Who is doing all the Enfield target shooting??

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Originally Posted by Seaspriter

So True Colonel. My father had 88 flintlocks in his collection when he died, and he did occasionally shoot a one. I still have a half dozen of the best ones. But I'd never shoot them -- after 200 years they are all questionable, even with a small charge. And, if you've ever shot a flintlock, you know how inaccurate most of them are -- even if rifled. I'll leave my 18th and 19th century weapons on the wall -- great history, but not for today's use. There are plenty of black powder repros that are made for modern shooting.

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Personally, I'm really surprised at the number of people online who appear to be restoring and firing Nepalese Cache muskets. Sure, the British-made arms were generally very well-made guns in their day, but their day was more than 200 years ago in some cases - and then they were literally left in a pile in a storeroom in Nepal and forgotten about until a couple of years ago. I can understand restoring them to blank firing condition for re-enactment - and I think if you were determined to make them go "BANG" again, that would be the way to do it -but putting a live charge in one of them seems a bit, well, bold to me. Doubly so for the Nepalese-made guns; I know they were fine in their day but 150 years of sitting in a Himalayan warehouse can't possibly have done anything beneficial to their condition.

In relation to our (comparatively) more modern interest though, I wonder if in 100 years someone will be making reproduction Lee-Enfields and Mausers for people to shoot? I'm surprised at some of the guns being reproduced (There's a market for a 1872 open-top frame cartridge conversion revolver, but not a Mauser C96 in 9mm or a Webley Mk IV in .38 Special?) so who knows? Perhaps in 2116 there will be people rejoicing at how they can shoot a "modern" Lee-Enfield in whatever the readily available cartridges are (or perhaps even as a laser rifle?).

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Originally Posted by Colonel Enfield

I wonder if in 100 years someone will be making reproduction Lee-Enfields

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I wouldn't be surprised. In my collection I have a reproduction of a 1874 Sharps and an 1866 Winchester -- all shootable. There are plenty of Colt .45 Revolvers being made today. And one of the most popular pistols is the 1911 Colt .45ACP. M1 Garrands and Carbines, now 70 years old, are being produced new today. When Lee Enfields get into the range of $1,000 USD, then a new Lee Enfield will be considered. Already there have been a number of conversions of No.4 rifles into No.5 carbines. Fake snipers are surfacing every day. If the price/demand is there, it will be done.

I wouldn't be opposed to modern reproduction Lee-Enfield rifles, (clearly marked of course) it might be a boon for the hobby by making shooter grade rifles more widely available. The following ammunition demand could ramp up a commercial Mark VII ball production to meet the need. Not that there is any lack of Lee-Enfield rifles in circulation now, just so many are sporters, drill and tapped, or homebuilt parts guns of dubious quality.

Never in my life did I think my $150 (cdn) matching No4 Mk1.* (sold with 300 rounds of Mark VII ball in bandoleers) would see a market surge to 4 or 5 times the purchase price in 15 years. A similar example of those rifles are quickly becoming outside the means of a casually interested shooter, especially in the wake of the Russian surplus Mosin-Nagants and SVT-40's that run from $100-300 and spit out surplus ball ammo at less than $0.30 a round. At the various ranges and gravel pits around I see new shooters trying the cheap surplus Russians on a tiny investment and really falling in love, an affordable L-E repro could target that group, or at least their next purchase.

I am sure many of you might shudder with the thought of cheap Lee Enfield rifles being banged out by shops like Rossi and Pietta, but if they did a better job than AIA's effort, the shooting community would probably respond favorably.

On the costlier side, there are some modern repro Springfield 1903 builds from James River which appear quite nice, although a bit expensive, but if a Lee Enfield No4 Mk1 T modern quality reproduction were offered at the $2000-2500 price point I would certainly purchase for range enjoyment.

I'd certainly be in favour of reproduction Lee-Enfields; I can see a large demand for SMLEs and Jungle Carbines in particular. A savvy manufacturer would probably also offer the SMLE in .308 (so technically it would be a 2A1), along with the Jungle Carbine.

I've noticed the challenge facing many Lee-Enfield shooters nowadays is that the barrels are increasingly worn/rusted out and replacing them is expensive - a new barrel is about AUD$500 and then you're looking at about another c.$200 to get it installed by a proper armourer. Add that to the $500+ you've already paid for the rifle and I can absolutely understand why so many potential service rifle shooters just say "Nope" and go and get a Swedish Mauser or a Mosin-Nagant instead.

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Originally Posted by Colonel Enfield

A savvy manufacturer would probably also offer the SMLE in .308 (so technically it would be a 2A1), along with the Jungle Carbine.

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Interesting idea. I bought my .308/NATO M1 Garand specifically because it had been converted to a National Match in .308 -- very available ammo world wide.

Someone who wanted to start a business could do what PTR did with the HK G-3s -- buy up a lot of good surplus parts and build rifles from them, machining some new parts when the New Old Stock parts gradually dried up.

One idea to get started would be to buy cheap Sporterized LEs with good receivers and butt stocks, and convert them into modern .308s.

If the WWI P-14s could be transformed into the Model 1917, this could happen to -- but alas I'm dreaming.

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Originally Posted by Seaspriter

If the WWI P-14s could be transformed into the Model 1917, this could happen to -- but alas I'm dreaming.

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The P14 and some M1917 were popular for conversions to 7.62mm/.308 target rifles in the UK, have a few actions etc that have not been messed with...... there are plenty of them still out there, with plenty of meat left in the barrel, just a simple process of turning the barrel down to original spec and sourcing the woodwork, not much interest for me at present but maybe one day........

getting 5Xs that are not worn out is quite hard. They get collected by collectors of sights FFS and then ppl like me want to shoot the guns. The three I have are worn out.