[rob love]

That stock number (1005-21-103-1203)is for a Cno7 (.22 cal) with a short butt, the EIS 3023 is the checklist for the .22 cal rifle Cno7, and the serial number 1L-8689 would indicate a 1946 produced Cno7 (although there also would have been a 1941 produced no4 mk1 with this serial number as well, it would not have had the checklist schedule 3023 as part of it, nor that particular NSN attached to it)
I have the Equipment Issue scale 3023 (dated Dec 54), in front of me now, which came with my "in the grease" Cno7, and it is strictly for the Cno7 with any one of it's 4 different length butts.
The stencilling on that crate is not origional either. The crates were made in the 1944-46 period, and possibly again in 49-50. NSNs were not adopted until the mid to late 50s. The vast majority of the chests I have seen were repainted the glossy olive green and restencilled at about the same time. If you check the inside of the crate you will notice a paler green color.
I have seen some crates still in their origional markings, but the NSNs were not being used at the time these crates were built. Usually, with the right light, one can discern the origional markings underneath the new layer of paint.
The DND has not sold off it's spare Cno7s for decades but there was a large release of these chests for them in the last 10 years or so. (Any weapons and major parts now have to go to the smelter, any small parts are suposed to be mutilated beyond use)
In todays market, you would be lucky to buy a well used but unsporterised LongBranch Cno4 mk1 for anything less than the price you mention. I paid $450 last year for an unfired No4mk1* (1950 dated) and consider that the bottom end of the price scale for such a rifle. The "Irish Contract" no4mk2s still in the mummy wrap are selling for about $600 in Canada these days, and in my books, an unnissued LongBranch is a far more desirable rifle.
As I said in my earlier post, If someone was trying to sell me a No4 in the grease in its "origional transit" case, I would view that with some suspicion. The only transit cases listed in the Canadian parts manuals ( i have the CFTOs for 1959 and 1990)are for the sniper rifles (4Ts) and the Cno7s.
I have one of the Lithgow made transit chests for the no1mk3 rifles (probobly holds about 20 but I have never filled it) out in the shed, and it is about the size of a small coffee table, and would look silly with only 1 rifle in it.
If anyone has information that standard no4mk1s were issued in individual transit chests in Candian service I would like to hear of it. Quite frankly, the chests take up so much room for individual rifles, I would think you would need a lot more storeage space to hold all the rifles. This is the reason you will find these chests in the garbage cans at armouries; they are a pain in the ass to store and by themselves do not meet the storage requirements for DND weapons, where weapons racks must be made of metal, not wood.