303 lee enfield

[treebutcher]

Hi All
I'm new to all this posting stuff so bear with me. Has anyone ever replaced the barrel on a lee enfield? The UK changed over thier lee enfields to 308 and used them as sniper rifles.

 

[gunrunner100]

Welcome to the forum.
If you do a search in the Military rifle section, there may be some information that will help. I believe there is more to it than just a barrel change, there is possibly some alteration to the mag system to assist feeding, as well as bolt head differences due to rimmed vs rimless ammunition.

 

[H Wally]

What's your whole train of thought here? If you want to alter a sporter .308 enfield to look like a british enforcer sniper rifle, that's entirely possible. There are lots of .308 sportered enfields available already, so that would be a lot cheaper and easier than trying to completely overhaul an enfield in .303 .

Also, since you seem new, I'll just give you a heads up - go for a sportered enfield (one that has already had its wood cut down) they're way cheaper than an original enfield, and for your purposes, better. If you were to buy an original condition full wood enfield and cut it up to make a british .308 sniper, you'd end up losing at least $250 in value just from messing with it.

As an aside, put a wtb ad in the equipment exchange (EE) milsurp section for a british enfield .308 enforcer clone - someone was selling one a while back that was probably what you were looking for.

 

[45ACPKING]

my camera isn't workin right..... but, i recently aquired a enfield shtle III* in .303 in a trade. Now i had thought of a .308 conversion but was recommended to stick with a number 4 enfield for that project due to it's much more robust receiver.

So..... i had a mint .303 barrel sitting in the rack..... i bucked her down to 19.5 inches, recrowned, stripped the sights off and installed it on the shtle receiver. I then cut and machined a custom picatinny rail to fit the already drilled and tapped receiver. I completely rebuilt and tuned the trigger/bolt assemblies. Slapped her in a very nice "bishop" custom monte carlo sporter stock, mounted a 3-12x50 scope, sling swivels and bipod...... and applied a custom camo finish to the entire package.
Not a british sniper variant..... but holy crap...... I feel i've done this bubba'd enfield up into one hell of a nice hunting rig. I'll post pics as soon as i can

Lot's can be done with an enfield...... but as others will suggest, find one in a sporterized configuration, the ee has them all the time, avoid tearing down a full wood version at all costs....

 

[sunray]

"... UK changed over..." The DCRA did a bunch of No. 4's in the late 50's or early 60's too.
Yep. It takes a barrel vise, action wrench and a big hammer to get the barrel off. If you're thinking of rebarreling to .308, use a No. 4 that has already been butchered, I mean sporterized and find the barrel first. Plus you'll need to modify the bolt head/extractor and the mag to get it to feed properly.

 

[treebutcher]

thanks for the info I all ready have the 303 and it has been "modified" (barrel turned down stock cut) to the point of throwing 4" groups at 50 yards. I hate to get rid of anything that could be rebuilt. I would like to end up with a MOA rifle, looks don't matter.

 

[tiriaq]

It is not impossible to rework a beater No. 4 into a moa rifle. Might be a bit of an uphill struggle though, and not an inexpensive one either.
Rebarrelling a No. 4 is quite straightforeward, although the original can be in pretty tight. If the barrel is a scrapper, cut a relief groove around the barrel shank to release some of the torque. You will need a barrel vise, an action wrench and gauges, and likely a reamer to fit the new one. If the chamber is finished, headspace can be set by using the correct length of bolthead. Do you have a new barrel lined up?
No. 4s were rebarrelled to 7.62x51. The Cdn. target shooting conversions were intended to be used as single shots. The Brit. L42 and Sterling conversons were repeaters, used their own proprietary magazines, which can sometimes be found, but will not be cheap.
If you want to take on a rebuilding project, why not? But keep in mind that unless you can source reasonably priced parts, and do the work yourself, you will have a lot more money tied up in the rifle than you could sell it for.