Looking for magazines for Lee-Enfield No. 4 MK 2

[Beerhunter]

Nothing wrong with taking a spare with you to the range ... just in case .

My point is that that "just in case" never actually happens.

[Maxwell Smart]

My question is: does the Indian .308 mag fit a normal No. 4 action? And are they available somewhere?

Yes, they do.

This one is a repro one, from Numrich

[ssj]

There is an after market Pro Mag one ($30US), or the 4, 5 or 6 round sporterised ones sold with sporterised Enfields over the years.

Un-stamped 10round ones come up on ebay, I assume they are spares from the 1950s, Korean war era. At least the one Ive seen was stamped F54 on the loading platform but no serial number stamp on the bottom.

[enfield303t]

Is it legal to send a mag from Canada to the USA?

If so Del Selin in Vernon British Columbia has a dozen or so No4 mags IIRC.

The gun store phone number is 250-545-7175.

Be sure to find out if they can send it to you BEFORE you phone and be positive about that.

[catman]

What model will this one fit?? It has a "3" stamped on it, and the rear lug is stamped and stepped, unlike the solid one in my other gun. It does not fit my No 4, MK I (T).
Chuck

[browningautorifle]

That's the early mag for the SMLE with the cutoff...

[catman]

That's the early mag for the SMLE with the cutoff...

OK, thanks very much, had it for years, but never could fit it to anything.
Chuck

[Peter Laidler]

The reason why your old magazine wouldn't (see * later) fit the No4 was because by the time the 'new' No4 rifle was being developed for ease and cheapness, it had already been decided that there were already far too many different mark/types of magazines sloshing around in the Ordnance system in and around the world. *Some of these would fit the new No4 type interface, others wouldn't, some could be made to fit while others.......... you get my drift! A sheet metal outfit called Fisher-Ludlow (or it might be Fisher from Ludlow in Shropshire) said that they were able to directly press out the whole case from soft, easily worked, pliable and best of all, cheap mild steel - which they did! This meant the days of the old fabricated and brazed No1 rifle type magazines were over

There was quite a bit of discussion about this in the No1 Mk5 papers but it seems that by the time of the Mk6 and trials, the pressed magazine was the order of the day..... sort of!

When the cut-off was abandoned, this caused another flurry of activity too because while it was easy to change the drawing to raise the right side of the magazine to equal that of the left side, strengthen it somewhat AND simplify the production, the Ordnance Board wouldn't allow this. Guess why...........? Yep........., because there were still thousands of original No4 Mk1's in the system that had cut-offs and unbelieveably, others on the OB held the view that after the war, we'd revert to cut-offs! That's why the cut-off block was retained too! And that's why the first series production rifles retained the drop-side fore-ends. And the 'new' No4 magazine had to be fully interchangeable throughout the whole of the No4 range.

There was 'apparently', although I have never seen ref to this.....) discussion too about the actual bolt being made interchangeable through the No1 and 4 but this faced the same 'there's already too many variables' argument so it didn't happen. Mind you other things were made interchangeable such as butt assemblies, stock bolts after a fashion and a few other things.

Anyway, for those that might have already noticed, that's the reason why the magazine profile still retains the lower, undercut right side wall

There, another useless bit of Lee Enfield information for your digestion. If it's useless and way off tangent then just ignore it. Hey....., while we're here, if you like or appreciate these useless snippets of info that take me off at a bit of a tangent, just add a tick in the thanks box. That way I can judge whether it's worth wasting my - and your time or not

[jmoore]

The surest way to have a magazine "go bad" with any sort of L-E is to treat as detatchable!

If it's working leave it be. As noted above the bodies are quite soft and can be bent just by inserting them into the rifle a bit caddywumpus or too vigorously.

My question is: does the Indian .308 mag fit a normal No. 4 action?

The important thing is that they will sometimes work in L42a1s...Well, no, that's not important. But I did it once upon a time with some success.

[Beerhunter]

The surest way to have a magazine "go bad" with any sort of L-E is to treat as detatchable!

I could not agree more - Mr. Moore.