It has no history?!?!

You pretty much nailed it with, "Everything has history, even something that was just made" baltimoreed. The start of this thread and what it concerns comes from the viewpoint of the person who supports the concept that a rifle, specifically an Enfield rifle,  has no history if it never saw actual combat and killed a few people. To paraphrase, this person, "would rather own a rifle that is way past its prime and basically unusable than own a rifle that was stored away in a closet and never used in combat" because in his mind, " where is the history" of that rifle?

Just a thought. "History is made every day."

I understand why collectors covet original rifles that have not been modified or rebuilt at military arsenals or by private individuals. Those that are in the condition as they left the factory being the most valuable. I’d bet those unissued No. 4 rifles that came out of France will quickly rise in value.  

My feeling is that if a combat rifle has been used in action and inflicted a KIA or WIA, the soldier that pulled the trigger owns that rifles history forever... That being said, I respect other opinions on the matter. To each his own...

they all have history unless they were never made - it may be obscured by those that were its caretakers over the years and it may have a lot of transplant parts from other rifles [with history] that either were willing donors or not , done by professionals or novice butchers , who knows but we might actually say it has more history than most 

Recently, the focus of my collecting has been civilian target rifle versions of the various marks of Lee Enfield battle rifles.  Why?  The answer is simple:  these rifles are in near pristine condition as they avoided rough handling in service and were almost always 'babied' when handled.  No glorious tales of "over the top!" or "kill the Hun!" or "get that Boer b*****d!" possible with these rifles but if you want to see what a rifle looked like when it left the factory a century or more ago this is the way to do it.  Further, these rifles have a different aspect from service rifles such as stamps that won't be seen otherwise.  I have a near mint No.1 MkIII that was regulated by Fulton and Son of Bisley and sports a PH5A sight, a M.L.E. MkI* that was built in England by BSA, sold to a civilian target shooter in New Zealand, taken on strength by the New Zealand government, sold out of service, rebarreled by Lithgow, and then ends up in The U.S., and lastly a C.L.L.E. with the rare "Twin Zero" sight installed.  All are excellent shooters and in near mint condition.