L42/Enforcer Ammunication

[Frederick303]

If I understand correctly, proof firing Is based on pressure and not bullet weight. I believe a high power rifle cartridge proof round develops 150% of the pressure of SAAMI maximum. The purpose of proof firing is to prove the action can safely handle standard ammunition.

What you have missed is the 144 gr NATO ball cartridge has a short driving band, and the L39/L42 hammer forged Enfield barrels have a very tight bore, on the order of a .296 to .297 , with a groove diameter of .3065 to .3070. On the L1A2 ball with its average bullet diameter of .3075, that means acceptable pressure. They were proofed to take that cartridge and I assume the Canadian C21, Australian F4, etc.

Now take a nice hot LR cartridge with a .3082 diameter 175 to 185 gr bullet, (designed for a true .308 bore) a longer effective driving band and the additional pressure required to swage the projectile down to .306? and you are looking at possibly excessive pressure.

On top of this the trend in recent years has been toward hot long range loads that use the 175 to 185 Gr bullets in a 7.62 NATO case, as the only way to get a good 1000 yard velocity out of them is to load on the hot side. Most chaps using this are using rifles designed for these loads, either AR10s, or 4 lug target actions. Many of the primers look noticeably flat when ejected on a hot day. On a Barnard, Musgrave or Paramount., OK.........….On a L81 or L39 or envoy or L42...no....the action will eventually fail, most likely the first time it is a wee bit misty.

For example M118LR is a pretty darned hot and is expected to be fired out of a front locking action, with a true NATO throat. The L39A1 and L42A1 chambers, if I recall have a headspace slightly shorter than the American NATO chamber print, and might have a smaller diameter neck, I do not recall at the moment. In any case it is a hot load, depended on the year and powder used.

The warning is worth considering, but if not there is always a market for your resultant spares and you get to keep the pranged action.

Finally you do not need it.

The interesting thing about these Envoys/L39/L42 rifles is how well they shoot decent lots of green and black sport 7.62 NATO, or (so I am told) better lots of German DM 41 or Austrian Patronen 58 cartridges. The Austrians used the Patronen 58 in their SSG 69 to good effect out to 700 M, or so I am told. Both are on the market now in the US of A. A lot of people assume that the last set of 7.62 innovations were game changers, they were not. The old arms with the ammunition they were designed for are capable of fine performance, unless you are doing some serious competition, where the small advantages in velocity consistency, bullet quality will have a cumulative effect. The fun of shooting these old war horses is getting the best performance out of them in the period correct method.