Any free gun is a good gun..Updated

Scamaniac

Scamaniac

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But I could use some help in figuring out this scope base setup. A guy at work gives me this No4 Mk1 Long Branch sported. I've been looking for a deer gun to leave at my fathers farm in NB and don't want to have a lot of $ tied up in that rifle. The sights have been removed on this rifle and bases have been added but they are not level with each other. Is this setup intended to use one high and one low ring or am I missing something? There is also a vertical dovetail mounted just ahead of the bolt handle that I would assume is for a side mount rear aperture but there is nothing up front. Also the bases are so far forward with one being on the barrel that I'm wondering if I would need a scout or handgun type scope to make this setup work? The bore and rifling look great. Hopefully with pictures someone can tell me whats up with this old gal and my best way to put her in deer slayer form. Thanks for any help.
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You have a base on the right rear of the receiver for an old Redfield receiver sight.

I don't have a clue about your scope bases but that one piece stock on a Lee Enfield is a highly unusual custom stock job. I read somewhere that that was a difficult task to undertake.
 
Can't help you with the bases being the wrong height, but the base is for a Williams peep sight, and with the bases that far forward you'll need a scout scope.
 
Brian with accurate action in Calgary has some side mounts, but it will need to be tapped, he has some other mounts as well, but I think they may require the rear sight steel.

There is a scout scope mount that you can epoxy onto the barrel, but you will need to remove material from the stock.

There is no cheap way (that I know of) to put a scope on that rifle without altering it.

You may be better to trade it on the EE.

Edit, you could also try and find a 1 piece rail, and remove material to get it to sit level. They can be found cheap online.
 
People like Epps did custom jobs like that years ago - lots of work. The bases may work with rings of dissimilar heights - measure the difference in height and report back.
 
Thanks Nyles, it's definitely a Williams base. Too bad there's nothing up front. As for the base heights the forward base mounted on the bbl is 2 mm lower than the rear base. That's the best measurement I could get assuming the rear base is level to action and bore.
 
I don't doubt that you could mount something on the flat of the left side. I have seen that befor but for the life of me I don't know what kind of a mount they used. And yes, it is a beautiful gun. A lot of the post war modifications were very profesional. For free is great.
 
The whole idea with the bases of different heights is so they would line up horizontally and you would require only a single set of rings. That's why the forward one is higher than the rear.

Nice rifle with a LOT of work gone into it.

Looks to be an early- or middle-1960s conversion that set somebody back a packet of $$$.

This is the rifle that a lot of guys WANTED but nobody could afford to have built.

Very nice specimen.
 
smellie said:
The whole idea with the bases of different heights is so they would line up horizontally and you would require only a single set of rings. That's why the forward one is higher than the rear.
Click to expand...

From what the OP is saying, and what I can see from the photos, they don't line up horizontally. The front is slightly lower than the rear. I think your best bet would be to visit a few gunsmiths, or hit the gunshows and try to mix and match, med+low, or high+med, until you get a pair that match. When the rifle was originally put together, there must have been some combination that worked.
 
9.3mauser said:
From what the OP is saying, and what I can see from the photos, they don't line up horizontally. The front is slightly lower than the rear. I think your best bet would be to visit a few gunsmiths, or hit the gunshows and try to mix and match, med+low, or high+med, until you get a pair that match. When the rifle was originally put together, there must have been some combination that worked.
Click to expand...

I must agree that there must be a combo of rings that will realign the difference. The search is on. Thanks everyone for the responses.
 
If it were up to me, I'd remove the scope bases, the old peep sight mounting, and fill in the holes with metal epoxy or jb weld . Then I'd have a one-piece angle iron scope bracket made for the receiver, put a scope rail on it, mount my glass and she'd be good to go after it was sighted in. I fabricated a set-up such as I described for a No. 4 "Sussex" sporter that is on of my favourite rifles. I can give you a step-by-step rundown on the process and if you or a good friend are half-way tool savvy, it's not very hard. Here's a pic of what I did.

 
Thanks for the tip Lawrence. My father has a Jungle Carbine scoped with that method and it has been his go to rifle for 40 yrs. I think I'd like to try to set up the bases currently on the rifle. I am curious to try scout type optics and this seems just my chance.
 
I would pull the scope mounts off and get the original iron sights for it they were one of if not the best iron sighting system used by any nation ever in it's time. Either way I love them .303s...
 
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