Building a Classic Sporting rifle

[Dark Alley Dan]

Holy. Crap.

Spectacular rifle, Evan. One for the ages. The CCH is gorgeous, and that wood is really something. Kudos to all involved.

 

[SuperCub]

wow!

 

[stickhunter]

Gorgeous, indeed! Love that border feature on the checkering. A can understand why you're still excited about the project!

 

[DGY]

Damn that looks awesome!! Good for you, and can’t wait to see it finished in all its glory with a game animal at its “feet”!
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Decker9]

Man o man Evan!! This is turning out amazing!

 

[Demonical]

Evan, in those pics it looks like you are still waiting on installing the tang safety?

Beauty rifle build.

 

[MartyT]

Good Lord that is a beauty there!!!! Thank you Evan for the updates. Love these threads.

 

[SHELL SHUCKER]

Lovely rifle that be! A1 job Evan. I'm eager to see the end result.

 

[mctrigger]

Outstanding Evan. Must truly be proud of what has been done. The top rib is an excellent feature. I hope she points like a finger!

 

[woodchopper]

I can't believe that I missed this thread...

that is nice work

 

[FLHTCUI]

Beautiful!

And that is an under statement
Rob

 

[Evanguy]

Thanks guys for the kind words. this rifle is turning out better then i had ever thought it would, it feels and points so well.

I do have to install the safety switch and set the stop bar length, then grind the sear angle on it to block the sear.

one issue is the rifle will show "safe" when it is able to fire and the word "safe" is covered over when it can't fire. i guess i have to think of it as, its "safe" to start blasting stuff.

i did some work on the rear sight. i made a base for it and hand filed the dove tails in it to make sure there is a tight fit. (60*, used a 5/16" triangle file one side(bottom) ground smooth)

i still need to cut the dove tail in the rib to install the base.

 

[SuperCub]

I think I would stick with the 3 folding leafs and not include the sliding sight. Looks a bit busy.

 

[Evanguy]

Yeah I can see what you are saying it is a bit much and ill never use the ladder im sure, if I was building a modern sporting rifle I would definitely use just the exxpress sight without the ladder, but the rarest most valuable lee speeds had 2-4 folding leafs with the ladder/sliding sight. Actually that ladder sight is from an original lee speed rear sight that someone had buggered long ago.

here is a pic of an original rear sight that i would love to get my hands on, but the are very expensive and hard to find, and id also have to mill it up to be able to fit in into my rib, so i wouldn't want to ruin an original

the second pic shows the best sight i could get for this rifle i have never seen one for sale.

 

[Potashminer]

I do not have a centerfire rifle with sights like shown - I just got a 7x57 BSA "sporter" rifle with a barrel mounted rear sight standing leaf marked "100", and then two folding leaves - one marked "200" and one marked "300". Back in the day, with the old Cooey .22 in the pasture, I did not know about changing sights - it was as it was - "held off" to hit what I intended to hit - aim above the gopher, if it was a long ways away. My Dad used to use phrases like "take a fine bead" - as if there was a way to alter your aiming point by how much front sight bead that you could see in the rear sight notch. What is the shooter going to do if he guesstimates the game is at 250 yards - use the 200 leaf or the 300 leaf - either way, he is probable to want to be able to "hold off" a bit from where he wants to hit. Is not target shooting or shooting for groups or for points - is usually about getting one good kill shot - make it or do not make it.

 

[buckbrush]

The style of sight on the original Lee Speed sporters is called a “Cape Sight”

 

[SuperCub]

I've never seen a sight like that before. My ignorance is showing.

Thank you.

 

[PR Cook]

This project has been my Cgn highlight since its inception, seeing it come together has not been disappointing. I am on pins and needles to see the final product and hope to see some game taken with this finely crafted piece!

 

[Evanguy]

This project has been my Cgn highlight since its inception, seeing it come together has not been disappointing. I am on pins and needles to see the final product and hope to see some game taken with this finely crafted piece!

Me and my daughter are doing another fly in hunt this year in northern BC I have the float plane booked. We fly in on Aug 9 and get picked up on Aug 20. We have 2 goat tags and one sheep tag. I'm putting the drive on to get this rifle done for that trip. So I hope to have it finished this summer and have some game pics.

Last time me and the same daughter did a fly in I got a goat with an iron sighted Lee Enfield no1, she now has her hunting license (13 y/o) so the main goal is getting her a goat.

 

[tiriaq]

With respect to the cape sight... Here is the sight on my Army & Navy BSA Model 4 sporting rifle. This was an economy rifle, compared with others posted in this thread. I think this sight was pretty much a standard on these sporting rifles. I've also seen the sight on a .303 double rifle. I suppose there is always the chance that one of these sights might turn up in a gunsmith's shop in the UK.