I figured it may have been special at sometime, sad, I think I will indeed purchase it. As for what to do with it, who knows, thank you all for the fantastic info!
There was a time when you couldn't give any Lee Enfield away, just no takers or only to someone to financially distressed to be able to afford a commercial sporter.
Anything in martial garb still intact was avoided like the plague, other than Bubba, who would work some sort of magic, turn the rifle into an eyesore and proudly proclaim how it had been sporterized and would equal any commercial offering or even perform better.
Most of those firearms are not restorable, unless you have some original parts in your bins or gathering dust somewhere.
This includes the DCRA and even the EAL rifles that were once up on a pedestal for desirability, but lost their lustre as time went on, or their components wore to the point they were no longer competitive or surplus ammo dried up or or or.
Now, since so many of those fine rifles were repurposed as sporters people are crying foul.
No FOUL. Those rifles would have been turned in at amnesties, tossed into the lake, tossed into metal scrap piles or left to rust in poor storage conditions.
Those rifles, as good as they were, outlived their usefulness for their intended purpose.
People with some vision, saw another purpose for those accurate enough for hunting rifles and did what they deemed necessary to ''beautify" them and make them easier to carry and maintain in the field, under civilian conditions.
Not all of the 7.62 Nato conversions to the No4 rifles in Canada were done by the DCRA. Many were done in local gun shops, with the stipulation they had to fit within the specified parameters of configuration stipulated in DCRA rules.
I presently have on hand a No4 that was converted for such purposes, by a local gunsmith, now deceased, Les Viel of Vernon BC. It shoots very well, if I do my part.
I also have a "unit match rifle," or so I was told when I bought it over 40 years ago, that is still chambered for 303 Brit. The story goes that it was converted by a local REME for interunit matches. Yes, I know, you can't believe the stories and I've been burned on those stories before.
I tend to believe the story on this rifle though.
It was bought from a gentleman by the name of "Tiny Tim Ryan" who was a well known local in the Vernon area and about as feisty as they came. Alas, he's also gone on to afterlife endeavors along with his friends Les Viel and Walt Rogers.
I bought both of these rifles so that they wouldn't be cut down as sporters.
The 7.62 Nato version wears a PH5 sight and the 303 Brit version wears a PH4 sight.
Ryan took a M47C stamped Brit receiver, fitted a 5 groove barrel and completed the rest with Longbranch components and stamped a hollow knob bolt, "0" head to match the socket number.
This rifle shoots better than I can hold with ammunition it likes and shoots surplus/commercial ammunition into two inches or less, no matter which.
Yes, Mr Ryan was going to cut these fine rifles down for sporters. In his mind, they would be much more useful and functional for his puposes in sporter configuration. Not only that, at the time, he could easily access any parts he needed or wanted, just for the asking.
So many of the rifles we covet today as "something special'' met their ''demise'' and were relegated to lowly but highly functional and dependable sporters.
Many here just don't know how much of this stuff was available at one time and at firesale pricing. It's difficult for them to visualize pallets of surplus 303 Brit surplus ammunition on the Hudson's Bay gun section or a few hundred pristine No4s and FTRed No1 rifles of every mark spread out on a table or in bins, priced at $5-$15 depending on where and when you looked.
This anomaly went on for a couple of decades, right up to the late seventies, but the stigma of "crap surplus" hung on for another two decades to where we are presently.
Just take to mind the fine SKS and Mosin Nagant models that were available for under $100 less than a decade ago.
Now look at the M38 Carcano Calvary Carbines being offered at great prices.
These once maligned rifles are now desirable and IMHO a steal at present pricing for those that want to collect and shoot them.
I've already seen a half dozen Bubbas, done by folks looking for a light, cheap, beater for a "truck gun'' or "starter rifle for the kid" drilled and tapped with scopes mounted and excess wood/metal from the stocks cut off and discarded.
