selection of a n°4 to create a n°4 "sniper"

We do still have a lot of Enfields and other small arms still stashed here.
Some never used Savages in new condition were about a little while age, got to play with one.
I know a full box of others not sure of make were found very recently not very far from me.
I know of others still hidden.
A friend found a Beretta pistol in his barn wall 2 weeks ago.
He was told he could keep it.

With the fire arms laws changing and the 303, 8mm Mauser etc with other rounds and arms being moved to a lesser category, with less restrictions, more of the arms will start to appear.
The changes will come into effect in just under 2yrs, if not sooner.

Still, do value what you have. All the Lee-Enfields in this country have been sportered, modified, Bubba'd or reworked one way or another. I own exactly TWO Number 4 Rifles which have not undergone this; ONE is unfired, original and has no serial number..... and the other looks as if a Tank used it for parking practice!

A good friend of mine, a serious ornithologist, was once in a house up on the Great Northern peninsula of Newfoundland, talking with the homeowner about the local birds. The local grabbed a shotgun, ran outside and shot down a bird which was flying overhead, brought it inside and started to pluck it in order to cook it. The bird was "nothing unusual", my friend was told, "they's lots of them".

Yes, there were lots of those birds THERE. But they were the LAST breeding stock of that type of bird in the WORLD. Anywhere else, they are extremely rare and are extinct in more than 90% of their former range.

And that appears to be what you have in France: the last stock of unmolested Number 4 Rifles.

Too bad they don't breed.......
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If I were to build up a rifle for this type of shooting, I think I would start with a Bubba Number 4 with a good barrel. It has been long enough now that we UNDERSTAND how and why it works the way it does. Our modern MATERIALS for accurising are just as good as the old ones and they are a LOT faster and easier to use. You get the rifle and you restore it; as you do this you will learn a LOT about the rifle itself. You get it shooting accurately and then you build your "sniper". You have a rifle which is just as good (or better), you have done the work yourself and you KNOW that you have not harmed one of the last remaining unchanged rifles.

You mention that you have given up shooting Cordite ammunition. Great move! Those primers were awful! I am shooting my Lee-Enfields with home-made ammunition using a Sierra 180-grain Pro-Hunter bullet at 2250 ft/sec muzzle velocity, which I find to be extremely accurate. Seating is to the over-all length of a Ball cartridge. It works VERY well and it is only marginally slower than Service velocity.

Good luck!
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I did a mistake by using the term mint to define my LE. I've seen on this website what "mint" means Lawrance Ordnance - Fazakerly No.4 Mk.II .303 Rifle
And my LE is obviously not in that state.
:wave:

No, but it should be as it was when in France during 1944! You have reasonable expectations that your arms actually were issued to front line troops. As opposed to just being used for basic training, parade use or never got issued at all. It's a miniature "time capsule".

I hope the container loads of rifles still new and stashed in barns are in better condition than the No1 rifle weve got here, found by a researcher trawling through a barn on the stop-line 8 miles from Dunkirk a few months ago. Just about identifiable as a No1 - but more remarkable is the fact that it is a Mk1! Less the sliding charger bolt and magazine that were probably ditched during the retreat. I'll post some photos if anyones really interested

I'd like to see it.


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That No.4Mk.2 at Lawrence Ordnance looks strangely familiar!

Here are pictures taken on a French forum.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...nfield1a-1.jpg
Shot at 2012-05-10
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...nfield1b-1.jpg
Shot at 2012-05-10
These pictures were taken in France. Not bad? ins't it?
I can also open an other post.

DPL,
The area around Dunkirk was not that far behind the front line in the First World War & these rear areas were crammed full of billets, training areas etc etc. Is it possible the rifle could be a left over from 25 years earlier? Just a thought....

Lou,
My mouth is watering! Any T's in there?!?

ATB

Quote:

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My mouth is watering! Any T's in there?!?

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I don't know, it seems not.