To shorten a bit of a long story, trying to help a friend who wants to do this with his rifle with its No. 2 300/600 aperture back site. And yes, he knows he isn't going to find any Mk VII ammunition, and his handloads will at the very best come close.

He asked and I dug up and sent him data from the forums here. I haven't paid much attention to it prior to this as I had a Parker-Hale PH4 vernier sight long before I ever owned a Lee-Enfield, and I've just zeroed as I wanted with that, whether HXP ball or cast bullet loads. (BTW, doesn't everybody first buy the ammunition or the sight for a rifle before they have the rifle, just so they have an excuse to buy the rifle?)

But he sent a return email, asking me if there isn't some inconsistency in what I sent. To wit:


If you aim precisely at the point of aim, the sights should cause the bullets to strike the 30 yard target 2.25 inches + or - .25” above the auxiliary aiming mark's base, and if it were to continue to the 100-yard target it would strike 8.5 inches above the auxiliary aiming mark's base.
- Shoot To Live, 1945
(I believe this is a to-scale target from Shoot To Live, thus the large image (P.S.: what does the .565" along the vertical bar refer to? I couldn't answer his question about that)



So the Canadians seem pretty clear: No matter which back sight is on the No 4 rifle, zero using a fixed bayonet and the 300 yard battle sight, MPI will be set to 2.25" (+/- .25") above POA at 30 yards; 8.5" (+/- 1") above POA at 100 yards. The sight will then be zeroed for all other sight settings on either folding leaf version of the back sight or either aperture of the Mk 2 sight.

But then there is this from the knowledgebase here:
REME Precis No. SA/Rifles/3 (Zeroing of No.1, No.3, No.4, No.5 Rifles)
Author: REME Techincal Training School RS/1802/1M/6-60
https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...4-No.5-Rifles)
With a Leaf Backsight fitted to a Rifle, the aperture or slide should be set to the lowest graduation, namely 200 yards. It it not however satisfactory to zero a Rifle at this range, as the ranges used are 100 yards or 25 yards. It will be seen therefore,that the resultant MPI to be correct. would have to be somewhere above the point of aim, so that when actually firing at 200 yards, or at other ranges with the correct reading on the Sight the shots will group at the point of aim.

In the case of Rifle No.4 fitted with a Mk2 Backsight, the apertures of which are sighted for 300 and 600 yards, the Rifle will be zeroed using the 300 yard aperture with a Bayonet fixed. Therefore the correct position of the MPI at at 100 yards or 25yards would be even higher than with a leaf sight. The following table shows the various parliculars applicable to each type of Rifle.



Reference the sighting data for the No. 4 with a Mk 1 or Mk 3 adjustable leaf sight set at 200 yards for zeroing at 100 yards, I don't have an opinion at the moment as to whether there's any inconsistency with the MPI figures provided in that table.

HOWEVER, The Canadianicon data says using the 300 yard battle sight, MPI is 8.5" (+/- 1") above POA at 100 yards; this presumably Britishicon zeroing table says MPI is 6.0 above POA at 100 yards using the same 300 yard battle sight. The same inconsistency exists when comparing 30 yards versus 25 yards between the two, even though the close zeroing distances are not exactly the same.

So there does appear to be an inconsistency with the Canadian Shoot To Live zeroing data, as both instruct that the back sight battle sight aperture is to be used, both with bayonet fixed.

To add to the confusion (I forwarded this to him as well), also from our forums here, which apparently agrees with the British REME chart - IF it is specifically addressing the No. 3 and not generically addressing both the No. 3 and No. 4 rifles as it seems to:

Sighting Instructions For The Enfield Rifleicon - Page 3
https://www.milsurps.com/enfield.php?pg=ti16.htm
This is an actual .303 Mark VII Ball Round zero target for use on a 25 yard range... When zeroing, the rounds should impact inline with the 200 yard mark if the sight is set to 200 and impact inline with the 300 when set to 300, etc.
So... same two rifles, same back sights, same Mk VII ammunition... two (or three) different sets of zeroing data. Unless I am missing something here, isn't at least one of these going to provide a zero that will not be correct for these same rifles/sights/ammunition as the zero is then used to shoot at 300 yards, 400 yards, 500 yards, etc.?

Or am I missing something here?
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