 ACP anyway though. Didn't want to trash up a good rifle.

 

[TABING]

Enfields were never blued, they all had that black paint stuff on them.

empirearms.com usually has some nice one for less than $200.00.

 

[ScottsGT]

Here's what I did to my ugly Enfield.

 

[DMK]

Enfields were never blued, they all had that black paint stuff on them.

Actually that's not entirely true. Longbranch and Savage Enfileds were blued. But yes, most Enfields had a blackened paint like finish on them.

The Indian refurb Enfields used a very poor paint that didn't hold up well at all.

 

[TABING]

I stand corrected.

Both my Enfield are British made.

Maybe the Savage rifles were blued because Savage, being a commercial manufacturer blued them as they did their sporting rifles.

Longbranch I think is Australian, and who know what's going on down there, or if it's Canadian, well, who knows what's going on up there.

 

[petrel800]

No experience with the No1 Mk3 from AIM, but I did order a No4 Mk1 from them last year that was advertised as good condition. I have ordered from them in the past and have done so since, but that Enfield was in no way shape or form in good condition. I just chalked it up as an oh well and kept the gun, but at least they have it marked as a shooters special, which is the condition I would have listed my No4.

 

[DMK]

No experience with the No1 Mk3 from AIM, but I did order a No4 Mk1 from them last year that was advertised as good condition. I have ordered from them in the past and have done so since, but that Enfield was in no way shape or form in good condition. I just chalked it up as an oh well and kept the gun, but at least they have it marked as a shooters special, which is the condition I would have listed my No4.

That's something that got me when I first started collecting milsurps. "Good" condition isn't a very high mark. In fact, it's only just over "poor" or "fair". "Unissued" would be the best (basically as close to NIB as a milsurp can get), "Excellent" would be almost as good, then there's "Very Good", just "Good", then "Fair", and finally "Poor".

You hardly ever see anything marked as "poor" or "fair" though. So "good" is often kinda the bottom of the barrel. It's kinda like the drinks at movie theaters.. You don't see small or medium anymore, just large, extra large and jumbo.

 

[blfuller]

The Brits call the black enamel over park finish "stoving."