CDN 7.62 No4 Enfield Range Report - Too many pictures

ArtyMan

ArtyMan

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Hey guys,

Well, it has happened, I left the Mosins at home today and went up to the range to try out my newly acquired 1942 Longbranch No4Mk1* Lee Enfield. This particular rifle has been re barreled to 7.62 Nato by Canadian Arsenals (Longbranch), so in now way is this rifle a "bubba", as this was done in the arsenal itself.

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The rifle itself has a perfect bore, to be honest I have never seen a rifle barrel this nice before, has very fast rifling by the looks of it, and I can count about 7 or 8 turns. I had a feeling after looking at the bore that this rifle in particular would be pretty accurate. Only a test would prove me right/wrong.

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Today I headed up to the range with two boxes of .308 commercial ammo to give the ol' girl a test. I had fairly slim pickin's at Canadian Tire and decided to go with a box of 150gr Winchester Super X SP and a box of Federal 150gr SP. I had no idea what sort of ammo this rifle would like, and I am very, very happy I picked up two different boxes of ammo... more on that later.

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The rifle has a Parker Hale 5C sight installed, which is a fully adjustable target sight. I have never fired with these before today, and I cannot say enough good things about these sights. The sights are extreamly well made and the micro adjustments brought a level of iron sighted precision I had not thought possible on a milsurp. They are very, very sturdy and Im sure the zero will hold with no issues. These sights hands down beat the issued sights and get rid of the frustration involved with "shooting off".

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Another feature of this particular rifle I took note of was the trigger. The trigger appears to be a standard LE trigger, however I have never felt one this crisp before. Im not sure if the target LE's had tuned triggers or not, but this one sure feels great.

The magazine pictured is actually a .303 magazine, and feeds fairly poorly in this rifle. Im not concerned as I have heard these are ment to be fired single shot only. Since its a target rifle I dont intend on doing any sort of rapid fire anyway. However when/if I see a .308 LE magazine I will pick it up for sure.

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The range:

Today was a decent enough day, sunny and about 15ish degrees with little wind. I started off with a rough bore sight, and then proceeded to try my two different types of ammo at 50m. At 50m the rifle was grouping around the 2inch mark with the Win stuff - pretty dissapointing. At first I was not sure if it was the ammo, the rifle, or me. Well, I figured I may as well give the Federal stuff a try. I couldnt believe the different. A 2inch at 50m group to 2 shots touching, and a better point of impact! I proceeded to shoot with the Fed stuff, gaining a rough zero.


The poor Win ammo
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Federal
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After seeing the positive results with the new ammo, I proceeded to move out to 100m to get a better idea of the rifle's ability. I was in even more amazement after some slight POI adjustments. I fired at two targets, one with Federal ammo, and one with the Winchester ammo. Again the Winchester ammo showed its downfall with a very dissapointing group. I didnt even bother to measure it to be honest. Remembering the 50m shoot I switched back to the Federal ammo, I was not dissapointed.

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Fed
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The first 100m 3 shot group of the Federal stuff was SUB MOA! This blew me away to be honest. I proceeded to adjust the sights and I moved POI into the bull with ease.

I could not be happier with this rifle. The accuracy, superb trigger, excellent sights and overall great feel make this rifle one of my best, hands down. I may just move away from Mosins for a while...temporarily:D

Im sure once I begin reloading I will be even more impressed with this rifle.

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:D
 
Very nice!:)

I noticed the magazine and thought WTF is going on until I read your whole post.:D

I have always gotten my best groups with the basic Federal ammo. It used to be called Classic, now I guess it is Power-Shok. It burns really clean too, unlike the Winchester.

Too bad the brass isn't as good as Winchester for reloading.:(
 
Excellent report, I rally want one of these conversions. I had a chance to buy a new 7.62 LB barrel but I missed it I think. I was gonna do a Sniper project with a bubba receiver, 7.62 barrel and a repro mount.

Anyways, just a note though, the 7.62 sterling mags are not the same profile as the .303 mags, so you would have to modify your rifle to make them fit, which obviously is a milsurp nono.

And Nice shooting by the way.
 
LeeEnfieldNo.4_mk1 said:
Anyways, just a note though, the 7.62 sterling mags are not the same profile as the .303 mags, so you would have to modify your rifle to make them fit, which obviously is a milsurp nono.
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I didnt know that, thanks! Im sure Ill just stick to single shot then. Its completely a target rifle, I have my SVT for when I want to really burn ammo :p
 
For reloading you might want to look at the 155 grn "Palma" match bullets as well as the 168's. The 155's give terrific accuracy out to 1,000 meters in a gun with the right barrel (it appears you have the right barrel :D)
 
enefgee said:
For reloading you might want to look at the 155 grn "Palma" match bullets as well as the 168's. The 155's give terrific accuracy out to 1,000 meters in a gun with the right barrel (it appears you have the right barrel :D)
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Thanks for the reccomendation. I was talking to a few guys at the range today and when I mentioned I had a few rds of milsurp I was thinking of trying they looked at me like I was on glue :p I was told to stick to either factory or reloads with match bullets.
 
Does anyone have a match .308 load for these that they have had success with? or a match .308 load for anything that works?
 
Anyways, just a note though, the 7.62 sterling mags are not the same profile as the .303 mags, so you would have to modify your rifle to make them fit
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I disagree with this. I've stuck Sterling mags in unmodified Long Branch and other Enfield rifles and had no fit issues at all.

The issue is with Enfield conversion magazines, the receiver needs to be milled to fit them up high enough to feed.

Very nice groups with that Federal ammo, thanks for that!
 
ArtyMan said:
How much does a Sterling mag run nowadays? Pretty uncommon I hear.
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You're most likely to find one in a rifle you just bought that already has one in it...;)

They're around but not common.

BTW, a rifle fitted with a Sterling magazine will not eject rounds. There is more you need, like a 7.62 extractor or a properly modified .303 extractor, plus a long ejector screw and or a Sterling style ejector.
 
OK this is just me and not everybody is going to agree! The No.4 Lee Enfield action, in good condition, is generally regarded as good to 50,000 psi, ie the maximum average presure of the 7.62 NATO round. Commercial .308 win has a possible maximum average pressure of 62,000 psi ie it very hot for this action type. If I had such a nice rifle I would stick to 7.62 NATO or hand load .308 Win to a lower pressure.
 
Great report and excellent groupings. Hope you will be able to copy that with loading. Always wanted to pick up one of those 7.62 conversions but they ain't cheap.
 
Sterling mag goes for $140.00 and up depending on condition. Very difficult to find these days.

Your rifle is set up in DCRA configuration. The 303 mag is usedas the loading platform and was used as a single shot. The 303 extractor was also modified for 7.62. I see the forend has been bedded and the rear reinforcement tie plate changed to a screw. Most likely done after the conversion as the target shooter was trying to improve preformance. Quite a fad in the 1960's, so i'm told.

Nice rifle!
 
rgg_7 said:
Sterling mag goes for $140.00 and up depending on condition. Very difficult to find these days.

Your rifle is set up in DCRA configuration. The 303 mag is usedas the loading platform and was used as a single shot. The 303 extractor was also modified for 7.62. I see the forend has been bedded and the rear reinforcement tie plate changed to a screw. Most likely done after the conversion as the target shooter was trying to improve preformance. Quite a fad in the 1960's, so i'm told.

Nice rifle!
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I was wondering why the rifle is a lot heavier then a standard No4, perhaps the bedding has something to do with it. I really, really want to take it completely apart but after the way it shot yesterday its probably not going to help. :redface:

In regards to the 7.62 vs .308 is there really a substantial difference I should be aware of? This is likely the only time I will fire commercial ammo through it, next up will be catered reloads. I noticed the Federal kicked substantially more, however the groups spoke for themselves. The conclusion I drew from this was the rifle worked better around "hot" loads. Any truth to this?
 
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