Who will be hunting with an Enfield this fall?

Yes interesting indeed. The rifles I speak of were not modified, just bought off the shelf. Do you see were a pretty simple statistical analysis ( 3 for 3) plus printed material (Hornady manual) would leave one with a distatefull opinion? But, all said and done, I'm very happy that yours work well for you. Perhaps, I'm just on a higher shooting budget than some, ;) if so, well that's just my good fortune. :)
 
But then how much time was spent trying to make them shoot?
And I mean all three of them, not just yours.
3 rifles is little statistical reflection of any product, especially one that was made in the MILLIONS.
If the other two, aside of the one your dad bought, sat in a cupboard for years and then were pulled out only to shoot in an underwhelming manner without a decent clean or any load work how can you expect the performance to be any better?
Ok, fair enough, so you lucked into 3 rifles which had been treated terribly in their long careers and shot correspondingly but it's hardly evidence to condemn Lee Enfields en masse.
Incidentally, what did the gunsmith say was actually wrong with yours?
And an US manual which worships at the altar of "All that is American Made And Designed Is Gold" and is generally distrusting of other designs is hardly a good place to start.
Ever used a Ross rifle?
Ever looked up their history.....and I don't mean the "They're dangerous and might blow up in your face/an unreliable battle rifle" history, I mean the whole story.
There is MUCH more to things than 3 rifles and a biased reloading manual.
 
A friend gave me his grand dad's Enfield that was issued to the Royal Newfounland Regiment in the great War.
HYe wanted to see if it was okay.
I checked it out, the barrel was dark, bbut I have seen many Enfields shoot under 1.5" in the same condition.
I shot five rounds at 100 off the bench.
A friend who had my spooting scope sayid " it went sideways!"
"Which one?" Says I.
"ALL OF THEM!!!" he shouts back!:eek::D
They were all on the paper, mind you.
it has since been hung above the fireplace.

My Enfileds both will shoot 1.5" at 100 or better on a good day.
cat
 
caught this thread late
I have been hunting with an enfield for some years now. I have become very attached to my (all matching numbers )Lithgow smle III* 1943. She groups 1.5 at 100 with federal 180gr hi shock softies. This rifle has put many a deer in the freezer.
While i do have all the original wood and trimmings, I keep that stuff stored and dress her in a camo painted polymer stock. I also had the action drilled and tapped for a weaver rail on which sits a bushnell elite 3200 3-9x40 custom camo painted as well.
I love this rifle and will continue to chase west coast deer with her untill my gunsmith tells me she's done.
 
gitrdun said:
There you have it. You folks that own these rifles sure do take it personally when someone critizes them. You don't see Remington 710 owners getting all bent outta shape when those rifles are getting their just bashing :D -
Cheers
Click to expand...

I think I *may* own one, I'm not sure where it is, maybe lent it to a buddy some time ago...I don't hunt wiht them, and won't hutn wihtthem, prefering my custom 300WSM :p

So I don't take it personal, but I'm more than happy to share my opinion...

Some Enfields are junk because they are old, used and abused. Some are very fine rifles, well cared for. All of these rifles that are in excellent condition to junk condition came out of the factory as an excellent bolt action battle rifle.

710's came straight from the factory as junk.

That's the difference.
 
i agree with gatehouse on the model 710.... brother bought one of those... used hunting twice WASTE OF MONEY.... I say that because i had to hand him my 1943 lithgow.... while his bolt was stuck in minus 10 weather, with a buck near turnin tail, the lithgow went boom.... the remi went "click", there's some fancy modern day engineering for ya.
I only use my lithgow for deer... bigger guns for the mooses and elkses.
 
I had a Remington hunting rifle (not a 710, one of their earlier, more successful and now discontinued and somewhat sought-after designs.) When I first got it would put its bullets tumbling sideways through the target - when I could get on the targetboard at 25 yards.

None of my Enfields have done that, apparently because they have been properly cared for and haven't worn out yet. If they did start doing that, rather than deducing that all Enfields are junk to be melted down, I'd try cleaning for copper fouling, (which cured that Remington 788 of mine.)
 
SMLE #1 III 1915. Floated barrel, cheek piece, leuopold 2-7 scope, origional stock sporterized, re-crowned barrel. I use hand loads, just gonna try a new one-180 Sierra Spitzers with 44.5gr of H4350. Shoots fantastic. Used to belong to my grandfather and dropped many a moose and deer, no I use it as my main hunting rifle. Could use a trigger job, but let's face it, inside 250m the thing will drop mid-sized game with one shot. And it didn't cost me $1200 like most my partners rifles.
 
I now have a 6.5x55 Swede sporter, so my Enfields are going to stay in the gun safe this season. :p

Might even sell them.
 
anyone know where a guy can get these 215 gr bullets Kombi speaks of? And would that be safe to shoot in a '43 lithgow? gotta be movin awful slow i'd think..
Who here uses a enfield 303 for moose.... any stories? I'm sure the rifles accuracy and the general ballistics of the 303 will kill a moose at shorter ranges as long as the shooter does thier job.
 
I just sold 250 of them to one of the guys here on the board. They were 215 gr Norma softpoints.

Here is a picture of an expanded one:
Norma215gr303Br.jpg


You don't have to worry about whether they will take care of moose or bears. They do the job very well at well over 2200 fps muzzle velocity and are easily a 200 yard load. Your Lithgow will have no problem at all digesting this load.

Norma doesn't make this bullet any longer, however you can still get the excellent 215 Woodleighs from Australia and the Rhinos from South Africa. They are designed to perform properly at 303 Br velocities. All the shooter has to do is put the bullet in the right place.

Ted
 
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45ACPKING said:
anyone know where a guy can get these 215 gr bullets Kombi speaks of? And would that be safe to shoot in a '43 lithgow? gotta be movin awful slow i'd think..
Click to expand...
WN hit the member of the ethnic minority, I mean, the nail on the head....(oops, Freudian slip :redface:). ;)
You need to do some study on the history of the great 303 British.
The MkI and MkII version of this cartridge was both loaded with a 215gr cupro-nickel FMJ RN and the Cordite smokeless load in the MkII clocked in at just under 2000fps.
However with modern powders it's capable of more velocity.
ADI, who make many powders for Hodgdon, give 3 loads for a 303 215gr in their Smokeless Powders Handloading Guide 4th Edition, 2 of which will be easily available to you.
A 39gr load of AR2206(BLC(2)) will push a 215gr bullet to 2250fps and 39.5gr of AR2208(Varget) will push one to 2265fps.
I think that's pretty respectable and it's only about 150 to 200fps behind a 30-06 with a 220gr bullet.
Using Woodleigh's 215gr RNSN, which has a BC of .359, at around 2250fps will give you a max PBR of about 220yds and at 200yds it still has just under 1600ftlbs.
I'm not actually using Woodleigh bullets however.
A company called Taipan makes a 215gr RNSN and I managed to get a couple of 100 packs for $40 each, which is cheap.
Normally 200 bullets in that weight range would be well over $100.
And actually finding 303 215gr bullets is the trick too although Woodleigh stuff is easy enough to pin down in Oz.
 
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Here is my entry for the CGN 2007 Enfield Hunting Club!

Hey Guys..I didn't think I was going to be able to contribute to this thread when I first saw it awhile back - so I had to search and dig it up to reply...

I just got this one today!

So, it will come along with me and my hunting pals when we go afield this fall for Whitetail deer, Moose and Elk...as the token "backup rifle". All I have for it at the moment are some Federal 180 Speer HotCOr loaded factory rounds...but I have a set of dusty old .303 British dies and a can of brass somewhere...;)

It's a very nicely sporterized No4, MK1. Have a look!

7600WhelenEnfield016.jpg

7600WhelenEnfield015.jpg

7600WhelenEnfield014.jpg

7600WhelenEnfield017.jpg
 
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