I found my first rifle!

When I was 16, I saved enough money to buy my first deer rifle. It was a sporterized No 4 Mk 1 Enfield by Golden State Arms called a Santa Fe Special. It was an awesome shooter. When my eyes were good, I could keep it inside 2" at 100 yards all day. I shot my first deer with it in the Sam Houstn NF.
When I left for bootcamp, my parent's house was broken into and all the guns were stolen.
I went to a pawn shop yesterday to look at some guns and I saw one that looked just like it. I asked to look at it, and holy mackerel, it was the very rifle. I know because scratched my initials in it 35 years ago. I have bought several guns in the past from this guy so I kinda know him. I told him the story and he asked if my folks gave the police the serial number. I said probably not, I don't think that we recorded them before they were stolen.
He told me that he only gave the guy $50 for it so he sold it to me for that. I thought that was very nice and I took him up on it.
Whoever had it in the past took very good care of it. The barrel is still bright with good rifling and the action is still tight and smooth. I can't wait to get it to the range tomorrow after work!

Best gun story ever! That's awseome right there

That's cool right there. Glad you got it back.

Beautiful old rifle and even better story.

That's cool! Do you plan to hunt with it again?

That's awesome!

what a cool story congrats

go buy a lottery ticket

glad you got it back

Fantastic

Excellent story.

Ive always been curious.

What happens if you find your stolen property in a pawn shop, and you have filed all the appropriate paperwork with the police at the time of the robery? Do they have to turn it over to the police, and the police return it to you?

some things do come full circle

That is awesome. Right place at the right time for sure

Great news! Credit goes to the store owner for passing it along at cost.

Great story. Will be even better if you take it out this season and add another buck to it's toll.

Yes.

Absolutely! Gonna try for a pig next week!

wow thats awesome.

Some stuff you just can't make up. Great story

Congrats on being reunited.

I'm hoping some people who own/work for pawn shops clear this issue up because I have heard differently.

WOW!
Congratulations!!!

It has to go to a property hearing where you will prove your case. The pawn shop will send a representative from their shop in the event you don't show up or you dont have reasonable proof.
The issue comes when you file the report AFTER you notice your items in the shop. This happens a lot. You get stuff stolen and don't itemize the small stuff or think it'd not be worth the time to hassle with the police. Then whole browsing the local hock shop, you see your items for sale. Technically you can still file the report and tell the investigator it's location. But proving the item was yours becomes your burden of proof.

That's great. Congratulations.

Awesome story.

Yup. Bet I never see or hear that again.

Found an old ad on the net. It was from American Rifleman in 1960.

True. But I could probably make this one up pretty easily.

Who cares I would pay 10 times the value of the rifle my father gave me when I was 12 to have it in my hands. (I have it and would defend it to my death) I am glad you are reunited.

Wish I could find some I sold or traded.

That it awesome! So glad it found it's way home. Congrat's!

That's unreal. Awesome.

Great story and outcome.

Crazy!

Would make a huge difference to someone if they didn't have the money to buy it back.

One of the best gun stories I have ever heard. Congratulations! Also, I am a big fan of the Enfield rifles and the .303 cal. Have fun at the range.

Well, the mighty .303 British barked and down went a vicious wild boar!

The story goes full circle, Congratulations!

When you start the poll I'm going with #23.

Great story

Very cool.

Great story buddy, Thanks for sharing with us!!!!

That is awesome !!!

Just now reading this

Great story!

Thanks for sharing

Hehe.... great story! Glad you got it back.

That is too cool! If only it could tell you where it has been the past 35yrs.

Good read.

Made my day, what a story. Glad you got it back.

Wow, that's a great story. I'm glad wherever it was all those years it was taken care of.

Thanks guys. I'm happy to get it back so I can pass it down.

Great story! glad you got it back.

That is an awesome story

Palehorse, I'm a real late comer to this read but it is the best lost gun story I have encountered! I ran a search on the forum to see if there was any other 303 British guys in the closet and your name came up!

I'm a bit of a SMLE nut too and have one of the oddest rifles you will encounter. It was a No. 5 that was used as a gunsmith school project gun back in the 60's when the Rem 600 was kind of popular. It has a functional rib, a steel rib, that was used a truss to cure the short barrel accuracies encountered with the No. 5s. I bought it because I'm a 600 guy and felt sorry for it and worried that it would end up in the metal recycling bin. I added to its "character" by making it a scout rifle like my 600 is configured. With the 215-grain Woodleighs it is absolutely deadly out to 300 yards. If I can get drawn for a nilgai hunt down south, I will use it. Like I said, kind of odd and not what you expect for a SMLE.



Here is my buddy shooting it on my range. This is a rifle that you can shoot offhand at any of the berms on my range and it will hit what you are shooting at.



So this long range punkin chunker gets me interested in the SMLE. I'm picking up money from my FFL for a couple of consignment rifles and there is a No. 4 MkI sitting there that another guy had just left off. What the heck. Ends up being even more accurate at slinging that 215-grain Woodleigh down range than my first. In fact, it is shooting as good if not better than my two Savage Scouts that I think the world of. The clock works in my head start ticking and I decide I'm going to turn this No 4 into a rifle that looks like the modern scout but is actually a better than what is being turned out in today's market. Anybody that has shot these one of these things know the features I'm talking about. Figure this old soldier would really mess with some of the guys that are really into the modern scouts. So off it goes to a gunsmith in NE to turn into a new rifle that looks like this one.



I've made a couple of changes. I'm keeping the LE peep that is a two size flip peep because it is like the ghost rings on my rifle. I'm also having the barrel cut to 20" with a ramped front sight regulated to the peep. I was considering threading the barrel but I doubt that I would ever run a suppressor on the rifle so right now it is going with a recessed target crown.

When it rains it pours and me thinking about using that heavy bullet on a nilgai. Along comes a Gibbs Summit which was a remanufactured SMLE that Gibbs rebuilt to a like new condition and rebarrel/rechambered it to 45-70 Govt.





As soon as I get the scout back, this is heading to NE to have a custom scout base put on it along with the Weaver K4 Classic Scout and this SMLE will take the pumpkin chunking to a new level!

Again, it is really nice to hear of your actual good ending to bad deal!

Outstanding!

Glad you got it back. Doesn't happen very often .

But those are my initials

Thanks guys. My youngest son who has now grown into a fine young adult, fell in love with the rifle, so I gave it to him. I asked him to pass it down to his child when the time comes and never sell it.

Ranch Dog, I really like that scout version of yours. A few years ago, I bought an Ishapore Enfield in .308 to use as a scout rifle project. Fortunately, I procrastinated and the collector's value went way up. My uncle collects Enfields, in fact, he is the one that encouraged me to buy my first one that's in this story. I am going to give him the Ishapore this Christmas.

Good story.