Magazine Lee Enfield

[mausernut]

They were S&B and Igman . Just happened to check them with my calipers and both measured .308 just above the cannelure. Did the same with the ammo at the store and the Winchester was .308. I will reload for it and use Sierra 180 .311 bullets.

[breakeyp]

Walk away. The front of the barrel is missing, not enough length to support the bayonet. Restoration would be a money waster. Save your money put it in a box and add money while waiting for a better one.

[englishman_ca]

The barrel has been bobbed about one inch, yes. This seems to be a common thing to do with sporters, probably to restore the crown due to cord wear.
It has the later windage adjustable sights for Mk.VII cartridges, as fitted to Charger Loading Lee Enfields. Probably Royal Navy somewhere in its provenance.
If the thing shoots well, then enjoy. That rifle was no doubt sportered and used to put meat on the table.

If you have mind to restoring, then like anything, be prepared to spend time and money.

The barrel can be extended with a bit of lathe work and the joint made invisible. An original fore end might be found (good luck!), they often pop up at on line auctions, but silly prices. There are other options. Repro stocks are being made. Then you need the metalwork.

All doable and it will be a labour of love. A bit of money involved, of which you would never get back if you sold it on when restored. But some hobbys are about hours of recreation and enjoyment, not money.

Totally restorable. Lots of potential for projects.

Cut the barrel to 25 inches and drop it into Sht.LE wood and build a heavy barreled range rifle.

Cut the barrel to 21 inches and build a carbine.

Rework the barreled action dropping it into some really nice sporter wood.

Build a faux Lee Speed.

Or enjoy as is.

[mausernut]

Will probably use as is to put some meat on the table.

[rcathey]

Will probably use as is to put some meat on the table.

I like that idea!

[englishman_ca]

Sportered, you have lost half of the bedding. You are now at the mercy of barrel harmonics. However, with those sites being adjustable you can dial it in for that first shot from a cold barrel. If you target shoot, you might see the shots stringing as the barrel warms, quite predictably.

I know that with the white tail deer around here, if you miss with that first shot, they are gone in the blink of an eye. There is not much chance for a second shot anyway.

It has a long sight radius, I do quite well with a Parker aperture sight mounted on the rear volley and spring screw holes with these long Lees.

The use of the standard sights is a little different to some modern irons. The front is a barley corn and the rear is a V notch. It has been described as 'It is like viewing a pyramid through a railway cutting'.
Sight it in at 200 yards with the tip of the pyramid exactly covering half the height of the V.
To shoot at something further than 200, take a fine bead with just the tip of the pyramid in the very bottom of the V just visible. To shoot something up closer, put the tip of the pyramid on level with the top of the V.
Easier to see in practice than me trying to describe. A professional rifleman would have had musketry training and would have been well practiced at shooting at different ranges with his own rifle. So keep shooting, you will get to know yours.

The sights are calibrated for range using Mk.VII ammunition. If you reload, unless you load same specs as original ammo, due to the different ballistics, the range graduations on the sights are for reference only.

[Daan Kemp]

Were it mine I would shorten the barrel to carbine length, replace front sight. Fast good handling, shorter thicker barrel should retain point of impact better, should improve shooting performance. Replace ladder back sight with aperture. Should make for a dynamic handling meat getter. Shoot and enjoy.

[englishman_ca]

These 'heavy barrel' lee Enfield sporters can shoot very well.

There is a bit of a story here from the days of target shooting and the introduction of the Sht.LE into competition.

Much of this story began in Australia at the turn of the 20th century. I am hoping that more knowledgeable members will jump in to fill in the blanks, but here is the gist of the story.

Service rifle competition was a very popular sport. Competition was to be with a standard military service rifle.
The service rifle of the day was the Sht.LE.
But there were complaints from competitors with the Sht.LE that it wasnt fair because the long Lee had an edge with a longer barrel at 30 inches.

So to even the field for long Lees and Sht.Lees to compete, competition rules were changed. All rifles used were to be Sht.LE length. That is why one will find 'range rifles', which are long Lees with the barrel shortened to 25 inches.

But the competitors with the Sht.LEs still complained that the long Lees had an advantage of a heavier barrel. So again to even the field, the rules were changed again to allow sht.LE rifles to be mounted with heavy barrels too.

The heavy barrels were manufactured by Lithgow (in the 1930s?), and other than provision for the Sht.LE sights, are pretty much the same profile as a long Lee unit, except only 25 inches long.

Coincidentally, in 1931, the 'new' Sht.LE Mk.VI was being developed at Enfield Lock with a heavy barrel, same weight, same taper as the long Lee, but 25 inches long. The Mk.VI was later put into production as the No.4 rifle.

So, in effect, the No.4 rifle has a Sht.LE heavy target barrel. And yes, with a bit of machining, they will interchange.

As mentioned, the stiff short barrel is quite accurate on a sporter if the bedding is tight.

I was given this.
Attachment 102028

Which I cut down further to 21 inches, spliced and reworked the stock.
Attachment 102029

Attachment 102030
It is accurate and limited by my eyes and the iron sights.

When I started out collecting, I collected sporters as they were the only ones that I could find and afford.
I have a bunch of sporters that I have played around with over the years. If I get a sporter, and it looks decent mechanically, I will try to get it shooting. If it doesnt shoot well, it gets stripped for parts in the bins.
If it does shoot well, then it gets side lined for further playtime.
Some are so Bubba'd I would be embarrassed to post a pic. But they all shoot to point of aim and do duty as loaners at the hunt camp. They still put meat on the table.

So that sporter has lots of potential. Enjoy!

o

[mausernut]

I will use it as a sporter. Did some calculations and found that if you can get Sierra 180 grain bullets doing 2480 to 2500 fps they are a close match to Mk VII ammunition. Within an inch out to 500 yards. Which is way further than I can shoot with my eyes and open sights.

[Daan Kemp]

use flat base bullets