L42 Replica

Anyone from the Lee Enfield section will be aware that I am creating a replica L42 from a 7.62 No4. To date I have mostly been asking questions and buying bits and pieces. Still a little way to go.
Excuse the really bad picture but here it is as it stands tonight. I have mounted a Weaver K2.5 on a really bad 'Field' brand mount which has allowed me to put the top wood back on, both of which make a huge difference to the 'look'.

What's left to do:

• Choose and obtain mounting pads
• install pads, mount and scope
• Obtain and install a replica cheek piece.
• Figure out how to make the front sight more more 'issue' without actually butchering anything.
• enjoy it !

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...4_weaver-1.jpg

This will enable me to then do the same to my No4 mk1* in 303. I prefer scopes to iron sights so if I am going to do that, I figure I should do it as accurately as possible. The No4 303 is a non matching bitsa so I won't be butchering a collectible. The 7.62 no4 has already felt Bubba's cold touch so I am not perfroming anything worthy of a beating there either. The Field mount is really not a fantastic bit of equipment but it does the job.

I like the look of it so far, I think I'll be putting something like that together for myself later this year from scraps I have sitting around. I like the old full bore rifles (No1 and No4) as somewhere to start as they're often cheap and good shooters, either off the bat or with a work over. Will you go to a conventional No4 butt with a cheekpiece or go with the one on it?

Nice rifle anyway, how's it shoot??

Thanks tbone. I will get a replica cheekpiece one day but the price of a small bit of carved wood puts me off for the moment. The sporter wood is comfy and does the job until then.
It shoots well, very well until it warms up and strings a little. Once I get all the stuff I need together and done I will work out why !

Today 1 set of pads arrived. I only got one to try them out. If they are rubbish I don't want to be stuck with two. If they are good then I will get another set.
What I did forget was the screws. I need some 4BA screws.. anyone know where I can get them that's in Aus or will send here?
Some pics of them.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...01/pads1-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...01/pads2-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...01/pads3-1.jpg

Jeff,
Brain Dick has the screws, $15 US for the set of five.
Myles

Excellent, thanks Myles

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xa-coupe

Thanks tbone. I will get a replica cheekpiece one day but the price of a small bit of carved wood puts me off for the moment. The sporter wood is comfy and does the job until then.
It shoots well, very well until it warms up and strings a little. Once I get all the stuff I need together and done I will work out why !

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DS solutions in the UK did the cheekpiece and were around £20 or less for walnut or beech, but I tried the website and cant access it, also tried the number I had and is not in use, so dont know whats happened to them. (will get back to you on that one)

If you want to knock one up yourself can give you a few dimensions if you want, these are taken of a repro one, and one which I dont know the origins of, am sure there will be a drawing out there somewhere.

Just glad your using a bubba as a starting block, makes me cringe when I see a nice original No4 being hacked up when there are thousands of sporterized Enfields out there to work on.

There is a collector in Canada that has start reproducing the cheek rest in walnut. PM Grant580 he can put you in contact if you still need one.

I have seen one mounted and it definately looked the part...

Thanks Duke and zero. The other no4 in 303 I have isn't bubba-ized as such but it is a bitsa. I will be trying the 7.62 no4 first though because of the bubba influence. It already has holes so it I have to do some repairs it won't be a huge loss.
I am going to wait a while before worrying about cheek rests. Definitely will to do it but I will be getting all the other necessary items first and will finish it off with cheek rests later.

would be interested to see how you go on this project as im thinking seriously of doing the same to a 7.62 savage that i own. I am lucky with the cheek peice part but will need to check out the sight situation.

I now have the 4BA taps I need so all I have left is a drill press and the knowledge on how to drill a hole perfectly square. I do believe I have a winter project though.

I now have to think about doing everything and have read Peter Laidler's articles numerous times.
The one thing I am not sure about is how to drill holes exactly square. The only thing I can think of is to use a square and prop the action up with something. Has anyone made a jig to hold their action or anything I can plagiarize ?

Set the body up square to the backsight axis pin hole and then drill. That way you can be sure that the drill is square in both planes

I made an action body fixture that works well. For checking/adjusting squareness, just use a gage pin run through the rear sight pin holes and tram in. Bore axis isn't as critical for poking holes, but it can be established using centers in the muzzle and in the false bolt insert.


https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...stuff066-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...stuff067-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...stuff068-1.jpg
The "false bolt" is made to be a hand press fit- maybe 0.001" over the dia. measured in the action- don't use the bolt diameter(s).
So far it's been OK on several rifles, but, if needed, another custom fit rod will be made. Depends on the job at hand.

Thanks guys.

I finally bit the bullet and modifed the rear sight to be able to put the scope on as well. Of course, I forgot you now have to take the scope off to take the bolt in and out.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...earsight-1.jpg

I am starting to lean towards getting someone else to do the mounting.... I don't want to ruin the whole thing and be the Ultimate Bubba.

If you look closely you will see that the battle sight filing isnt too flat... my eyesight is a little dodgey these days hence not wanting to ruin a servicable rifle but stuffing something up because I can't see properly.
Good thing I can use a scope just fine !

You should be able to modify the underside of the rear sight to allow removal of the bolt with the scope on/sight folded down. This is detailed in Peter Laidlers book on the No4T. If you havn't got it, you can order a copy from BDL Ltd in the USA. Looks like a really easy mod.

Thanks TBone ... I have got the book but might invest in an illuminated lamp first. This getting longsighted blows and sucks.

Here is my project of bringing an old range rifle back to some sort of military config and gaining a useful sporting rifle still inside my collecting theme.

She is a 1943 dated Savage Mk 1* fitted with a heavy Sportco target barrel. The mount and pads came from ebay, as did the 3 power Weaver scope. The 'scope number' on the butt is the date the job came together.

Still some small things to sort, but as of now is has Savage, Long Branch, Sportco, BSA and Lithgow parts from my 'bits box' but certainly looks the part.

I'm really after a 7.62 mag of my own as the one currently fitted is loaned from a mate and will have to go back soon, and leads in Australia would be great.

The next phase will be a poor Mk II No 32 scope I was given when I displayed this at my collector's meeting. I'm thinking it could be rebuilt as a Mk 2/1 and not be a huge loss as it was recovered from a city dump and at the moment is not pretty.

thats looking nice Gav. Mine hasn't moved at all due to a slight unemployment issue but I still have everything. I really should do something about it ....

Well if you feel the need to move on your magazine, let me know.

you can have the magazine, as long as you buy the whole rifle :)

So let's fast forward a couple of years .. and a bit.

I was chatting with TBonesmith and decided it was time to take a cr** or get off the pot. So I sent the barrelled action, mounts and scope to TBone and let him loose.

I got it back today ( 9 days to get from sydney to melb which is a 10 HOUR drive ) and started to put it back together.

What I am missing is a couple of butt plate screws ( dumbass here lost them ) and a cheek piece. The screws I may have .. have to go through the archives and I guess I will have to suck it up and buy the cheek piece.

Overall I am ecstatic at the overall look at the job Tom did. I have used the rifle before so I know it is a shooter. Whilst I was waiting I have run up a lot of reloads to try different weights and types of powders to go for the best combination possible. Plan is to head to the range next Friday !!

Anyway, a pic of the L42 look alike as it is right now. Excuse the blurry pic, taken with my phone.

Attachment 53694

Here's a look at the mounting pads, scope etc

If I am permitted to say so XA, I appreciate that it's a replica and it is what it is but you could make it a BETTER replica at little/virtually little cost. Get rid of the fabricated trigger guard, quickly modify the front sling loop to Military spec, get rid of the obsolete cocking piece which was a class A modification, to name but three cheap, quick odds and sods. The big stuff like the scope can come later of course

I was meaning to ask about the fabricated guard but forgot ... will a regular guard do the job or is there sometime specific I should be looking at ?
The swivel was a spare, what should I do to it and lastly... correct cocking piece? I am all good for small details. I've taken steps to make sure it'll never be mistaken for the real thing so I don't mind doing little stuff.

cocking piece solved.. I have a spare No4 bolt that should have the correct cocking piece so once I figure out how to, I will swap them over.
Looks like i have to modify the front swivel ( in front of the mag ?? ) to be a little shorter ....

Seems I can answer my own questions if I look long enough

I maintain that the trigger guard SHOULD have a swivel stop loop on it simply because it prevents the niggling situation where the sling will twist on the sling loop otherwise. I know......I know......, some pictures show the loop missing but it was never official policy or sanction to chop it off nor were spare parts ever issued without it.

I had a spare trigger guard that I put on last night .. now I have to wait for my bolt disassembly tool to arrive from the US to do the cocking piece. No hurry I suppose as it doesn't affect functionality.

I've also found my rear sight, though I want to do the mod to be able to remove the bolt with it in. Before I get a 'grinding ball' and do it in the drill press, is there another way to cut the grove that I haven't thought of ?

Edit: Of course there is.. the Dremel.

In record time the bolt tool made it here .. so I have been trying to swap the cocking pieces. For whatever reason, the 'new' cocking piece is a bit unhappy with the firing pin and won't allow the pin to screw all the way in. I think I will just swap firing pins as the current result is an unacceptable trigger. One long mushy pull with no idea where it'll go off.
After this is sorted, just the cheekpice and the middle sling to be done.

It might be that you're trying to put a No1 cocking piece on a No4 striker. As for the mushy trigger pull. Simple - it's all described in an earlier thread!

Age is rapidly catching up on me and I´ll be having to use a scope soon too. It´ll be on my Charnwood Conversion No. 5 with a No 4 action and a .308 barrel. So would the standard pads fit? And would any other unforeseen probs arise?

Quite a few are used in that loose configuration in the UK Villiers in both 7.62mm and .303. The .303 calibrations don't equate to the trajectory of the bullet but the 7.62mm L1A1 scope calibrations are remarkably close.

Is there a template for the pads? Or would I have to send it to the UK to have them fit?

Thanks Peter. It is a No4 bolt that I pillaged it off as it was one I used in this very rifle until I found my 'lost ' original bolt. It just doesn't seem to be screwing in far enough. I guess the other possibility is that it IS a no1 cocking piece and firing pin that was put in the other No4 bolt. I will play with it today.
The trigger was fine until I played with the cocking piece. I think ( hope ) that when the cocking piece is resolved the trigger pull will go back to the way it was. If it doesn't, I will dig out the other thread.

---------- Post added at 09:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 AM ----------

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Originally Posted by villiers

Is there a template for the pads? Or would I have to send it to the UK to have them fit?

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There is a great series of articles written on this by Peter. I chickened out on doing the pads myself and got TBone to do mine ( and he did a great job BTW ! ) but if you have the tools and skills then you should be able to do it yourself. Otherwise a competent gunsmith can do it correctly by following Peter's instructions.

Here's part1 : Milsurps Knowledge Library - Making Up a Useable No.4 Sniper - Part 1 (by Peter Laidler)

Changed the firing pun to the one that came with the cocking piece and it is all good again. The firing pin is slightly bent at the screwed end so although it appears to function fine, I think I will take the spare bolt with me in case.
Good thing is the regular Enfield 2 stage trigger is back.

Bent striker is a cause for concern. We used to roll then on two blocks to test for straightness. They only ever bend at the last 2" or so where donkeys drop the rifle on the cocking piece or allow it to roll around on the floor of a Bedford! You can straighten them, they're not particularly tough, by putting the back end in a lathe with a DTI. But don't accept a bent striker and brings with it all sorts of problems. It's spoiling the ship for a hap'orth of tar. Just my opinion

I have a gun show coming up soon, I will find myself a new firing pin there. I don't want to try to straighten this one and muff it up. BTW, your 'opinion' is pretty well an 'order' :) I'd be stupid to ignore it.

Range report to follow soonish too !