Enfield in .223

[newcastle]

Brought this up previously, does anyone have an LE in .223? I found a place in the UK that would create a bolt head for me and I coudl deal with the magazine insert and feeding. The bit I couldnt cope with was the cost of a .223 barrel to be threaded for the LE receiver. Anyone actually have one that works well?

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Threading a blank for the receiver isn't a problem, the extractor would be way too short I would think. Are pressures going to be OK on this conversion? I guess they would. We have about three here that would know for sure and I'm sure Mr Laidler has one in stores...

[Peter Laidler]

I looked at doing a .223" No4 several times, just as a project. The process of fitting a barrel, CHSing and making it shoot using a standard bolt was simplicity itself. The problems came with the other parts of the cycle, such as a reliable-ish feed, load, extract and eject. A slightly deeper clawed extractor will be required (easy to adapt a readily available 7.62mm extractor). It didn't really get past a few technical drawings and barrelling up an old barrel into a Mk2 action and shooting it. That was simple as I made an internal and external threaded collar to screw the barrel into the No4 breech. One thing I do remember was finding a .556 NATO/readily available magazine that would actually fit into the front of the existing magaxine well.

Anyway, that's as far as I got.................. If it was a school metalwork project it'd have been marked 'Peter tried, had a few ideas, bless him, but failed!'

[dman69]

Hi Guys,

I read something about this a while ago - try the attached link -

Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle - Surplusrifle.com


Interesting idea!

[Son]

They've been neutering No4's like that for many years.

[olmate]

They do come up for sale around here from time to time and I have thought of buying a No 4 conversion (for something different).. but never committed. Might just do it one day. Has anybody got one ? are they happy with them?

[tbonesmith]

plenty here in oz. Happy to post pics and details but can't until Saturday or Sunday. They work. Well and are very accurate but are hard to set up to feed. One member here is an expert in building them. He may chime in soon.

[RJW NZ]

I'd love a No5 in .223, the range would be right for a carbine, the recoil would be much reduced, it seems like a match made in heaven.

[Peter Laidler]

Just my thoughts at the time too RJ. A No5 was the aim of my project as the barrel length I was using was right too. Feeding will always be a bit of a problem due to the large diameter bolt-way/bolthead and the base rim diameter of the cartridge. Whether the bolt head will pick up the cartridge on its forward 'loading' stroke will always be at best, marginal

Like I said, Peter had a few ideas but failed the test! Mind you, he did get it to fire!

[tbonesmith]

The ones built on JC'c here are great to 300m. The feeding is a bit of a stuff around but once you've got your beast settled they tend to just do the business without many hassles.