Idiot's Guide to LE Mag Chargers

nelly

nelly

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Okay, seriously...

I have dabbled with Enfields for about 15 years now. I have obtained magazine chargers from many sources / manufacturers / nations / ages.

With the exception of one of the 50 or so chargers I own, I can't get the bloody things to let me load rounds into any of my rifles - They get jammed up 95% of the time, and / or I do myself a thumb / wrist / back injury trying to ram the rounds into the receiver.

I load _-_-_: No love.

I load / / / / /: No love.

I have tried gently polishing a few with steel wool: No love.

I would eagerly accept wisdom from the gurus.

Thank you, Keep Calm, and Carry On.

Neal
 
Anything involving the Lee Enfield is a dark art. I am not sure I am allowed to explain how to load the charger so it loads smoothly from either side. But I can mention that the procedure does involve a dead cat, an incantation and a full moon.

You might get lucky and a shooter with adequate security clearance will explain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esegl2jWmoc

Personally, I think there is only one "correct" way to arrange the rims in the clips to get
them to feed reliably; three-up and two-down with the left, right, and
center rounds flat against the base of the stripper: ____----____----____
 
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_-_-_ is the correct way. You need to push with your thumb back by the charger itself. If you push too far forward, they will bind.
 
But I have already TRIED painting myself blue and welcoming the solstice at moonrise, blowing a tribute through my Canadian issue funnel...

Seriously, I even own Stratton's books, and the Holy Grail of The Lee Enfield Story (2nd), AND I KNOW HOW TO WRAP A PULL-THROUGH!!

Why the Heck can't I figure this out???
 
Claven2 said:
_-_-_ is the correct way. You need to push with your thumb back by the charger itself. If you push too far forward, they will bind.
Click to expand...

Yes... I have tried; Didn't quite need sutures from the laceration that resulted from being TOO close to the charger itself, but t'was a near run thing. ;)
 
I think it's awesome when you end up with your thumbnail on one side of the charger edge and your cuticle on the other while stripping rounds into the mag.

Way worse than Garand thumb. Though the blood does seem to make the rounds go in easier.
 
My NCO once proudly told me he used to use a ground down P'07 bayonet as his hunting knife... I don't think I'll seek his suggestions!

Although he does enjoy my Australian DMT chart of an SMLE that I have up at my cubicle, so he's not all bad...
 
Nelly, old man, sorry to tell you but there IS only the one way to load the little brutes, and that is the way the guys have been saying: dudud: _-_-_.

And it REALLY helps if you sweep them into the mag with a single quick thrust: no being gentle at all.

And it's even better if your thumb is right as far back as you can get it.

I suspect the problem may be those bl**dy Parked chargers; things don't load worth a hoot in a hailstorm. About all you can do with 'em is polish them up on their insides with some Crocus cloth so the Parking doesn't try to hold the cases back in you.

Once you get them working, they ARE fast and they ARE worth the trouble. It is because of the poor manufacturing and finishing of the late chargers (Mark III and Mark IV) that I prefer to use the Mark II chargers from the Great War..... and select all others very carefully.

By the way, no dead cats, even at midnight. Bast will GET YOU for that!
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nelly said:
But I have already TRIED painting myself blue and welcoming the solstice at moonrise, blowing a tribute through my Canadian issue funnel...
Click to expand...

I TOLD you... turn anti-clockwise three times while doing this!

*Somebody* forgot my adivce. :rolleyes:

:p

Seriously though, 2 up and 3 down is the only way to do it. I find it helps if I push down and forward with a single good thrust. It helps get that top round's rim in front of the next one, so the bolt will slam home. 90% of the time it works every time. ;)
 
Ganderite said:
Anything involving the Lee Enfield is a dark art. I am not sure I am allowed to explain how to load the charger so it loads smoothly from either side. But I can mention that the procedure does involve a dead cat, an incantation and a full moon.
Click to expand...

The one with the virgin goats and PeeWee Harman VHS cassettes also works pretty well.

I picked up a raft of chargers at a couple of gun shows when I first got my Long Branch. I load them /////, thumb well back, sometimes levering the top round a little, and they've all worked well for me.

This video demonstrates it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esegl2jWmoc

I just make sure to load the magazine so that the rim on the top cartridge is ahead of the rim of the cartridge below it, which in turn is ahead of the rim on the round below it, and so on all the way down.
 
Why

nelly said:
But I have already TRIED painting myself blue and welcoming the solstice at moonrise, blowing a tribute through my Canadian issue funnel...

Seriously, I even own Stratton's books, and the Holy Grail of The Lee Enfield Story (2nd), AND I KNOW HOW TO WRAP A PULL-THROUGH!!

Why the Heck can't I figure this out???
Click to expand...

Because you didn't have an old Sergeant-Major who was a former Instructor at the School of Musketry in Hythe, England, standing behind you ready to plant his size 11 boot to your backside when you screwed up. That's WHY.

Loading Drills with the SMLE were practiced over and over again to an almost fanatical degree. The proper loading of chargers was one of the first basics that was taught. The proper loading as described is down-up-down-up-down. Down being with the head of the cartridge against the metal of the charger, up being with the rim of the cartridge ahead of the down cartridge.

Chargers also make a lot of difference. The blued chargers are smoother, and load much better than the phosphated ones. Even then, for speed loading, that is not good enough. We spent hours choosing chargers for loading, and then lightly filing the inside of them and polishing the file marks out with emery cloth. And those chargers did make a big difference. My personal best was 39 rounds fired in one minute, with 38 hits and one just off the scoring area by one inch, on a Figure 11 target at 50 yards.

There is also a speed technique for loading. Put the first charger in the bridge, wrap your fingers around the bottom of the magazine, push down FIRMLY with the thumb near the charger,(Leverage). Pull the empty charger out and drop it, (throwing it is an extra time wasting motion,) while reaching for the next full charger, which you will have laid out nicely on a piece of canvas so that you do not get dirt on it. Load the second charger as above but leave it in the bridge. Reach for the bolt while shouldering the SMLE, and push the bolt forward which will kick the charger out of the bridge and load the cartridge.

While the books you mention are good, get yourself a copy of "Shoot to Live." by Johnson. This was one of the best books on using the Lee Enfield, and was the standard Canadian manual during WWII. You find them occasionally at gun shows, but you can also download a copy if you go the the Knowledge Library at --Milsurps.com. If you are serious about shooting the Lee Enfield or SMLE, you NEED a copy.

The angled method of loading cartridges, / / / / / with rim ahead of rim DOES work, but you have to look at each charger when you load it and align it properly. However, the original intent of the Lee Enfield system was MILITARY applications, and if you are standing there trying to load an empty rifle while the Hun with his bayonet is advancing toward you, then you want something that works every time!

It should only take you a year or so of practice to achieve a 30 round per minute rate of ACCURATE close range fire.
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"...painting myself blue..." Quit using paint. You need woad(somewhat toxic) and a virgin. No cats required.
An old Sergeant-Major will certainly help(so will a youngish RSM), but making up some DP cartridges and practicing loading will hurt less.
 
buffdog said:
The angled method of loading cartridges, / / / / / with rim ahead of rim DOES work, but you have to look at each charger when you load it and align it properly. However, the original intent of the Lee Enfield system was MILITARY applications, and if you are standing there trying to load an empty rifle while the Hun with his bayonet is advancing toward you, then you want something that works every time!
Click to expand...

You've obviously had the benefit of training with a Lee-Enfield, so I'll bow to your expertise, but I'm scratching my head as to how the up/down/up/down method works, though. My understanding was that if a cartridge got its rim behind the rim of the one below it, you'd get rimlock.
 
Rimlock ONLY occurs with the above-mentioned virgins.

The _-_-_ method embraces the magic of Enfield Lock, and just MAKES it work. If it works.

At least I know THAT much.

:cheers:
 
Charger loading

rdelliott said:
You've obviously had the benefit of training with a Lee-Enfield, so I'll bow to your expertise, but I'm scratching my head as to how the up/down/up/down method works, though. My understanding was that if a cartridge got its rim behind the rim of the one below it, you'd get rimlock.
Click to expand...

The sequence of loading chargers is down, up, down, up, down with the base of the cartridge at each end of the charger flat against the inside of the charger. This was drilled into the head of several million users of the Lee Enfield or SMLE, and it works. If it did not work, you would be speaking German right now.

You are thinking too much. Quit scratching your head and try it.

If you load the Lee Enfield MAGAZINE with the rim of one cartridge behind the rim of the lower one, then it will jam.

The Lee Enfield uses a double row magazine. When the cartridges are loaded properly into the charger, and put into the magazine correctly, then they will not "rimlock." One of the problems is that people do not give a good push to the cartridges when loading with chargers. If you bobble it or go slow, then a potential jam might occur, or the cartridges spill out of the magazine.
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