First Post - Lee Enfield wannabe collector

Just want to say hello to the hive and that this is a great forum, resource and community here. Not entirely new to these forums, but have never posted. I admit to having used milsurps in general as a tool for vetting collectible items of interest in the past. My short internet-attention span not withstanding.

Eventually I hope to read & re-read all the great research here in the process of educating, re-educating myself per the Lee Enfield.

This is just a general intro and brief statement of "where I'm at".

Own 3 SML Enfields.

1950 #4 Mk2 (F) - Good shooter.

1917 #1 Mk3* "Lithgow" Jovino parts gun - not so much.

1967 Ishy 2A1 - Good with handloads.

My goal is to improve my SMLE collection/knowledge and hopefully even dump a couple of the earlier acquisitions in the process. Never have been one to collect anything that is not a shooter.

Would like to have a couple of "real" Enfields, 1940s Longbranch, Savage etc, and maybe even a target model at some point. Have always loved this rifle family and the .303 round. Trying to revive my earlier interest that drifted elsewhere over the years.

Regards, STG-98

Hi STG-98 and welcome to the world of posting, it sounds like you're on track pretty well. Jovino smle's should shoot OK, 2-3 moa, is there something not sitting right perhaps?

RJW,

Well, I am not sure that the Jovino rifle could not be accurized, stock to barrel tweaks could be all that is needed.

The rifle came with what I discovered later is a "dark military bore". Does not look like rust, but more like blackened and rough lands. Kicks pretty good too. Some one recommended 'slugging' the bore, but I have not got myself motivated to do that over the dozen+ years I have owned it.

It is a nice looking rifle, refinished top to bottom, rather dark wood and painted metal. My preference back in those days tending to the outward appearances rather than the inner worth of a thing. If I had it to do over, I would go back and pick up the more externally rough but genuine items.

But I may be judging too harshly. The rifle shoots probably 3 moa, need to shoot it again to be sure. Its just that the No 4 I have probably shoots 2" groups at 100 yards all day. So in comparison this one doesn't seem all that special.

Thank you

3 MOA is acceptable, if not exciting.

Sounds like you are off to a fairly good start. Just decide what aspect you wish to concentrate on, shooting or collecting!

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Originally Posted by STG-98

The rifle came with what I discovered later is a "dark military bore". Does not look like rust, but more like blackened and rough lands.

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This is a secret recipe!
Clean - shoot - clean - shoot - clean - shoot ...

... improves a lot of bores that are simply suffering from nothing more that decades of inadequate care.

Of course, you will find masses of info and recommendations on cleaning methods and cleaners. Some swear by Brand X, some by Brand Y. I use alternating sessions with an ammoniac bore cleaner on a swab and a fine cleaner/polish that looks remarkably like toothpaste (I have not actually tasted it). Whatever method you choose, the vital igredient is patience and persistence. Be prepared to use 100-200 swabs to really get the fossilized crud out. Over several weekends, naturally. Clean - shoot -clean - shoot ...

Patrick
:wave:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmoore

3 MOA is acceptable, if not exciting.

Sounds like you are off to a fairly good start. Just decide what aspect you wish to concentrate on, shooting or collecting!

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That is a tough decision. How can you not shoot a good SMLE ? But I would like to concentrate on having a few bona-fide battle rifles, as in, they been in some battles.

Not so much not shoot, but not worrying if a particular rifle doesn't group like you think it ought. If you want to concentrate on historically accurate rifles it's hard to mesh the two. Best thing is to have a few select range rifles on which you can tinker, and let the others remain "correct". Quite frankly, my favorite rifle is an M1A, it gets shot a lot!

JM,

You have summed it up very well. I want to ideally have a few lightly used SMLEs to shoot for accuracy, and the 'experience'.

And I would like to have a few real-deal been there-in-the-day rifles, but not to use/abuse.

If the two intersect occasionally, wonderful.

No M1A here, but keep running into these guys who have them and run up huge visa & mastercard debts feeding them with 7.62 :D

Regards,

303 is more expensive than 7.62.....

That's why the M1A. Ammo costs more than the rifle pretty quickly! I used to shoot M1 Garands, mostly, because the ammo was cheap. 7.62x51 is pretty inexpensive, non-corrisive, consistant, and even Federal match ammo is is to be had for ~US$1 a round, if I don't feel like reloading. Also easier to replace than .303SAA.

The last 1950s Radway Green .303SAA I shot was wretched! Hang fires and multiple splits in the case necks. Blah!
The 1950 GB was a little better, but still a bit hangfire-y. Oddly, all the 1950s 7.62x54r from the 'fifties fired that day was fine...

I was just kidding about the M1A shooters, but they do consistently complain about 7.62 costs, and go through it like mad practicing for those matches.

.303 more expensive than 7.62. ? Yeah, Guess it's been a while since I bought .303 Mid nineties was last I purchased any in the box. I used to reload it and still have about 100 rounds of my old reloads and a few more hundred good brass. Time to bust out the press again.

7.62 has gone up quite a bit in the last couple years. Did not know .303 had as well.

Good MkVII .303 is getting kind of scarce. New Prvi Partizan MkVIIIz ammo isn't horribly expensive, but not all Enfields like it, accuracy wise. Greek .303 was good, but it's about dried up. South African MkVIII ammo was good too, but Berdan primed. Also hard to find any more.

My last .303 ammo purchase was some wretched 1950s British surplus (as noted above). Before that was a case of Prvi.

It would be super if some bullet mfg. would go to the trouble of producing some real MkVII type projectiles.