Unsporterize an Enfield No.4 Mk.1

[Seaspriter]

All I need now is a No.5 rear sight for my tanker.

These come up on ebay frequently from a couple of sources in the UK. I bought one for a tanker carbine I'm constructing out of the parts left over from restoring 2 other No.4 Enfields.

[Vincent]

Thank you.

I am looking forward to seeing pictures of your tanker, Seaspriter.

[Seaspriter]

There is still another option for a Parker Hale Sporterized Enfield. The following pic is from my collection. My father (WWII Vet and avid antique gun collector) referred to it as an "Officer's Target Rifle" because it had a understock forend, like his muskets crafted one or two centuries before.

Parker Hale started with a 1943 Maltby that had been FTR'd at Fazakerley shortly after the war. It has a replacement bolt (with the No.5 hollow ball) with a new Armourer's stamp that is exactly 11 numbers advanced from the receiver serial number (BG 13264 on the receiver & butt ring, and BG 13275 on the bolt -- perhaps the FTR Armourer was a little careless, as Capt. Laidler has inferred on other posts).

P/H removed the original backsight, adding a variable aperture target sight. The muzzle was nipped to remove the bayonet lugs, recrowned, foresight removed, and the signature P/H foresight was mounted (just like yours). They took a birch forend (apparently one of the Savage replacements shipped to the UK during the war -- has the "Square S" stamp on the forend nose cap) and shaved it down to make it more delicate, while also reducing the size of the forend cap from 2.3 inches (normal) to 1.9 inches. It was rebedded inside the forend from breech to muzzle in some form of brown "plastic-type" material.


It has a 5-round magazine stamped "Made in England" and the magazine follower is stamped with the "broad arrow."

Weight, unloaded with sling is exactly 8 pounds.

I'd estimate the changes were done about 1947-51, although there is no date of the P/H rework. It does carry the "England" country of origin stamp and the "BNP" (Birmingham Nitro Proof) stamp, but no importer's stamp.

I've not seen one of these in the old P/H catalogues (but I'm sure one of our forum members knows more about it than I).

Once the gun arrived in the US, someone added a Boyt sling (no date).

[Seaspriter]

Parker Hale Officer's Target Rifle??

I had a Private Message from a forum member who wanted dimensions of the Parker Hale Officer's Target Rifle to "Unsporterize" (that's not a word in the dictionary) his P/H Enfield that had the nose nipped off and the P/H foresight mounted. Here is a pick with the dimensions;

[Peter Laidler]

I wouldn't go so far as to call that monstrosity an Officers carbine or even a tanker but I would go so far as to call the person who dreamed it up a…………., er…………., a tanker!

Sorry to say it but to me the concept of that tanker or Officers carbine is akin to flogging a dead horse……. Purely personal of course

[browningautorifle]

A neat sporter but that's about it. And THAT would only be in the eyes of the beholder...

[Seaspriter]

I would go so far as to call the person who dreamed it up a…………., er…………., a tanker!

You'll probably have to cuss on some fellow from Parker Hale who's now in his grave.

A neat sporter but that's about it. And THAT would only be in the eyes of the beholder...

Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. My father thought it was one of the most attractive of the "demilitarized" weapons of war. It reminded him of the muskets of an earlier century (he had a rather large collection). The only WWII weapon he brought back with him was his Colt 45 ACP -- the only memory he wanted to bring back from the Battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima. He loved British Brown Bess's, owning five of them, one of them a reproduction he used in Revolutionary War reenactments. This Enfield was a tribute to his love of Great Britain. Again, it's all in the eye of the beholder. If I had my choice between this rifle and the cut-up sporterized version, this is the one I'd chose (and I did). :-)

And if you have an Enfield with the front end lopped off and a P/H foresight mounted, you just don't have a lot of good economical choices.

Thanks for your comments -- I always get a charge out of hearing people's response to the unconventional.

[Surpmil]

I suspect some of the reactions are based on the fact that there were no high quality commercial variants on the No.4 as there were on the No.1 and "long Lees", hence no "brand recognition". If I were to post a recently built copy of a B.S.A. pattern carbine or a "Lee Speed", built on a chopped up CLLE for example, I doubt the reaction would be the same. But it must be said that there is something lacking from the No.4 aesthetically compared to the No.1 and earlier actions. I suspect we are also just so used to seeing them in either the normal sporterizations or else full wood that anything else jars. I had to look at the photo for a few moments and try to free myself of those perceptions!

[Flying10uk]

I agree with Vincent; it would make a good No5 Jungle Carbine lookalike/clone. Didn't Long Branch do their own Carbine version of the No4 rifle or did they only produce a few prototypes???

[Seaspriter]

Didn't Long Branch do their own Carbine version of the No4 rifle or did they only produce a few prototypes???

According to the Long Branch documents by T.H.Marshall, the Production Manager who wrote up the factory report upon closing in 1946, Long Branch had done all the engineering for the No.5 expecting a post war order. More than likely they made a few prototypes. However, they never received an order, and closed the operation in August 1945 with no No.5's produced.

Here's what Marshall said in his report:
1945 - 1st Quarter:
During the first quarter of 1945, instructions were received to proceed with the engineering, planning, and tool change necessary to produce the No.5 Rifle at a rate of 8,000 per month. No orders were received for actual production, but the engineering work pertaining to planning the conversion was in hand. Production of this rifle was not considered a major project, as most of the components in the No.5 rifle are common to the No.4 Rifle.
2nd Quarter:
Engineering, planning, tool procurement and tool proving were temporarily suspended on the No.5 Rifle to allow speedy processing of an order received for Mauser firing pin and extractor components. The company was advised that the No.5 Rifle(British Lightened Pattern) would not be considered for production in Canada at this time. Consequently, no further action was planned for this project by the company. All tooling and ‘tool proving billets’ were placed in stores and recorded.