No4 Scope mount holes misaligned and drilled too deep?

[Alan de Enfield]

It seems to me that someone has tried to drill the holes originally and failed....., then sold the rifle on.

Can I make a suggestion? It's this. The sheer notion that you can screw a telescope front sight base to a No4 receiver ring and expect it to remain tight and soliud is the stuff of fairy tales. It ignores the basic schoolboy physics of rotational forces that you learned in your first year physics lessons at school. You know, clock and anti clockwise moments and all that stuff............... And whoever thought that small BA (or close to....) threads going into 3mm or so of mild steel revceiver ring would be sufficient to hold firm was living on another orbitory planet to the rest of the world. My suggestion is to ignore these holes, give the blocks you've just acquired away to someone you don't like as fishing weights and get a steel one piee easily mounted bracket to fit onto your rifle.

You were/are right. These blocks are an amateur DIY gunsmiths job

A little harsh dont you think !
With a 'military' hat on, and knowing the rifle is going to get knocked about, mistreated and generally unloved you may well be correct, however there are many hundreds / thousands of No4 based Enfields that have succesfully used the BA20 / 21 scope mounts (including the Police Marksman Enforcer) with (apparently) no complaints.
The Enforcers I have had have been rock solid with no sign of movement of the scope mounts.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Thunderbox]

A little harsh dont you think !
With a 'military' hat on, and knowing the rifle is going to get knocked about, mistreated and generally unloved you may well be correct, however there are many hundreds / thousands of No4 based Enfields that have succesfully used the BA20 / 21 scope mounts (including the Police Marksman Enforcer) with (apparently) no complaints.
The Enforcers I have had have been rock solid with no sign of movement of the scope mounts.

Yes, the mounts work perfectly well on Enfield conversions. Virtually identical PH mounts - using the same short grub screws - were used on much bigger calibre sporting rifles based on Mauser actions. I guess the strength really depends upon the weight of the scope/rings, and also the quality of the initial drilling & tapping. Many rifles have the screws loctite'd in, and they can grip very tight indeed. You do see a lot of DIY butchery with these mounts though....

---------- Post added at 07:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 PM ----------

I'd be sued if I told you what they said about the PECAR telescope. It effectively said that it and the rifle might be alright for any non robust handling but as a snipers telescope, they'd stick with the other contender, a Tasco

The strangest thing about the choice of the Pecar is that the scope length and eye relief - when fitted to an Enfield - make it almost impossible for most normal people (incoming!) to hold the rifle in a good firm shooting position. You have to hold your head right back at an un-natural angle to get the correct scope picture, or align your body in line in order to achieve the same. I've often wondered if that why they put the Harris bipod on the Enforcer - so that you can take a Bren/GPMG type of hold on the rifle instead...

[Alan de Enfield]

The strangest thing about the choice of the Pecar is that the scope length and eye relief - when fitted to an Enfield - make it almost impossible for most normal people (incoming!) to hold the rifle in a good firm shooting position. You have to hold your head right back at an un-natural angle to get the correct scope picture, or align your body in line in order to achieve the same. I've often wondered if that why they put the Harris bipod on the Enforcer - so that you can take a Bren/GPMG type of hold on the rifle instead...

So True - thank God for that, I thought I was abnormal, but I must be normal as I have the same problem.

[spinecracker]

So True - thank God for that, I thought I was abnormal, but I must be normal as I have the same problem.

You and me both, Alan. Every time I shot the blooming thing, I'd get a crick in my neck, and that isn't good for a chiropractor....

I think I'll save my pennies for an L42A1 (who am I kidding....)