End of a (Lee Enfield) era in Canada

[Roger Payne]

So it's a combination of lack of skills to fit parts as much as sourcing them..........

And solving the sourcing problem would then highlight the skill dilution of the current armourers. So maybe we shouldn't try too hard.

[stencollector]

A decade or so back, when I was still in the service, some of the GATES (German Army Training Establishment Shilo) came to visit our unit on a tour, and a few of them noticed the Enfields sitting on the weapons shop workbenches. One asked "Are you guys still using those?" The Weapons Sgt had to explain they were preparing for a Sov-op ex in the North, and that the rifles were for the Rangers.

The DND has had to source rifles in the last decades because the supply of LB rifles was almost exhausted. There was a purchase of no4mk2 rifles in the late 90s, followed by a larger purchase of surplus India rifles in the early 2000s. I met a couple guys from the Edmonton Ranger support unit. They described that as rifles were brought back, they would strip them of any useable parts, and the barreled receivers were turned back into the system for disposal. While there are units that really look after their rifles, there are areas where the arctic tundra wins out.

Labour is also in short supply in the DND these days, so perhaps that is another reason to replace them besides the dwindling stocks of spare parts.

I had a scrap of paper on this desk somewhere that had the quantities of rifles that still were in stock....I'm sure I posted it before.

[Surpmil]

The article is the usual mish-mash produced by firearms-illiterate journos.

In particular, Fernberg says, key parts of the rotating bolt that opened the bullet chamber on the Ross gun — chosen by Canada’s military for both nationalistic and supply reasons — were apt to seize up in dirty, wet conditions.

That old "Ross gun" again!

They can't find enough parts? That means when they put out their offers to purchase on some obscure website, no one shows up with a couple of containers of No4 parts. Surprise!

If the silly sods would spend a few weeks overseas or even south of the 49th, they could find enough parts and rifles to last just about forever.

[Colonel Enfield]

The article is the usual mish-mash produced by firearms-illiterate journos.

I know people like to give journalists a lot of stick for not knowing anything about guns, but the reality is most journalists aren't shooters (or racing car drivers, or experts on corporate acquisitions, or knowledgeable about pigeon breeding, or... you get the idea ) They basically have to go on what their sources tell them or they can glean from a quick internet search. If someone says "That's a .45 magnum revolver automatic" 9 out of 10 journalists are going to say "OK, if you say so" because they don't know that they don't know that's not even close to being correct. And you don't notice the one who says "That's not right, it's a .44 magnum revolver/ a .45 automatic" because, as a shooter, you know those are real gun types and kept reading without giving it a second thought.

If the silly sods would spend a few weeks overseas or even south of the 49th, they could find enough parts and rifles to last just about forever.

Lee-Enfield parts certainly rarely seem to be in short supply at the gun shows I've been to in Australia, and given Canada is a first-world country with an established arms industry, a manufacturing base and (one presumes) more than a few tool & die makers, I find it highly improbable there's any part for a No. 4 that couldn't be made in Canada or legally sourced on the open market from overseas without breaking the defence budget.

[KiwiLee]

There is still plenty of lee enfield's an parts floating around in blokes sheds in NZ