Enfield No. 4 Mark I questions

Porcupine

Porcupine

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Hi guys, well my grandfather just passed his sporterized Savage made Enfield to me!!!! I'm so stoked since I just got my license and this is my first rifle!

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It seems to me that it's in pretty good condition, but I do want to clean it up and re-oil the stock to a darker brown color. What's my best bet here? Strip it with paint thinner and then brush on new oil? Do I have to dis-assemble the rifle to do this?

I was also thinking of scoping it since I want to use it to hunt deer, what are my best no-gunsmithing options for a mount?

Sorry for all the newbie questions, and I'm sure they've all been answered somewhere on here...

I'm sure this wont be my only enfield;)
 
Thats a lovely looking Savage you've got there. Take it apart and clean it before you do any refinishing at all.
There are several mounts available for the No4 series that do not require drilling and tapping but if you are not going to restore it by finding and installing the proper full wood stock and stuff, have the thing drilled and set up properly. You can even add a very nice after market plastic stock if you want.

Scott
 
m39a2 said:
Thats a lovely looking Savage you've got there. Take it apart and clean it before you do any refinishing at all.
There are several mounts available for the No4 series that do not require drilling and tapping but if you are not going to restore it by finding and installing the proper full wood stock and stuff, have the thing drilled and set up properly. You can even add a very nice after market plastic stock if you want.

Scott
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I have a a Savage and I love it. It has a Burris Fulfield 1.5-5 scope and head space is at #1 bolt head.

winchester-1897
 
Winchester-1897 said:
I have a a Savage and I love it. It has a Burris Fulfield 1.5-5 scope and head space is at #1 bolt head.

winchester-1897
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That is nice! Where did you get the scope mount and the stock?

MarkdevCanada said:
This thing would be worth more un-tapped and restored.
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Un-tapped?

Would it shoot any differently if it wasn't sporterized? Why did they make them like that? I'm thinking it would be a fun project to restore it...
 
It is fun to restore these rifles to their original configuration, and not too expensive. Also, S&K makes good "no gunsmithing" scope mount, if you want to mount a scope on it without affecting the future potential of restoration.

A lot of WW1 and WW2 rifles were sporterized (a lot in the 50's and 60's), since a lot of folks wanted to get cheap rifles to go hunting; and a sporterized Enfield is lighter than a military configured one.

Here's a refurbished No4:

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1208b.jpg
 
Porcupine said:
That is nice! Where did you get the scope mount and the stock?



Un-tapped?

Would it shoot any differently if it wasn't sporterized? Why did they make them like that? I'm thinking it would be a fun project to restore it...
Click to expand...

Un-tapped, as in don't have holes drilled and tapped to screw a scope mount on. There are several scope mounts that work well without needing that kind of permanent, disfiguring modification of the rifle. Look up mounts by S&K, B-square, ATI, Armalon (Marstar has a mount that looks exactly like the Armalon, to me, but it is much cheaper), B-Square and Cad-Technik.

You are fortunate that yours has only had the wood modified, as this is relatively easy to restore, if desired. Many people had the barrels cut shorter, usually by only an inch or so to remove that portion in front of the foresight, where the bayonet lugs are. That doesn't make them shoot better or look better, and it reduces the value as a restoreable/collectible.

In original configuration that rifle's forestock was one piece all the way out to the foresight with two pieces on top completely wrapping the barrel with wood, to protect it from rough handling in combat. Unsporterised, it probably wouldn't shoot any better or worse, but it would be heavier and feel more awkward, so you might find it hard to shoot as well as you can shoot it as is, and you might find it more trouble to carry than you like, for hunting.

But how well it shoots is much less dependent on whether it has the full wood or not. As a mass-manufactured product, some shoot better than others, because of the tolerance standards at manufacture, but the biggest factor for any individual rifle now is how much use and wear it has had in the last half-century and how well it has been looked after.
 
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Lou, where did you get the barrel bands? I happened upon a couple of sets of No.4 wood, sans barrel bands, which I am now discovering are a little more difficult to procure. I have a spare set of No.4 wood to trade:D
 
Thanks for all the help guys. Should I attempt to take the rifle apart to clean and re-oil the wood or should I not even bother?
 
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