Lee enfiled, Mauser, or K31?

[mac2017]

Ive got a .303 brit and a k98...i refinished the K98 COMPLETELY stripped all metal and reblued. Had that Russian tar..paint crap on it everywhere hard as hell to remove. Yes its a capture...yes i took the old crap off and refinished whole rifle which some people say ruins it ...and yes my rifle looks DAMN GOOD

[lyon13]

Enfield recommendations come from Commonwealth guys,

I actually was leaning more towards an Enfield just cause the looks are starting to grow on me.

milsurp Lee-Enfields having headspace issues. Easily fixed, but not cheap these days and it's more expensive with a No. 1 Rifle than a No. 4 or 5. Usually doesn't apply to Indian made(Ishapore) Mk 2/2A's though. Those are not rebarreled No. 1 Mk III's. They were purpose built out of new a better steel in the 1960's.

I keep hearing that the headspace is an issue with the enfields but no one has actually mentioned what fixing them entails, I am told everything from it just needs polished to the whole bolt head will need to be replaced.
Speaking of maintenance I have heard that all three of are kinda hard to take apart and clean, I've heard horror stories about taking apart the mauser bolts and such. I know that none of them are as easy to tear down as my mosin but from a maintenance standpoint what can I expect?

[Aragorn243]

I don't think any of them are difficult to work with. The K31 is probably the most complex of the three but it's not bad. Mauser bolts are no problem. I never really heard much about headspace issues with the Enfields either except from guys that don't know much about them which seems to be common on some of the other groups. They do have different bolt heads and they can get switched which is what some say the problem is with some importers that just slap things together. The vast majority are probably just fine.

[CINDERS]

Only real hard thing on the enfields for the unwary is not taking the top fore woods (hand guards) off then the bottom fore wood off before removing the butt stock on the MKIII as they have a recoil plate (not visible when assembled) at the back and when you turn the stock bolt its square head forces the ears of the plate apart which can split the back end of the bottom fore wood which is rather sad......

The hardest part of the lee's both the MkIII & No.4 is fitting of a new bottom fore wood but if your confident and good at wood work then you can do it as there are scads of threads here by the experts on how to do this anything to do with the action like replacing barrels or bolt heads I get my gunsmith to do it as its allot more involved than just chucking on a new bolt head to get it into spec.
I have pulled my Parker Hale bolt head down to clean it is based on the Mauser 98 action and they are a piece of cake to do I agree with Aragorn the K-31 bolt is complicated and the Lee enfield is the simplest.

[mac2017]

yes...i was fortunate to land a very nice excellent condition ww1 1917 British SHTLE Enfield with Canadian acceptance markings on it. Which im currently trying to find the forend for now. oh by the way..My K98 above I actually used OUTERS gun blue that i bought at Canadian tire or u can get it at Walmart to. both stores very cheap. Going on 2 years now and i just took those pics 2 days ago. Ive reblued 4 guns now so anyone needs tips i got some crazy ones that obviously work.