Another enfield question

[GBEAR1]

I have 2 Enfield rifles. One is a US property Savage and the other is an Austrailian Lithgow. Both are in about equal condition. The Savage has a bluish canvass sling and the Lithgow has an original leather sling. I think they are original but the Lithgow is a 1941 marked receiver with a 1942 marked stock. I can only keep one . Which one is the more desirable or valuable to have? Thanks

[p246]

Opinions will vary but given those choices I would keep the US property marked Savage. But it would be a tough choice because the Lithgow was my first Enfield so I'm partial to them.

[Alan De Enfield]

Savage made over 1.1 million rifles in about 4 years- they are very, very common. Lithgow made 616,000 between 1913 and 1953.

An American will say the Savage is worth more, the rest of the world will say the Lihgow is worth more.

The No1 (Lithgow) is the 'original' (and many would consider it so ugly it is lovable) Enfield.
The No4 (Savage) is the updated 'newcomer' to the Enfield stable.

All things being equal the No4 will probably shoot better than the No1

You choose !!

[Nate]

If the Savage is an early one before the * modifications I would keep it.

[GBEAR1]

What modifications do you mean?

[p246]

Early will be stamped No 4 Mark 1. Later will say No 4 Mark1* .

[Alan De Enfield]

The first (approximately) 130,000 Savage No4's were manufactured the same as the UK production with the bolt head release 'button' just by the charger bridge, these are marked No4 Mk1.

In order to speed up production Savage proposed a 'short-cut' which was accepted by the MOD, this meant putting a 'slot' in the bolt raceway 'rail' just in front of the chamber. It worked well but it does lead to a problem, that if the rail gets 'chipped' the bolt head can jump out of the track (always examine very closely any Savage & Longbranch rifles of this design) This model is called the No4 Mk1* (note the * which means changed)

I'd agree that a Savage No4 Mk1 (serial no 13CXXXX or below) is probably more valuable / collectable than a standard Lithgow (but some years Lithgow only made a few 100 rfles to keep the machinery going) so before deciding which to keep you need to investigate in a bit more depth.

If your Savage is marked
No4 Mk1/2, or No4 Mk 1/3 then its even more desirable