British 303?

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rustynut1

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You guys have been so nice, I am in trouble and u always come through!

I purchased a Sportized Lee Enfield from my neighbour. It appears to be a #4 Mark 1. It does not have the stock bbl., it has no rear sight, the receiver seriel number is basically gone, it has custom sportier wood stock not a cut off military wood, it was drilled and taped, it hasn't been shot in 25 or more years and was not cleaned before storage but the bbl. looks ok dirty but groves are sharp, it has a leather sling, a 5 and rusty 10 round magazine. The gun was reblued and is not rusty or pitted, it has a rubber shock shoulder piece.

He also has 2 1/4 boxes of FMJ military ammo and 6 boxes of 20 round soft point ammo from years ago.

I offered him $300 for all this wonderful ness. If you think I cheated him I could give him an extra $100 if he finds the scope base and rings, and the correct rear sight.

My other delema, no seriel # on the receiver? There is a readable # on the bolt and the trigger guard, not matching but close. No # on the bbl. but made in England and the calibre in tiny letters. Bbl. is 22 inches I think.

Thoughts, advice?
 
My concern would be if the receiver serial was deliberately obliterated you got yourself a potential problem. Otherwise you got over $200 in ammo and in worst case could easily part out the rifle to make a little more than you paid.
 
As someone said above, get it checked out by a gunsmith to make sure it is safe to shoot. There is no real collector value by the discription so even if there is a serial number, it wouldn't mean much especially if the reciever has been D&T'ed.
 
Sounds like a commercial sporter conversion. Well worth the $300. It will need a scope for sights.

I would clean it and shoot it and examine a fired case for excessive stretching.

No need for a gunsmith, but I would fire the first shot from the hip "just in case".

A 2.5 or 3X scope would be perfect for this rifle.
 
I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. No photos till than. The drill/tap job has two screw holes in the front and one in the rear near the stripper clip place. Thanks for the replies so far eh!
 
The drill and tap pattern sounds as if it is for a Weaver T-01. Not a bad mounting system except that it uses .22 tip-off rings. Sometimes a bit of shimming is needed. Use quality rings - a .303 has more recoil than a .22...
 
That worked well! The second photo from the top has three holes, the back two are tapped for treads. The first photo has two smaller holes tapped, there is one at the back, offset by the stripper clip area, didn't make it into the photo. The bbl says Made in England, that you can see, it also says .303" 2.22" and 18.5 tons There is also a crossed flags. The stock is Monte Carlo cheek plate on the other side.

There is 7 boxes of store bought ammo and 125 military ammo.
 
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The rifle was commercially sported in England, looks to be in fine condition. The rifle alone could bring $300.
 
Your rifle was sportered by Churchill in England - its roll stamped on the barrel. These were very well done, and comparable to Parker Hale conversions. As part of the sportering process the rifle had all the military markings ground off, the metal polished and reblued.
You got a good deal if the barrel is OK. (A lot of LE's suffered from being shot with military corrosive ammo by inexperienced users - heads up...)
The rifle was drilled and tapped after being sold, hopefully it was done right. The rear hole on the charger bridge is not shown. Depending upon its location (centred or on the side) its a Weaver T-01 or another style - Parker Hale?...
 
You paid a perfectly fair price, assuming the bore is satisfactory.
It appears to be tapped for the TO-1 Weaver base. The holes in the receiver ring are not perfectly aligned. Mounting the TO-1 mount you choose the front hole that is better aligned with the bore, and the rear hole if it is well aligned and cheat on getting the second receiver ring screw in place. There is nothing unusual in having small problems with adjusting aftermarket scope mounting.
Many, many people have used the TO-1 mount with perfect satisfaction. Choose a lighter weight scope with a modest bell size to get low rings to fit.
Enjoy your new rifle.
 
Nice rifle, it’s nice to see the original rear sight mounting ears weren’t cut off. You should easily be able to find a couple variations of rear sights if you prefer shooting with irons, alternatively if you can’t find bases for the holes they d&t’d an Addley Precision no smith mount will bolt up through the ejector screw hole and the rear sight ears. I have one on my sporter no.4, it’s a nice rail.
 
I ran some cleaning squares, than a brass brush through the gun. I am no expert on these things but the bbl. appears fine to me. Shiny, not like brand new but shiny. No sign of pits, the rifling seems good.

I wanted to ask about this military ammo. Two boxes have been opened one unopened. The open boxes are a real mismesh. Some are Winchester brass 3, most all are military brass. The military brass have sharp point full metal jacket projectiles, some has large primers some small primers. One marking is "PP 60 Vll" this has small primer, most have "BPD 951" but not that clear and large primers. The boxes are cardboard, marked "50 P..303 Ball" on the side is a stamp ".303 Brit. Cal Ammunition Distributed BY Century Arms Ltd. Montreal Que. Warning keep out of reach of children Made in Italy

What do you guys think? I'm thinking this ammo might have been reloaded? The brass can mostly be reused I think, I don't plan to open the one box. I am mostly worried about corrosive I guess.
 
Well - The vast majority of older military ball ammo in 303 was corrosive, even stuff produced in the 50's. The larger primers are berdan primed, and I would be particularly suspicious of that. Having said that, corrosive ammo poses no threat to the rifle if suitable cleaning measures are taken (ie hot water method). Theres a recent thread about this technique kicking around.
 
I wouldn’t be concerned about shooting corrosive ammo through any gun, especially a bolt action. They are the easiest to clean after shooting, pull the bolt and flush with boiling water from the breech with a funnel and then clean with solvent and patches. No gas system to disassemble like with a semi auto, corrosive ammo is not the boogey man people make it out to be. It’s only a problem if you are lazy and don’t clean it.
 
please correct me if I'm wrong, but the milling and drilling on the side of the receiver REALLY looks to be a military side mount for a British sniper rifle...
 
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