My first old gun

[RobMoore]

Here is what I found while shopping at a small gun store today on the taxpayer's dime.

Round one of cleaning has ended. Tomorrow I'll do the wood, finish up any of the metal I missed (like the surface rust on the bolt face), lube it, reassemble it, and test fire it.

 

[coinboy]

Nice buy.

 

[tttongli]

how much did you pay?

 

[novus collectus]

Sweet!

 

[Old Salty Dog]

Totally stupid noob question: What is it?

 

[Russ D]

Totally stupid noob question: What is it?

Thanks for asking so I didn't have to look like a noob.

 

[Bigdtc]

Enfield

 

[alucard0822]

Good choice, the #4mkII is probably the best military bolt action ever fielded. It holds 10 rounds that can be fired very quickly, and 303 has mild recoil, with almost the ballistics of 308. The battle sight shoots about a foot high at 100 yards, but the long range ladder sight can be set so that it is dead on, and adjusted for elevation at most any useful range. For ammo, if you can find British, or south African surplus, it s good stuff, Indian, is decent, and Pakistani POF is absolute garbage. decent commercial loads are relatively plentiful, and it takes to reloading fairly well. If you can find some good stripper clips, you can blast through ammo at an alarming rate, slam in a pair of 5rd clips, light them off as fast as you can, then load it up again, the bolt only needs to turn about 45 degrees, and cocks on closing, so it is really fast if you get a good rythem going, and you can almost keep up with a Garand for aimed rate of fire.

 

[BlackBart]

Damn, wonder how long it was in storage? Wood looks perfect, think it was ever fired? I'm not an Enfield fan (cept for the 1917 American one) but that one is in fact interesting.

 

[Qbeam]

Rob,

Where did you clean it at? Looks like an industrial site by all the stainless steel countertops and air/water hose?

Q

 

[j8064]

Real Nice!
If it's anywhere near as accurate as the unissued one I picked up 15+ years ago...your gonna love it!

 

[joppaj]

The various Enfields are my favorite C&R rifles. Alucard sums up why better than I could, but I have to ask, Did they have any more?

 

[Falkus]

Pretty Nice, I wouldnt have opened it

I would have left it in the bag ..and pass it down to my grandson ( Not that i am having one yet at the age of 34 )

 

[RobMoore]

Answers

I paid $400 at a small local gunshop.
Its a 1955 Lee Enfield No 4 MkII
The "industrial" looking room is the cleaning room of the indoor range where I work. Rubber floors, stainless steel everything, solvent tanks under each of those covers, compressed air, tools and an infinate supply of rags (seriously, we have too many).

I bought it to shoot, not for collector piece. I wanted a very good condition one because I want it as accurate as possible. Can't get much better condition than unused.

I'll snap a few more pics tomorrow of it assembled after I finish cleaning it and shoot it (hoping the rifle range is free....nothing scheduled). Any place near Laurel that sells .303 apart from Bass "we price gouge with the best of em" Pro?

 

[j8064]

Answers

I paid $400 at a small local gunshop.
Its a 1955 Lee Enfield No 4 MkII
The "industrial" looking room is the cleaning room of the indoor range where I work. Rubber floors, stainless steel everything, solvent tanks under each of those covers, compressed air, tools and an infinate supply of rags (seriously, we have too many).

I bought it to shoot, not for collector piece. I wanted a very good condition one because I want it as accurate as possible. Can't get much better condition than unused.

I'll snap a few more pics tomorrow of it assembled after I finish cleaning it and shoot it (hoping the rifle range is free....nothing scheduled). Any place near Laurel that sells .303 apart from Bass "we price gouge with the best of em" Pro?

Man, thought that looked like an autopsy room so I didn't ask.

So far it looks exactly like the one I cleaned up years ago to shoot - mummy wrap and all.
Accurate? - Target pic of mine below @ 75 yds. It's better than I am. You're going to be impressed with yours.
Price today?...they've gone up - a lot, but nice find. Congrats and let us know how it shoots!

 

[RobMoore]

Nice target.

I was thinking today about watching "Breaker Morant" a few years ago, and LOVING his "Rule 303" speech.....I think I'll have to add it to my DVD collection now.

 

[slayr15]

The various Enfields are my favorite C&R rifles. Alucard sums up why better than I could, but I have to ask, Did they have any more?

im selling my mine if intrested for 300.00 just got it afew months agao had it on the classifieds

 

[FrankOceanXray]

Good looking gun.

Great find, too. Never issued, in the paper... wow. Just think if that gun could talk.

Your location appeals to me, YGPM.

 

[beaglefan]

Really nice find!Enfields are sweet.soft recoil compared to others of the same time period.K98's tend to climb and 03's bruise.Not any high grade surplus ammo left out there that I know of.Pakistan stuff has a habit of going clik.click,boom!

 

[alucard0822]

Totally stupid noob question: What is it?

The last Lee-Enfield to be chambered in 303 british, and the latest improvement on the longest serving rifle in the world.

Like the German 1898 98K, and the Russian 1891 Mosin Nagant rifles, The Lee-Metford rifle was developed at the end of the 19th century (1888) as a magazine fed repeating rifle to replace the single shot Martini rifles then in use. It held 8 rounds in a detachable magazine, more than any other contemporary design, and used a push feed cock on closing bolt action mechanism (splits the effort of cocking and extracting). The bolt lugs were in the middle of the bolt, meaning the bolt only has to be drawn rearwards the same length as the cartridge itself making the action very short and compact. It was built in the town of Enfield, and was designed by James Paris Lee, the barrels were designed by Metford and used a shallow 7 groove rifling that was intended to deliver high velocity and great accuracy from the black powder loaded 303 ammo of the day, but poor quality control made most examples inaccurate past 400 yards. This was the Magazine Lee Metford MK I rifle.

The Lee-Metford was replaced by the Lee-enfield that used a deeper rifling that was optimized for the improved cordite smokeless loads then available. Added a capacity to load from stripper clips, 10rd staggered magazine, incorporated a drift adjustable front sight that was available to armorers in various heights(to sight in individual rifles), and improved the quality and was shortened to a size between the Lee-metford rifle and it's carbine version. This improved rifle was called the "Short magazine Lee Enfield MK I", it was the rifle itself that was shortened, not the magazine. This rifle incorporated several small improvements and several design revisions in only a couple years, and within a decade was reffered to as the SMLE MKIII (Short Mag Lee Enfield).

This rifle served with British troops during WWI , then after the war, more improvements were made, and the British redesignated it as a SMLE number 1 MK IV, then the mk V incrorporated an improves sight, and the MKVI with a heavier barrel, and redesigned to eliminate most hand fitting and make the rifle easier to mass produce. It uses swappable bolt heads numbered 1-4 to set proper head spacing (your rifle uses a #2). This No 1 MK VI was re-designated the No 4 MK I, and served throughout WWII, this was the last major design change, and the most succesful.

The No 4 Mk 2 improved upon the trigger by mounting both the trigger and sear to the steel reciever, where earlier designs had the sear mounted to the reciever, and the trigger mounted to the bottom metal, screwed into the stock, this improvement kept the trigger pull consistent with varying tempearatures and conditions as the stock expanded or contracted, they also used birch instead of the Walnut used in earlier models to save money on the stock. Some No 4 MK II rifles had their triggers retro-fitted with this improvement and are reffered to as the No4 MK 1/2

There is also a neat little No 5 jungle carbine, shorter than the No 4 MK 1/2, and with much shorter handguards, and a 7.62 nato conversion used after the adoption of the cartridge, this served as the basis for sniper rifles still in limited use.

The 303 cartridge is also one of the best, and longest serving cartridges ever made. It has served admirably in several wars, contributed to expanding and maintaining the British empire, and has probably been used by hunters to take more game than any other cartridge ever made. It is rimmed and dramatically tapered making it reliable and easy to feed and extract from a dirty chamber. Originally it was loaded with black powder, and was designed by Swiss army Major Edward Rubin, who also helped designed the scmidt-Rubin rifles and cartridges. In this load with a round nosed 215gr .311dia jacketed bullet it topped out at 1850FPS, very fast by black powder standards, and with the shallow Metford rifling fouling was very light. It was later loaded with cordite and the same jacketed bullet ant 2,000FPS, but this was hot enough to burn the barrel out quickly, neccesitating the move to deeper Enfield rifling. In an attempt to make the cartridge more formidable, the British arsenal in Dumdum India developed a soft point load that quickly expanded and stabilized the bullet to aid in deeper penetration, this load was both specifically banned by the Hague convention, and also coined the term "Dumdum round" meaning a modified full metal jacket bullet either loaded backwards, or with the tip cut off.

The next load used was a 174gr spitzer bullet loaded to a higher pressure (2440fps), and used a small peice of aluminum in the nose of the jacket ahead of the lead core to make it longer, with a better ballistic coeficient, and more apt to yaw when it hit a target. During WWI the cordite load was changed to American smokeless powder and it remained relatively unchanged for the rest of the 303's service life.

When handloaded the 303 is a powerful and versatile hunting round. The only problems are the small case shoulders tendancy to buckle when sizing, and the need for .311 diameter bullets. Most commercial and surplus loads are very light recoiling, and comfortable to shoot, even lighter than comprable 308 loads. When loads are carefully worked up, the rifle is capable of much more power than the original 174gr 2440 loads, and can push a 175gr bullet to 308 velocities of about 200fps. You can load a 123gr soft point to aboout 2,800fps for a good flat shooting deer load, or load up a heavy 180gr SP or 220gr RN for a deep penetrating big game load, both of which have been taking dangerous african game for more than a century.


When I found my enfield, I had no idea it had such a rich history, or what it was capable of, but now, it is my favorite mil-surp, and has proven to be a reliable and accurate rifle, with a lot of innovations that make it a bolt action without equal. That is most of the fun of collecting military firearms, each one represents a little part of history, and each has it's own unique features that makes it special.